Harvard Business School case studies to include more women

Academe, May/Jun 1998 by Long, Cynthia D

RECOGNIZING THE CHANGING landscape of the late-1990s workplace, the Harvard Business School will focus more of its case studies on women executives who have climbed to the top rungs of senior management.

The new case-study initiative was prompted by the Committee of 200, an association of the country's preeminent female business leaders, whose goal is to promote the role of women in business. Businesswomen have tended to remain on the periphery of higher education, says the committee, serving mostly as guest lecturers or visiting professors. The group wants to change that by influencing the curriculum-not only at Harvard Business School but also at the many other business schools around the world that use Harvard's vaunted case studies.

Dean Kim B. Clark of the Harvard Business School has welcomed the committee's efforts. "As pioneers in the use of the case method of instruction and as the world's leading producer and distributor of cases, we are well positioned to make significant additions to the number of business cases that feature businesswomen in leadership roles," says Clark. "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 insight into their careers and companies."

Research and course development for the case-study initiative will be coordinated by Myra M. Hart, an assistant professor of entrepreneurial management at Harvard and one of the founding officers of the Staples office supply chain. According to Hart, at least six case studies will be in the curriculum next fall. Hart emphasizes that the cases will involve women but will focus on business decision making. One case study will explore choices in international expansion, another will revolve around questions of productline expansion, and yet another will focus on operating in a regulated environment. "The protagonists are all women, but the issues are all business," says Hart.