Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot the focus of SFU ethics business case at international student competition

SEATTLE– Five undergraduate students from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University are using Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Riot as a case study to examine the growing role that social media plays in society and business.

The students — Fahad Yasin, Christine Prasad, Sasha Vukovic, Moira van den Akker, and Andrew McKinlay — are competing in the LMU/ECOA Intercollegiate Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC), held in Bellevue, Washington from September 21-22. The SFU Beedie team is competing against a prestigious international field that includes the likes of Oxford, University of Southern California, INSEAD, Holy Cross and Boston College.

The team’s chosen ethics case concerns the immediate aftermath of Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Riot in a human resources context. It revolves around a Lower Mainland construction company whose employee made favourable comments about the riot on his Facebook account. After receiving upwards of 100 emails from an agitated public and customer-base, the company’s owner had to make a difficult decision of how to react to this public relations nightmare – and how to deal with the employee. The SFU student team is examining the situation from the perspective of the employer on the day after the riots.

“What we’re really looking at is social media and the role it plays in our society and business,” said Beedie School of Business undergraduate student Andrew McKinlay. “This new phenomenon can be a useful tool, but if used incorrectly, can result in huge costs, both tangible and intangible. While how to use social media most effectively is still unknown, we do know one thing for sure: Social media is blurring the line between our public and private lives.”

The team will be coached by Sam Thiara, Manager of Student Engagement and Recruitment at the Beedie School of Business, and alumnus Pam Hernandez.

The competition is jointly sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University, the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas and the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA). The 2011 competition will be held at the ECOA’s annual business ethics conference in Bellevue.

Teams in the competition research a contemporary issue in business ethics of their own choosing and prepare a 20 to 30 minute presentation, which they present to a panel of 4 or 5 judges. Teams explain the legal, financial and ethical dimensions of their problem, and they then propose a solution that must pass muster on all three counts. Judges question the teams for another 30 minutes, and then give the teams feedback on their performance.

For more information, visit:

http://cba.lmu.edu/academicprograms/centers/ethicsandbusiness/competitions.htm
http://cba.lmu.edu/academicprograms/centers/ethicsandbusiness/competitions/2011_September_Field.htm

Contact:

Andrew McKinlay – ajm24@sfu.ca
Sam Thiara – sthiara@sfu.ca
Derek Moscato – derek_moscato@sfu.ca, 778-782-5038