Academics

Finance students team up to win Penn State Smeal ethics case competition

The winning team of the second Penn State Smeal College of Business Ethics in the Workplace Case Competition — Nicholas Pearson, Raza Asghar, Zachary Cohen and Jason Cook — pose with Charles H. Whiteman, John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal, and six of the judges: Meredith Pritchard, senior banking consultant with First National Bank; Gavin Paul Howe, CORE associate, First National Bank; Adam Hoover, assurance manager, RSM US LLP; Doug Karns, a 1977 Penn State accounting alumnus; Linda Treviño, distinguished professor of organizational behavior and ethics, and director of the Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics; Jennifer McGlinn, assistant general counsel, Ricoh Americas Corporation. Missing from the photo is Michael J. Tecce, vice president, Ricoh Global Services Americas. Credit: Photo by Jennifer Neal / Penn StateCreative Commons

Nearly 30 Penn State Smeal College of Business students recently tackled the ethical dilemma behind prescription drug price hikes and controls as part of the college’s second Ethics in the Workplace Case Competition.

A team of four finance majors — Nicholas Pearson, Raza Asghar, Zachary Cohen and Jason Cook — was chosen from among six other teams on April 7 in the Business Building. Each team member earned $500 and the right to represent Smeal in the 15th annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition from Oct. 19-21 at the University of Arizona.

Teams were charged with developing a presentation focused on illustrating the benefits and costs of new standards for pricing and profits in prescription drugs. The presentation was to serve as the opening to a round-table event where members of the industry, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Government Accountability Office were in attendance. The presentation needed to demonstrate the balancing of ethical priorities: business, investor, consumer and society.

The second-place team — Allison Adams (enterprise risk management major), Supriya Nair (supply chain management), Kayla Rhea (finance), and Jinsui Song (accounting, Corporate Control and Analysis Program) — earned $1,500. The third-place team — Drew Cohen (finance), Brian Donahue (management), Shivani Patel (finance, economics), Krishna Shah (finance) — earned $1,000.

The seven judges included: Meredith Pritchard, senior banking consultant, First National Bank; Michael J. Tecce, vice president, Ricoh Global Services Americas; Gavin Paul Howe, CORE associate, First National Bank; Adam Hoover, assurance manager, RSM US LLP; Doug Karns, 1977 Penn State graduate in accounting; Linda Treviño, distinguished professor of organizational behavior and ethics and director of the Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics in the Smeal College of Business; Jennifer McGlinn, assistant general counsel, Ricoh Americas Corporation.

Sponsors of this year’s case competition included: Doug Karns and Renee Karns, TE Connectivity, First National Bank, RSM, Ricoh, and Kohl’s.

About Integrity at Smeal
Integrity and ethical behavior are fundamental to the Smeal College of Business culture. These values underscore who we are and what we do as a leading business school community, both in and out of the classroom. The college's foundation of honor and integrity lies in the Honor Code, drafted in partnership with MBA students in 2006 and adopted by undergraduates in 2007. Integrity and ethical behavior are infused into courses across the Smeal curriculum, and the G. Albert Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics supports ethics lectures and related scholarly research. For more information on integrity at Smeal, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/integrity.

Last Updated April 13, 2017

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