The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with 81 offices in 45 countries.
It is one of the Big Three management consulting firms.
The firm advises clients in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors around the world,
including more than two-thirds of the Fortune 500.
Considered one of the most prestigious management consulting firms, BCG was ranked third in
Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2014.
History The company was founded by Bruce D. Henderson,
a Vanderbilt University and Harvard Business School alumnus.
After many years in the purchasing department of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, he joined Arthur
D. Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He was then recruited by The Boston Company, where he founded a one-man, one-telephone
consulting unit he named Boston Consulting Group.
In 1975, Henderson arranged an employee stock ownership plan, and employees took the company
independent from The Boston Company.
The buyout of all shares was completed in 1979.
In January 2013, Rich Lesser became the sixth president and chief executive officer of BCG.
Clients BCG serves as an adviser to many businesses,
governments, and institutions.
Some recent BCG clients include Google, IBM, Aetna, Pfizer, American Airlines, Ford Motor
Company, Tata Group, Harvard School of Public Health, Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association, Russian Ministry of Energy, Government of Canada, United States Agency for International
Development, and European Union Phare Programme, according to the 2009 publication by Wetfeet
on the company.
Awards and Recognitions Fortune Magazine ranked BCG second in its
2011- 2012 lists of the "top 100 best companies to work for".
The 2013 rankings by Fortune listed BCG as the fourth "best company to work for."
and in 2014 BCG ranked third.
BCG has also been listed in Consulting Magazine's "Best Firms to Work For" list every year since
2001, received a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index formulated by the Human Rights
Campaign for the past six years, and been rated by Working Mother magazine as one of
the "best companies" for working mothers for the past six years.
Recruitment BCG is a top employer of recent graduates
from Harvard Business School, HEC Paris, INSEAD, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge
University, London School of Economics, Oxford University, Stanford Business School, London
Business School, and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The firm also attracts a number of Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars.
BCG typically hires for Associate or Consultant positions, with occasional so-called "lateral
hires" opportunities as Project Leader, Principal or Partner.
In the United States, BCG recruits undergraduates to join as Associates.
Top-performing Associates receive sponsorship to pursue an MBA, returning to BCG upon completion.
Some Associates advance to Consultant and beyond without obtaining an MBA, but the vast
majority of Associates attend business school.
A few complete JDs, MD and other graduate degrees at various institutions.
BCG also makes large efforts to hire advanced non-business degree holders.
Graduates holding J.D.s, M.D.s and Ph.D.s in disciplines like engineering, science,
and liberal arts receive training in business fundamentals and then typically join the firm
as Consultants although this varies between different geographies.
There is also an opportunity to join as a Summer Associate or Summer Consultant position
for 10 weeks, which for many interns will result in an offer of a full-time position.
BCG's recruiting process is notoriously demanding, typically taking candidates through multiple
rounds of case- and experience- based interviews.
In 2013, career review site Glassdoor ranked BCG as the 3rd most difficult company to interview
with.
Like most consulting firms, BCG uses a modified version of the Cravath System, also known
as "up or out".
Developed Concepts "Growth-share matrix"
In 1968, BCG created the "growth-share matrix", a simple chart to assist large corporations
in deciding how to allocate cash among their business units.
The corporation would categorize its business units as "Stars", "Cash Cows", "Question Marks",
and "Dogs", and then allocate cash accordingly, moving money from "cash cows" toward "stars"
and "question marks" that had higher market growth rates, and hence higher upside potential.
Experience curve
The experience curve illustrates that the more often a task is performed the lower will
be the cost of doing it.
The task can be the production of any good or service.
Each time cumulative volume doubles, value-added costs fall by a constant and predictable percentage.
BCG founder, Bruce Henderson, expounded the implications of the experience curve for strategy.
BCG research concluded that because relatively low cost of operations is a very powerful
strategic advantage, firms should capitalize on these learning and experience effects.
Advantage matrix
In this matrix, the two axes are economies of scale and differentiation.
The four quadrants formed are called "Volume", "Stalemated", "Specialized", and "Fragmented".
Publications Books
Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman: Six Simple Rules: How to Manage Complexity without Getting
Complicated, 2014.
ISBN 1422190552 Luc de Brabandere and Alan Iny: Thinking in
New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity, 2013.
ISBN 0812992954 Michael Deimler, Rich Lesser, David Rhodes,
and Janmejaya Sinha: Own the Future: 50 Ways to Win from The Boston Consulting Group, 2013.
ISBN 9781118591703 Michael J. Silverstein, Abheek Singhi, Carol
Liao, and David Michael: The $10 Trillion Dollar Prize - Captivating the Newly Affluent
in China and India, 2012.
ISBN 1422187055 David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter: Accelerating
Out of the Great Recession, 2010.
ISBN 0071718141 Michael J. Silverstein and Kate Sayre.
Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World's Largest, Fast-Growing Market,
2009.
ISBN 0061776416 Harold L. Sirkin, James W. Hemerling and Arindam
K. Bhattacharya.
Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything, 2008.
ISBN 0446178292 Carl W. Stern and Michael S. Deimler: The
Boston Consulting Group on Strategy, 2006.
A collection of articles on strategy and management.
ISBN 0471757225 James P. Andrew and Harold L. Sirkin: Payback
– Reaping the Rewards of Innovation Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
ISBN 1422103137 Michael J. Silverstein with John Butman: Treasure
Hunt – Inside the Mind of the New Consumer, 2006.
ISBN 1591841232 Luc de Brabandere: The Forgotten Half of Change
– Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception, 2005.
ISBN 1419502751 Colin B. Carter and Jay W. Lorsch: Back to
the Drawing Board – Designing Corporate Boards for a Complex World, 2004.
ISBN 1578517761 Rob Lachenauer and George Stalk: Hardball
– Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win, 2004.
ISBN 1591391679 Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske: Trading
Up – Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods and How Companies Create Them, 2003.
ISBN 1591840708 Jeanie Daniel Duck: The Change Monster – The
Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change, 2002.
ISBN 0609808818 Arun Maira: Shaping the Future – Leadership
through Communities of Aspiration in India and Beyond, 2002.
ISBN 0471479195 David C. Michael and Greg Sutherland: Asia's
Digital Dividends – How Asia-Pacific's Corporations Can Create Value from E-Business, 2002.
ISBN 0471479179 Tiha von Ghyczy, Bolko von Oetinger, and Christopher
Bassford: Clausewitz on Strategy, Wiley 2001.
ISBN 0471415138 Bolko Von Oetinger: A Passion for Ideas – How
Innovators Create the New and Shape Our World, 2001.
ISBN 1557532095 Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster: Blown
to Bits – How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy, 1999.
ISBN 087584877X Carl W. Stern and George Stalk Jr.: Perspectives
on Strategy from The Boston Consulting Group, 1998.
ISBN 0471248339 George Stalk Jr. and Thomas M. Hout: Competing
Against Time, 1990.
ISBN 0743253418 James Abegglen and George Stalk: Kaisha, the
Japanese Corporation, 1985.
ISBN 0465037119 Bruce D. Henderson: The Logic of Business
Strategy, 1984.
ISBN 0890115265 Ira Magaziner and Tom Hout: Japanese Industrial
Policy, 1980.
ISBN 0877255156 Bruce D. Henderson: Henderson on Corporate
Strategy, 1979.
ISBN 0890115265 Perspectives
In 1964 BCG began mailing concise essays designed to stimulate senior management thinking on
a range of business issues.
The pieces would be called Perspectives.
Considered provocative ideas on business, BCG founder Bruce D. Henderson referred to
them as "a punch between the eyes."
Example Perspectives are: "The Product Portfolio", 1970.
"The Pricing Paradox", 1970.
"The Rule of Three and Four", 1976.
"Sustained Success", 1984.
"Time-Based Results", 1993.
Notable current and former employees
References
External links Official website
Official website publishing BCG research - BCG Perspectives