The Business of Being Ethical: Do Something Good
The Business Integrity Leadership Initiative at the Sam M. Walton College of Business
encourages business students at all levels to incorporate ethics and integrity into
their workday and career. From speaking up when seeing something wrong to understanding
how algorithms can influence online outcomes, ethics are an ever-growing focus for
the business world.
For the fall 2021 semester, Cindy Moehring, founder and executive chair of the Business Integrity Leadership Initiative, and Adam Stoverink, director of MBA Programs at Walton College, challenged the Walton MBA Class of 2022 to “do something good”
for the Walton MBA Ethics Project, which called for teams to integrate ethical principles
into strategic decision-making. Student teams met the challenge head on.
Ten student teams were formed. Each team of four to five students was then given $1,000
seed money thanks to a generous donor.
“The whole point of the project is to think of something good to do and then go do
it,” Moehring said. “I want students to experience bringing their ‘do good’ idea to
life on their own with all of the strategic and operational successes and challenges
that come with that along the way.”
“Once students graduate and enter the business world, they will face ethical dilemmas
regardless of their major in school,” Moehring said. “I want them to be prepared to
handle those dilemmas and make wise, proactive business decisions that are good for
the bottom line and good for society. Part of the initiative’s mission is to bring
the business community and Walton College closer together. This project does that
because each of the MBA student teams were mentored by one of the Initiative’s external
advisory board members.”
The ethics project has been incorporated into Business Leaderships & Ethics course
taught by Stoverink.
“Throughout the semester, students learned several important lessons, but two of these
lessons rise to the top,” Stoverink said. “One is experiencing first-hand the positive
impact that business leaders can, and should, have on society. And second is the challenge
of navigating a variety of tough decisions, some of which will have significant moral
and ethical considerations. At the end of the semester, the teams presented their
projects to a panel of judges who are Walton MBA alumni, faculty and corporate leaders
in Northwest Arkansas.”
Finalist Montay: Good. Intentional. Coffee.
The concept for the winning team, Montay Coffee, was inspired by team member Samuel Skeirik’s personal relationships to Haiti and
the Haitian coffee industry. Research found that Haitian coffee exports decreased
by more than $120 million from 1989 to 2021. The team wanted to maximize impact and
found they could do this by focusing on trading with Haitian farmers, making them
more competitive in the global economy.
To source their beans, the MBA team of Samuel Skeirik, Peyton Boxberger, Cornelia Swardh and Anna Snodgrass, along with Samuel’s wife Bridgett who served as a consultant, worked with Avanti
Coffee Co., a direct trade coffee company in Haiti. Bridgett previously worked as
a missionary in Haiti and is an expert in Haitian language and culture. Locally, the
Montay Coffee team works with Basecamp Coffee Company in northeast Fayetteville, which uses Montay beans for its guest roast.
Since starting the company, Montay Coffee has had an 11-12% return on investment and
approximately a $10,000 economic impact. The potential in Haiti is upwards to $700
million for the coffee industry based on its unique elevation.
The team’s main goal is to raise awareness about Haitian coffee and encourage others
to buy Haitian coffee. When you buy Montay Coffee, you help coffee farmers in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic escape poverty and become financially independent. Montay
runs a lean operation to drive profits back to farmers and into Haiti’s economy.
Samuel Skeirik credits Walton College, the MBA Program and the Business Integrity
Leadership Initiative for the success of the company.
“Walton College gave us the resources to make a CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry
start-up successful in six months,” Skeirik said.
While the project was a success during the year, it continued to have an impact after
the project had concluded. Three members of the team – Boxberger, Swardh and Snodgrass
– have opted to keep the company going, along with Bridgett Skeirik. Samuel opted
out of the company to avoid any conflict of interest with his employer.
“What a proud professor moment! A coffee company that started from a project in my
class just hit the shelves of 11 Walmart stores in Northwest Arkansas,” Stoverink
said.
Coffee aficionados may purchase Montay Coffee beans at these Walmart stores in Northwest Arkansas:
- Bentonville (1703 E Central Ave)
- Bentonville (906 SW Regional Airport Blvd)
- Bentonville (406 S Walton Blvd)
- Fayetteville (2875 MLK)
- Fort Smith (2425 S Zero St)
- Fort Smith (8301 Rogers Ave)
- Fort Smith (8600 US Hwy 71 S)
- Rogers (2110 W Walnut St)
- Siloam Springs (2901 Hwy 412 E)
- Springdale (4870 Elm Springs)
- Springdale (4900 Jennifer Terrace)
You can also stop by Basecamp Coffee Company in Fayetteville (2850 N College Ave.) and ask for their guest blend.
Let’s Talk Fall 2022
The Let’s Talk program, produced by the Walton College Business Integrity Leadership Initiative, consists
of a speaker series and a book. The fall 2022 program is focusing on speaking up when
something seems wrong and how to create a workplace culture that encourages it. Guest
speakers include author and retired professor Mary C. Gentile, Ph.D., Enron whistleblower
Sherron Watkins and Theranos’ whistleblower Erika Cheung.
Walton College students, faculty, staff and the public may attend speaker sessions
online and/or in person.
Learn more about speaking up when things seem wrong in the workplace by registering for the fall Let’s Talk program.
[Julie Storing, associate MBA director, and Mackenzie Brown, a junior majoring in
marketing at Walton College, contributed to this article.]
