Clemson Students Participate in Templeton Business Ethics Case Competition

August 22, 2022

In February 2022, Ashley McCord and Hannah Fugate, two senior accounting majors, competed in the Templeton Business Ethics Case competition. The duo was advised by School of Accountancy associate professor Robin Radtke. Clemson’s team was pitted against 15 other colleges and universities in the competition, which was sponsored by the Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Stetson University in central Florida.

This year’s case competition required McCord and Fugate to assume the role of consultants advising the CEO of the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC recently made changes to its process of approving new energy codes which are part of its model building codes. Many state and local governments throughout the U.S. use the ICC’s model codes to enact their local building codes. Adopting provisions in the model code to increase energy efficiency in response to climate change has, in recent years, become very controversial. ICC’s recent changes created a backlash from federal and other governmental officials concerning ICC’s voting process to adopt new model codes. In their view, the new process favors constituencies opposed to adopting energy efficiency measures that will positively impact climate change. The team’s charge was to make recommendations to the CEO on the financial, legal, and ethical issues surrounding the process for adopting future model codes, while keeping in mind the delicate situation in which the ICC finds itself regarding its relationship to all its stakeholders.

The Clemson team recommended that the code adoption process should include voters from all stakeholders impacted by local adoption of the codes, including groups representing the interests of building contractors, engineers and architects, local and regional building code administrators and government officials, energy companies, and federal government administrators. The team pointed out that, in the final analysis, all humans are impacted by the codes adopted by the ICC because the codes impact global warming. As such, ethical considerations require that all stakeholder groups have a role in the development and adoption of the ICC’s codes.  The team also addressed the financial and legal considerations of their recommendation, concluding that its financial effects would be negative but could be addressed through fundraising actions, while the legal considerations reinforced the appropriateness of their recommendation.

Ethics Case Competition

The Clemson team had a strong oral audio-visual presentation and deftly handled the Q&A from a team of judges, earning the runner-up spot in their division. Professor Radtke commented “Ashley and Hannah put a lot of work into this ethics case competition, which was a little different from previous years, in that the issue was extremely complex. Their division runner-up spot was well deserved based on an excellent game day presentation!” Fugate noted that the competition helped her learn “how to step out of my comfort zone and deep dive into an unfamiliar topic. With its complexities this project was unlike anything I had tackled so far in my time at Clemson. I was able to grow as a student and am grateful for the opportunity.”  McCord commented “I learned a lot and it was a great opportunity to be involved with the Wilbur O and Ann Powers College of Business outside of regular classwork. It was an honor to represent Clemson in the competition!”