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New Initiative at Harvard Business School to Focus on Women in Business

BOSTON -- A groundbreaking initiative that will highlight the leadership role women play in businesses and workplaces around the globe has been announced by Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Committee of 200 (C200), a national organization of women business executives. The initiative represents an important collaboration between HBS and an association comprised of the country's preeminent women business leaders. Their goal is to develop a growing number of HBS cases focusing on important management issues involving women business leaders.

The initiative was made possible by the generosity of Marjorie Alfus, a highly successful businesswoman, lawyer, and longtime member of the C200. "The Marjorie Alfus/Committee of 200 Fund at Harvard Business School" was formally announced at the Committee's fifteenth anniversary dinner in Chicago on October 24.

According to the terms of the initiative, as Harvard Business School faculty members continue to identify topics of interest for new cases as part of their research and course development agenda, the Committee of 200 will work with them to help find organizations whose women business executives might serve as suitable case subjects. The C200 will also participate with HBS professors and students in programs to encourage women to pursue leadership careers in management.

Harvard Business School Dean Kim B. Clark praised Ms. Alfus as "a catalyst for a project that will be of great significance in the world of management education. Our faculty is committed to making it a great success," he said.

"As pioneers in the use of the case method of instruction and as the world's leading producer and distributor of cases," Dean Clark continued, "we are well positioned to make significant additions to the number of business cases that feature businesswomen in leadership roles. We are delighted that the Committee of 200 will help us identify women who are key decision makers and encourage them to cooperate in the development of cases that provide insights into their careers and companies."

Ms. Alfus will be closely involved with the initiative as chairwoman of an advisory council consisting of C200 members who have agreed to participate in both the case development effort and other activities designed to prepare women for leadership positions in business.

The research and course development for this initiative will be coordinated for the Business School's Division of Research by Myra M. Hart, a member of the HBS faculty. After earning her MBA at the School, Hart was one of four founding officers of Staples, where she participated in raising venture capital and served as the company's first vice president of operations. As group vice president of growth and development from 1987 to 1990, Hart was responsible for identifying and overseeing Staples' geographic and business expansion during its early growth years. She returned to HBS and earned her doctorate in 1995 and joined the School's Entrepreneurial Management Unit.

The case method has been Harvard Business School's primary form of instruction for decades. An interactive approach to learning that combines both analysis and action, it requires students to exercise judgment and make decisions regarding the actual management situations described in the case. Each year the HBS faculty develops more than 700 new cases and other teaching materials. Approximately 7,500 titles are available in the School's collection, which is also used by other schools and organizations.

The Committee of 200 was founded in 1982 to support and promote the growing role of women in business and to facilitate the exchange of ideas among preeminent businesswomen on critical issues in business and industry. It defines its mission as "exemplifying and promoting entrepreneurship and corporate leadership among women of this generation and the next." The organization is headquartered in Chicago.

Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School is dedicated to research, teaching, and course development in general management. With a faculty of nearly 200, it offers an MBA program as well as three doctoral programs and more than 30 offerings in executive education. It has 66,000 alumni worldwide.