Boston Consulting Group

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The Boston Consulting Group

Type Partnership

Founded 1963

Boston, Massachusetts
Headquarters
66 offices in 38 countries

Key people Hans-Paul Bürkner, President & CEO

Industry Management consulting

Products Management consulting services

Revenue US$ 2.4 billion (2008)

Employees about 7,000

Website bcg.com

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. BCG is generally ranked as one of the most "prestigious" management consulting firms
in the industry.[1]
The firm prides itself on its employee-focused culture, and over the last 4 years has been the only
top-tier consulting firm to appear in Fortune magazine's "Best companies to work for" report. In
the 2009 list, BCG is listed as the 3rd best company to work at, and is the only top-tier
consulting firm to appear in the top 100.[2]
The company was formed when Henderson, a Harvard Business School alumnus, left Arthur D.
Little to become head of a new management consulting division of the Boston Safe Deposit and
Trust Company.
In 1975 Henderson arranged an employee stock ownership plan, 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.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Thought Leadership
○ 1.1 BCG Growth-Share Matrix
○ 1.2 Experience Curve
○ 1.3 Advantage Matrix
○ 1.4 Publications
• 2 Recruiting
○ 2.1 Interview process
• 3 Competitors
• 4 Offices
○ 4.1 Offices in Asia Pacific
○ 4.2 Offices in Europe and the Middle East
○ 4.3 Offices in the Americas
• 5 Companies founded by current and former employees
• 6 Notable current and former employees
○ 6.1 Business
○ 6.2 Politics and public service
○ 6.3 Academia
○ 6.4 Others
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 External links

[edit] Thought Leadership

[edit] BCG Growth-Share Matrix
For more details on this topic, see 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.
[edit] Experience Curve
For more details on this topic, see Experience curve effects.
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 (including administration, marketing, distribution, and
manufacturing) fall by a constant and predictable percentage.
In the late 1960s Bruce Henderson, the founder of BCG, began to emphasize the implications of
the experience curve for strategy.[3] 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.[4] The reasoning is increased activity leads to increased learning, which leads
to lower costs, which can lead to lower prices, which can lead to increased market share, which
can lead to increased profitability and market dominance. According to BCG, the most effective
business strategy was one of striving for market dominance in this way. This was particularly
true when a firm had an early leadership in market share. It was claimed that if you cannot get
enough market share to be competitive, you should get out of that business and concentrate your
resources where you can take advantage of experience effects and gain dominant market share.
The Growth-Share Matrix was developed (in part) to manage this strategy.
[edit] Advantage Matrix
For more details on this topic, see Boston Consulting Group's Advantage Matrix.
Another "BCG Matrix", much less widely known, is the Advantage Matrix. The two axes are
economies of scale and differentiation. The four quadrants formed are called "Volume",
"Stalemated", "Specialized", and "Fragmented".
[edit] Publications
BCG regularly publishes articles, industry reports, and government commissioned studies
relating to particular industries or business functions. For example, a recent series of articles
called "Collateral Damage" discusses how the Subprime Crisis is affecting non-financial
companies, and what they can do to survive.
In addition, many partners have written books on issues facing management in the modern
business environment. Some recent publications include:
• Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. By Harold L.
Sirkin, James W. Hemerling and Arindam K. Bhattacharya, 2008.
• The Boston Consulting Group on Strategy. By Carl W. Stern and Michael S. Deimler,
2006. Classic anthology of articles on strategy and management
• 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.
• Treasure Hunt - Inside the Mind of the New Consumer. By Michael J. Silverstein with
John Butman, 2006.
• Trading Up - Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods and How Companies Create
Them. By Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske, 2003. A BusinessWeek Bestseller and
Berry AMA book prize winner.
• The Change Monster - The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation
and Change. Jeanie Daniel Duck, 2002.
• Clausewitz on Strategy. By Tiha von Ghyczy and Bolko von Oetinger, 2001.
• Blown to Bits - How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy. By Philip
Evans and Thomas S. Wurster, 2000.
[edit] 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
undergraduates to join as Associates from the world's top academic institutions. In the United
States, this includes about a dozen top private institutions. Many Associates receive sponsorship
to pursue an MBA, returning to BCG upon completion. A very small number of Associates are
permitted to advance without obtaining an MBA. The vast majority of Associates attend one of
the top business schools (most often, but not only Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Wharton,
Kellogg and INSEAD). A few complete JDs, MD and other graduate degrees at various
institutions (called ADCs for Advance Degrees Consultants). Like most consulting firms, BCG
uses a modified version of the Cravath System.
BCG recruits MBA graduates to join as Consultants from the world's top business schools. 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. 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.
[edit] 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. There are
multiple case interviews before an offer for employment is extended.
[edit] Competitors
BCG competes most directly with McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company and Booz &
Company. These are consistently rated as the most "prestigious" consulting firms,[1] and are
considered to be "pure strategy" firms. With roughly 7,000 employees, BCG is smaller than
McKinsey (17,000) and larger than Bain (4,300) and Booz (3,200). BCG is the largest in some
countries, such as Germany and Australia, and has a much larger international presence than
Bain.
BCG also occasionally competes with other firms such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Accenture, Ernst & Young but less directly. These firms are generally priced significantly lower,
and offer a different value proposition, often focused on their ability to implement the
recommendations they give. It is common for a company to employ BCG as well as some of
these firms, but often for different types of work.
[edit] Offices
[edit] Offices in Asia Pacific

Auckland founded in 1990 Nagoya founded in 2003

Bangkok founded in 1994 New Delhi founded in 2002
Beijing founded in 2001 Seoul founded in 1994
Hong Kong founded in 1990 Shanghai founded in 1993
Jakarta founded in 1995 Singapore founded in 1995
Kuala Lumpur founded in 1992 Sydney founded in 1990
Melbourne founded in 1990 Taipei founded in 2003
Mumbai founded in 1996 Tokyo founded in 1966

[edit] Offices in Europe and the Middle East

Abu Dhabi founded in 2007 Lisbon founded in 1995

Amsterdam founded in 1993 London founded in 1970
Athens founded in 2001 Madrid founded in 1987
Barcelona founded in 2002 Milan founded in 1986
Berlin founded in 1999 Moscow founded in 1994
Brussels founded in 1993 Munich founded in 1975, European
headquarters
Budapest founded in 1997
 Cologne founded in 2001
Copenhagen founded in 1998
Dubai founded in 2007
Düsseldorf founded in 1982
Frankfurt founded in 1991
Hamburg founded in 1994
Helsinki founded in 1995
Istanbul founded in 2003 closed in 2005
Kiev founded in 2007
Oslo founded in 1996
Paris founded in 1972
Prague founded in 2004
Rome founded in 2001
Stockholm founded in 1988
Stuttgart founded in 1997
Vienna founded in 1997
Warsaw founded in 1997
Zürich founded in 1989

[edit] Offices in the Americas

Atlanta founded in 1995 Minneapolis founded in 2007

Boston founded in 1963, Global Monterrey founded in 1993
Headquarters
New Jersey founded in 2006
Buenos Aires founded in 1995
New York founded in 1984
Chicago founded in 1979
Philadelphia founded in 2007
Dallas founded in 1994
San Francisco founded in 1974
Detroit founded in 2005
Santiago founded in 2002
Houston founded in 2003
São Paulo founded in 1997
Los Angeles founded in 1982
Toronto founded in 1993
Mexico City founded in 1998
Washington, D.C. founded in 1996
Miami founded in 2003

[edit] Companies founded by current and former employees

Finance
• Bain Capital
• Charlesbank Capital Partners
• Hermitage Capital Management
• Paulson & Co
• Pegasus Capital Advisors
Non-profit
• Ripple
• Sutton Trust