Henderson's genius lay in his ability to simplify complex industrial dynamics into actionable concepts.
At age 48, most executives are retiring. Henderson was hired by The Boston Company to start a tiny internal consulting unit. He immediately broke three rules:
| Quadrant | Name | Strategy | Metaphor | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | High Share, High Growth | | Invest for dominance | The Alpha Predator | | Low Share, High Growth | Question Mark | Either kill or pour cash | The Risky Gamble | | High Share, Low Growth | Cash Cow | Milk for profit | The Domesticated Herd | | Low Share, Low Growth | Pet | Divest or liquidate | The Extinct Species | bruce henderson
Bruce Henderson died in 1992. But his DNA is everywhere:
In 1963, Henderson founded the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At the time, it was a subsidiary of The Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company. It was a humble beginning for what would become one of the "Big Three" global management consulting firms. Henderson’s vision was radical; he believed that business problems could be solved not just by experience and intuition, but by rigorous economic analysis and data. Henderson's genius lay in his ability to simplify
Bruce Henderson | Official Publisher Page - Simon & Schuster
Henderson discovered that as cumulative experience with operations increases, proficiency rises, and costs drop. He observed that every time accumulated experience doubles, costs tend to fall by a predictable He immediately broke three rules: | Quadrant |
Bruce Henderson passed away in 1992, but his ghost haunts every boardroom where market share is calculated and every MBA classroom where the growth-share matrix is projected. He transformed business from an art of management into a science of competition. As he once wrote, "Strategy is the art and science of developing and employing the political, economic, psychological, and military powers... to afford the maximum support to policies."