'The Boston Consulting Group' ('BCG') is a leading
management consulting firm founded by
Bruce Henderson in
1963. The company was formed when Henderson, an
HBS alumnus, 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.
In 1965 Henderson thought that to survive, much less grow, in a competitive landscape occupied by hundreds of larger and better-known consulting firms, a distinctive identity was needed, and pioneered "
Business Strategy" as a special area of expertise for BCG.
As his client list grew, Henderson targeted the nation's best business schools. At some point he was said to have eclipsed
McKinsey as the top recruiter at Harvard, aggressively wooing its best students with high salaries and the chance to make a difference in a cutting-edge firm. He encouraged the young minds he hired to come up with innovative ideas that were meant to dazzle hardened corporate veterans.
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.
In 1998 BCG created The Strategy Institute. Its purpose is to enrich the firm's strategic thinking by applying insights from a variety of academic disciplines to the strategic challenges facing both business and society.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) ranked 8th overall and first among smaller companies in
Fortune Magazine's 2007 "100 Best US Companies to Work For" survey, based on strong employee development, a supportive culture, and progressive benefits.
[1]
Competitors
Today BCG competes principally with
McKinsey & Company and
Bain & Company. None of the three can be considered large in the
management consulting market, however, they compete for the most lucrative market segment consulting to top management. BCG has 66 offices in 38 countries, and its current CEO is
Hans-Paul Bürkner.
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
[2], and focuses the majority of their recruiting effort to schools such as
Harvard,
Penn/Wharton,
Stanford,
INSEAD,
Darden,
Tuck,
Kellogg,
MIT Sloan,
Chicago,
Berkeley Haas,
Duke,
Texas McCombs, and
Columbia. BCG hires exceptional candidates with other graduate degrees from top tier programs. 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.
Insiders estimate that BCG North American offices receive around 10,000 resumes every year for the Associate position. Typically, 1 to 2% of candidates are extended an offer to join the firm, ~70% of whom accept - ratios that are considered best in class. BCG Associates work directly for a Project Leader or Principal, receiving case and client responsibility comparable to Consultants. As such, the position is one of the most highly sought after jobs for recent college graduates from top universities internationally, and recruiting is intensely competitive.
After a two year tenure, some BCG Associates choose to stay for a third year as Senior Associates and have the opportunity to work abroad in a foreign office through BCG's Associate Exchange Program. Many Associates are also sponsored by BCG to attend business school (acceptance rates to the top tier schools are some of the highest of any organization) and rejoin the company afterwards as Consultants.
Interview Process
BCG uses the case method to conduct interviews, allowing candidates the opportunity to demonstrate the qualitative and quantitative skills required to excel in the challenging management consulting environment. Leadership, conversational ability, analytical prowess, quantitative skill and thoughtfulness are important characteristics clearly demonstrated by successful candidates.
The first round of interviews consists of two 30 minute cases with BCG consultants. If a candidate performs well in these case studies, he or she may be passed onto the second round corresponding with a regional office. The second round consists of three 30-45 minute interviews with partners from that office. The candidate must perform well in all three interviews to be considered for an offer.
While there are many successful approaches to the BCG interview process, it is always good to keep the overall goal of the interview in mind. "To nail a case interview with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), applicants should treat it like a performance and learn to execute precise timing," says Kermit King, vice-president and director in the Chicago office. "You can differentiate yourself from other candidates by being relaxed enough to leave time to synthesize and summarize your recommendations at the end.
[3]"
Publications
Every year, BCG publishes numerous articles, industry reports, government commissioned studies and books relating to particular industries or authorial practice areas. Many partners have written best selling books on prominent issues facing management in the modern business environment. Some recent examples include:
''Trading Up - Why Consumers Want New Luxery 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.
BCG growth-share matrix
The growth-share matrix chart.
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 in Asia Pacific
Auckland founded in
1990
Bangkok founded in
1994
Beijing founded in
2001
Hong Kong founded in
1990
Jakarta founded in
1995
Kuala Lumpur founded in
1992
Melbourne founded in
1990
Mumbai founded in
1996
Nagoya founded in
2003
New Delhi founded in
2002
Seoul founded in
1994
Shanghai founded in
1993
Singapore founded in
1995
Sydney founded in
1990
Taipei founded in
2003
Tokyo founded in
1966
Offices in Europe
Abu Dhabi founded in
2007
Amsterdam founded in
1993
Athens founded in
2001
Barcelona founded in
2002
Berlin founded in
1999
Brussels founded in
1993
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
Kiev founded in
2007
Lisbon founded in
1995
London founded in
1970
Madrid founded in
1987
Milan founded in
1986
Moscow founded in
1994
Munich founded in
1975, European headquarters
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
Offices in the Americas
Atlanta founded in
1995
Boston founded in
1963, Global Headquarters
Buenos Aires founded in
1995
Chicago founded in
1979
Dallas founded in
1994
Detroit founded in
2005
Houston founded in
2003
Los Angeles founded in
1982
Mexico City founded in
1998
Miami founded in
2003
Minneapolis founded in
2007
Monterrey founded in
1993
New Jersey founded in
2006
New York founded in
1984
Philadelphia founded in
2007
San Francisco founded in
1974
Santiago founded in
2002
São Paulo founded in
1997
Toronto founded in
1993
Washington D.C. founded in
1996
Notable current and former employees
Business
★
Indra Nooyi - CEO of
Pepsi
★
Jeff Immelt - CEO of
General Electric
★
Gary M. Reiner - SVP and CIO of
General Electric
★
William Browder - co-founder of
Hermitage Capital Management
★
Gerald Corbett - CEO of
Railtrack
★
Michael R. Eisenson - co-founder of Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC, former managing director of the
Harvard Management Company
★
Ahmed Fahour - CEO of the Australian operations of the
National Australia Bank
★
Rob Ketterson - managing partner of
Fidelity Ventures
★
Stefan Quandt - owner of
Delton AG
★
Jim Whitehurst - COO of
Delta Air Lines
★
Neil Fiske - CEO of
Eddie Bauer
★ Shinichiro Ishikawa - CEO of GDH K.K.
★ Michelle Peluso - President & CEO of
Travelocity
★ Tom Layton - CEO of Opentable.com
★ Jim Koch - Founder & Brewmaster of
Boston Beer Company
★ Dean Nelson - Chairman of
Primedia/
KKR
★
Michael Dornemann - Chairman & CEO of Bertelsman Entertainment
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
★
Hans Wijers - Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands (1994-1998), CEO of
Akzo Nobel
Others
★ 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 and a founding senior partner of Pegasus Capital
★
John Legend - musician
★ Jesse Ward - golf pro
★ Jehan Ratnatunga - Co-Founder of
Ripple (charitable organisation) and a director of ibookr.com
★
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
See also
★
Growth-share matrix
★
Advantage Matrix
References
1. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0701/gallery.bestcos/8.html
2. http://bwnt.businessweek.com/recruiting/index.asp?c=243
3. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/apr2006/bs20060410_2508_bs052.htm
External links
★
Official homepage
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