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{{Infobox company
| name = Bain & Company
| logo = [[File:Bain & Company logo.svg|250px]]
| image = Boston's Dartmouth St near Back Bay Station.png
| image_caption = Headquarters at 131 Dartmouth St, [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]]
| type =
| founder = {{ubl|[[Bill Bain (consultant)|William W. Bain Jr.]]|Patrick F. Graham<ref name="Forbes"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theknoxstudent.com/news/2012/10/24/the-man-behind-mitt-romney/|title=The man behind Mitt Romney – The Knox Student|author=|date=24 October 2012|website=theknoxstudent.com|access-date=18 March 2018|archive-date=22 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822125850/http://www.theknoxstudent.com/news/2012/10/24/the-man-behind-mitt-romney/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
| key_people = {{ubl|[[
| industry = [[Management consulting]]
| num_locations = 64<ref name="Bain & Company">{{cite web | title=Worldwide offices | website=www.bain.com | url=http://www.bain.com/about/worldwide-offices/index.aspx | access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref>
| revenue = $
| num_employees
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.bain.com}}
| foundation = {{start date and age|1973}}<ref name="Forbes">{{cite web | title=#77 Bain & Co | website=Forbes | url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/bain-and-company/ | access-date=July 3, 2017}}</ref>
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'''Bain & Company''' is an American [[management consulting]] company headquartered in [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. The firm provides advice to public, private, and non-profit organizations. One of the [[Big Three (management consultancies)|Big Three management consultancies]], Bain & Company was founded in 1973 by former Group Vice President of [[Boston Consulting Group]] [[Bill Bain (consultant)|Bill Bain]] and his colleagues, including Patrick F. Graham.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/01/17/bain-founder-bill-bain-dies-age/kT0h8zL5aTJLX6fpqxkZxI/story.html|title=Bain & Co. founder Bill Bain dies at age 80 – The Boston Globe|work=BostonGlobe.com|access-date=2018-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202180625/https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/01/17/bain-founder-bill-bain-dies-age/kT0h8zL5aTJLX6fpqxkZxI/story.html|archive-date=2018-02-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the firm grew rapidly. Bill Bain later [[corporate spin-off|spun off]] the [[alternative investment]] business into [[Bain Capital]] in 1984 and appointed [[Mitt Romney]] as its first CEO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-bain-bomb-a-users-guide|title=The Bain Bomb: A User's Guide|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2018-09-10|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Bain experienced several setbacks and financial troubles from 1987 to the early 1990s. Romney and [[Orit Gadiesh]] are credited with returning the firm to profitability and growth in their sequential roles as the firm's CEO and chairman respectively.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2018/03/19/bain-capital-sees-three-investments-stumble-toys-r-us-guitar-center-and-iheartmedia/#65fc14a16b7b|title=Bain Capital Sees Three Investments Stumble: Toys 'R' Us, Guitar Center And iHeartMedia|last=Loeb|first=Walter|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-09-10|language=en}}</ref>
In the 2000s, Bain & Company continued to expand and create additional practice areas focused on working with non-profits, technology companies, and others. It developed a substantial practice around working with [[private equity]] firms.<ref name=":1" />
Bain has been the subject of recent controversy related to its involvement with the [[South African Revenue Service]].<ref name="The New York Times 2018">{{cite web | title=Boston Firm Admits 'Massive Failure' in Plan to Aid South Africa Tax Agency | website=The New York Times | date=September 2, 2018 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/02/world/africa/south-africa-tax-agency-bain.html | access-date=January 1, 2019|first=Kimon|last=de Greef}}</ref>
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In the late 1980s, Bain & Company experienced a series of setbacks.<ref name="Bloomberg.com 1991">{{cite web | title=Can Bain Consultants Get Bain & Co. Out Of This Jam? | website=Bloomberg.com | date=February 11, 1991 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1991-02-10/can-bain-consultants-get-bain-and-co-dot-out-of-this-jam | access-date=July 5, 2017}}</ref> A public relations crisis emerged in 1987, due to a controversy involving Bain's work with [[Guinness]].<ref name="directory"/> Tension was growing over the firm's partnership structure, whereby only Bain knew how much the firm was making and decided how much profit-sharing each partner received.<ref name="Fortune 1987"/> The stock market crashed the same year, and many Bain clients reduced or eliminated their spending with the firm.<ref name=" Kiechel 2010 p. 224"/> There were two rounds of layoffs, eliminating about 30 percent of the workforce.<ref name="Kiechel 2010 p. 224"/><ref name="Bloomberg.com 1991"/>{{efn|Sources conflict on whether total layoffs were 20%, 27%, or 30%.}}
The [[Guinness share-trading fraud]] began with Britain's Department of Trade and Industry investigating whether Bain's client Guinness illegally inflated its stock price.<ref name="Gallese 1989">{{cite news | last=Gallese | first=Liz Roman | title=Counselor To The King | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 24, 1989 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/24/magazine/counselor-to-the-king.html | access-date=July 3, 2017}}</ref> Bain had helped Guinness trim 150 companies from its portfolio after a period of excessive diversification<ref name="Fortune 1987"/> and expand into hard liquor with the acquisition of two
| website=Financial Times | url=https://www.ft.com/content/faa14ab8-71fd-11e0-9adf-00144feabdc0?mhq5j=e1 | access-date=August 10, 2017}}</ref> for the manipulation of the stock price, but having a Bain consultant work as both vendor and client drew criticisms of
In 1985 and 1986, Bain & Company took out loans to buy 30 percent of the firm from Bain and other partners for $200 million and used the shares to create an
===Rebound===
[[Mitt Romney]] was hired back as interim CEO of Bain & Company in January 1991<ref name="Washington Post 2012"/> and is credited with saving the company from bankruptcy during his one-year stint in the position.<ref name="Groth Lubin 2011">{{cite web | last1=Groth | first1=Aimee | last2=Lubin | first2=Gus | title=A Company Saved From Bankruptcy By Romney Was Just Named The Best Employer In America | website=Business Insider | date=December 15, 2011 | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/romney-bain-co-best-employer-america-2011-12 | access-date=July 9, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Rifkin 1994">{{cite web | last=Rifkin | first=Glenn | title=Profile; Don't Ever Judge This Consultant by Her Cover | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=April 1, 1994 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/01/business/profile-don-t-ever-judge-this-consultant-by-her-cover.html | access-date=July 10, 2017}}</ref> Romney had originally left Bain & Company in 1983 after being appointed
[[File:Orit Gadiesh.jpg|thumb|right|Orit Gadiesh]]
Romney left again in December 1992 to pursue a career in politics,<ref name="directory"/> but not before he organized an election
===Recent history===
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In February 2000, Gadiesh was elected for her third consecutive term as the firm's chairman, and Tom Tierney was replaced by [[John Donahoe]] as managing director.<ref name="vault" /> Around 2000, the firm became more involved in consulting private equity firms on which companies to invest in and collaborating with technology consulting firms.<ref name="consultingmag.com" /> By 2005, Bain had the largest share of the market for private equity consulting.<ref name="The Economistt" />
By 2018, Bain's
Bain & Company does not publish its revenues, but it is estimated to have experienced double-digit annual growth in the 2000s.<ref name="The Economistt">{{cite news | title=Consulting in the right direction | newspaper=The Economist | url=https://www.economist.com/node/5053524 | access-date=July 10, 2017}}</ref> Although the market for management consulting was declining, the [[Big Three (management consultancies)|Big Three management consulting firms]], including Bain & Company, continued to grow.<ref name="Stern2010" /> Bain expanded to new offices in other countries,<ref name="directory" /> including India in 2006.<ref name="Mahanta 2006">{{cite news | last=Mahanta | first=Vinod | title=Steve eyes desi consulting pie|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/steve-eyes-desi-consulting-pie/articleshow/1461584.cms|website=The Economic Times|access-date=August 7, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Business News 2007">{{cite web | title=Feeding off India's growth- Business News | website=Business Today | date=November 18, 2007 | url=http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/current/feeding-off-indias-growth/story/835.html | access-date=August 7, 2017}}</ref> Like the other big consulting firms, it began working more with governments.<ref name="Stern2010">{{cite news|title=Management: Reinventing the Spiel|first=Stefan|last=Stern|date=June 24, 2010|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/893c015e-7fca-11df-91b4-00144feabdc0.html|access-date=August 7, 2017|quote=Even in these bad economic times, the top three have also been increasingly working with governments around the world - in healthcare, for example, and helping to support struggling and restructuring industries (BCG has been an important adviser on the US automotive rescue).}}</ref> Bain maintained a "generalist" approach to management consulting but created a separate specialist business unit for IT and technology.<ref name="The Economistt" />
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In February 2022, Bain announced the acquisition of ArcBlue, a procurement consulting firm active in the Asia-Pacific region.<ref>{{cite news | title=BAIN & COMPANY ACQUIRES ARCBLUE TO BOLSTER ITS PROCUREMENT ADVISORY SERVICES | newspaper=PR Newswire | date=February 23, 2022 | url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bain--company-acquires-arcblue-to-bolster-its-procurement-advisory-services-301489253.html}}</ref>
In 2023, annual revenues were $6 billion and there were 19,000 employees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bain picks first European as global chief executive |url=https://www.ft.com/content/45e53a3b-e029-4a68-bdbb-2cf3ec0829fa |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.ft.com}}</ref>
In January 2024, the ''Financial Times'' reported that Bain had chosen Christophe De Vusser, the head of its European private equity advisory business, to become the firm's global chief executive. De Vusser, a Belgian, would succeed Maceda from July. He would be the first European to hold the post.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bain picks first European as global chief executive |url=https://www.ft.com/content/45e53a3b-e029-4a68-bdbb-2cf3ec0829fa |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.ft.com}}</ref>
==Controversies ==
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Bain & Company provides management consulting services primarily to Fortune 500 CEOs.<ref name="directory"/> The firm advises on issues such as private equity investments, mergers & acquisitions, corporate strategy, finance, operations, and market analysis.<ref name="wetfeet"/> It also has departments focused on customer loyalty, word of mouth marketing, and digital technology.<ref name="Bain & Companyhistory">{{cite web | title=History of innovation in management consulting | website=www.bain.com | url=http://www.bain.com/about/what-we-do/history-of-innovation.aspx | access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> Most of its consulting is on corporate strategy.<ref name="book"/>
In
Later in the 2000s, Bain introduced service packages for specific areas of expertise, such as the supply chain.<ref name="directory">{{cite book|first=Tina|last=Grant|volume=55|publisher=St. James Press|date=2003|pages=41–43|work=International Directory of Company Histories|title=Bain & Company}}</ref> The firm also became more heavily involved in consulting with private equity firms, advising on what companies to buy, facilitating a turnaround, and then re-selling the company.<ref name="The Economistt"/>
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==Reception==
According to ''The New York Times'' in 2017, the results of Bain's consulting "have often been impressive."<ref name="reception 1">{{cite news | last=Gallese | first=Liz Roman | title=Counselor To The King | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 24, 1989 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/24/magazine/counselor-to-the-king.html | access-date=July 3, 2017|quote=Over the years, Bain's list of major clients grew to encompass some of the leading corporations of the nation, including the likes of Baxter International, Burlington Industries, Dun & Bradstreet, Hughes Tool, Iowa Beef, Monsanto and Wells Fargo. The results have often been impressive. In a March 1989 Price Waterhouse audit, the market value of all of Bain's clients was shown to have increased 456 percent since 1980. The audit was based on the in-house Bain Index. It compares the performance of clients' stocks with that of the Dow Jones industrial average, which was up only 192 percent. Bain claims that, for every dollar it charges clients, they increase their profits by a factor of 5 to 10.}}</ref> An audit by [[Price Waterhouse]] found that the aggregate market value of Bain clients increased 456 percent from 1980 to 1989, whereas the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]] increased 192 percent during the same time period.<ref name="reception 1" /><ref name="reception 2">{{cite web | first=Nancy |last=Perry|title=A Consulting Firm Too Hot to Handle? Bain & Co. gets its hands ''deep in the trousers of client companies,'' says an executive who knows it well. Maybe too deep, the Guinness scandal suggests | website=Fortune | date=April 27, 1987 | url=
==Corporate culture==
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Bain employees are sometimes called "Bainies."<ref name="wetfeet"/> It was originally a pejorative term but was adopted by employees as an affectionate term.<ref name="wetfeet">{{cite web|publisher=Wetfeet|title=Bain & Company WetFeet Insider Guide|date=2005|access-date=July 5, 2017|url=http://www.durhamconsulting.co.uk/resources/guides/Bain%20Insider%20Guide.pdf}}</ref> According to ''Fortune'', were Bain & Company a person, "it would be articulate, attractive, meticulously well groomed, and exceedingly charming. It would exude Southern gentility. But it would also be a shrewd, intensely ambitious strategist, totally in control."<ref name="Fortune 1987"/>
Bain is often placed among the top best places to work in annual rankings by [[Glassdoor]]<ref name="Weller Jacobs 2016">{{cite web | last1=Weller | first1=Chris | last2=Jacobs | first2=Sarah | title=Bain & Company was just named the best workplace of 2017 | website=Business Insider | date=December 8, 2016 | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/bain-office-tour-2017-2016-12 | access-date=July 3, 2017}}</ref> and ''Consulting Magazine''.<ref name="Consulting Magazine 2013">{{cite web | title=Bain & Company | website=Consulting Magazine | date=August 8, 2013 | url=http://www.consultingmag-digital.com/consultingmag/september_2013?pg=6&lm=1396899965000 | access-date=August 7, 2017 | archive-date=December 15, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215123812/http://www.consultingmag-digital.com/consultingmag/september_2013?pg=6&lm=1396899965000 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Bain
Bain hires many people with [[MBA]]s from business schools,<ref name="Gallese 1989"/> |url=http://www.consultingmag.com/CMCoverFeat-Bainfeb01.html
|title=Raising Bain
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== Further reading ==
* Williams, Athol (2021). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mMq9zgEACAAJ Deep Collusion: Bain and the capture of South Africa]''. Tafelberg. ISBN 9780624091998.
==External links==
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