Bain & Company

Bain's Business is making companies more valuable. We convert strategy and action into economic performance. Boston-based Bain & Company is one of the world's leading corporate consulting companies, the pioneer in the concept that consultants should help implement strategies not just make recommendations. The Bain approach is often called relationship consulting, especially known for forging strong bonds with chief executive officers. For most of its history, the company has opted to take on a single client in a particular industry as a way of more fully aligning itself with the client's goals. More recently, Bain has begun accepting equity as part of its payment in order to again tie its own success to achieving tangible results for its clients. The partnership operates 27 offices around the world, employing some 2,800 people. Although Bain is primarily known for its work with Fortune 500 clients, it also consults with startups through its bainlab operation. More recently the firm has joined forces with several other companies to form BainNet in order to provide technology-based strategies. In addition, Bain has established a non-profit company, The Bridge Group, to assist other non-profits. The founder of Bain & Company, William W. Bain, Jr., was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, the son of a food wholesaler. After earning a history degree in 1959 from Vanderbilt University, he went on to graduate school but soon took a position at a steel-fabricating company, where he not only helped to work up engineering studies but also made sales calls. Bain then returned to Vanderbilt to become director of development, raising funds from alumni at a salary of $19,000 a year. When Vanderbilt began to think about establishing a business school, he asked for advice from alumnus Bruce Henderson, founder of the Boston Consulting Group, BCG. Henderson was so impressed with Bain, despite his lack of basic business knowledge, that he offered him a job with BCG and only a few weeks later, in 1967, Bain relocated to Massachusetts. He quickly rose through the ranks of BCG, becoming known for his hard work, attention to detail, and physically fit appearance. Within two years, he commanded a six-figure salary and rose to the position of vice-president, overseeing one of four BCG divisions, which began to generate a significant share of the firm's revenues. There was talk in the air that Bain was Henderson's likely heir apparent. His mentor, however, was not as ready to retire as Bain was eager to succeed him. In 1972, Bain unsuccessfully attempted to pressure Henderson into stepping down. Moreover, Bain was increasingly frustrated with the BCG's project-oriented approach, which emphasized issuing reports over achieving results. His idea was to assemble a thorough overview of a company and its competition then develop and implement a strategy to improve profitability of the entire business. In 1973, Bain informed Henderson that he and colleague Patrick Graham were leaving to launch their own business, a software company. This announcement came the day before Henderson was scheduled to fly to Spain for a meeting. While dining that first night in Madrid, according to a 1987 Fortune profile, he was tracked down "with an urgent call from his secretary. It seems the 'software company' was setting out to solicit BCG clients, although this is a point Bain disputes. Henderson caught the next flight back and frantically began rousting his consultants out of bed to get his firm's clients before Bain did. Recalls Henderson: 'It was war.' By the time the guns stopped firing, several week later, Bain and Graham had made off with seven of BCG's consultants and two of its biggest clients, Black & Decker and Texas Instruments." At first, Bain & Company set up shop in Bill Bain's Beacon Hill apartment, sharing a single telephone line, but soon established new offices in Boston as the business quickly proved successful in its novel approach to consulting: working