Is SBCC on a roll or what?

This weekend in San Diego, four Santa Barbara City College students won first place in their division and received an additional runner-up award in a second 10 minute competition for their creative take on “Marketing Google Glass.” Coached by Philosophy professors Marc Bobro and Manny Raya, the team of Spencer Moore, Tyler Rhodes, Rory Fearon and Luke Ramirez performed at what was described as a “graduate school level.” The SBCC team performed so well that a former New York State Supreme Court Justice noted that it was one of the best performances she had seen at such an event.

The 2013 International Business Ethics Case Competition (IBECC) is the oldest and most-recognized business ethics competition of its kind. 
This year’s IBECC had 26 teams with undergraduate and graduate teams competing in separate divisions. The international field this year consisted of teams from the USA, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, Spain, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

The IBECC is designed for teams of 3-5 students to participate in a variety of competitions ranging from 20-to-30 minute presentations followed by Q&A, 10-minute presentations and 90-second presentations, all of which are judged by practicing ethics and compliance professionals. In these competitions each team is asked to select a topic from any area of business ethics and to describe both a problem and a proposed solution. The winning SBCC team presented “Marketing Google Glass.”

The team presentation analyzed the marketing, financial and moral aspects involved in marketing Google Glass. The SBCC team argued that Google Glass is a morally neutral object. Based on the society we live in, the moral issues that arise are the result of the use of the product by autonomous individuals. The team argued that analogous to a video camera, the intrinsic features of Glass are intended for human sociability and that the moral issues that do arise from the misuse of Glass, like the misuse of a camera, ultimately fall on the individual misusing the product. Since Google has taken preventative measures to ensure their product is not misused, those individuals who void such preventative measures demonstrate that such individuals deserve the moral culpability for such misuse and not Google.

For more information about this competition please contact either Marc Bobro (Bobro@sbcc.edu), Manny Raya (meraya1902@gmail.com), Joe White (White@sbcc.edu.) or contact the Department of Philosophy 805-965-0581 #2476.