The College of the Canyons Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) – Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) won first place at the FBLA-PBL California State Fall Business Leadership Conference on November 9-10, 2013 in Concord, Calif.

Winning in both divisions of the Business Case Analysis competition, the college’s teams competed against several four-year schools such as UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, USC, CSU Fullerton and CSU Dominguez Hills.

“It was a great team-building experience for the students,” said Robert Maxwell, FBLA-PBL faculty advisor at the college. “All of the members, even the ones who were not making the presentations to the judges, worked together late into the night analyzing and brainstorming strategies. They learned they could compete successfully with students from larger schools.”

The 17 COC students were given the same Harvard Business Review case of a detailed scenario describing a company’s actual problems and decisions. In a matter of hours, the COC teams presented the panel of judges with a seven-minute presentation outlining their analysis of the case and their recommendations for addressing the company’s problems. The judges cited the team’s thoroughness and innovativeness as the reasons for their first-place victory.

The team members who won the “Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in Product Positioning” case analysis were Diran Avedikian, James Lee, Lindsey Stoneman and Ashley Yi.

The team members who won the “Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales” case analysis were Tyler Larson, Cameron Mandley, Allison Silver and David Tushin.

In addition to the Business Case Analysis competition, team members also participated in workshops designed to help them promote entrepreneurial ideas, develop leadership skills and compete at the highest level of achievement.

FBLA-PBL is an international organization of college students preparing for careers in business or business-related fields whose mission is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs.  

For more information about the college’s FBLA and PBL divisions, visit www.canyons.edu.