The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortune's "Best Companies to Work For" report for seven consecutive years. In the 2011 and 2012 lists, BCG is listed as the second best company to work for, and is the only top-tier consulting firm to appear in the top 100. BCG is also the only firm to have been listed every year in Consulting Magazine's "Best Firms to Work For" list, since the magazine's inception in 2001.

The company was formed by Bruce D. Henderson, a Vanderbilt University and Harvard Business School alumnus. After many years in the purchasing department of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh (where pricing behavior gave him the idea of the experience curve), he joined Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was then recruited by The Boston Company, where he founded a one-man, one-telephone consulting unit he named Boston Consulting Group. In 1975, Henderson arranged an employee stock ownership plan, and employees took the company independent from The Boston Company. The buyout of all shares was completed in 1979.

Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.

In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).

Richard Koch (born 1950) is a former management consultant, entrepreneur, and writer of several books on how to apply the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) in all walks of life. Koch has also used his concepts to make a fortune from several private equity investments made personally. Koch’s investments have included Filofax, Plymouth Gin, the Great Little Trading Company and Betfair. Previously he had been a manager at Boston Consulting Group and later a partner at Bain and Company, before leaving to start management consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting with Jim Lawrence and Iain Evans.

In his second book on the 80/20 phenomenon, The Power Laws, he discusses the principle as a basic principle for how the universe works, and sees the process of evolution, as described by Charles Darwin, as a special case of the 80/20 principle at work.

He also emphasizes that the 80/20 principle should not only be seen as method for making decisions or selections, but it should be combined with W. Brian Arthur's concepts of positive feedback and increasing returns.

Sanjay Khosla is an Indian-American engineer and a senior business executive of multi-national corporations, currently President of Kraft International Commercial at Kraft Foods after having previously served at Fonterra Co-operative Group and Unilever.

The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, The Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s. Afterwards they had a succession of hits including "Here It Comes Again" and "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again"; continuing into the 1970s with more globally successful releases such as "Storm in a Teacup" and "Freedom Come, Freedom Go".

In 1966, their manager Reginald Calvert was shot dead in a dispute over pirate radio stations.

Originally formed as a vocal trio backed by an instrumental group known as The Cliftones, the aggregation placed an instrumental track on a compilation album, Brumbeat, issued by the local Dial record label. "Cygnet Twitch" (similar to "Saturday Nite at the Duck-Pond" by The Cougars) was a working of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", and they subsequently signed to British Decca in 1963. Their first single, "Summertime, Summertime", was credited to the Fortunes and the Cliftones. However, the vocalists picked up guitars, jettisoned the Cliftones, and added Andy Brown on drums after Mike Redmond — drummer with popular local band the Sunrays — declined their offer, and Dave Carr on keyboards. The follow-up disc co-written by the singer-songwriter and future Ivy League member Perry Ford, "Caroline", was used as the signature tune for the pirate radio station, Radio Caroline.