A.T. KEARNEY

'A.T. Kearney' is an international management consulting firm, dating its origins back to the early days of the management consulting profession.

Contents

History

Going Public, And Returning to a Partnership Model

Spin-offs

Practice Areas

Customers

Competitors

Publications

Organizational Development

Recruiting

External links

References

History

A.T. Kearney began as a branch of McKinsey & Company. Andrew Thomas Kearney joined James O. McKinsey's firm in 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, And Returning to a Partnership Model

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.
In a booming market 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.
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 of its entire debt to EDS two years earlier than planned.

Spin-offs

★ Lansdowne Consulting

★ Efficio

★ Pacific Strategy Partners

★ Quartz Strategy Consultants

★ Crescendo Partners (2005)

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.
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 McKinsey & Company, Bain & Co., and The Boston Consulting Group.

Publications

A.T. Kearney, along with Foreign Policy magazine, publishes the annual Globalization Index.

Organizational Development

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 all of the 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.

External links

★ Executive Agenda

★ Yahoo! - A.T. Kearney Company Profile

References