Boston Consulting Group

Infobox_Company
company_name = The Boston Consulting Group
company_
company_type = Partnership
foundation = 1963
location = 66 offices in 38 countries
key_people = Hans-Paul Bürkner, President & CEO
num_employees = about 7,000
revenue = US$ 2.3 billion (2007)
industry = Management consulting
products = Management consulting services
homepage = [http://www.bcg.com/ www.bcg.com]

:“BCG” redirects here. For other uses, see BCG (disambiguation).

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm, founded by Bruce Henderson in 1963. It has 66 offices in 38 countries, and its current CEO is Hans-Paul Bürkner.The company was formed when Henderson, a Harvard Business School alumnus, left Arthur D. Little to become CEO of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company to start a consulting arm for the bank.

In 1973 Bill Bain and others left BCG to form Bain & Company, and two years later Henderson arranged an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), so that the employees could take the company independent from The Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company. The buyout of all shares was completed in 1979.

Competitors

BCG most often competes directly for contracts with McKinsey & Company, Booz & Company, and Bain & Company.

Recruiting

BCG typically hires for an Associate or a Consultant position. Whilst so called "lateral hires" as Project Leader, Principal or Partner are possible, they are not the norm.BCG recruits MBA graduates to join as Consultants from the world's top business schools [http://bwnt.businessweek.com/recruiting/index.asp?c=243] . Additionally, increasing effort is being placed on hiring advanced non-business degree holders. Graduates holding JDs, MDs and PhDs in disciplines like engineering, science, and liberal arts receive training in business fundamentals and then typically join the firm as Consultants. There is also an opportunity to join as a Summer Associate or Summer Consultant (internship) position for 10 weeks, which for the majority of interns will result in an offer for full-time position.

Interview process

BCG uses the case method to conduct interviews, which is an interview technique designed to simulate the types of problems inherent in management consulting and to test the qualitative and quantitative skills deemed important for abstract thinking in a business setting.

Publications

Every year, BCG publishes articles, industry reports, government commissioned studies and books relating to particular industries or authorial practice areas. Many partners have written books on issues facing management in the modern business environment. Some recent publications: Trading Up - Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods and How Companies Create Them. By Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske, 2003. A Business Week Bestseller and Berry AMA book prize winner.

Payback - Reaping the Rewards of Innovation. By James P. Andrew and Harold L. Sirkin, 2006. Published by the Harvard Business School Press, Payback has become a staple in the MBA curriculum.

Blown to Bits - How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy. By Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster, 2000.

Treasure Hunt - Inside the Mind of the New Consumer. By Michael J. Silverstein with John Butman, 2006.

The Change Monster - The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change. Jeanie Daniel Duck, 2002.

Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything [http://www.bcg.com/globality] . By Harold L. Sirkin, James W. Hemerling and Arindam K. Bhattacharya, 2008.

BCG growth-share matrix

In the 1970s, BCG created and popularized 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.

The chart was popular for two decades and "continues to be used as a primer in the principles of portfolio management," as BCG says.

Offices

Offices in Asia Pacific

flagicon|New Zealand Auckland founded in 1990 flagicon|Thailand Bangkok founded in 1994 flagicon|China Beijing founded in 2001 flagicon|Hong Kong Hong Kong founded in 1990 flagicon|Indonesia Jakarta founded in 1995 flagicon|Malaysia Kuala Lumpur founded in 1992 flagicon|Australia Melbourne founded in 1990 flagicon|India Mumbai founded in 1996

flagicon|Japan Nagoya founded in 2003 flagicon|India New Delhi founded in 2002 flagicon|South Korea Seoul founded in 1994 flagicon|China Shanghai founded in 1993 flagicon|Singapore Singapore founded in 1995 flagicon|Australia Sydney founded in 1990 flagicon|Taiwan Taipei founded in 2003 flagicon|Japan Tokyo founded in 1966

Offices in Europe and the Middle East

flagicon|United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi founded in 2007 flagicon|Netherlands Amsterdam founded in 1993 flagicon|Greece Athens founded in 2001 flagicon|Spain Barcelona founded in 2002 flagicon|Germany Berlin founded in 1999 flagicon|Belgium Brussels founded in 1993 flagicon|Hungary Budapest founded in 1997 flagicon|Germany Cologne founded in 2001 flagicon|Denmark Copenhagen founded in 1998 flagicon|United Arab Emirates Dubai founded in 2007 flagicon|Germany Düsseldorf founded in 1982 flagicon|Germany Frankfurt founded in 1991 flagicon|Germany Hamburg founded in 1994 flagicon|Finland Helsinki founded in 1995 flagicon|Turkey Istanbul founded in 2003 closed in 2005 flagicon|Ukraine Kiev founded in 2007

flagicon|Portugal Lisbon founded in 1995 flagicon|United Kingdom London founded in 1970 flagicon|Spain Madrid founded in 1987 flagicon|Italy Milan founded in 1986 flagicon|Russia Moscow founded in 1994 flagicon|Germany Munich founded in 1975, European headquarters flagicon|Norway Oslo founded in 1996 flagicon|France Paris founded in 1972 flagicon|Czech Republic Prague founded in 2004 flagicon|Italy Rome founded in 2001 flagicon|Sweden Stockholm founded in 1988 flagicon|Germany Stuttgart founded in 1997 flagicon|Austria Vienna founded in 1997 flagicon|Poland Warsaw founded in 1997 flagicon|Switzerland Zürich founded in 1989

Offices in the Americas

flagicon|USA Atlanta founded in 1995 flagicon|USA Boston founded in 1963, Global Headquarters flagicon|Argentina Buenos Aires founded in 1995 flagicon|USA Chicago founded in 1979 flagicon|USA Dallas founded in 1994 flagicon|USA Detroit founded in 2005 flagicon|USA Houston founded in 2003 flagicon|USA Los Angeles founded in 1982 flagicon|Mexico Mexico City founded in 1998 flagicon|USA Miami founded in 2003

flagicon|USA Minneapolis founded in 2007 flagicon|Mexico Monterrey founded in 1993 flagicon|USA New Jersey founded in 2006 flagicon|USA New York founded in 1984 flagicon|USA Philadelphia founded in 2007 flagicon|USA San Francisco founded in 1974 flagicon|Chile Santiago founded in 2002 flagicon|Brazil São Paulo founded in 1997 flagicon|Canada Toronto founded in 1993 flagicon|USA Washington D.C. founded in 1996

Notable current and former employees

Business

* Indra Nooyi - CEO of Pepsi
* Jeff Immelt - CEO of General Electric (MBA internship)
* Gary M. Reiner - SVP and CIO of General Electric
* William Browder - co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management
* Martin Halusa - World wide CEO of Apax partners
* Gerald Corbett - CEO of Railtrack
* Michael R. Eisenson - co-founder of Charlesbank Capital Partners, former managing director of the Harvard Management Company
* Ahmed Fahour - CEO of the Australian operations of the National Australia Bank
* Stefan Quandt - owner of Delton AG (internship)
* Andreas Jacobs - Chairman of Barry Callebaut
* Jim Whitehurst - CEO of Red Hat, former COO of Delta Airlines
* Neil Fiske - CEO of Eddie Bauer
* Michael Dornemann - Chairman & CEO of Bertelsman Entertainment
* Jeffrey Hunker - National Security Council member under President Bill Clinton and professor at Carnegie Mellon University

Politics and public service

* Ira Magaziner - Aide and policy advisor to President Clinton, CEO of SJS Advisors and co founder of Brown University's open curriculum
* Benjamin Netanyahu - Prime Minister of Israel (1996-1999)
* Steve Poizner - California businessman and Republican politician
* Mitt Romney - Governor of Massachusetts, CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, co-founder of Bain Capital, former CEO of Bain and Company
* Hans Wijers - Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands (1994-1998), CEO of Akzo Nobel

Others

* Kaz Uchida- Professor, Waseda University, Tokyo
* Aiba Koji- Professor, Waseda University, Tokyo
* John R. Wells - Professor, President International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland
* Linda Bilmes - academic, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
* Clayton M. Christensen - Robert and Jane Cizik Professor, Harvard Business School
* Michael Chu - senior lecturer, Harvard Business School, Former partner KKR and a founding senior partner of Pegasus Capital <
* John Legend - musician
* Jesse Ward - golf pro
* Jehan Ratnatunga - Co-Founder of Ripple (charitable organisation)
* Alex Michel - Star of the Bachelor, season one
* Michael J. Silverstein - Author of several bestselling business books, including "Trading Up" and "Treasure Hunt"
* Azwan Khan Osman Khan - Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Development, Celcom
* Aamir A. Rehman - Author of "Dubai & Co.: Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States"
* Harold L. Sirkin - Author of several business books, including "Payback" and "Globality." [http://www.bcg.com/globality]

References

* [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0701/gallery.bestcos/8.html CNN.com]
* [http://bwnt.businessweek.com/recruiting/index.asp?c=243 BusinessWeek]
* [http://www.consultingmag.com/articles/239/1/Kaz-Uchida---Boston-Consulting-Group/Kaz-Uchida---Boston-Consulting-Group.html Consulting Magazine]

See also

* Growth-share matrix
* Henderson Typeface family designed in 2006-07 for the BCG exclusive use:

* [http://www.typofonderie.com/alphabets/view/HendersonSerif/ Henderson Serif]

* [http://www.typofonderie.com/alphabets/view/HendersonSans/ Henderson Sans]

External links

* [http://www.bcg.com/ Official Web Site]