1940-1959

1940s

A decade started by War, ended by conversion to Peace and start of the Cold War. Consulting gains great legitimacy in business circles for government work performed in wartime. Many military officers move into the business world, bringing knowledge and respect for consultants with them. Rapid development of technology and business organization makes business more complex which also increases need for consulting services.

1942

George Fry, a leading thinker at Booz Allen, leaves to start his own firm, Fry Lawson & Company. Edwin Booz had been spending an increasing amount of time on work for the Navy Department whereas Fry wanted the firm of Booz, Fry, Allen & Hamilton to spend more time with industrial clients. Becomes Fry Consultants. Never grows as fast or as profitably as Booz Allen and is acquired by ARA Services, a large food and vending concern, in 1967.

Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, predicts that the world market for computers will consist of five machines.

A British firm, PA Consultants, is started by Ernest Butten in 1943 with six consultants. Promotes PAMT (PA Method of Training) which increases worker efficiency without creating significant worker-management dissension. PA has since grown by aggressive recruiting to over 1,000 staff members. Today PA is known for strength in technology and new product development.

1945

At a dinner at the home of James K. Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, Mark Cresap, William F. McCormick and Richard Paget talk about staying together after getting out of the service. Each had been involved in industry before WWII. Paget had become the youngest partner ever at Booz Allen (age 27) before becoming the youngest captain in Navy history at age 28 (to head Booz Allen's Navy reorganization). The firm Cresap, McCormick and Paget thrives after the War and grows to be one third the size of McKinsey. CMP is purchased by Citibank, then spun off, then later purchased by Towers Perrin.

1946

Price Waterhouse establishes a separate consulting department. The firm had a growing volume of consulting business coming from audit and tax clients that justified the move.

1946

ENIAC - the first electronic computer goes online. It's weight is 30 tons.

Bossard Consultants is founded by Yves Bossard in Paris. The company has a distinct European flair.

1947

Booz Allen growing fast. Revenues hit $2 million for the first time.

1950s

A decade of post-War recovery. The baby boom brings lots of future MBAs! Suburbanization. And emergence of effective mass marketing methods with growth in TV.

1951

As sole surviving founder partner of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, James L. Allen begins to reshape the firm considerably by hiring large numbers of "bright young men" lacking in business experience, but strong in analytical skills. Booz Allen becomes the leading management consulting firm by 1970, with 1500 professionals on staff. A long way from the days when Ed Booz shared an office with a man who sold bath towels! In a 1968, Allen states: "The thing that gave management consulting its greatest impetus was the approach that Ed Booz took, that is: thinking in terms of people and the organization of them as being the key factors in successful management. This has been borne out by many individuals who founded great corporations." (Hal Higdon, The Business Healers, Random House, 1969, p. 129)

1952

Royal Little begins to build a conglomerate out of Textron. The thinking behind this business organization is influential in leading a variety of other companies to diversify in the 1960s. This move, of course, motivated a tremendous amount of strategic thinking later about the appropriate mix of businesses under the corporate umbrella.