COURSE NUMBER: MBA292T.1
This course is cross-listed
with the EWMBA 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): None
CLASS FORMAT:
Mixture of lectures, readings, speakers.
REQUIRED READINGS: Readings will
be posted on B Space.
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Mixture of
papers, projects and class participation.
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.