A. T. Kearney

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A.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm, focusing on strategic and operational CEO-agenda concerns. The stated mission of A.T. Kearney is to help the world’s leading corporations gain and sustain competitive advantage, and achieve profound, tangible results. Its slogan is: Ideas that last. Its history dates back to the early days of the management consulting profession.

History

A.T. Kearney began as a branch of McKinsey & Company. Andrew Thomas Kearney joined James O. McKinsey's firm 3 years after it was founded in 1926. Tom Kearney was McKinsey's first partner and head of its first office in Chicago. At the time, McKinsey & Company was one of the only firms that focused on management consulting for top level executives rather than specialized consulting in areas such as accounting or law.

In 1937 James "Mac" McKinsey died unexpectedly at the age of 48 due to pneumonia. While the company continued to operate as before, Tom Kearney and the remaining partners disagreed over how to run the firm. In 1939, the company was split. A.T. Kearney continued to operate the Chicago office, renaming the firm McKinsey and Kearney. Marvin Bower, the head of the New York office, continued the practice in New York and retained the rights to the name McKinsey & Company in all areas other than the Midwest. In 1947, Bower purchased the exclusive rights to the name McKinsey & Company from Tom Kearney, who renamed his firm A.T. Kearney & Associates.

The firm operated within the United States until 1964 when it opened its first international office in Düsseldorf. A.T. Kearney now has 48 offices located in major business centres in 32 countries.

Going Public

In 1995 EDS, a large technology consulting firm, acquired A.T. Kearney effectively transitioning the practice from a partnership model to life as a subsidiary of a publicly listed company. The rationale for the acquisition was that A.T. Kearney's "presence in the board rooms" of major global companies would provide "cross-sell" opportunities. A.T. Kearney’s revenues tripled in the five years after the acquisition.

Initially, A.T. Kearney and EDS did pursue some technology projects 'jointly', such as a highly successful project with Rolls-Royce. However, over time it became clear that A.T. Kearney's independence was compromised by such a relationship (i.e. advising on corporate and technology strategy and providing the technology consulting services to implement). There were also reports The A.T. Kearney/ EDS relationship soured at a senior management level over the coming years as cultural differences emerged.

The technology down-turn further highlighted the difficulties of operating as a 'public company'. While other consulting companies were able to 'absorb' losses (McKinsey did a capital call in order to ride out the down turn), the short term nature of 'the markets' forced A.T. Kearney to aggressively downsize globally, which significantly hurt A.T. Kearney's brand in recruitment markets (such as Business Schools).

While competing management consulting firms recovered rapidly after the economic down turn A.T. Kearney continued to under-perform. A.T. Kearney contributed less than 5% of EDS' total revenues in 2004, and posted a $10 million loss.

Returning to a Partnership Model

In 2005, EDS CEO, Michael Jordan, confirmed rumors that EDS was seeking to sell A.T. Kearney back to its management team. The transaction was completed in January 2006. More than 170 A.T. Kearney officers from 26 countries participated in the transaction as investors (90% of those invited to participate did so).

The return to private ownership was widely considered a success in the market place. A.T. Kearney claimed record revenue and profit growth for the year 2006 (although as a private company these are no longer disclosed), and it was widely reported that the company paid off its entire debt to EDS two years earlier than planned.

Practice Areas

A.T. Kearney's industry specialties include Automotive, Communications, Consumer & Retail, Financial Institutions, Government, High Tech & Electronics, Pharma & Health Care, and Energy & Utilities. Major competency teams include Supply Chain Management, Growth Strategies, Mergers, Innovation & Complexity, IT Strategies, and Transformation.

To meet the increasing demand from environmentally conscious and socially responsible clients, A.T. Kearney has introduced a sustainability service, which consists of an expert group focused on developing corporate sustainability strategies and optimizing green product portfolios, to assist clients in devevloping sustainable value chains and networks.

A.T. Kearney is particularly well known for its thought leadership in procurement strategies across all industries.

Customers

Clients include 70 percent of the Fortune 1000, governments and other non-profit institutions. A.T. Kearney is also active in the community and performs pro bono engagements for charitable organizations and government agencies worldwide.

Competitors

A.T. Kearney's top competitors include white shoe firms McKinsey & Company, Bain & Co., Booz Allen Hamilton, and The Boston Consulting Group.

Publications

A.T. Kearney, along with Foreign Policy magazine, publishes the annual Globalization Index. A.T. Kearney also publishes Executive Agenda, a print and online journal which offers articles on current leadership, management, market and research issues written by A.T. Kearney consultants. In addition, the company publishes Business issue papers and A.T Kearney consultants have authored and contributed to articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Strategy & Leadership and Supply Chain Management Review.

A.T. Kearney consultants have published several business books, including the recent World Out of Balance written by the Chairman of the Board and Managing Officer, Paul A. Laudicina. Other publications include:

After the Merger, which provides a blueprint on how to effect post merger integration, introducing Seven Rules for Successful Post-Merger Integration. Max M. Habeck, Fritz Kröger and Michael R. Tram have reflected on their merger lessons learned over the years as A.T. Kearney consultants.

Winning the Profit Game, where the authors Michael R. Reopel, Jeanne-May Sun, Robert G. Docters and Stephen M. Tanny make a case for the link between price and brand and their role as the fundamental tools for growing the top line.

Stretch! How Great Companies Grow In Good Times and Bad. Based on in-depth case studies of some 29 000 companies, combining data, ideas and practical guidance, the authors, Graeme K. Deans and Fritz Kröger, argue that extraordinary growth is possible by all companies, in any industry and phase of the market cycle.

Rebuilding the Corporate Genome: Unlocking the Real Value of Your Business, where Johan C. Aurik, Gillis J. Jonk and Robert E. Willen talk about how the plummeting interaction costs makes it easier for individual parts of companies to break, possibly causing the breakdown of the corporation.

Recruiting

A.T. Kearney primarily recruits from the top US and international universities. Undergraduates join the firm as "Business Analysts" and MBAs join the firm as "Associates." Like the other top management consulting firms, A.T. Kearney has a very rigorous recruiting process. There are typically two rounds of interviews that involve case interviews, personality or fit interviews, and a mock presentation. A candidate interviews with 6 or so A.T. Kearney employees before receiving an offer.

Offices

External links

References

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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 03:09:39 PDT (GMT -0700)
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