Smeal Ethics Case Team finishes 2nd in Templeton competition

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Two members of the Smeal College of Business Ethics Case Team collaborated to finish second among 16 teams recently in the Templeton Business Ethics Case Competition at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

Adam Zovko, a fourth-year finance major, and Sarah Hunt, a third-year actuarial science major, represented Smeal. Jamey Darnell, clinical assistant professor of entrepreneurship, acted as the supervising faculty chaperone. Özge Pala, assistant teaching professor of management and organization, assisted the team in its preparation for the competition. Gabriel Willig, a senior finance major, shadowed Zovko and Hunt during the competition.

The theme of this year’s competition addressed the rising amount of cases of "office romance" by modifying the personal relationships policy for a large, privately-held, flash-frozen vegetable company.

Before the competition began, the teams were assigned seeds and then entered into four brackets, each consisting of four teams. All teams competed in the first two rounds.

Teams made 20-minute presentations with 5 minutes allotted for clarifying questions in the first round. Then, in the second round, each team was given four standardized questions and allowed 2 minutes to answer each.

After the first two rounds, the judges advanced the highest scoring team from each bracket into the finals. Each of four final teams gave an 8-minute presentation to a larger panel of judges and all other teams in the auditorium. The judges then deliberated and placed the final four teams.

“The skills that students develop by participating in competitions like this are incredibly important in the 21st century,” Darnell said. “This experience will help them immensely in both their personal and professional lives.”