UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For students in the Penn State Smeal College of Business, the college’s Business Core courses are essential building blocks in their education, so the courses are high on their academic to-do lists.

• MGMT 301: Basic Management Concepts. Check.
• MKTG 301: Principles of Marketing. Check.
• SCM 301: Supply Chain Management. Check.
• FIN 301: Corporation Finance. Check.

For the Smeal Business Ethics Case Team, those four courses provided a baseline of knowledge. Combining that with lessons learned in BA 342: Socially Responsible, Sustainable and Ethical Business Practice and BLAW 341: Business Law I: Introduction to Contracts, Liability Issues, and Intellectual Property — made the difference between placing and winning this spring at the 2022 International Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC).

“Being a Smeal student has helped me tremendously in competing at and winning competitions like IBECC. One of the aspects of the Smeal education that I really appreciate is the teaching of foundational business concepts to all students, regardless of major,” said Anna Shimek, a third-year management information systems major.

“For IBECC, we had to analyze the financial, legal, and ethical dimensions of a case of our choosing. I learned about basic financial analysis in FIN 301, basic legal analysis in BLAW 341, and ethical foundations in BA 342, all of which are requirements for every Smeal major. Gaining a base level of knowledge in each of these required areas in the course of a Smeal education is something that allows myself and my teammates to excel in case competitions and will help us excel in the corporate world as well," said Shimek.

Shimek led a team that also included Kayla Esannason (fourth year – management information systems), Megan Martin (second year – finance), Kyle Kroboth (third year – BS/MBA candidate with a concentration in statistics) and Sarah Hunt (second year – actuarial science).

This was Smeal’s second time competing in IBECC. It was the second time for Shimek and the first time for Esannason, Martin, Kroboth and Hunt.

IBECC consists of three separate, required competitions: a full 25-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session and feedback; a 10-minute presentation; and a 90-second presentation. The Smeal team swept all three competitions. In 2021, Smeal placed second in the full presentation, first in the 10-minute presentation and first in the 90-second presentation.

The Smeal Business Ethics Case Team is the brainchild of Michelle Darnell, Smeal’s director of honor and integrity who also serves as the director of the Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.

Four years ago, in another initiative to enrich Smeal’s culture of honor and integrity, she started the team. At first, she admits, it ran on more of an ad hoc approach, identifying students to attend competitions as needed. That approach quickly evolved.

“We then created a team that involved a year-long commitment from students, with weekly meetings to build knowledge, develop skills, and establish relationships across teammates. Student leadership of the team continues to build, as does the reputation of our team,” Darnell said.

“Our team now meets twice weekly, once with me or other invited guests to build competencies related to analyzing cases and effectively communicating findings, and once with the team captain who leverages the team’s past experiences to create ‘practice sessions’ with members (e.g. reviewing old cases/competitions to recognize best practices, building powerpoints, strengthening oral presentation skills, managing question-and-answer sessions, engaging in teambuilding exercises, etc.),” said Darnell.

Shimek is the first to admit that the peer-to-peer mentoring, paired with Darnell’s passion for and deep knowledge of many facets of honor and integrity, are invaluable.

“Our team would not experience the successes it does without Michelle. She knows the world of business ethics and ethical case competitions inside and out. She teaches us ethical theory in a way that is understandable and applicable to the competitions at which we compete,” said Shimek.

“With IBECC, for example, we were able to utilize the theories of virtue ethics and ethical organizational culture that Michelle taught us to put together our ethical analysis," Shimek added. "IBECC, in particular, places extra emphasis on the importance of ethics in the judging of the cases. Without Michelle's help and preparation, we certainly would not have done as well as we did both this year and last year.”

At IBECC, each team prepares a presentation in which students explain the legal, financial, and ethical dimensions of the problem. They then recommend a solution that must pass muster on all three counts. The idea of the exercise is to help students see that it is possible to do business profitably while at the same time acting ethically.

The Smeal students developed a case on the NFL and how to strengthen a culture that supports diversity in leadership positions. It was titled “Flag on the Play: Strategically Addressing Inequalities in the NFL.”

“I want to give a special shout out to my teammate, Kyle Kroboth. All of my team members for the case were fantastic, but Kyle really stepped up when we needed him to, and his institutional knowledge of the NFL and research abilities pushed our presentations over the top,” Shimek said.

“He was the team member who competed in the 90-second presentation, and he did an amazing job," she added. "Watching him give his 90-second pitch was one of the best moments of the competition. His passion and determination throughout the case preparation and the competition helped to keep the team going even when we ran into roadblocks and experienced setbacks.”

For most teams, the awards and adulations of winning a case competition are the end point. For Smeal’s Business Ethics Case Team, winning IBECC will have a ripple effect that will be felt throughout the college.

Not only does a win like that contribute to Smeal’s culture by serving as models to other students, the team will create a case that will be used in PSU 6, Smeal’s first-year seminar for every student in their first year at University Park. They will also run an “Ace The Case” workshop for PSU 6 students and help to evaluate the PSU 6 submissions to determine invitations to the semifinal round. Last year, they also ran a discussion with first-year Sapphire Leadership Academic Program students.

Shimek said that the announcement of this year’s IBECC winners coincided with one of the team’s scheduled weekly meetings.

“We watched the awards presentation with the whole team, including our new members who are joining the team in the fall. The full presentation category was announced first. This was the one we were most nervous about. The full presentation was the biggest deal for me because it was the only one we did not place first for at the 2021 competition. When they announced we had placed first this year, we were all cheering and high-fiving. The cheering continued when we found out we had won the 10-minute,” Shimek recalled.

“The anxiety came back before the 90-second presentation announcement. Would we sweep or would it be just like last year where we took two firsts and one second? When they announced we had also placed first for the 90-second, we all broke out cheering again," said Shimek. "It was like a wave of accomplishment washed over us. The months of hard work paid off. It was really special that we got to share that moment with the rest of the team and show the new members that they are joining a successful organization. We were the only university to place first in all three categories, which made the victory even better.”

Darnell said she was thrilled that the team swept the awards, downplaying her contribution to its success.

“I am so proud of the students. I can help prepare them, and structure the team,” she said, “but the successes we have are because of the leadership, including self-leadership, of all of the team members.”