ADL: A Legacy Anything But Little
Arthur D. Little, the world's oldest management consulting firm, was auctioned off to five companies in early April for $96 million.
The consultancy was founded in 1886 as the first spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its founder, Arthur Dehon Little, never graduated from MIT, but instead left the school to form the company bearing his name.
Starting out as a chemical research firm, the company developed into one of the world's leading think tanks — with a research and development staff that was the envy of its competition.
The firm's flair for innovation took off in the late 1950s, when researchers at MIT approached Arthur D. Little about commercializing a process for making synthetic penicillin. While milestones such as the invention and commercialization of fiberglass have earned them high marks, another of ADL's inventions has garnered a great deal of attention since September 11.
When the anthrax scare was sweeping through the country, scientists sprayed some infected buildings with an ADL creation — a foam substance that neutralizes biological warfare agents.
Auditor Independence/
Dow Jones Companies Trim Nonaudit Fees
A Securities and Exchange Commission dictum requiring public companies to disclose the amounts of nonaudit fees they paid their auditors is now thought to be the likely catalyst behind a significant drop off in nonaudit fees being paid by audit clients.
An analysis by Reuters of SEC filings of 25 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average showed that 60 percent had reduced their ratio of "other" spending to audit fees from the time the new SEC rule became enforced.
In 2000, the SEC allowed companies to continue to use auditors for other services if the companies disclosed the fees. On average, companies paid accounting firms 2.73 times as much in other fees as they did in audit fees in 2001, compared with 3.09 times as much the previous year, according to the analysis.
Recruiting/
MBAs' Most Desired Employers
Firms that were traditionally popular among MBA students before the onset of "Web fever" are once again being considered ideal employers, according to Universum's MBA Survey 2002. While strategy firms continue to grow in popularity among students, IT-focused Accenture dropped from sixth place in 2001 to 17th this year. Computer hardware and software producers such as Intel, Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard also dropped off the top 10 list.
TV's "Bachelor" is Paid by the Hour
McKinsey, Bain, and Accenture Emit a Collective Sigh, as BCG Bemoans Its Fate: "Egads! He's one of ours!"
When all is said and done, it hasn't been a bad assignment for Alex Michel, the 31-year-old Boston Consulting Group consultant who recently starred in ABC Television's "The Bachelor," known across MBA campuses as "Who Wants to Marry a Management Consultant?"
The premise of the reality show was to take one supposedly wealthy, well-educated man, throw in two dozen or so beautiful women, and you have a ratings coup. ABC's ratings for the show averaged roughly 10 million viewers per week, a respectable number for the struggling network.
Each week, Michel was identified simply as "a management consultant," with no mention of his firm — a lapse for which BCG partners may remain forever thankful. Tasked with dating 25 women with the possibility of becoming engaged to one, Michel, who holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford, has been able to devote little time to his more traditional consulting career.
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