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CRA International

CRA International, Inc. (doing business as Charles River Associates) is a global consulting firm headquartered in Boston.[2] The firm provides expert testimony and litigation support, strategic advice, and analysis to law firms, corporations, accounting firms, and governments.[3]

Practice areas

Their practices include: antitrust & competition economics, auctions & competitive bidding, energy, finance, financial economics, forensic services, intellectual property, labor & employment, life sciences, management consulting (Marakon), risk investigations & analytics, and transfer pricing.[4]

History

CRA was founded in 1965 by Jerry Kraft, John Kaler, and Alan Willens.[5] The company went public through an initial public offering in April 1998.[6]

In 2005, CRA acquired economic consultancy firm Lexecon to expand its practice into Europe and the United Kingdom.[7][8]

Marakon, which CRA acquired in 2009, forms part of their management consulting practice.[9] Marakon Associates was founded in 1978 and pioneered value-based management (VBM) in the mid-1980s based on the academic work of Dr. Bill Alberts.[10][11][12] This management principle, also known as managing for value (MFV), states that management should first and foremost consider the interests of shareholders when making management decisions.[13][14] Under this principle, senior executives should set performance targets in terms of delivering shareholder returns (stock price and dividends payments) and managing to achieve them.[15][16]

In 2017, CRA acquired life sciences strategy firm C1 Consulting.[17] In 2022, CRA acquired life sciences firm bioStrategies Group[18] and labor-focused firm Welch Consulting.[19]

Economic forecasts used to oppose climate policymaking

Prior to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and the 1997 Kyoto summit (that led to the Kyoto Protocol), the fossil fuel industry used reports authored by CRA and funded by the fossil fuel industry to argue that US compliance with climate policy would be economically disastrous. CRA called the Clinton administration's projections for costs of compliance with the Kyoto Protocol wildly optimistic,[20][21] and argued that compliance would take a "healthy whack out of the economy".[22] CRA's work forecasting the impact on employment of the 2003 Climate Stewardship Act was criticized by the Natural Resources Defense Council in 2005 for using unrealistic economic assumptions and producing directionally incorrect estimates.[23] According to a 2021 study, flawed economic forecasting reports written by four economists at Charles River Associates between 1991 and 2009, and paid for by fossil fuel interests, overestimated predicted costs and ignored potential policy benefits. The study argues that the reports written by CRA "played a key role in weakening, delaying, or defeating a wide range of climate policies".[24][25]

See also

  • Analysis Group
  • Bates White
  • Berkeley Research Group
  • Brattle Group
  • Compass Lexecon
  • Cornerstone Research
  • NERA Economic Consulting

Further reading

External links

References

  1. CRA International, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2 March 2023^
  2. NASDAQ - SEC Filing secfilings.nasdaq.com, retrieved 27 January 2019^
  3. About CRA crai.com, retrieved 27 May 2023^
  4. Practices crai.com, retrieved 26 May 2023^
  5. History & Culture crai.com, retrieved 25 May 2023^
  6. Holly Rosenkrantz. Broadcom's Hot IPO May Have Blazed Trail for Others Los Angeles Times, 20 April 1998^
  7. CRA International Completes Acquisition of the Former Lexecon Ltd Business; Acquisition of U.K.-Based Economic Consulting Firm Expands CRA's Global Reach And Strengthens Competition Practice www.businesswire.com, 2005-06-16, retrieved 2020-08-23^
  8. CRA International Announces Anticipated Acquisition of Lexecon Ltd; Expected Acquisition of U.K.-Based Firm To Strengthen CRA's Global Competition Practice; Expand European Footprint crainternationalinc.gcs-web.com, retrieved 2022-07-09^
  9. CRA International Acquires Marakon Associates, A Leading Value Management Consultancy www.businesswire.com, 2009-06-10, retrieved 2019-05-08^
  10. Prasanna Chandra. Financial Management Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2007^
  11. Denis Kilroy, Marvin Schneider. Customer Value, Shareholder Wealth, Community Wellbeing: A Roadmap for Companies and Investors Springer, 2017^
  12. Glen Arnold, Matt Davies. Value-based Management: Context and Application Wiley, 2000^
  13. Michael Ehrhardt, Eugene Brigham. Corporate Finance: A Focused Approach Cengage Learning, 2008^
  14. Luc Keuleneer, Willem Verhoog. Recent Trends in Valuation: From Strategy to Value John Wiley & Sons, 2005^
  15. Pablo Fernandez. Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation Elsevier, 2002^
  16. Scott Gillis, James McTaggart. Setting targets to maximize shareholders value Strategy & Leadership, 1998^
  17. Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires C1 Consulting retrieved 27 May 2023^
  18. Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires bioStrategies Group, Inc. retrieved 27 May 2023^
  19. Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires Welch Consulting retrieved 27 May 2023^
  20. Joby Warrick. Scientists See Weather Trend as Powerful Proof of Global Warming Washington Post, March 4, 1998, retrieved 2021-10-30^
  21. John H. Jr. Cushman. White House Begins Push for New Global Warming Pact The New York Times, 1997-07-16, retrieved 2021-10-30^
  22. Art Pine, Fay Fiore. Pact Casts Cloud of Uncertainty on U.S. Economy Los Angeles Times, 1997-12-11, retrieved 2021-10-30^
  23. Jobs and the Climate Stewardship Act: How Curbing Global Warming Can Increase Employment Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2005^
  24. Benjamin Franta. Weaponizing economics: Big Oil, economic consultants, and climate policy delay Environmental Politics, 2021^
  25. How economists helped Big Oil obstruct climate action for decades Grist, 2021-10-08, retrieved 2022-01-08^