Management Consulting Group

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Management Consulting Group PLC
Type	public (LSE)
Founded	Chicago, USA, 1946
Headquarters	16 offices globally
Key people	R W H Stomber, Chairman Alan Barber, CEO
Industry	Management consulting services
Revenue	▲ £84.6 million (2005)
Employees	about 2000
Website	http://www.mcgplc.com

Management Consulting Group, PLC is a consulting company listed on the London Stock Exchange under the name MMC. As of 2006 they were ranked the twelfth largest operational consultancy firm in the world^{[citation needed]}.

It has four sub-consultancies which go by the brand names:

Ineum Consulting (acquired 2006)
Parson Consulting (acquired 2002)
Proudfoot Consulting
Salzer Consulting - formerly The Salzer Group (acquired 51% interest in 2006)
Kurt Salmon Associates (KSA) - Consumer Products, Retail and Health Care consulting firm acquired 2007

The company was originally named Alexander Proudfoot PLC, after its founder. In 1993 it shortened its name to Proudfoot PLC. In January, 2001 it changed its name to the current name of Management Consulting Group, PLC.^[1]

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[edit] History

Alexander Proudfoot founded the Alexander Proudfoot Company in Chicago on 25 February 1946. Fascinated by the challenges of consulting but disenchanted by the way they operated, Proudfoot decided to create a new form of consulting service. He had two main criteria:

sell a unique, proprietary product that would produce tangible results with benefits far exceeding the cost.
only accept assignments for which the client made him responsible for installing the programme.

The emphasis on direct involvement is charactized by this quote describing Proudfoot in the 1980s:

At Proudfoot, Peter Isaac remembers feeling slightly insulted when Sir Ian McGregor, grappling with the mammoth task of restructuring British Steel in the early 1980s, told him that what distinguished him and his colleagues from other consultants was that they had dirt under their fingernails. It was a compliment, McGregor assured him: “You work at the coalface where things really happen, other consultants work in offices.^[2]

The founder also belonged to the tradition of consultancy that uses philosophy as a guide to best practice. The consulting approach he formulated for his company was particularly influenced by the philosophy of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. This philosophical approach governed both consulting engagements and internal management.^[3]