History
Roland Berger established the firm in 1967, after four years of working for Boston Consulting Group. At that time management consulting was a new profession in Germany, and generally centred on cost-cutting; Berger instead focussed on marketing and strategy. Revenues doubled annually for the first three years, reaching DM 5.6 million in 1970. By 1987 the firm became the largest consultancy in Germany, with sales over DM 100 million.
To finance overseas expansion, Berger then allowed Deutsche Bank to take a minority stake, rising to 75.1% in 1988. This proved a problem in the US, where the Federal Reserve Bank did not allow subsidiaries of commercial banks to practise consulting, so the managers bought back Deutsche Bank's shares in 1998 and 2000.
In November 2010 the firm reached an advanced stage in talks to merge with Deloitte's consulting arm, but withdrew after the partners decided instead to invest more of their own resources.
Read more about this topic: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
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