Arthur D. Little
Company typePrivate Company
IndustryManagement consulting
Founded1886 (formally incorporated as ADL in 1909)
HeadquartersBrussels, Belgium[1]
Key people
Ignacio Garcia Alves, Global CEO
ProductsManagement consulting services
Number of employees
509 [2012 data] 644 [2010 data][2]
Websitewww.adl.com

Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and formally incorporated by that name in 1909[3] by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. Arthur D. Little pioneered the concept of contracted professional services. The company played key roles in the development of business strategy, operations research, the word processor, the first synthetic penicillin, LexisNexis, and NASDAQ. Today the company is a multi-national management consulting firm.

Early History

The Arthur D. Little Inc. building at 30 Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near MIT, which opened in 1917. (photo 2009)
Entrance to 30 Memorial Drive ADL building (photo 2009)

The roots of the company were started in 1886 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist, and co-worker Roger B. Griffin (Russell B. Griffin), another chemist and a graduate of the University of Vermont who had met when they both worked for Richmond Paper Company. Their new company, Little & Griffin, was located in Boston where MIT was also located. Griffin and Little prepared a manuscript for The Chemistry of Paper-making[4] which was for many years an authoritative text in the area. The book had not been entirely finished when Griffin was killed in a laboratory accident in 1893.[3]

Little, who had studied Chemistry at MIT, collaborated with MIT and William Hultz Walker of the MIT Chemistry department, forming a partnership, Little & Walker, which lasted from 1900 to 1905, while both MIT and Little's company were still located in Boston.[3] The partnership dissolved in 1905 when Walker dedicated his full time to being in charge of the new Research Laboratory of Applied Chemistry at MIT.[3]

Little continued on his own and formally incorporated the company, Arthur D. Little (ADL), in 1909.[3] He conducted analytical studies, the precursor of the consulting studies for which the firm would later become famous. He also taught papermaking at MIT from 1893 to 1916.[5]

In 1916 ADL was commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to do a survey of Canada's natural resources.[6] In 1917, the company moved to a building of its own, the Arthur D. Little Inc., Building, at 30 Memorial Drive on the Charles River next to the campus of MIT which had moved to Cambridge from Boston in 1916.[3][7] In November 1953, ADL opened a forty acre site for their Acorn Park labs in West Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Arlington, Massachusetts, which is about 6 miles (10 km) from MIT.[7] The Memorial Drive Trust, a tax-exempt retirement trust for the benefit of its employees was set up.[8]

In 1981, ADL produced the European Commission's first white paper on telecommunications deregulation, having completed the first worldwide telecommunications database on phones installed, markets, technical trends, services and regulatory information.[6] It also helped privatize British Rail, generally regarded as one of the most complex privatization exercises in the world.

Post 2001

By 2001, Arthur D. Little had reached its peak. But, a new management team had badly mismanaged the company's core business, had engaged in manipulation of the Memorial Drive Trust, and attempted a sale of the Technology and Product Development business.[citation needed] The ADL Board of Trustees replaced this management team, but the damage had already been done, and Arthur D. Little had to file chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 [9]. At an auction in 2002, Paris-based Altran Technologies bought the Arthur D. Little brand name and financed a management buyout of the non-US offices.

Under Altran's ownership, Arthur D. Little successfully rebuilt its core practices in Oil & Gas, telecommunications, automotive and manufacturing, and chemicals. Arthur D. Little continues to be very active and recognized for its expertise in areas combining aspects of of Technology, Innovation, and Strategy.

Current Partnership organisation

On 14 November 2011, Dr. Träm "resigned" as ADL CEO as ADL prepared a management buyout from the Altran group. He left ADL shortly after.[10] The MBO was completed on 30 December 2011 with the majority of ADL directors becoming partners. The firm is led by the newly elected global CEO, Ignacio GARCIA ALVES, who was also the leader of the MBO team.[11]

Rankings

It has been ranked as one of the top management consulting firms. Arthur D. Little ranked 21st in the 2013 Vault ranking of Prestige Consulting firms.[12][13]

Publications

Arthur D. Little publishes a number of regular global studies including:

A collection of ADL thought leadership called PRISM is published twice a year.[18]

Controversy

In 1987, ADL claimed that sabotage was the cause of the Bhopal disaster, which resulted in the death of thousands.[19] ADL was paid by Union Carbide, the company that owned the chemical plant responsible for the chemical disaster, causing critics, Indian government officials, and environmentalists to charge that ADL's report was not independent.[20]


Country offices

Notable current and former employees

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Noteworthy publications

References

  1. ^ "Arthur D. Little - Locations"
  2. ^ "Arthur D. Little - About Us"
  3. ^ a b c d e f Scatter Acorns That Oaks May Grow: An Arthur D. Little Exhibit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Institute Archives and Special Collections, 2009-08-25
  4. ^ Little, A.D.; Griffin, R.B., "The Chemistry of Paper-Making, together with the principles of general chemistry; a handbook for the student and manufacturer", New York : Howard Lockwood & Co., 1894.
  5. ^ Report: "On the Making of Silk Purses from Sows' Ears," 1921, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Institute Archives and Special Collections, 2009-08-25
  6. ^ a b "ADL History Timeline" - ADL
  7. ^ a b Photographs: Early Days/30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge/Arthur D. Little/Acorn Park, Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Institute Archives and Special Collections, 2010-03-18
  8. ^ "New York Times - July 14, 1987"
  9. ^ Glater, Jonathan (2011-06-02). "Arthur D. Little Plans Bankruptcy Filing". NY Times. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  10. ^ Altran website "The Group signed, on November 1st, 2011, a termsheet for an MBO concerning the disposal of Arthur D. Little due to be finalised by the year-end"
  11. ^ Business Wire
  12. ^ "Prestige Management and Strategy Consulting Firms 2013", methodology by Vault.com. ADL is ranked 21st.
  13. ^ Rankings of Management Consulting Firms in Germany 2008 - ADL was 17th
  14. ^ Arthur D. Little - The Future of Urban Mobility 2.0 available from ADL website
  15. ^ Arthur D. Little - Exane BNP Paribas report available from ADL website
  16. ^ Wall Street Journal coverage of the ADL Global Innovation Excellence Study
  17. ^ ADL Global Innovation Excellence Study available from ADL website
  18. ^ PRISM is available from its website http://www.adl.com/prism.html or free on demand from any of the corporate offices.
  19. ^ BBC. "Response: Union Carbide and Dow Chemical". BBC Website. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  20. ^ Laymon, Brent. "Carbide Consultant Says Sabotage Caused Bhopal Tragedy". AP Report. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  21. ^ A Terrible Mistake:The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments A Terrible Mistake:The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments - H.P.Albarelli - July 1, 2009 - ISBN 0-9777953-7-3

Further reading

Categories