CRA International

{{Infobox company

| name = CRA International, Inc.

| type = Public

| traded_as = {{unbulleted list|{{NASDAQ|CRAI}}|Russell 2000 component}}

| logo = Charles River Associates logo.jpg

| image = John Hancock Tower.jpg

| image_caption = Headquarters at John Hancock Tower

| foundation = {{start date and age|1965}}

| founders = {{unbulleted list| Jerry Kraft| John Kaler| Alan Willens}}

| hq_location = John Hancock Tower
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

| locations = 21 offices internationally

| key_people = Paul Maleh (president and CEO)

| revenue = {{nowrap|{{increase}} {{US$|591 million|link=yes}} (2022)}}

| net_income = {{increase}} {{US$|43.6 million}} (2022)

| assets = {{decrease}} {{US$|551 million}} (2022)

| equity = {{increase}} {{US$|211 million}} (2022)

| num_employees = 939 (2022)

| industry = {{unbulleted list|Litigation|management consulting}}

| homepage = {{url|crai.com}}

| footnotes = {{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1053706/000105370623000007/crai-20221231.htm |title=CRA International, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K) |date=2 March 2023 |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}

}}

CRA International, Inc. (doing business as Charles River Associates) is a global consulting firm headquartered in Boston.{{cite web|url=http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FilingID=13034585&RcvdDate=11/1/2018&CoName=CRA+INTERNATIONAL,+INC.&FormType=8-K&View=html|title=NASDAQ - SEC Filing|website=secfilings.nasdaq.com|accessdate=27 January 2019}} The firm provides expert testimony and litigation support, strategic advice, and analysis to law firms, corporations, accounting firms, and governments.{{cite web|url=https://www.crai.com/about-us/|title=About CRA|website=crai.com|accessdate=27 May 2023}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.crai.com/cra-careers/our-practices/|title=Practices|website=crai.com|accessdate=26 May 2023}}

History

CRA was founded in 1965 by Jerry Kraft, John Kaler, and Alan Willens.{{cite web|url=https://www.crai.com/about-us/culture/|title=History & Culture|website=crai.com|accessdate=25 May 2023}} The company went public through an initial public offering in April 1998.{{cite news |last=Rosenkrantz |first=Holly |date=20 April 1998 |title=Broadcom's Hot IPO May Have Blazed Trail for Others |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-apr-20-fi-41126-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times}}

In 2005, CRA acquired economic consultancy firm Lexecon to expand its practice into Europe and the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |date=2005-06-16 |title=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 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050616005712/en/CRA-International-Completes-Acquisition-Lexecon-Business-Acquisition |url-status=dead |access-date=2020-08-23 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709044037/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050616005712/en/CRA-International-Completes-Acquisition-Lexecon-Business-Acquisition }}{{Cite web |title=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 {{!}} CRA International Inc. |url=https://crainternationalinc.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cra-international-announces-anticipated-acquisition-lexecon-ltd/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=crainternationalinc.gcs-web.com |language=en}}

Marakon, which CRA acquired in 2009, forms part of their management consulting practice.{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090610005583/en/CRA-International-Acquires-Marakon-Associates-Leading-Management|title=CRA International Acquires Marakon Associates, A Leading Value Management Consultancy|date=2009-06-10|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en|access-date=2019-05-08}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Prasanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yUsGQmGfnGIC&q=marakon&pg=PA817 |title=Financial Management |date=2007 |publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill Education |isbn=9780070656659 |pages=817 |language=en |quote=Marakon Associates, an international management consulting firm founded in 1978, has done pioneering work in the area of value based management.}}{{Cite book |last1=Kilroy |first1=Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GjUyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=Customer Value, Shareholder Wealth, Community Wellbeing: A Roadmap for Companies and Investors |last2=Schneider |first2=Marvin |publisher=Springer |year=2017 |isbn=9783319547749 |pages=5, 12–16, 24–25 |language=en |quote=The main advocates of shareholder wealth creation as a governing objective were value-based management consulting firms like Marakon Associates, Stern Stewart & Co, and Alcar, together with the academics that stood behind their work such as Dr Bill Alberts, Joel Stern and Professor Al Rappaport. ... The shift towards this approach gained momentum with the publication of The Value Imperative by McTaggart, Kontes and Mankins in 1994. ... Peter Kontes (a co-founder of Marakon Associates and one of the originators of MFV) pointed out … the central problem with EPS growth as standalone financial performance measure is that it can be purchased at any price. … the same telling point that Marakon partners first made with their clients in the mid-1980s. ... Marakon Associates, the firm that first developed the plan-based approach.}}{{Cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=Glen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKpWAAAAYAAJ&q=marakon+mctaggart|title=Value-based Management: Context and Application|last2=Davies|first2=Matt|publisher=Wiley|year=2000|isbn=9780471899860|pages=39, 186|language=en|quote=In terms of differences in application, McTaggart et al. (1994) particularly emphasise both the process and content of strategic planning under their version of VBM. ... There was a further development in 1992 when [Lloyds Bank] hired the services of the strategy consultants Marakon Associates (McTaggart et al., 1994) and started a more serious and disciplined approach to VBM. It was at this time that the concept of economic profit was introduced to Lloyds managers.}} 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.{{Cite book|last1=Ehrhardt|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrkNIbEzgvQC&q=marakon|title=Corporate Finance: A Focused Approach|last2=Brigham|first2=Eugene|date=2008|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=9780324655681|pages=448|language=en|quote=Marakon Associates, a leading advocate of value-based management prides itself on having a single-minded view that a company should have one, and only one, goal – to increase shareholder wealth.}}{{Cite book|last1=Keuleneer|first1=Luc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umU0Eop4FfsC&q=marakon&pg=PA136|title=Recent Trends in Valuation: From Strategy to Value|last2=Verhoog|first2=Willem|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2005|isbn=9780470862315|pages=136|language=en|quote=The partners of Marakon Associates … [are] convinced that top management needs to take responsibility for continuous reinforcement of VBM ideas through their communication and decisions.}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Fernandez|first=Pablo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIzV5TbXCikC&pg=PA265|title=Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation|publisher=Elsevier|year=2002|isbn=9780080520377|pages=265|language=en|quote=Measuring a firm's "value creation" for its shareholders … EP (economic profit), which is the book profit less the equity's book value multiplied by the required return to equity … Also called residual income. See McTaggart, Kontes, and Makins (1994, page 317), a book published by the Marakon Associates.}}{{Cite journal|last1=Gillis|first1=Scott|last2=McTaggart|first2=James|date=1998|title=Setting targets to maximize shareholders value|journal=Strategy & Leadership|volume=26|issue=2|pages=18–21|doi=10.1108/eb054614|issn=1087-8572}}

In 2017, CRA acquired life sciences strategy firm C1 Consulting.{{cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170131005700/en/Charles-River-Associates-CRA-Acquires-C1-Consulting-A-Life-Sciences-Strategy-Consulting-Firm|title=Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires C1 Consulting|accessdate=27 May 2023}} In 2022, CRA acquired life sciences firm bioStrategies Group{{cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221129006112/en/Charles-River-Associates-CRA-Acquires-bioStrategies-Group-Inc.|title=Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires bioStrategies Group, Inc.|accessdate=27 May 2023}} and labor-focused firm Welch Consulting.{{cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220228006188/en/Charles-River-Associates-CRA-Acquires-Welch-Consulting|title=Charles River Associates (CRA) Acquires Welch Consulting|accessdate=27 May 2023}}

= 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,{{Cite news|last=Warrick|first=Joby|date=March 4, 1998|title=Scientists See Weather Trend as Powerful Proof of Global Warming|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/climate/stories/clim030498.htm|access-date=2021-10-30}}{{Cite news|last=Cushman|first=John H. Jr.|date=1997-07-16|title=White House Begins Push for New Global Warming Pact|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/16/us/white-house-begins-push-for-new-global-warming-pact.html|access-date=2021-10-30|issn=0362-4331}} and argued that compliance would take a "healthy whack out of the economy".{{Cite news|last1=Pine|first1=Art|last2=Fiore|first2=Fay|date=1997-12-11|title=Pact Casts Cloud of Uncertainty on U.S. Economy|language=en-US|website=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-11-mn-62890-story.html|access-date=2021-10-30}} 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.{{Cite web|date=February 2005|title=Jobs and the Climate Stewardship Act: How Curbing Global Warming Can Increase Employment|url=https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/CSAjobs.pdf|website=Natural Resources Defense Council|pages=21}} 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".{{Cite journal|last=Franta|first=Benjamin|date=2021|title=Weaponizing economics: Big Oil, economic consultants, and climate policy delay|journal=Environmental Politics|volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=555–575 |doi=10.1080/09644016.2021.1947636|issn=0964-4016|doi-access=free|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:daded5cf-7c0f-45b6-8e76-274bba15d1b3/files/s1r66j274z}}{{Cite web|date=2021-10-08|title=How economists helped Big Oil obstruct climate action for decades|url=https://grist.org/accountability/economists-role-in-big-oil-pr-machine/|access-date=2022-01-08|website=Grist|language=en-us}}