Out of this belief came BCG’s first bombshell: the . Henderson observed that real unit costs declined by a predictable percentage (typically 20–30%) every time cumulative production doubled. The implication was radical: market share wasn’t just a vanity metric. It was a weapon. The company with the highest cumulative experience could underprice everyone and still make money.
First, the "Experience Curve," developed in the late 1960s, posited that the more a company produces of a product, the lower its per-unit cost becomes. This theory suggested that market share was the primary driver of profitability and that aggressive pricing strategies to gain volume could lock in a competitive advantage. This insight shattered the prevailing notion that volume was merely a result of success; Henderson argued it was the cause of success. founder of bcg
In 1963, Henderson was recruited by the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company to establish a new consulting arm. What began with one desk and no phone grew into a global powerhouse known for its intellectual rigor and revolutionary business frameworks. The Pioneer of Business Strategy Out of this belief came BCG’s first bombshell: the
In the annals of modern business history, few figures cast a shadow as long as Bruce Henderson. As the founder of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Henderson did not merely establish a successful company; he invented the modern management consulting industry. Before Henderson, business advice was largely synonymous with accounting and efficiency auditing. After him, it became a rigorous, intellectual discipline grounded in economics and strategy. Henderson’s journey from a unconventional salesman to the patriarch of corporate strategy is a testament to the power of ideas and the courage to challenge established orthodoxy. It was a weapon
He also broke the mold of industry-focused consulting. Where other firms sold deep sector knowledge, BCG sold frameworks. Henderson believed that a brilliant strategist could walk into any industry—steel, software, or soap—and find the winning move using the same mental models. That bet made BCG a powerhouse and launched the entire strategy consulting industry as we know it.
To market these ideas, Henderson created a series of brief, provocative essays designed to "punch" executives between the eyes and stimulate high-level strategic thinking. These essays transitioned from summarizing existing ideas to introducing original, data-driven frameworks that are now business staples:
