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Sponsored by the Gabelli School of Business, the purpose of the Business Ethics Case Competition is to encourage student teams to consider how business, legal, and ethical elements interplay and align when applied to a current issue.

Cash and travel prizes for best papers and presentations:

• Winning Team: $1,000 and the chance to represent Fordham University at IBECC, the International Business Ethics Case Competition, in Santa Monica, California, April 19-20, 2017. Learn more here: http://ibecc.net/2017-competition/
• First Runner-Up: $500
• Second Runner-Up: $300

About the Case Competition:

Each team must consist of 3 to 5 undergraduate students from any school at Fordham University.

Teams will submit a presentation and brief written case study (4-6 pages).

Cases should raise questions and issues related to business, law, and ethics.

Cases used for prior class projects may be submitted (with consent of all original members).

Teams are encouraged to register and have their topics approved by December 16, 2016. To register, email Dean Jason at jason@fordham.edu with: A) team member names, B) case topic, and C) answers to the questions listed under the topic guidelines section below.

All teams must submit written case studies by January 23, 2017.

Finalist teams will be selected from the case studies submissions and will be notified by February 1, 2017. Finalist teams must submit presentations by February 14, 2017.

The Case Competition will occur on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. in Flom Auditorium, Walsh Library.

Topic Guidelines

Teams registering for the Business Ethics Case Competition must submit answers to the following questions in their submission to Dean Jason by December 16:

What is your decision-point (What should s/he do?… It should be a moral dilemma about business)?

Who is the decision-maker (Who is in charge of this decision? The decision-maker should be a for-profit business firm and/or its managers/executives)?

What is the point in time (It may be an ongoing case or something that happened in the past and is described by the students in present tense)?

Written Case Study Guidelines

The written case study should be 4 to 6 pages in length. If you are submitting a written case that was prepared for a class that is longer than 4 to 6 pages, it should be shortened to 4 to 6 pages before submission on January 23, 2017. It should not present the entire case; rather, it should focus on the theoretical underpinnings of resolving the business, legal, and ethical elements of the dilemma. The format is as follows:

Presentation of the Case Study or Business Problem

Problem

Decision point

Background Information

Product

Company

Industry

Decision Maker

Decision Point: Moral Dilemma

Identification of stakeholders

Identification of key ethics issues/principles

Outline of alternatives

Barriers to reaching decisions

Selected Course of Action

Assessing each course of action: What should the decision-maker do and why?

Identification of the Business, Legal, and Ethical Dimensions

Stakeholder Analysis: How are the major stakeholders affected by the selected course of action and what can be done to minimize possible negative effects/harms resulting from the implemented decision?

Resources

List the material you have used to write your case

Presentation Guidelines

Each group will present its case study for 15 minutes. There will be questions and answers after each presentation. Group presentations will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

Creativity

Appropriate use of evidence

Organization and structuring of the material

Clarity and effective use of visual aids

Description of Alternatives

Appropriate use of ethical, legal, and business theories to analyze and provide recommendations

PRIOR IBECC UNDERGRADUATE WINNER INFORMATION:

2016 Winners & Runners-up: http://ibecc.net/2016-competition/2016-results/