COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA292T.1

This course is cross-listed with the Full Time MBA Program

COURSE TITLE: Women In Business

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

INSTRUCTORS: Kellie McElhaney

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: kmack@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Thursdays 6:00-8:00PM

PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA Core Curriculum

CLASS FORMAT:

REQUIRED READINGS:

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

Women play multiple powerful roles in today’s business world, including acting as consumers, employees, potential employees, managers, leaders, directors, investors, and investees.   Women occupy the majority voice in some of these roles and the minority voice in others of these roles.  Smart companies understand that it does make good business sense to ignore or exclude half of the population, as “women hold up half the sky.”  Smarter companies are investing heavily in the global development of women, like Nike, Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Coca-Cola and Gap, Inc.  Goldman Sachs has even coined the term “womenomics” to describe the increasingly high ROI of investing in women at all levels of business.  

Given the severity of challenges confronting our global society, we can no longer afford to leave half our brains or half our resources on the sidelines. To use a sailing analogy, we need all hands on deck.  Three main areas will be explored in this course:  cases in which businesses are investing in women as part of their business strategy; the business and societal impact of increasing women’s roles in business at all levels; and enabling women to use their voice as a powerful tool to enhance business and societal ROI.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Kellie McElhaney is the John C. Whitehead Adjunct Professor and the Faculty Director of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. In her six years at Haas, the Center has received global critical acclaim. The Financial Times rated Haas number one in the world in January 2008. Kellie was named a Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute in 2005. Her research focus is in three areas: (1) Analyzing and developing companies’ CSR strategy and its alignment with corporate strategy, business objectives, core competencies, and business value; (2) Exploring the linkage between diversity and CSR and using CSR as a hook to re-engage women with business as employees, consumers, and investors; (3) The business value and opportunities in branding, communication and CSR, a topic on which she has a new book entitled Just Good Business The Strategic Guide to Corporate Responsibility and Brand. Kellie consults to several Global 1000 companies in developing integrated CSR strategy. Her client list includes HP, Gap, eBay, McDonalds, Ernst & Young, NVIDIA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kimberly-Clark, Nokia (Finland), Navigant, Volunteer Match, Ford Motor Company, Bernard Hodes Group (Great Britain), PG&E, Driscolls Berries, Triage Consulting Group, Ulster Bank (Ireland), StatoilHydro (Norway) and PG&E. She is a highly engaging and motivational public speaker in the area of CSR, and has keynoted at major conferences, leadership summits, and corporate events all over the world.