Attention all Fordham undergraduate students:

We invite you to participate in the 2021 Fordham University Undergraduate Business Ethics Case Competition!

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 prizes for best papers and presentations:

• Winning Team: $750 PLUS represent Fordham University at the 24^th International Business Ethics Case Competition, being held online April 14-16, 2021. Learn more here.
• First Runner-Up: $250

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.

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

Teams are encouraged to register by January 20, 2021. 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 the following three elements: 1) a decision-point, 2) a decision-maker, and 3) the time of the case.  Refer to the Topic Guidelines below for more details. 

Based on a review of the case outline submissions, finalist teams will be selected and notified by February 2, 2021. Finalist teams must then produce and submit their presentations by March 2, 2021.

The Business Ethics Case Competition will be held online on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 3:00 p.m.  Log-in details for the online competition will be provided to all finalist teams prior to the event. 

Topic Guidelines

By December 11, Teams registering for the Business Ethics Case Competition must submit an outline that answers the following questions:

1. What is your decision-point (What should s/he do? It should be a moral dilemma about business.)
2. Who is the decision-maker? (Who is in charge of this decision? The decision-maker should be the managers/executives of a company)
3. 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.)

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

If selected for the finals, each group selected will present its case analysis for 10 minutes. There will be questions and answers after each 10-minute 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 & Runners-up

2020 Winners & Runners-up