C200: Top Female Executives Make Case for Women in Business

It's the ultimate old boys' club: an exclusive group open only to corporate executives controlling $50 million in annual revenue or entrepeneurs whose businesses take in $10 million a year.

But this is an old boys club without the boys: the Chicago-based Committee of 200 is open only to women.

Once just a networking organization, the group, which now boasts 380 members, has become a powerful lobby for women in business and recently made headlines after engineering a new $1 million initiative at Harvard Business School (HBS).

C200's initiative will sponsor the creation of case studies featuring women.

Marjorie Alfus, a former K-Mart executive and the C200 member spearheading the project, hopes to have the first case study ready next fall, and over 100 in circulation within five years.

Case studies are in-depth looks at real-life business problems. Using the information provided, HBS students discuss the solutions they would pursue in such situations.

Because they form the basis of HBS classroom instruction, changes in case studies can significantly affect the way graduates approach business relationships.

Harvard's case studies are also used elsewhere in industry and academia, and C200 believes the new cases will influence students both in Boston and worldwide.

"Harvard cases are used quite extensively...around the world," said Michelle Hooper, a former chair of the organization. "The [new cases] will have a tremendous impact."

The Evolution of an Organization

For most of its 15-year existence, the Committee of 200 (C200) has worked quietly behind the scenes, sponsoring conferences and dinners for female executives. The organization served as a support organization for women in business. According to C200's current president, Anna Lloyd, members could "talk to each other and share ideas and business tips."

In recent years the group has expanded its mission.

As Michelle Hooper explained, more focus is now directed to "giving back in a more permanent way."

"There was a very strong view on the part of C200 that it was time for us to move outward in our ability to share the success of the women who are members," said Susan W. Bird, a member of the C200 executive board and a former president of the organization.

The group began by initiating a series of conferences on women in business for students of all ages. Schools such as Columbia University and the Wharton School have hosted the C200 conferences. The fifth annual Columbia conference will be held this month.

The group held their first conference at the Harvard Business School on January 17, titled "Shattering the Glass." The conferences have become so popular a limit was placed on the number of participants.

Alfus was determined to extend the group's success beyond the conferences.

"The response to the seminars was so dramatic [that] we felt compelled to go one step beyond [them]," she said.

The group considered endowing a professorial chair, but rejected the idea because it would primarily fund research pursuits.

Instead, the women decided to donate not just their money but their business experience. In its current incarnation, the Marjorie Alfus/Committee of 200 Initiative supports the development of case studies for use in HBS classrooms.

"We felt we would have much more impact in an area that we ourselves are so importantly involved in: our members themselves represent the composite of women business leaders in different industries," Alfus said.

The group strongly considered launching the program at Columbia, explained Judy R. Herbercorn, a C200 executive who is also on the Harvard Business School (HBS) Board of Trustees.

"Then I rattled a few cages at Harvard. Harvard offered to match the gift," Herbercorn said. "The rest is history."

Alfus and C200 each gave $250,000 and HBS matched the donation with a $500,000 contribution.

Each case study costs approximately $25,000, due to research, labor and publication costs.

But C200's donation involves more than money; its involvement allows HBS access to its members and their business experience, members say. Many of the cases will likely be written about C200 members.

"Since their members do comprise many of the most important business-women in the country the access is as important as the money," said Myra M. Hart, an assistant professor at HBS and coordinator of the Marjorie Alfus/C200 initiative.

Hart, who graduated from HBS in 1981, says that she hopes the case studies will provide a set of "positive role models for both the women and men to look at."

The fact that a case study includes female protagonists might be noted in a case catalogue so that teachers or companies could deliberately select examples with female representation, according to Bird.

C200 hopes that greater representation of women in HBS case studies will encourage more women to enroll in business schools. Currently, business schools lag far behind other types of professional schools in gender equality.

Presenting Women's Choices

In 1970, seven years after women were first admitted to HBS's three-year MBA program, four percent of the graduating class was female.

Twenty-eight years later, the percentage is only 24 percent in the graduating class of 1998. The percentage has hovered in the 20-30 percent range since 1979.

More women attend graduate programs in law and medicine, with 45 and 40 percent of the Harvard classes graduating from each school respectively.

Jennifer Gilbert, who graduated from HBS in 1993, is now president of the Boston Network of HBS Women Alumnae, as well as the owner and president of De Havilland Fine Art Gallery and Publishing Company.

According to Gilbert, attracting women to MBA programs can be a challenge.

"One of the most compelling arguments I've heard is that business schools take students when they're older," Gilbert says. "Women start to make decisions in their lives and their professions that make their schedules less flexible."

Gilbert cited marriage and families as frequent deterrents to women's career advancement.

"The opportunity costs for women tend to be greater than for men," says Martha Achenbaum, assistant director of admissions at HBS.

"[Women] end up having to make those choices between when they're going to go to business school and when they're going to have a family," Achenbaum says. She added that men are less reluctant to attend business school while raising a family.

Achenbaum also says that informing women of the preparation they will need to gain admission to business schools while they are still in college could lead to larger applicant pools.

Women also have preconceptions that business schools lead only to certain professions--such as accounting or investment banking--but in reality they prepare students to lead any organization, she says.

"Women may not fully understand how valuable an MBA degree can be in reaching their career goals," Achenbaum says.

Along with nine other business schools, HBS has developed a program, called Women in Business Forums, that aim "to send a message that a business degree is very broad and is the kind of degree that can be very useful to anyone wanting to make an impact on an organization," according to Achenbaum.

Business schools recruit students from among working professionals, rather than other professional programs which recruit directly from colleges. Since their potential students are dispersed through companies and communities, business school admissions offices face a particular challenge in recruiting, Gilbert says.

Both the HBS Admissions Office and the Boston Network have focused some recruitment efforts on women.

"With the admissions office we cosponsored an event here in Boston that was part of a pilot program," Gilbert says.

Any and all women interested in HBS were invited to attend a panel discussion on the school, its opportunities, and the trials it presents to students and women in particular, she says.

The Aldus/C200 case study initiative probably will not attract women applicants, but may change the atmosphere at HBS, according to Achenbaum.

"All I know is that it will definitely have an impact on the learning in the classrooms," she says. "I can't say that it's going to directly affect the number of women that apply to the school."

Professional Myths

Organizers of the reception and other recruiting strategies say they are trying to dispel myths about HBS, which is often seen as a hostile and difficult place for women to study.

In fact, the HBS Women's Student Association (WSA) includes 95 percent of female students, and 85 percent of men, according to co-chair Julia A. Clarkson.

Their mission is "to ensure that women succeed at HBS and beyond" through ten committees that sponsor a variety of activities and support programs for women.

According to Gilbert, potential students often have the impression that the intensity of the Business School's academic program inhibits women's success.

But she says it is very difficult to flunk out, despite the competition and ranking system, which grades on a forced curve.

In addition, Gilbert says there is actually a good sense of camaraderie between the sexes at HBS.

Gilbert, who worked in the art community before returning to school, says she was "reeling at the investment bankers" who came to HBS prepped for the fast-paced case study method. But the same men who were intimidating at first helped Gilbert and her female colleagues in one of their first-year classes.

"These guys every day before class helped me understand the concepts of each case," Gilbert says. "They would walk [several female students] through just the very basic steps of evaluating a company."

"These supposedly cutthroat bankers reached out and helped me," she says.

New Cases: A Rationale

C200 members display diverse opinions on the relation of gender and business.

Some committee members emphasized that it is impossible to generalize about how men and women behave in business environments. But they admitted that there are some differences between the way men and women handle certain office situations.

"I think women tend to be very thoughtful, and are perhaps a little more reluctant to make decisions without consensus, but I think it's very difficult to generalize," Alfus said.

Lloyd agreed that women tend to be more committed to team play.

"I think women generally--not specifically and not uniquely--have an interest in having the entire team be a winner, not just the team leader," she said.

But other C200 members felt more comfortable generalizing about their observations.

Nancy Peterson, president of the Peterson Tool Company, said that men and women approach business problems in totally different ways.

"I think men and women face problems differently no matter what they are--personal problems, social problems, or anything else," Peterson said. "The male and the female are definitely different animals."

Valerie B. Salembier, publisher of Esquire, agreed.

"Let's face it: men and women approach [business] problems differently," she said.

But Marles Casto, who founded Casto Travel after immigrating from the Phillippines 30 years ago, said that she did not think there was any real difference between the way men and women deal with business concerns.

"[Business] is just business," she said. "You make business decisions based on that."

Members of the committee said that changing the names of male protagonists in existing case studies instead of rewriting the cases to include more women would be simply inadequate.

"If you simply change the names, all you're really doing is trying to promote, in a very obvious way, a female leader and director," said Anna Lloyd, the president of C200.

But this would not achieve any of C200's real goals.

"We're trying to promote and teach some nuance as it relates to the actual differences in company management and operation," she said.

Other Kinds of Cases

Members of C200 were also divided in their opinions on whether the business school should write new case studies to increase the representation of ethnic and racial minorities or homosexuals.

"I'm not clear in my own mind that sexual orientation or ethnic background has as much to do with the success of a business as raw intellect and brilliance," Lloyd said.

"I think there are needs to emphasize those sorts of characteristics in other times and in other places," Lloyd added.

Hooper, on the other hand, said, as a black woman, she thought it would be useful for minorities to be more represented.

Several other C200 women agreed, saying that like women, these minorities faced special challenges and approached business problems with different perspectives.

Bridging the Generations

The broadening curriculum at the businessschool will draw more minorities to HBS andseveral of its admissions programs are tailoredattract a more diverse student body, Achenbaumsays.

These efforts match the more visiblecontributions of alums, as more female graduateswork to help the next generation of executives.

While the Boston Network reaches out topotential HBS applicants, it also holds events,both instructional and social, for its members.For example, women with special expertise intechnology have held internet training sessionsfor their fellow alumnae.

Says Hart, there is a conscious effort amongwomen in business "to reach out to the nextgeneration of women and create a more positiveimage...to make business a choice."CrimsonRoss J. FleishmanJULIA A. CLARKSON and MARLA A.MALCOLM-NAGLER are members of the BusinessSchool's Women's Student Association.

Bridging the Generations

The broadening curriculum at the businessschool will draw more minorities to HBS andseveral of its admissions programs are tailoredattract a more diverse student body, Achenbaumsays.

These efforts match the more visiblecontributions of alums, as more female graduateswork to help the next generation of executives.

While the Boston Network reaches out topotential HBS applicants, it also holds events,both instructional and social, for its members.For example, women with special expertise intechnology have held internet training sessionsfor their fellow alumnae.

Says Hart, there is a conscious effort amongwomen in business "to reach out to the nextgeneration of women and create a more positiveimage...to make business a choice."CrimsonRoss J. FleishmanJULIA A. CLARKSON and MARLA A.MALCOLM-NAGLER are members of the BusinessSchool's Women's Student Association.