A star is born (but so too is a Cow, a Dog and a Question mark)

A star is born (but so is a Cow)

Boston Consulting Group is one of the world’s leading management consulting firms and as such serves as an advisor to many businesses, governments, and institutions.

The company was founded in 1963 by Bruce Henderson, a Harvard Business School alumnus who was recruited by the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company (a subsidiary of The Boston Company) and where he initially acted as one-man, one-telephone Management and Consulting Division.

One of BCG’s most famous creations is the Boston Matrix, or more formally the Growth-Share Matrix, a 2x2 matrix created in 1968 and used ever since to help companies decide how to allocate investment amongst their portfolio of business units or products by identifying them as either 'Stars', 'Cash Cows', 'Question Marks' or 'Dogs' (originally 'Pets').

Another of their tenets is the importance of linking the concept of competitive advantage to business strategy and indeed one of the driving forces of a 'Star' is whether or not it has a clear competitive advantage. Henderson said 'Strategy is a deliberate search for a plan of action that will develop a business’ competitive advantage and compound it'.

And as Robert Mainer an early colleague at BCG explains, unlike many other consultancies, BCG followed their own advice and took the time to define what made them different, what their own competitive advantage was…

''He asked what we thought that specialty should be. Many suggestions were offered, but in each case we were able to identify several other firms that already had strong credentials in that particular area. The discussion began to stall.

Then Bruce asked a momentous question: 'What about business strategy?'

I objected: 'That's too vague. Most executives won't know what we're talking about.'

Bruce replied, 'That's the beauty of it. We'll define it.''

To this day BCG calls itself ‘The World’s leading advisor on business strategy’. And the ‘moral’ of the story is 'Do unto yourself as you would do unto others.'

What good advice have you given to others but not followed yourself?


Read more brand stories from Giles Lury in our Library or on his blog The Prisoner and the Penguin.

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