This exciting 10th annual event has been 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 and complex ethical and business components facing the energy industry. Nine interdisciplinary teams comprised of students from business, engineering, law and related areas will have the unique opportunity to compete in this all-virtual competition and hear presentations from BP managers.

The 2020 Professional Responsibility Strategy Competition (PRSC) will offer full-time Illinois undergraduates of junior or senior standing, as well as graduate and professional school students the chance to address real-world business problems while specifically focusing on ethical and professional responsibility issues that can potentially span any or all of the functional areas of business – e.g., marketing, finance, logistics, law, and human resources.

This year's case will focus on “energy transition” and the imperative many countries and companies face to reduce carbon emissions and the tradeoffs that entails. Teams will advise an energy company on how to design and implement responsible strategies to reduce carbon emissions and still be profitable. The company is headquartered in a developing country focused on economic growth as well as environmental protection, and the CEO and country president care about both; the CEO must also produce profit for shareholders.

Illinois students are required to submit an application to be considered for the Professional Responsibility Strategy Competition. Event organizers will select competition participants from the applicant pool and form teams. Applicants will be notified by Tuesday, September 22, if they have been selected to participate in the 2020 PRSC.

Those students selected to participate will meet their team members during the Kickoff and Workshop on Thursday, September 24, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The 2020 PRSC case will be distributed during this time.

Since an intended goal of this competition is to have participants work on an interdisciplinary team, we would ideally prefer to have one student from Law, one from Engineering, and complete the team with members from different areas of Business. At the same time, however, we realize that some flexibility in team organization may be necessary to best accommodate the skill sets and academic backgrounds represented by those who apply to participate in this competition.

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 First-Round and must be prepared to respond to the last case problem if they advance to the Final-Round.

Judges in the First and Final Rounds will comprise of industry and faculty experts who will be familiar with the issues presented in the case.

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.

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.