The Great Ethical Dilemma Case Competition
On-boarding first-year business students to the mission of the Lang School.
At the Lang School we empower and inspire future leaders to use business as a force for good. In order to introduce first-year students to the values and mission of the Lang School, students compete in a live case competition called The Great Ethical Dilemma as part of their Introduction to Business course (MGMT*1000)
Working in teams, the students spend the semester examining companies from a variety of industries to conduct an exhaustive, micro and macro situational analysis. The semester-long research project culminates in a 36-hour live case competition where the students, acting as part of a company, are required to respond to an ethical dilemma that requires an immediate resolution.
The students, working collaboratively, present their recommendation to their executive judges from the participating companies. “It is always interesting for companies to see how students view a company through the lens of publicly available information and how they go about resolving their ethical dilemmas,” says Kathleen Rodenburg, professor of MGMT*1000.
This year, Lang students will present ethical solutions to their dilemmas in a virtual setting using a variety of platforms. This virtual experience will include an award ceremony, acknowledgement from the dean of the Lang School Lysa Porth, as well as prizes. Students will hear from the executive judges from the participating companies about the importance of ethical business practices within their industry and organization.
The 2020 Great Ethical Dilemma will include executive judges from CPA Ontario, Hello Fresh, Refinitiv, Samsung and Telus among others.
"Regardless of the industry or where you are in the world, there are always ethical issues businesses need to solve. Developing programs focused on business ethics, like the Great Ethical Dilemma, are absolutely important."
- Richard Jackson, Vice-President of Spark Power,
2019 Great Ethical Dilemma executive judge
Previous participating companies include: adidas, Air Canada, Enbridge Gas Inc., Fidelity Investments Canada, Gordon Food Service Ontario, Hudson’s Bay Company, Nike, Spark Power, Walmart, WestJet