Assignment 3: Ethics and Sustainability Case

COMM 105: Values, Ethics, and Community

Purpose:

A core element of business is the practice of analyzing a problem, understanding its root causes through application of key concepts and frameworks, and making well-supported recommendations on how to solve the problem. Case studies are useful in simulating real business situations and providing you with opportunities to practise what you have learned.

This assignment is a closed case (i.e. no additional research permitted beyond what is provided to you) that will require you to step into a decision maker’s role in analyzing a real-life business story with complex ethical, social, environmental, and economic considerations.

Learn in g Objectives:

Take an ethical and responsible approach to business to identify inherent opportunities and risks in a complex scenario. Take a long-term view in framing business analysis and decision-making.

Guidelines:

This assignment is due Tuesday, October 22 at 10pm Pacific Time. It is worth 25% of your overall course grade in COMM 105.

Submit on Canvas through the assignment dropbox. Convert your documents to PDF and combine all parts into a single PDF file for upload. Multiple files will not be accepted.

Use single-spaced 11-point Arial font, 1-inch (2.54cm) page margins, and 8.5x11 inch pages (except for your appendices, which may be 9-point font or larger). Ensure your assignment is easy to read. Use section headers to organize your assignment. Write “(course concept)” after any course concept or framework that you reference in your work.

File naming convention: Last5NumbersOfStudent#-Sec#-AssignmentName.pdf (e.g. 12345-Sec101-EthicsAndSustainabilityCase.pdf).

This is an individual assignment. UBC policies regarding academic integrity and plagiarism apply. You may not work on this project with others.

AI is not permitted for this assignment. You may not use ChatGPT or other large language  models for this assignment. The use of artificial intelligence tools will be considered cheating;  see 3.b(iv) of the Vancouver Academic Calendar. Please keep all drafts and notes in case you are asked to demonstrate that you created this assignment without the use of AI.

Assignment components:

●    Page 1: Cover Page

●    Pages 2-4: Case Write-Up

●    Page 5: Appendix

●    Page 6+: References List

Instructions:

Page 1: Cover Page

Include the assignment title, your COMM 105 section number, and the last five digits of your student number. We will be uploading assignments to Turnitin, so to protect your privacy, please do not include your name or full student number anywhere in your assignment.

Page 2-4: Case Write-Up (2.5 pages maximum)

This assignment has a website containing all of the information and materials you require to complete this assignment. To access it, click on “Ethics and Sustainability Case Website” on Canvas in the course navigation. Make a recommendation based on this case question:

Your task is to take on the role ofa Responsible Investment Analyst at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in 2019, faced with the decision of whether or not CIBC should invest in LNG Canada according to its principles of environmentally and socially responsible action. You must make a recommendation: either invest in the project, or do not invest.

●   Assume the financial prospects of the investment (e.g. credit rating and risk-return ratio) are comparable to other profitable investment opportunities available to CIBC in BC.

●   Assume that other possible projects that CIBC might invest in would have complex social and environmental issues, just like the issues described in this case. In other words, the opportunity cost of this investment would be another project that has its own benefits, drawbacks, risks, and tensions just like the potential LNG Canada investment.

●   Your recommendation to either invest or not invest must be based on analysis of the situation based on the information provided on the case website, and supported by the tools and concepts covered so far in COMM 105, especially those on business ethics, sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, and values-based decision making.

To build a rational and persuasive argument for a chosen recommendation, your case analysis will use the IAR (Issues – Analysis – Recommendations) framework of case methodology:

●    Issues (aim for ½ page): Clearly identify 3-4 key issue(s) facing CIBC, the decision

maker, in the case. Give each issue a short name or title, and give each issue a short 2-3 sentence description that justifies why you have selected the issue as a priority in this case. Your issues will likely be under the three broad categories of environmental, social & Indigenous, and economic. The old adage, “stating the right problem takes you more than half way towards the right solution,” applies to case analysis. Remember that these issues should be related to whether CIBC should invest in LNG Canada.

●   Analysis (aim for 1 ½ pages): To support your decision of whether or not CIBC should invest in LNG Canada, apply analytical tools, frameworks, and concepts from the course. Structure your analysis in three categories of Environmental, Social & Indigenous, and Economic. Like any investment, this project has benefits and clear drawbacks, and a strong analysis will consider the pros and cons of the LNG Canada investment.  While your analysis will likely go beyond a discussion of the 3-4 issues you identified, ensure that you emphasize your issues (as you have already justified why they are the important to consider when investing in the project). Making unfounded assumptions or giving your  opinion are not sufficient; focus on evidence-based analysis.

●    Recommendation (aim for ½ page): Based on your analysis, choose either to invest or to not invest, and briefly summarize why this would best address your 3-4 issues. 

The page limits for each of the Issues, Analysis, and Recommendations sections are guidelines, not requirements, but you must not exceed 2.5 pages total for your case write-up.

Write this section in the third-person narrative voice, not in the first- or second-person narrative. Even though you will provide your own analysis, it is standard business practice to write in an impersonal voice. For example, instead of “ I think the company should …”, write “The company  should …”. Instead of “My analysis shows …”, write, “The analysis shows …”

Page 5: Appendix

You have up to one page to include exhibits, diagrams, or charts to support your analysis. This would likely include your application of frameworks, concepts, or tools from class. Diagrams or charts should only appear in your appendix, and not in your case write-up. Appendices should be labelled and titled, e.g. “Appendix A: Managing for Stakeholders Analysis” . Appendices must be referenced in the body of the memo, e.g. “see Appendix A for a full Managing for Stakeholders  analysis”). Do not add a page of random graphics that is not mentioned in your case write-up.

It is helpful to demonstrate how you have used the framework as part of your analysis. For example, instead of including an image of the Managing for Stakeholders diagram, outline the important stakeholders for the case and why they are relevant. Only include items in your appendix if they add value to your analysis and recommendations. The appendix must be a useful tool for the reader; it is not a “scrap bin” for information you could not fit in the body of your assignment.

Page 6+: References List

This assignment is a closed case and does not allow outside research. You can only use details that are included directly on the case website; do not click on the hyperlinked resources. You cannot use your own personal knowledge as part of your analysis. You are not permitted to reference external images, ideas, or analytical tools that have not been discussed in COMM 105. However, some situations may require citations and references:

●   You are directly quoting from the course website (i.e. facts and statistics do not need to be cited, but quotes of phrases or full sentences do, to identify that these phrases or sentences are not your own words). If you quote something from an outside source that is referenced on the case website, cite the outside source, and not the case website.

●    Format all in-text citations and references using APA style, 7th edition  .

●   APA-style. formatting for the case website in-text citation: (“LNG Canada Case”, 2024)

●   APA-style. formatting for the case website reference:

LNG Canada Case. (2024). Canvas@UBC. https://canvas.ubc.ca

●   Course concepts (e.g. from prep materials, video lectures, or lecture slides) do not need  an APA citation or reference as long as you are not directly quoting from these materials. However, you must write “(course concept)” after each course concept that you reference in your work. For example, “Based on the Managing for Stakeholders framework (course concept), it’s clear that …“

There is no limit to the number of pages of your References List. If you do not directly quote the case website, you do not need to include a References List.

It is your responsibility to learn how to use the APA format. Assignments that are inadequately referenced (either lacking detail or using improper format) may be returned for correction and  will be subject to penalties, including possible academic misconduct investigations.

Grading (25% of course grade):

Each of the Criteria will be graded using the following scale:

It is your responsibility to provide enough time for your submission to be uploaded on time, and  to ensure that you have uploaded the correct file to the Canvas assignment page. Review the COMM 105 course syllabus on Canvas for a reminder of the late assignment submission policy.

Assignment Tips:

There is no one, single “correct” answer to this case. We are interested in your framing of the issues, choice of information, analysis, connection to course concepts, rationale, and recommendations. Given the complexity of the issues in this case, the recommendation either to invest or to not invest can both score well if argued persuasively using course concepts, facts from the case, and logical argumentation.

Linkage of concepts or frameworks used to their application is imperative for a top grade. Saying you would “analyze the ethical issues” or “do a stakeholder analysis” is not specific enough to be useful. Mentioning a concept or framework is not the point; your objective is to gain insights by demonstrating the correct application of an appropriate concept or framework.

It is important to be specific. Case memos that use concrete, specific facts from the case website demonstrate a more detailed and nuanced argument. While you can assume that your reader is familiar with the case, do not assume that they have memorized all of the case facts;  rather, your use of relevant case facts adds evidence to your argument.

Some discussion questions to help you start framing your analysis of this situation:

●   What are the triple-bottom-line (environmental, social and economic) impacts of the LNG Canada project?

●   What ethical factors need to be considered when making this investment decision?

●    Does investment in this project fit with CIBC’s Responsible Banking guidelines?

Note: Do not simply answer these discussion questions in your paper; rather, use your answers to guide your analysis and think about alternatives and recommendations in an integrated way.

Remember, this case is set in 2019, not the present day. Details about LNG Canada later than 2019 are not relevant. Do not use external research in this assignment. References to facts that are not included on the case website will significantly impact your score

We have not provided an exemplar for this assignment, as we are interested in your own independent thought. However, you can check Canvas for a sample case template document.

The case will be discussed in class after the submission deadline. You are encouraged to have your notes handy (and even a copy of your case submission) to allow you to contribute fully in these discussions.