2019 Fordham University Undergraduate Business Ethics Case Competition

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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 the Business Ethics and Sustainability Case Competition, in Los Angeles, CA, April 10-12, 2019. Learn more here: http://ibecc.net/
• 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 brief case outline and, if selected for the finals, a presentation of their case analysis.

All cases should raise questions and issues related to ethics, business, and law. Cases focused on moral dilemmas surrounding issues of sustainable development and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org) are also welcomed. 

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

Teams must register by February 1, 2019. To register, email Dean Daly at rdaly9@fordham.edu with: A) team member names, B) case topic, and C) an outline of their proposed case study that identifies a decision-point, a decision-maker, and the time of the case.

Finalist teams will be selected from the case outline submissions and will be notified by February 5, 2019. Finalist teams must then produce and submit presentations by February 19, 2019.

The Case Competition will occur on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in Flom Auditorium, Walsh Library.

Topic Guidelines

By February 1, Teams registering for the Business Ethics Case Competition must submit an outline that answers the following questions:

Case Outline Guidelines

The outline of your case analysis should be 1-2 pages in length, focused on the problem you will discuss and highlighting the ethical, economic, and legal elements of the decision.

The outline should clearly identify a decision-point (say, whether the company should recall a product), explain why the decision is morally relevant (say, whether the decision is justified on grounds of social welfare, consumer rights, etc.), describe the alternative courses of action (say, to recall or not to recall), and state your team’s position about which alternative course should be adopted by your decision maker (say, it should not recall because the evidence in support of the allegations that the product is defective is weak and unreliable).

Your outline should also list the material you will use to research your case study (any citation style works).

Presentation Guidelines

Each group selected for the finals will present its case analysis for 10 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 UNDERGRADUATE WINNER INFORMATION:

2018 Winners and Runners-up: http://ibecc.net/2018-results/