Competition Day:
This competition is designed to challenge students to consider how ethical and professional responsibility issues are influenced by stakeholder perspectives. Therefore, teams will prepare two or three presentations with each focusing on the interests of a specific stakeholder group (details will be provided when the case is distributed). While each of the presentations should be distinct, some foundational information will naturally be repeated in all of them. Each presentation will be no longer than 30 minutes, including time for judges' questions. All teams will present during the Preliminary Round and must be prepared to respond to the last case problem if they advance to the Final Round. Judges in the Preliminary and Final Rounds will consist of industry and faculty experts who will be familiar with the issues presented in the case.
Case Competitions:
The use of case competitions in business programs at American colleges and universities is a long-held and highly regarded tradition. While each competition has its own goals and format, they all provide students an opportunity to explore business problems in new and challenging ways. At the same time, these exercises offer all the rewards and challenges of working in a team to accomplish a common goal.
- The advantages of using a "live case" are many. Students have the opportunity to confront a real and current business problem. They are often able to work directly with a company and its representatives to gain knowledge about the organization, its mission, vision for the future, and the functional areas of its business – operations, finance, marketing, for example. In turn, companies receive fresh ideas for how to address a particular business issue from a group of students who bring new perspectives and insights to the situation.
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Competitions help further develop students' abilities in these proficiency areas:
- Analyze business problems from multiple perspectives
Understand the interplay of the functional areas of business
Form convincing business decisions with incomplete information
Work productively in a team situation that closely mimics real-life business
Address competing points of view
Confront ethical considerations
- Apply principles of professional responsibility to business dilemmas
It is these last two points – the ability to confront ethical business situations and to demonstrate professional responsibility in decision-making – that will serve as the foundation for the 2018 Professional Responsibility Strategy Competition.
Developed in partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Gies College of Business, the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society and BP, the competition case will have numerous ethical components. The proposed professional responsibility problems/dilemmas can potentially span any or all of the functional areas of business – e.g., marketing, finance and logistics. Given the complexities of the energy industry, teams will be composed of individuals from the areas of law and engineering in addition to business.