#2 BCG – an overview of the top four consulting firms 2008

Organisation type

Private Company

Headquarters

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Key people

Hans-Paul Burkner, President and CEO

Size

3,900 consultants (2007) in 66 offices across 38 countries

Revenue

$1.8 billion (2006, Vault)

Expertise

Business strategy

Mission

BCG is committed to:

· Creating competitive advantage through unique solutions

· Building capabilities and mobilizing organizations

· Driving sustainable impact

· Providing unparalleled opportunities for personal growth

· Succeeding together with passion and trust

Operational structure

BCG divides its services into functions including branding, consumer goods, corporate finance and strategy, e-commerce, globalisation, health care, industrial goods, information technology, innovation, intellectual property, marketing and sales, operations, organisation, post-merger integration and strategy.

BCG has a strong presence in Asia.

Clients

BCG draws most of its clients from the 500 largest corporations worldwide, as well as working with smaller companies, non-profit organisations and government agencies.

Culture

BCG supports openness and diversity of opinion. It has a non-hierarchical structure where junior consultants are given responsibility and have access to partners.

BCG reportedly has a friendly and cooperative culture.

BCG has a reputation as a high travel firm.

BCG reportedly has a good work life balance and is less interested in hours spent in the office than it is on results produced.

It appears that BCG does has an “up or out” policy.

Recent publications

2006 ‘Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Consumer’ by Michael Silverstein

2006 ‘The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy: Classic Concepts and New Perspectives’

2005 ‘The Forgotten Half of Change: Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception’ by Luc de Brabandere .

2004 ‘Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win’ by George Stalk

Brief history

1963 founded by Bruce Henderson. Henderson left Arthur D. Little to accept the challenge from the CEO of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company to start a consulting arm for the bank.

1965 Henderson pioneered Business Strategy as a special area of expertise for BCG.

1966 BCG developed their first breakthrough concept, the Experience Curve. The concept stipulates that unit costs characteristically go down over time as experience increases. This concept helped in the understanding of the role that market share plays in establishing competitive advantage.

1966 BCG becomes the first Western strategy consulting firm in Japan.

1968 BCG developed the growth share matrix, which is simple conceptual framework for resource allocation within a firm. .

1975 BCG stock is sold to its employees through an employee stock ownership plan as a means of purchasing the company from The Boston Company. This was one of America’s first ESOPs. The buyout of all shares was completed in 1979.

1988 George Stalk wrote “Time: The Next Source of Competitive Advantage”, from which academic and business communities embraced the concept of time based competition.

1990 BCG opens the Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland offices.

1998 Creation of the Strategy Institute to research and foster discussion on innovation.

Nota bene

Awards:

2008 Ranked 2^nd most prestigious consulting firm in the Vault consulting firm rankings.

2008. Ranked 11th overall, and 1st among smaller companies, in Fortune Magazine‘s 2008 “100 Best US Companies to Work For” survey, based on strong employee development, a supportive culture, and progressive benefits.

2007. Named best large consulting firm in Australia in BRW magazine’s annual Client Choice Awards.

Careers information

Consultants can expect to be involved in pro bono work. Recent projects have included, developing a comprehensive environmental plan for eastern Germany and designing a five year strategy for the World Wildlife Fund.

BCG places heavy emphasis on the use of the case interview and looks for a combination of curiosity and competence.

Website

http://www.bcg.com/