Recently, the UCR School of Business fielded successful teams in case competitions displaying both business acumen and competitive determination:

At the inaugural UC Davis Graduate School of Management Case Study Competition on April 1 and 2, one of the two UCR teams competing placed third among 11 teams representing several business schools in California, Washington, and Colorado.

During the opening night’s dinner, the teams received their challenge: A case study focused on the food industry’s supply chain challenges throughout the pandemic. “The teams worked all night to present to the judges the next morning,” says UCR Professor of Practice Sean Jasso, the teams’ advisor. “Our two teams were fantastic, and our winning team was awarded $1,000.”

A few weeks later, the UCR teams also saw multiple second- and third-place finishes in the 2022 International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC), the 11th year UCR has entered reflecting an uninterrupted string of wins for more than a decade.

The undergraduate team placed second in the best overall performance and best business documents competition. MBA Team One also placed second in best overall performance, and MBA Team Two placed third in both the best overall performance and best business documents category.

The ICBSC competition attracts teams who compete over a three-month period. Students make all the strategic decisions: production output, hiring and firing, advertising and marketing; sales force management; financial decisions—even building factories.

“Since January, these students have run their ‘businesses’ with weekly strategy decisions, weekly meetings, culminating in the last three days and nights of the intensive phase, including the final presentation to their ‘board of directors,’ who also serve as the judges,” says Jasso of the rigorous competition.

“They were all amazing and worked like UCR executives.”