Minggu, 04 April 2010

BCG

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm, founded by Bruce Henderson in 1963. It has 69 offices in 40 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. It is one of only 3 companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortune magazine's "Best companies to work for" report for 5 consecutive years.[2] In the 2009 list, BCG is listed as the 3rd best company to work for, and is the only top-tier consulting firm to appear in the top 100.[3]

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. [4]

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.[5] The buyout of all shares was completed in 1979.[6]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Thought Leadership
o 1.1 BCG Growth-Share Matrix
o 1.2 Experience Curve
o 1.3 Advantage Matrix
o 1.4 Publications
* 2 Recruiting
o 2.1 Interview process
* 3 Competitors
* 4 Offices
o 4.1 Offices in Asia Pacific
o 4.2 Offices in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
o 4.3 Offices in the Americas
* 5 Companies founded by current and former employees
* 6 Notable current and former employees
o 6.1 Business
o 6.2 Politics and public service
o 6.3 Academia
o 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.
Growthsharematrix.png

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.[7] The corporation would categorize its business units as "Stars", "Cash Cows", "Question Marks", and "Dogs" (originally "Pets"), 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.[8][9]

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.[10] 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.[11] 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[12]. 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, these institutions include about a dozen top private institutions. Top-performing Associates receive sponsorship to pursue an MBA, returning to BCG upon completion.[13] Some Associates advance to Consultant and beyond without obtaining an MBA. The vast majority of Associates attend one of the top business schools (most often, but not only Harvard, Stanford, 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[14]. 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[15] 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 many 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.[16] There are multiple case interviews before an offer for employment is extended.

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