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BCG Classics Revisited: The Rule of Three and Four

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BCG founder Bruce Henderson’s rule, conceived in 1976, still holds valuable lessons for companies in many industries.

To mark The Boston Consulting Group’s fiftieth anniversary, BCG’s Strategy Institute is taking a fresh look at some of BCG’s classic thinking on strategy to gauge its relevance to today’s business environment. This first in a planned series of articles examines “The Rule of Three and Four,” a Perspective written by BCG founder, Bruce Henderson, in 1976. BCG CLASSICS REVISITED In “The Rule of Three and Four,” Bruce Henderson put forth an intriguing hypothesis about the evolution of industry structure and leadership. He posited that a “stable, competitive” industry will never have more than…

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