For the 13th time in three decades, Cal State Fullerton’s MBA students netted a first-place win in the National Small Business Institute Consulting Project of the Year Competition in 2020. The competition involves graduate students providing real-world consulting for local businesses.

This year, a team of six students and recent alumni, working under Associate Professor of Management Lorenzo Bizzi, advised LapWorks Inc., a Rancho Cucamonga-based ergonomic solutions company, specializing in solutions such as carts and stands for technology use and lap desks.

The owner of the firm is retiring and planning to sell the business to the general manager, but sought the students’ consultation to ensure that the business was on good footing before transitioning to the new management.

“We surveyed potential customers extensively to understand the market and the client’s problems. From these insights, we developed several ideas ranging from new product development to new distribution channels to online marketing,” says Minh Dang ’18, a Mihaylo MBA alumnus now working as a business development manager in Vietnam, who supported the team. “We developed a plan of action to make LapWorks create better products and attract more customers.”

Read more about how both the students and LapWorks gained from the experience in this CSUF News article. Or read more of our articles on entrepreneurship and management.