globalization

McKINSEY & COMPANY – KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT


COMPANY BACKGROUND AND CURRENT SITUATION

§ Founded by James McKinsey in 1926, the firm recruited experienced executives and showed them the general sequence of analysis that they should work by, but also encouraged them to expand and analyze for themselves.

§ In 1932, Marvin Bower decided he needed to upgrade the firm’s image to be more ‘professional’. His main objective was to spread the ‘One Firm’ policy in order to exploit their intangible resources. Huge domestic growth occurred through the 1950’s and provided the platform to expand globally.

§ However, after Bower’s departure, the growth of McKinsey’s slowed quite rapidly and seemed to stall due to the appearance of new competitors (thanks to very low entry barriers in the industry and demand outstripping supply) as well as the economic disturbance of the oil crisis.

§ Management established that the firm had been growing too fast, a...