McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.
October 2009
Risk-assessment processes typically expose only the most direct threats facing a company and neglect indirect ones that can have an equal or greater impact.
July 2009
Some companies can reduce the cost of support services, improve their quality, and raise cash to invest elsewhere. Here’s how to tell if your company is one of them.
April 2009
Given the current economic situation, it’s not surprising that financial executives say they’re more focused than ever on planning and cost cutting. What’s surprising, though, is a reluctance to adjust the finance function’s structure.
These funds face a credit-constrained world; they must adapt to thrive.
February 2009
Companies—and their CFOs—may have to adapt more radically to the downturn than they now expect.
January 2009
Different sectors enter and emerge from downturns at different times. A look at past recessions suggests how some industries may fare.
Executives need to embrace transparency if they want to help investors make investment decisions. But what should be disclosed?
December 2008
Past financial crises had very different effects on the real economy. Although the lessons of the past don't give much cause for optimism, they do provide hints on how companies should prepare this time around.
The author of The Black Swan explains why the rarity and unpredictability of certain events does not make them unimportant.
November 2008
Gartner CFO Christopher Lafond discusses the company’s assertive approach to managing relationships with investors.
Companies from developed economies derive no benefit from second listings in foreign equity markets. Those that still have them should reconsider.
July 2008
Traditional methods of analyzing total returns to shareholders are flawed. There’s a better way.
Some Asian companies are better at executing capital projects than are rivals elsewhere. What lessons can others learn from them?
April 2008
Executives spend too much time talking with investors who don’t matter. Here’s how to identify those who do.
March 2008
There are a few critical tasks that all finance chiefs must tackle in their first hundred days.
December 2007
By focusing on talent development, new roles for finance, and creative benchmarks, CFOs can deliver a competitive advantage to their companies.
Chief financial officers around the world describe their first hundred days on the job as a time when most received guidance, but many had difficulty devoting enough time to their top priorities.
November 2007
Growth in the private equity industry may have slowed, but the industry still attracts investors. Here’s why.
October 2007
Chris Coughlin explains how spinning off some of the company’s largest businesses was the key to ensuring its long-term growth.
September 2007
Investors reward high-performing companies that shift their strategic focus prudently, even if that means lower returns or slower growth.
July 2007
Reforms that attracted little attention in the Western world mark a major step forward in the modernization of China’s capital markets.
Companies that stick to valuation basics can capture any value that would make them attractive for takeover bids.
April 2007
Companies aren't getting the most out of their offshoring programs. Key design changes would help.
In a buoyant economy, the next recession seems far off. But managers who prepare during good times can improve their companies' chances to endure—or thrive in—the eventual downturn.
Few large global companies outperform their competitors on both revenue growth and profitability over a decade. Do those that do have anything else in common?
As investors demand that companies actively manage their business portfolios, executives must increasingly balance investment opportunities against the capital that's available to finance them.
The economy is more stable that it's been in quite a while, and many industries are riding high—for the time being.
March 2007
Once companies reach a certain size, setting realistic performance aspirations gets a bit trickier.
February 2007
Most measurements of performance are geared to the needs of 20th-century manufacturing companies. Times have changed. Metrics must change as well.
When changes in accounting rules provide no new information, they don't register with investors. Nor should they lead managers to shift focus.
January 2007
Public companies will need to raise their governance game if they are to compete with private firms.
December 2006
Bob Lane details the steps his company took to engage the whole organization in an operational and cultural transformation.
November 2006
CFOs can bring much-needed skills to the CEO role, but the career path isn’t always a direct one.
October 2006
A panel of executives explores why private equity has been giving public ownership such a run for its money.
April 2006
What should a company do when a hedge fund shows up among its investors?
Borrowing key principles from lean manufacturing can help the finance function to eliminate waste.
March 2006
Companies find growth enticing, but a strong return on invested capital is more sustainable.
Companies provide earnings guidance with a variety of expectations—and most of them don't hold up.
Most companies plan to continue providing investors with frequent earnings guidance, though executives disagree about its costs and benefits.
February 2006
Finance theory isn't enough when companies set their expectations for reasonable returns on invested capital. A long-term analysis of market and industry trends can help.
October 2005
Return on capital is the benchmark for comparing performance between businesses. But new math is needed when a company’s capital intensity is low.
TRS doesn’t reflect a company's performance or health. What does?
May 2005
Allan Loren explains how he delivered double-digit earnings growth during each of the past four years and raised the company's value by more than 300 percent.
April 2005
Markets may expect solid performance over the short term, but they also value sustained performance over the long term. How can companies manage both time frames?
March 2005
Maximizing the value of companies means attending not only to their short-term performance but also to their long-term health.
Earnings per share and share prices aren’t the whole story—particularly in the medium and long term.
February 2005
Microsoft is paying cash to shareholders, stressing transparency in its diverse businesses, and embracing Sarbanes-Oxley. Before announcing his departure in early 2005, CFO John Connors talked with The McKinsey Quarterly about why.
Given the difficulties of doing business there, direct investment in Chinese companies isn’t always the best option.
Investments don’t govern themselves; active ownership is the answer.
November 2004
Valuations are linked to growth. So why are they lower in high-growth markets in Asia?
October 2004
Financial officers in the high-tech sector should learn to balance six roles to help guide companies into a more mature market.
August 2004
A changed competitive landscape calls for a different business model.
March 2004
Value-based management programs focus too much on measurement and too little on the management activities that create shareholder value.
January 2004
Whether leading or supporting the effort, the CFO often ends up at the center of risk management.
The largest companies eventually find size itself an impediment to creating new value. They must recognize that not all forms of growth are equal.
November 2003
It’s good to take risks—if you manage them well.
October 2003
Twenty-five years after alliances first paved the way into the world’s most dynamic emerging market, knowing how to structure them is more important than ever.
February 2003
Companies now have an opportunity to rethink their use of stock options so that they serve shareholders as well as executives.
January 2003
Off-the-shelf tools from other sectors won’t work. What will?
October 2002
Large companies often have dozens of alliances—and little idea how they are performing. Here’s how to evaluate them.
Cutting costs might get more attention, but improving pricing discipline can add more to the bottom line. Here’s how CFOs can lead the way.
June 2002
As investors home in on business fundamentals and credible accounting, the CFO’s traditional oversight of planning and performance takes on new urgency.
May 2002
Identifying and understanding important individual investors can help corporate executives predict the direction of share prices.
October 2001
Executives should be wary of bending strategy to suit the wayward long-term earnings forecasts of equity analysts.
The war on terrorism may change the shape and pace of economic integration. But the fundamental human forces that drive it will not be dislodged.
August 2001
Telecom-equipment suppliers extended billions in vendor financing to aggressive start-ups and wireless companies. Many of them are now struggling or bankrupt—and their suppliers are suffering, too.
November 2000
An increasingly significant part of active value management involves generating long-term growth expectations. Unlike traditional performance metrics, growth value maps reflect their importance.
June 2000
Market expectations are hard for managers to understand and even harder for them to change. But there are ways of doing both that are much more science than black magic.
February 2000
These days, the share prices of many companies have a giant built-in growth premium. How does this play out among Australia's leading companies?
August 1998
Good companies haven’t always been good investments. Total returns to shareholders may not necessarily be a good measure of management performance. How fast is your treadmill moving?
February 1996
Focusing on transaction risks may be a mistake. Structural and portfolio risks require more than hedging. Companies need to understand—not just correlate—the relationship between foreign exchange movements and cashflows.
For a hedging program to work, it must increase the “time to ruin.” The goal is to reduce the variability of cash flows. A new study shows that few companies succeed.
November 1994
An excerpt from the second edition of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies.
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