An International Title

The Idaho State University International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC) team swept the field at this year’s competition, bringing home three trophies, including Best Overall Performance, Best Presentation, and Runner Up for Best Documents. This brings Idaho State University’s ICBSC trophy count to 19 in nine years. “The team was incredibly smart and worked well together,” said ICBSC Advisor and Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) Endowed Professor of Management Dr. Alex Bolinger. “The results of this and previous years show our students can consistently compete with anyone in the country and around the world.”

ICBSC is a rigorous competition challenging top-level students to complete 12 quarters (three years) of simulated business decisions expedited over the course of a semester, in addition to submitting a formal business plan and annual report.  Students then travel to Anaheim, CA for an intense 72- hour competition against their peers, followed by a formal  presentation to executive- level judges from companies  throughout the western United States. Other schools in the competition are often two to three times the size of ISU.

Since 2016, Idaho Central Credit Union has provided monetary support allowing students to participate, and their leadership team gives their time every year to listen to the teams’ presentations and provide mentoring in their areas of expertise. “Competing in ICBSC has been a top highlight of my university experience, and I am very grateful to have been able to participate and represent ISU and the College of Business,” said Master of Accountancy (MAcc) student Lexie Thurgood, who was the chief operations officer on the team. “This competition really is as close as a student can get to understanding what running a business entails without any real-life risk attached.”