UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Smeal College of Business Business Ethics Team (BET) debuted at the McGill Desautels Business Ethics Case Competition earlier this semester, earning a first-place finish.
The competition was sponsored by the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity at McGill University in Montreal.
The team members were:
- Adam Lieb, a third-year majoring in integrative science
- Jayant Gupta, a fourth-year majoring in finance
- Tyler Scher, a third-year majoring in management
- Brenna Boer, a third-year majoring in marketing
Michelle Darnell, director of the Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, serves as the faculty adviser for BET. India Rhodes, a doctoral student in philosophy, coached the team and chaperoned the trip.
The focus of the competition was financial ethics with the aid of the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity’s corporate partner, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
“It’s incredibly important for students to learn about and be able to engage with topics of business ethics," Lieb said. "When it comes to experiential learning, ethics is something that everyone will interact with no matter their field or industry.”
The competition consisted of two rounds. In the first round, the 15 competing teams were placed into a bracket of three or four teams. The participants were given five hours to dissect a case, create a business solution and prepare for a 15-minute presentation and 10-minute question-and-answer period. The team that won each bracket advanced and delivered the same presentation without alteration.
“To prepare for the case, we did abbreviated run-throughs of the competition, meaning we would identify a problem and solution within a case in roughly an hour,” Lieb said. “A week before the competition, we did a full five-hour run-through where we divided the time up exactly how we wanted to during the real thing.”
The case was based on BlackRock, a global asset manager and technology provider. Having to analyze their ESG initiatives and possible anti-competitive behavior, teams had to determine how a portfolio manager should vote at an upcoming shareholder meeting and what stewardship posture should be adopted.
Teams had to propose a balanced fiduciary responsibility, preservation of fair market competition and climate risk management.
For claiming first place, BET was awarded $5,000 CAD in scholarships. McGill University placed second, followed by the University of British Columbia.
“We’re very grateful for the opportunity to learn new skills that can be applied to our other competitions and for the ability to represent Penn State on the international stage,” Lieb said. “Business ethics are incredibly important to the university, and it was a rewarding experience to be able to showcase all that Penn State, Smeal and the Business Ethics Center has given us.”