Advisors' Testimonials
MA Global Management students at Regent’s University London – Business School look forward and are very keen to participate in the ICBSC each year because of its excitement, learning, competitive and team synergy variables in the simulation. They also get to travel and network with students when they reached the live-final stage of the Competition in the USA. Having taken part in the ICBSC in 2005-2007 and then returning to it in 2010, the competition has become a hugely valuable addition to our programme. The benefits are enormous for our international students, these includes team-working, time-management skills, working under acute time pressure, forecasting, planning, applying theory to practical problems, meeting students from other universities, preparing factual/interesting annual reports, giving presentations and answering questions in front of top-notch business and management judges. This greatly contributes to their employability and life essential skills. We have been fortunate in that three MA teams have been awarded top prizes in the graduate world of this prestigious competition in 2007, 2010 and 2013 where they competed with MBA teams. Our past students/alumni have listed their valuable participation in the ICBSC on their CV’s and most have reported that potential employers globally took into account their commitment and team-working experiences on such experiential team events such as the ICBSC.
Almost all of the students I have brought to the ICBSC have characterized the competition as the most significant and beneficial educational experience of their college careers. Many of those students have gone on to successful careers and often write back to reiterate the key role that the competition played in their career development.
Being an advisor to teams in the ICBSC has truly been one of the highlights of my teaching career. It is exciting to witness the proverbial light bulb go on when students struggle to bring the theory they have studied in their classes to the “real-world” simulated experience of running a company against competitors from other schools. Participating in the competition has brought recognition to students and to me as a faculty advisor and enhanced the pride that we all feel in our school’s programs.
After serving as a judge for several years, while I was working in my career, I’ve had the chance to become an advisor at my alma mater after I retired. It’s been 5 years and I’ve enjoyed more each year. Watching the students grow (both academically and interpersonally) over the semester is truly amazing. The competition gives them such a comprehensive experience with all aspects of running a company, challenges them on so many levels and teaches them things that just can’t be learned in a normal class. They are always so proud of what they accomplish and often tell me that it made a huge difference in their lives and careers. Interviewers have asked what the ICBSC thing is on their resume and after they explain it (with so much business knowledge) they usually get the job!! Even current employers see them in a different light because of the depth of their knowledge from having a conversation. It is a joy to help them navigate through the competition and prepare them for the intensive phase. I hope to do this for a very long time…
I began taking teams to the ICBSC 10 years ago. It has allowed me the privilege of working with some of the brightest, most motivated students in our college. From what they tell me, although it involves a lot of work and is quite stressful, they find it one of the most rewarding experiences of their undergraduate degree. The competition tests their ability to operationalize strategy, to view business decisions as a set of coherent trade-offs in the allocation of limited resources, and as importantly, to manage working in teams of high-performing individuals. I’m told, too, that they often find the competition a very useful experience to talk about at job interviews and the knowledge and skills they develop and hone during the competition are, in many instances, highly applicable in their jobs.
ICBSC is an experiential learning opportunity that has been one of the best educational and profes-sional practices for student success in the College of Business. It was praised by the AACSB Accredi-tation teams when they visited our campus in the past. Past students have stated that this experiential learning opportunity was wonderful experience of what they thought to be real-world hands-on skills that could not be expected within the normal classroom setting.
The reason I returned to ICBSC for so many years is because I felt of all of the student competitions that I played the role of faculty advisor, this one provided the students with the most learning experience and the most fun. Between learning to make solid business decisions every week, writing a business plan as well as an annual report to shareholders and presenting in front of a panel of kind but tough judges, it is the most well rounded of all of the competitions and the one I have supported the longest.
The International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition has been the most impactful learning activity I have been associated with as a faculty member. I brought Idaho State's first team of students to California nearly a decade ago at the recommendation of a colleague from another university and we haven't looked back. I tell students that it is as close as they will get to running their own company without risking their own money! The ICBSC is a remarkable capstone activity. It enables students to see how all of the functional areas of a business work together, giving them a sense for how decisions in different functional areas (e.g., marketing and production) are interdependent. But beyond the learning about content that this competition provides, our students benefit from getting the opportunity to work together in an intensive, high-level team. The high-velocity competition fostered by this competition creates complexity that is beyond the capacity of any single individual to manage, so even our top performers must learn functional strategies for how to work together and rely on each other. In short, ICBSC is a student learning experience that is well worth the time and money invested.
Gordon College business students had never participated in any sort of competition like ICBSC, so we were unsure what to expect in terms of work and outcomes from the experience. Our initial team of students attacked the competition with vigor by being diligent in their research, decision making, and collaboration. Their focus paid off as the team did well in all aspects of the competition including the intensive phase. Our team members agreed that participation in ICBSC was the highlight of the school year for them. Unanimously they stated that the integration of competition and teamwork into their studies in a real-world simulation was incredibly valuable and also a lot of fun. We will be back next year hopefully with multiple teams.