Memo #1 – 2017

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for participating in the 2017 International Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC) to be held April 19-21, 2017 in Santa Monica, California.

1. Our finalized deadline schedule:

  • Monday, March 6, 2017: Team topic due
  • Monday, March 27, 2017: Executive summary due
  • Wednesday, March 29, 2017: Last day for hotel reservations at the discounted rate
  • Monday, April 10, 2017: PowerPoint Presentation due

2. The schedule for 2017 IBECC event:

  • Wednesday, April 19 – Welcome Orientation (early evening)
  • Thursday, April 20 – Full Presentations, Biathlon
  • Friday, April 21 – 10 minute/90 second Presentations, Biathlon, and Awards Ceremony
  • Saturday, April 22 – Departure date for teams

3. Presentation Scheduling

We are currently working on the presentation scheduling. If your team has time considerations and would like to request a specific presentation time(s), please let us know immediately.

4. Hotel Reservations

We have a room block at the JW Marriott Santa Monica Le Merigot Beach Hotel and Spa Resort. Awards will be announced and prizes will be distributed on the evening of Friday, April 21, so please do not book your flight home before Saturday, April 22.  Due to our contract for the event, participants must stay at the Marriott during the duration of the event. The hotel reservation link should be available soon, and we will send out a notice once it is up on our site.

5. A Note regarding Topics

Teams are free to choose any topic of interest, but it must relate to a business ethics issue. Even though topics related to nonprofits, public policy or governments may have a financial dimension, this doesn’t make it a problem in business ethics.

Additionally, one of the most distinctive features of IBECC is the ability of teams either to identify ethical issues before anyone else has or to come up with creative solutions to persistent problems. Accordingly, we encourage teams to consider applying their talents to two particular, ethical issues — one that’s been intractable in the U.S. (gun deaths), and an emerging global issue (the spread of “false news” via new technologies). Teams still have the option to work on any topic they choose, and working on either of these two topics won’t give a team an advantage in scoring. But these topics do represent important and interesting challenges regarding the ethical obligations and practical solutions that can be implemented by gun manufacturers and companies in the “information industry.”

CAUTIONARY NOTE: Please note that explorations of these issues must focus on the “business ethics” facets—not political issues.

6. Presentation Guidelines

Further information on presentation guidelines and the program can be found at our website, https://theibecc.net. Our website is the “official” source of information for IBECC 2017, so please refer to our site regularly. We also strongly suggest viewing videos of prior winning presentations to get a feel for how a good presentation should look.

That’s it for now. We will be in touch again soon. Thanks again, and please let us know if you have any additional questions!

All the best,

Thomas White, Ph.D.
Conrad Hilton Chair in Business Ethics
IBECC Founder
Center for Ethics and Business
Loyola Marymount University
twhite@ibecc.net
310-338-4523

Kirsten Scanlin
Director, IBECC Operations
Senior Associate Director, Center for Ethics and Business
Center for Ethics and Business
Loyola Marymount University
Kirsten.scanlin@lmu.edu
310.338.2321