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Berg Center and Phi Beta Lambda Partner to Host First Berg Cup Case Study Competition
The David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership and Pitt's chapter of Phi Beta Lambda hosted the first Berg Cup Case Study Competition, an intercollegiate academic competition, March 20-21. Participating teams—representing Bucknell University, The College of New Jersey, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Penn State University, Syracuse University, and Pitt—were provided a case prompt, prepared by the Berg Center, and one week's time in which to develop a case solution. The topics of the case covered business ethics, international business, and general business management. The event was sponsored by the International Business Center (IBC), Pitt Business, and MSA.
On March 20, eight teams presented their case solutions in the semifinal round of competition. Judges Virginia Gerde, director of the Beard Center for Leadership and Ethics at Duquesne University; Ray Gibney, assistant professor of Management at Penn State Harrisburg; Peter Madsen, Distinguished Service Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility at CMU; Josephine Olsen, Pitt professor of business administration and economics and director of IBC; Russell Robbins, a Pitt visiting assistant professor; Thomas Ross, professor of law in the Pitt School of Law; and Kathy Risko, senior program manager for Leadership Pittsburgh, Inc., selected four teams to advance to finals. While the judges deliberated, all of the participating teams attended a workshop on credit and money management facilitated by Sarah Newman, education specialist from NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania.
The four finalist teams, The College of New Jersey, CMU's Alpha Kappa Psi, and Delta Sigma Pi teams from both Syracuse and Pitt, competed again March 21. While the finalists were preparing their cases, other participants took part in interactive workshops facilitated by Thomas Rosswog and Bethany Traugh from MSA, who, along with Richard Roda of MSA; Larry Schultz of U.S. Steel Corporation; and Steve Paskoff of Employment Learning Innovations (ELI) Inc., also served as corporate judges for the final round of presentations. The event also featured a networking lunch with representatives from UPMC, PNC Bank Financial Services, and Coury Insurance Services.
CMU's Alpha Kappa Psi team won first place in the competition and took home a $4,000 prize; as the crowd favorite for the People's Choice Award, the team received an additional $200. The University of Pittsburgh's Delta Sigma Pi team won second place and $2,000.
In a keynote speech, Paskoff, a Pitt alumnus and the founder and president of ELI, echoed the competition's theme of Beyond Compliance by presenting his personal experiences with ethical dilemmas. The event concluded with the premiere of a case study video prepared by Certificate Program in Leadership and Ethics students from the Berg Center that featured MSA as an example of what it means to go beyond compliance in terms of providing safety equipment and a safe work experience within the workplace. The video Beyond Compliance that was debuted at the case competition will be distributed to colleges and universities in the region for educational use.
Plans are already underway for the second annual Berg Cup Case Study Competition and for the production of the next case study video.