As a market, women represent an opportunity bigger than China and India combined. They control $20 trillion in consumer spending, and that figure could reach $28 trillion in the next five years. Women drive the world economy, in fact. Yet most companies do a remarkably poor job of serving them, a new study by the Boston Consulting Group reveals. BCG surveyed more than 12,000 women from a variety of geographies, income levels, and walks of life ab...

Supplements the (A) case.

In response to dismissal of a newly hired administrative assistant, all 10 of this company's executive assistants have vacated their posts and demanded that the plant's manager reverse the young woman's discharge. Otherwise, the 10 women have threatened to walk out in order to air their protest on a national news program.

Designed to be used with Precista Tools AG (A) and (B) in one class period.

A female expatriate manager working for a large multinational financial institution must contend with gender discrimination. She had been offered a promotion and the choice of two positions. When she made her decision and informed her boss, he told her that she could not have the job she chose because it would mean periodic travel into Saudi Arabia, which, he believed, would not be possible for a woman.

Instead of embarking on an odyssey for the perfect mentor, individuals should pursue a strategy of building a network of developmental relationships. In this note, we explore the process by which such a network can be established and cultivated: 1) What functions can developmental relationships serve? 2) How are these relationships formed and maintained? 3) With whom in an organization can an individual establish such relationships? and 4) What a...

Supplements the (A) case.

Eighteen months after launching Nickelodeon Latin America, general manager Taran Swan must leave the company's Miami headquarters for her New York home because of complications with her pregnancy. Unable to travel for at least the next six months, Swan must decide how she will continue to run the channel from New York. Should she put an interim acting head in place, and if so, who among her team should it be? What adjustments will she need to mak...

Supplements the (A) case.

Although women have made enormous gains in the business world--they hold seats on corporate boards and run major companies--they still comprise only 10% of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies. What will it take to shatter the glass ceiling? According to Debra Meyerson and Joyce Fletcher, it's not a revolution but a strategy of small wins--a series of incremental changes aimed at the subtle discriminatory forces that still reside in organizat...