The Eller School of Management hosted its 13th annual Collegiate Ethics Case Competition this past week at the University of Arizona. Thirty-three teams, hailing from Mexico to Canada, offered solutions to the case, which focused on Uber. BHP seniors Rachel Huynh and George Chidiac, delivered business, legal, and ethical recommendations for the global giant – and came home with a victory.
What character defines Uber? How should Uber operate in volatile legal environments? How can Uber improve its business model to survive… and thrive? These questions guided Rachel and George as they argued Uber is able to become an ethical company. More importantly, with the help of philosophy, business law, and pragmatism, the two argued it is necessary for Uber to be ethical.
“This year’s case topic on the ethics of Uber brought a novel challenge to George and I because we had never done a case specifically focused on ethics before;” said Rachel.
“In many of our other cases, rigorous modeling and financials often took center stage over qualitative analyses. Since this case was purely qualitative in its nature, it was an incredible way to take a step back from a hyper-focus on the bottom line and instead deep dive into what we believe it means to be a business in our society. We found ourselves debating ideas and referencing texts from our philosophy, government, and LEB classes to answer these difficult questions.”
The two-day competition poised a unique format: round one was one twenty minute presentation followed by a five minute Q&A, and round two was a 12 minute firing round of questions from the judges. The top teams advanced from five brackets. In the final round, after a shorter 10 minute presentation, one question set apart the top 5 teams: “Is Uber an ethical company?” No better question epitomized the focus of the competition, reminding us businesses are made of people, by people, and for people.
Rachel said the case left them pondering deeper questions about their careers and how they can personally shape their organizations or companies as agents of society. “It’s not enough just to do well; you have to do good too,” she said. “As George and I made the trek back to Austin, we read a Southwest Airlines sign: ‘Without heart, a business is just a machine.’ We couldn’t agree more.”
You can view George and Rachel’s presentation in the final round of the competition here.
Congratulations!