Aligning the Stars


Bain & Co.: International Expansion (Harvard Business School Case Study #395-102) 11/28/94 Harvard Business School Examines major strategic and organizational issues facing Bain & Co., a leading strategy consulting firm, regarding global expansion. The Bain partners must choose a course among many exciting and attractive opportunities for growth. Also explores organizational and managerial implications for various growth scenarios. Teaching Purpose: An excellent vehicle to explore strategic and organizational issues facing a successful professional service firm... "Bain is back, engines on full thrust." This was the way one observer described the resurgence of Bain & Company by mid-1994. The firm had survived a difficult transition in control from its founder group to a worldwide partnership in 1991. Three years later, performance had dramatically exceeded the original plan: revenue had grown at more than 25% per year, more than 500 new employees had been recruited (most of whom had offers to join Bain's primary competitors), staff turnover was at an all-time low, and client requests for proposals had almost tripled.... Bain's managing director, Tom Tierney, knew it was time to take another serious look forward. With his fellow partners, particularly those on the Policy Committee, he needed to reassess what had worked and what hadn't, to prepare the business to meet the demands of a changing market for consulting services, and to decide on how and where to grow towards 2000. The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing. Bain & Co., Inc.: Making Partner (Harvard Business School Case Study #899-066) 3/7/00 Harvard Business School In June 1998, Bain's Compensation & Policy Committee meets to review candidates for elevation to partnership. The case presents the profiles of four candidates and ends with the promotion committee debating the merits of the candidates. Teaching Purpose: To explore the issues that have to be considered in deciding whether to promote a PS firm employee to partner. ..."We'd like to think promotions are only fact-based, but promotions are inherently both fact-based and judgmental. Partnership promotion is a make-or-break decision for us" - Tom Tierney, Bain Worldwide Managing Director The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing. Tom Tierney at Bain & Co. (A) (Harvard Business School Case Study #800-253) 8/16/00 Harvard Business School Bain managing director Tom Tierney is contemplating how best to rotate the office head position between two partners at one of the firm's offices. The case provides background information on Bain's governance structure and Tierney's management style. Teaching Purpose: 1) governance systems, 2) career planning, and 3) succession dynamics in a professional service firm. "As managing director I worry whether there is momentum inside the partnership. Do we have the right people in the right places? Is the glue of the partnership working? Are we making the right decisions the right way? Are people developing themselves as fast as possible? I've made it plain from day one that I expect office heads to work at a job five to seven years and then to rotate out. I don't want to create master sergeants who get 'long in the tooth' and stop learning. Their capabilities stall out and younger partners may not work for them because younger partners don't want to work for the guys running a kingdom; they want to work for partners helping them succeed."... "My job is to help our partners succeed", declared Tom Tierney, worldwide managing director (MD) of Bain & Company. In his role as chief executive officer, Tierney was responsible for managing Bain's internal operations and overseeing the appointment, compensation, and career progress of Bain partners, including the firm's 15 office heads. At any given time Tierney's agenda could include as many as two dozen partner-related career issues. "Often", he explained, "I have to help partners realize it's time for a change in their assignment before they do. Office heads can be particularly challenging. Frequently, I face the difficult task of convincing an office head to step down before they feel ready. Although office heads report to me, it's against human nature to give up your power base voluntarily." The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing. Tom Tierney at Bain & Co. (B) (Harvard Business School Case Study #800-071) 8/16/00 Harvard Business School Supplements the (A) case. ...Tierney's Rumination - "The repotting appears to be proceeding smoothly," observed Tierney, "although I do have to remain extra vigilant in the coming few months to ensure that it takes root. I am also looking around for other possible opportunities for transition of responsibility within Bain. It is a long process and human tendency is to delay such transitions. As I look around at operational heads that might need repotting, I am beginning to reflect upon the inevitability of my own transition. I love my job and am committed to our firm. I don't have to step down till 2003. But I am wondering how to best facilitate CEO transition at Bain." The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing. Tom Tierney at Bain & Co. (C) (Harvard Business School Case Study #800-259) 8/16/00 Harvard Business School Supplements the (A) case. ... Chief Executive Succession at Bain & Company - On October 13, 1999, Tom Tierney, worldwide managing director of Bain & Company, sent the firm's partners a voice mail that began: "This is Tom Tierney to the worldwide partners with an important communication. The headline is that I made a private decision many months ago not to stand for a final term as managing director, that is, to step down in the year 2000 instead of the year 2003. I love my job, I am pretty good at it, and I am extremely committed to our firm. However, I made this decision because I thought it was the absolute right decision for Bain & Company." The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing.
The Bridgespan Group (Harvard Business School Case Study #301-011) 11/1/00 Harvard Business School Based in Boston and San Francisco, The Bridgespan Group is an independent nonprofit consulting firm sponsored by the for-profit management consulting firm Bain & Company. The Bridgespan Group model is to offer "Bain-like" consulting capability that was customized to the distinctive needs and challenges of organizations in the nonprofit sector. Although past the start-up risks associated with new ventures, Bridgespan faced important strategies and operational challenges concerning how to grow effectively, accomplish its ambitious mission, and optimize its relationship with Bain. ... Creating The Bridgespan Group: While serving as worldwide managing director of Bain and Company, Tom Tierney sought to extend and deepen the impact of Bain's pro bono work. Throughout his business career, Tierney had a "desire to serve" and make a contribution to society. As head of Bain's San Francisco office in the 1980s, he spearheaded some of Bain's first pro bono projects with the United Way and the Nature Conservancy. But Tierney increasingly questioned how the firm could do more in the nonprofit sector. In the wake of a major management and financial restructuring, Tierney moved to the Boston headquarters in 1992 to become Bain's worldwide managing director. By 1995, with more time and resources at his disposal, he began exploring the question: "How could Bain, with its talent and strategic expertise, be used as a platform to make a lasting impact in the social sector?" Over the next few years, he mobilized three Bain case teams to analyze the viability of creating a new nonprofit consulting practice and the best organization approach for achieving that end. The full text of this document is available from Harvard Business School Publishing.