FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FROM: Ed Kromer 206-685-2933
edkromer@u.washington.edu

DATE: November 9, 2004

A team of undergraduate business students from the University of Washington has won the inaugural Western Region Ethics Case Competition, held at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management in late October. Judges found that UW seniors Marcie Garrity and Emily Grad presented the best solution to a corporate ethical dilemma posed to teams from 10 universities in the western United States.

The case competition put the students at the virtual helm of H.B. Fuller, a reputable American adhesives manufacturer whose Central American subsidiary was producing and selling a brand of glue that had become the drug of choice for millions of homeless children in the region.

Garrity and Grad outlined a plan to remove the offending product from the Central American market gradually, while simultaneously developing a less-toxic replacement. But what appealed most to the judges was their simplicity of argument. Rather than getting mired in superfluous research and debate, the team cut to the chase. "Emily and I could have spent hours arguing about what path to take," Garrity said. "We considered all the options, but we both agreed that we needed to find a way to make the company profitable without harming children. So we quickly moved to: okay, how do we do it? And I think that’s what won the competition for us. We identified the problem and the stakeholders, and spent most of the time arguing why our solution benefits everyone most."

It was a strategy straight out of the playbook of Scott Reynolds, an assistant professor of business ethics who prepared the team for the competition. "That’s the thing about an ethics case," he explained. "They want you to think it’s gray. But in your presentation you show them that it’s not grey, it’s black-and-white. And here’s why we’re right and here’s what to do to fix it. And Marcie and Emily did it."

For their win, the pair split $1000 in cash, which was something of a surprise. "We went into this thinking it will be a great experience and a lot of fun," Garrity added. "Then before the final round (pitting the teams from the UW and the University of Arizona) the competition director told us, ‘Isn’t it great that no matter what happens, both teams are winners?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, we hear that all the time.’ But he stopped and said, ‘No, really, you both win money.’

"So we were doubly thrilled to win."