Strategy&

Strategy&
Subsidiary of PwC
Industry Management consulting
Predecessor Booz & Company
Founded 1914
Headquarters New York City, US
57 offices around the world
Key people
 Les Moeller (Global leader)
Tony Poulter (Global consulting leader)[1]
Revenue $1.3+ billion (2011)
Number of employees
 3,000[2]
Website www.strategyand.pwc.com

Strategy& is a global strategy consulting firm originally established as Booz Allen Hamilton in the United States in 1914 and is now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which acquired the former Booz & Co. on April 4, 2014. The firm is active in a broad range of sectors, including Energy, Healthcare, Financial Services, Chemicals, Telecommunications, Automotive, Aerospace, Media, Technology and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

The company has 57 offices around the world. 70 of the world's largest 100 corporations and 400 of the largest 500 US corporations are Strategy& clients and the firm has been involved in a number of important business episodes, including the dawn of the contract system for Hollywood movies, the merger of the National and American football leagues, and the rescue of the Chrysler corporation from bankruptcy.[3] On October 30, 2013, it was announced that PwC would buy and merge with Booz & Company (owned by Booz Allen Hamilton until 2008), including the company's name and its 300 partners, subject to a December vote of the Booz & Company partners.[4] The deal closed on April 4, 2014, and the firm was formally renamed to Strategy&.[5]

History

After graduating from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1914, Edwin G. Booz developed the business theory that companies would be more successful if they could call on someone outside their own organizations for expert, impartial advice.[6] This theory developed into a new profession — management consulting — and the firm that would bear his name. Booz established a small consulting firm in Chicago, and two years later, he and two partners formed the Business Research and Development Company, which conducted studies and performed investigational work for commercial and trade organizations. This service, which Booz labeled as the first of its kind in the Midwest, soon attracted such clients as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Chicago's Union Stockyards and Transit Company, and the Canadian & Pacific Railroad."[7]

By the end of the 1950s, Time Magazine dubbed the firm "the world's largest, most prestigious management consulting firm."[8]

In 1970, Booz Allen went public with an initial offering of 500,000 shares at $24 per share. Trading continued through 1976.[8]

The company was spun off from Booz Allen Hamilton in conjunction with a private equity takeover by The Carlyle Group in 2008.[9] The firm represents the commercial portion of the consulting business, as well as all consulting operations with government entitites outside the United States. Booz Allen Hamilton was then focused exclusively on U.S. government consulting endeavors. However, as Booz Allen Hamilton's three-year noncompete provision has expired, it is now building out its commercial consulting practice focusing on technology integration and cybersecurity programs.[10]

The company purchased Katzenbach Partners for an undisclosed sum in 2009, and has since launched the Katzenbach Center focused on the development and application of innovative ideas for organizational culture and change.[11]

In 2012, Axon Advisory Partners joined the company to launch Booz Digital, a full-service team of strategists, designers and technologists who "help companies turn ideas into transformational digital businesses".[12]

In April 2013, Booz & Company acquired international consulting firm Management Engineers for its operations expertise and experience in industries such as manufacturing, chemicals and industrials. Through the acquisition, Management Engineers added 17 partners and 145 staff to Booz & Company, along with a market position in Germany, as well as China, the UK and the US.[13]

On October 30, 2013, Booz & Company announced it would be sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of a conditional merger pending regulatory approval and the vote of Booz partners scheduled for December 2013.[14] Booz partner's voted in favor on December 23, 2013,[15] and the deal was closed in early April, 2014. The acquisition, and subsequent change of name from Booz & Company to Strategy&, was announced on April 4, 2014.[16] The name, pronounced "Strategy and", was widely criticized at the time, but was required by an agreement with former parent Booz Allen Hamilton that the Booz name or variants could never be used in conjunction with a new legal entity.[17]

Offices

Strategy& has more than 50 offices in 25 countries.[18]

Contributions

Over the years, Booz has been credited with developing some of the important concepts in business. The firm coined the terms and developed the concepts of supply chain, supply chain management, product life cycle, the PERT Chart and organizational DNA.[19][20]

The firm publishes the majority of its research in its quarterly management magazine Strategy+Business, which in 2009 was one of just two business magazines to grow its circulation, along with the The Economist.[19] Strategy& also publishes several studies annually:

The firm also regularly publishes cross-industry research related to its four major platforms: Capabilities-Driven Strategy, Deals, Digital, and Fit for Growth.

The Katzenbach Center at Strategy& has generated a research on the importance of fostering companies' informal organization to improve corporate performance. In a white paper entitled "Fast Track to Recovery"[24] and the book Leading Outside the Lines,[25] Booz Partner Jon Katzenbach uses various case studies to illustrate the exchange between the formal and the informal elements of organizations.

Assignments

Strategy& has had a hand in several notable private and public engagements throughout its years. The dawn of the contract system for Hollywood movies, the merger of the National and American football leagues, the rescue of the Chrysler corporation from bankruptcy, and the creation of Deutsche Telekom from government agencies that had grown up on both sides of the Iron Curtain all involved Booz assignments.

Recruiting

In 2007, the firm had roughly 150,000 applicants and 1033 new jobs.[26] Strategy& is the second largest recruiter at Columbia Business School[27] and the third largest recruiter at INSEAD.[28]

The firm operates on a modified version of the Cravath System, under which employees are promoted within a certain time frame or "counseled out".[19]

Notable companies founded by current and former employees

Private Equity

Professional Services

Other

Notable alumni

Business

Politics and public service

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Strategy&, part of the PwC network". vault. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.consultingmag.com/article/ART1128513?C=ISEXipaQEIlEtRVc
  3. ↑ INSEADofficial (2010-06-28). "ILSE: Joe Saddi, Chairman, Booz & Co". YouTube. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  4. ↑ "PwC to bulk up with planned Booz & Company". ft.com. 2013-10-30.
  5. ↑ Michael Rapoport (April 3, 2014). "PricewaterhouseCoopers Renaming Booz & Co. as 'Strategy&'". Wall Street Journal.
  6. ↑ "Booz Allen History". Boozallen.com. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  7. ↑ "JRANK Booz Allen Hamilton History". Companies.jrank.org. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  8. 1 2 "Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc. - Lehman Brothers Collection". Library.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  9. ↑ "Carlyle to Swallow Booz Unit". CFO.com. 2008-05-16.
  10. ↑ Boye, Will (2011-10-26). "Booz Allen expanding in Charlotte". bizjournals.com.
  11. ↑ Dvorak, Phred (23 April 2009). "Booz to Buy Katzenbach Partners". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ↑ Kashmir, Margaret (11 December 2012). "Axon Advisory Partners Joins Booz & Company to Launch Booz Digital". Yahoo! Finance.
  13. ↑ Kashmir, Margaret (3 April 2012). "Booz & Company Closes Acquisition of Management Engineers". Yahoo! Finance.
  14. ↑ Marcinek, Laura and Greg Farrell (30 October 2013). "PwC Agrees to Purchase Booz to Expand Advisory Services". Bloomberg. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  15. ↑ "Global Consulting Firm Booz & Company Approves Combination with PwC". pwc.com. 23 December 2013.
  16. ↑ "PwC completes its acquisition of Booz & Company". pwc.com. 3 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Tom Gara. "Introducing Strategy&: No, That's Not a Typo". WSJ.
  18. ↑ strategyand.com retrieved 2015-11-21
  19. 1 2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302643.html
  20. ↑ http://www.bloomgroup.com/content/how-booz-co-develops-and-markets-consulting-concepts
  21. ↑ http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/global/home/what-we-think/chief-executive-study
  22. ↑ http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/innovation1000
  23. ↑ http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/industry-perspectives
  24. ↑ http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/uploads/Fast_Track_To_Recovery.pdf
  25. ↑ http://www.leadingoutsidethelines.com
  26. ↑ 100 Best Companies to Work For 2008: Booz Allen Hamilton snapshot | FORTUNE
  27. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/full_time_mba_profiles/columbia.html
  28. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/full_time_mba_profiles/insead.html
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