The 45th Annual

THE INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE BUSINESS STRATEGY COMPETITION

APRIL 16-18, 2009

A CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE

Offer your students a REAL challenge by competing in the 45th Annual International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (based upon The Business Policy Game: An International Strategy Simulation). Whether you advise a team as a special class or on a noncredit basis, participating in the competition will provide your students with a unique learning experience that they will remember the rest of their lives.

Please join us for the 45th annual event to be held in San Diego, California at the Bahia Resort Hotel in Mission Bay.  The remote phase of the competition begins in February with teams uploading decisions and receiving output via the Internet once a week. The intensive phase takes place in San Diego on April 16-18 with all teams gathering to submit ten more decisions, meet with their board of directors (a select group of business executives) make a formal presentation to their board and attend a gala awards banquet.

THE BENEFITS

Each year students tell us that the competition has been the most rewarding experience of their college career. Some have said the greatest benefit was the realistic opportunity to apply academic concepts; others said the greatest benefit was being an integral part of a closely knit, finely honed team. Students listing the competition on their resume have discovered that it has helped them land a job. Some have even benefited from interviewing with a person that had earlier participated in the competition.

FOR THE STUDENT, the benefits include:

  1. Hands-on, actually "running" a corporation;
  2. Bringing together functional academic concepts resulting in an integrated, applied management experience;
  3. The taste of battle with, at times, stirring success, or, at times, stunning failure--at least in the perspective of the moment;
  4. Feeling the synergy of the team experience;
  5. "the single most rewarding experience in my entire college career."

FOR YOU, the faculty advisor, the benefits include:

  1. Seeing and feeling the enthusiasm of your students in this experiential learning environment;
  2. Being personally stimulated by the competition;
  3. Recognition by your peers and department if your team brings home a trophy;
  4. Appreciation of your Dean for involving alumni as mentors and supporters;
  5. Pride in your school; and
  6. Possible credit for one class section.
  7. An opportunity to reward your best students with a unique learning experience.

THE COMMITMENT

The competition fits well into most business programs. The "remote phase" of the competition normally requires a team to submit a decision set each week from early February through early April. Each decision set is uploaded via the Internet.   The "intensive phase" culminates April 16-18, 2009 with a trip by all teams to the finals in San Diego, California for two and one-half days of intense, head-to-head team competition.

COSTS

There are three significant costs (We were able to keep 2008 prices):

  1. Registration fee of $1,500 US ($700 US for a 2nd team from the same campus, an average of only $1,100 per team!). Includes all program administration costs, the software license fee and, in San Diego, a get-acquainted social/pizza and the final awards banquet. A team normally consists of 4-6 students and their faculty advisor.
  2. Transportation which will vary with distance and is normally borne either by the school directly or by its alumni association or corporate sponsors.
  3. Subsistence while in San Diego, which should be budgeted at about $200 US per person for lodging/meals/incidentals.

MEMBER'S ROLES

Each team is a manufacturing company competing directly against 4-5 other firms in its World. The team members assume roles as the firm's top executives, responsible for key strategic and operational decisions in marketing, finance, and operations. Eight quarters of historical data are provided as the starting position wherein all teams are identical; then, 20 sets of quarterly decisions are submitted for operations over a simulated period of five years. Each team is responsible for a strategic business plan, an annual report, and one formal oral presentation to judges (who are senior business executives) sitting as the firm's Board of Directors. Team members typically learn first-hand how a group effort can result in synergy and enthusiasm. Participants frequently say the experience is the most rewarding of their educational career.

CLASS STANDING

Each campus may enter an undergraduate team and/or a graduate team. Undergraduate teams and graduate teams compete separately. Alumni teams, also welcome, may compete with other alumni teams or with graduate teams depending upon the number of teams participating.

ACADEMIC CREDIT ALTERNATIVES

Some schools have a specific course for this competition. For most schools, the competition is a general elective such as a section of "Advanced Seminar in Management" or a section of the capstone course; others list it under an existing "Independent Study" number or experimental course number. At other schools, the honor and the unique opportunity suffice to motivate the non-credit extracurricular endeavor, often by members of a business club.

SELECTING THE TEAM

Students may be recruited in many ways:

  1. distribute flyers to Fall classes and to clubs;
  2. hand-pick outstanding students recommended by fellow faculty;
  3. hand-pick a team President and let him/her recruit "their team;"
  4. post notices on bulletin boards, in club newsletters, and with student councils, MBA associations, and business fraternities.
  5. One team member may have been a member of last year's team.

We encourage you to recruit both an undergraduate and a graduate team. Top students, both academically and those with work experience and recognized leadership potential, almost invariably blend together as the most aggressive and successful teams.

FACULTY ADVISOR

The role of the faculty advisor in the competition is more like that of a coach since the team members are applying what they have learned and should be responsible for their own interactive relationships and decisions. It is helpful if the advisor can provide guidance on what goes into a good business plan, and from time to time critique student decisions. It provides a wonderful opportunity to ask those "embarrassing" questions. The advisor accompanies the team(s) to San Diego.

THE SIMULATION

The computer program used to process decisions is The Business Policy Game: An International Strategy Simulation, 5th Edition by Richard V. Cotter and David J. Fritzsche. The 5th edition includes international sales and manufacturing with unique market segments in each market area. Market research is available for purchase by competing firms. Information on downloading the Windows software and the Player's Manual will be provided to each faculty advisor.

JUDGING AND AWARDS

A distinguished panel of senior business executives judge the competition performance. Team evaluation is based on performance in the simulation and on written and oral presentations to the judges. Judging criteria include the quantitative and qualitative measures normally associated with evaluating company performance. Trophies are presented in each World to the teams who, in the judges' estimation, have the best overall balanced quantitative and qualitative performance.

We hope to see you in San Diego in April 2009!

For more information, please contact:

Robin McCoy Phone: 619-260-7774, FAX: 619-260-4891, Email:address image.

Or register online now!