Ethical business dilemmas are rarely resolved from textbook solutions.
Two groups of Elon business students returned this month from Washington, D.C. and Montreal after challenging themselves to solve real-world business ethics cases at two international competitions. Held at Georgetown and Concordia Universities, the competition required teams of students to integrate their knowledge of business law, strategy, marketing and entrepreneurship into a single, cohesive solution to an ethical problem.
Over the past three years, the Elon University School of Business has expanded its presence at international case competitions. The school participated in one ethics and strategy case in 2010, two in 2011 and four in 2012.
“The Love School of Business is dramatically trying to find new opportunities for Elon students to go out and represent the school in these kind of programs,” said Christy Benson, business law professor at Elon.
The most recent competitions in Washington, D.C. and Canada brought in a selective list of nationally and internationally ranked business schools. Although the Elon teams did not advance to the finals at either competition, they received good marks from judges.
At Georgetown, Elon students received praise for the quality of their presentation, but they did not “humanize” the issues, Benson said.
“The winning teams tended to give the issues a face and use an archetypal person to represent their recommendations,” Benson said. “The competition was really fierce, especially for a school like us that was unfamiliar with the format.”
[quote]You have to be able to turn a problem into a solution. -Scott Bishopric Case competition participant[/quote]
The competition in Canada was similarly challenging. Teams were assigned another team to compete against, and winners advanced to the next round. The Elon team came within just a few points of entering the finals.
“This was every (team member’s) first case competition,” said sophomore Scott Bishopric, who competed in Canada this month. “I’m really impressed with the team and I’m very proud of our performance.”
The competitions varied in format and scope. The case competition at Georgetown required teams to solve just one ethics case, while the competition at Concordia presented teams with multiple cases that differed in depth and focus.
The multi-case structure benefited students’ overall performance, Benson said.
“Students were able to use what they learned in the first round to improve and give an even more insightful presentation in the next round,” Benson said. “Students started analyzing issues in more depth and choosing the frameworks and theoretical ideas that were best suited for a particular case.”
Benson said Elon will continue to expand its presence in national and international case competitions. Tryouts will be held next September, and will probably involve a short presentation to faculty members and students in the business program.
“(Case competitions) are the most valuable learning experiences,” Bishopric said. “Not only do you get experience presenting, but you learn problem-solving and how to sculpt your ideas into a manageable, implementable product. You have to be able to turn a problem into a solution.”