Bruce Doolin Henderson (1915–1992) was the founder of the Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortunes "Best Companies to Work For" report for...

 (BCG). Henderson founded BCG in 1963 in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

.

Biography

Originally called the Management and Consulting Division of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, what became BCG was itself a subsidiary of The Boston Company. A former salesman for the Southwestern Company

Southwestern Company

Southwestern Company recruits and trains college students to sell educational reference books, software, and children's books door-to-door. Students participating in the Southwestern program are independent contractors, not employees of the company, purchasing books at wholesale from the company...

 (which his father owned for 50 years), Henderson attended the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 and then earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 before attending Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

. He left HBS ninety days before graduation to work for Westinghouse Corporation, where he became one of the youngest vice presidents in the company's history. He was named one of Time Magazine's top 10 news makers under 30 years old.

He left Westinghouse to head Arthur D. Little

Arthur D. Little

Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and formally incorporated by that name in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. Arthur D. Little pioneered the concept of contracted...

's management services unit before he accepted the challenge from the CEO of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company to start a consulting arm for the bank. This consulting arm started operations in 1963. Initially it advised clients of the bank.. The billings for the first month of BCG were only US$ 500. Nevertheless, Henderson hired his second consultant, Arthur P. Contas in December 1963. In 1974 Henderson made BCG an independent business. He retired from BCG in 1985 and then became a professor of management at Vanderbilt University.

The Economist magazine

The Economist

The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

 stated that Henderson did more to change the way business is done in the United States than any other man in American business history. Well known to many now is the famous Growth-Share Matrix

Growth-share matrix

The BCG matrix is a chart that had been created by Bruce Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group in 1968 to help corporations with analyzing their business units or product lines...

 ('cash cow') and the 'Experience curve'. His books were published in 27 languages.

Henderson retired to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, and taught at The Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University. He was also honored by Vanderbilt's School of Engineering by being named to their rarely bestowed 'Distinguished Engineering Alumni'.

Publications

Books:

• Henderson on Corporate Strategy. 1979. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0890115268.
• Logic of Business Strategy. 1984. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0884109839.

Monographs:

• Perspectives.