Berkeley Research Group

History

BRG was co-founded in February 2010 by a group including Dr. David Teece, who has served as its chairman and principal executive officer.

Services

BRG specializes in the provision of economic, financial, and analytical advice for a range of disciplines, including antitrust and competition policy, class action certification, construction, corporate governance, damages analysis, energy, environment and natural resources, finance and valuation, financial reporting evaluation and fraud, forensic financial investigations, health analytics, information technology, insurance and reinsurance, intellectual property, international and domestic arbitration, labor and employment, public policy, and security issues. It also advises clients in industry sectors with compliance, business process improvement, and strategy consulting. Major practice areas include:

Healthcare

BRG offers healthcare and life sciences industry expertise.

In January 2011, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), a state agency created by voters with Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, released an independent economic impact study authored by BRG professionals. The report showed that the first $1.1 billion in grants created 25,000 job years and $200 million in new tax revenue through 2014. Taxpayer funding generates 2,739 jobs annually.

Information Technology

Director Leonard Waverman’s current research is on the growth and productivity impacts of the rollout of telecommunications and computers. His analysis of the impacts of mobile phone rollout on growth in Africa was the subject of an “Economic Focus” section of the Economist and a special report in 2009.

Public Policy

Special Advisor Dr. Laura D’Andrea Tyson and directors Dr. Kenneth Serwin and Dr. Eric Drabkin performed “The Benefits for the U.S. Economy of a Temporary Tax Reduction on the Repatriation of Foreign Subsidiary Earnings,” a 2011 economic study commissioned by the New America Foundation. The study assessed the effects of a one-time reduction in the tax rate applied to the repatriation of foreign subsidiary earnings on spending, output, and employment in the U.S. economy. The study found that a temporary reduction to approximately 5.25 percent would lead to a significant increase in repatriations, making $942 billion available for domestic use by U.S. multinational corporations.

In 2013, the same authors published “Implications of a Switch to a Territorial Tax System in the United States: A Critical Comparison to the Current System." Citizens for Tax Justice wrote that the study “flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that today many of these profits are really earned in the U.S. but characterized as ‘offshore’ in order to obtain existing tax benefits that would be expanded under a territorial system.”

BRG Review

BRG publishes the BRG Review, a semi-annual journal featuring original research and analysis by BRG expert consultants. The first issue of the review (winter 2011) included a paper on control premiums, minority interest discounts, and the fair market value standard; plus a case study on the impact of health reform on a pharmaceutical company. The second issue (fall 2011) included papers on the role of the economic expert in the banking and investment disputes following the subprime crisis; and the economic impact of research funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The most recent issue featured two case studies from BRG’s Labor and Employment practice.

Accolades

BRG Chairman David Teece was named among the 2011 A-List of Management Academics, an honorary group of 30 of the most accomplished and distinguished professors in U.S. academia.

Teece was also the lead author on the most-cited article in economics and business worldwide for the decade of 1995 to 2005 (“Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management” in Strategic Management Journal). He is one of the top 10 most-cited scholars for that decade. His 1986 paper “Profiting from Technology Innovation" in Research Policy, is the most widely cited business article in that journal’s history.

At the CFA Institute’s May 2012 board of governors' meeting, the board accepted and approved appointments of new incoming and continuing members to serve on its Disciplinary Review Committee, a volunteer committee responsible for the enforcement of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. BRG Principal James Conversano is a 2012 incoming appointee.

At the Third Annual ACG New York Champion's Awards, ACG® New York and The M&A Advisor named the turnaround of Solyndra, LLC and 360 Degree Holdings, LLC as the 2013 Energy Deal of the Year.

Global Competition Review ranked BRG among the top 20 competition economics firms in the world in Economics 20, GCR’s assessment of the world’s leading economic consultancies, in both 2012 and 2013, and in its top 21 for 2014.

Criticisms

Charles H. Ferguson, author of Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America, criticized large academic regulatory consulting firms such as "Berkeley Research Group, the Analysis Group, the Brattle Group, Criterion, Compass Lexecon, and Charles River Associates" for focusing primarily "on helping companies avoid or influence legislation, public debate, regulation, prosecution, class-action lawsuits, antitrust judgments, and taxes.”