The McKinsey Quarterly

2008

• December 2008 

  Industry trends in the downturn: A snapshot

  In times of great uncertainty, an understanding of long-term industry trends can help executives plot robust strategies. This roundup highlights structural issues likely to influence the future performance of four industries: steel, technology, chemicals, and consumer goods.

• September 2008 

  The challenge of hiring and retaining women: An interview with the head of HR at eBay

  Beth Axelrod discusses how companies can do better at hiring, retaining, and promoting women.

• September 2008 

  Time to rethink offshoring?

  Changing economic conditions may have undermined some of the benefits of offshoring. For managers of global supply chains, this could be the time to reevaluate.

• July 2008 

  Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise: McKinsey Global Survey Results

  Companies are using more Web 2.0 tools and technologies than they were last year, sometimes for more complex business purposes, according to McKinsey’s second annual survey on Web 2.0. Companies that are satisfied with their use of these tools are starting to see changes throughout the enterprise.

• July 2008 

  The cost of going global for China’s high-tech companies

  Chinese technology companies are competing successfully on their home turf. Global markets may be another story, at least in the short run.

• June 2008 

  Managing IT to support rapid growth: An interview with the CIO of NetApp

  To keep pace with a rapidly growing company, CIO Marina Levinson must choose her priorities carefully.

• June 2008 

  The next step in open innovation

  The creation of knowledge, products, and services by online communities of companies and consumers is still in its earliest stages. Who knows where it will lead?

• May 2008 

  China’s opportunity in offshore services

  China faces major challenges to becoming a global giant in the offshoring and outsourcing of services.

• April 2008 

  The promise of prediction markets: A roundtable

  Although they draw together widely dispersed information, prediction markets face organizational and legal challenges.

• January 2008 

  Succeeding at open-source innovation: An interview with Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker

  The company’s chairman and former CEO explains the power of the participatory, open-source model of collaboration.

2007

• December 2007 

  Eight business technology trends to watch

  Eight emerging trends are transforming many markets and businesses. Executives should learn to shape the outcome rather than just react to it.

  Includes:

• September 2007 

  Spurring value creation in IT services: An interview with the chairman of India’s Satyam Computers

  The founder and chairman of Satyam details the philosophy that has underpinned the company’s rapid ascent through the ranks of the world’s top IT services providers.

• June 2007 

  Delivering software as a service

  A new delivery method is shaking the software industry’s foundations. Traditional vendors should take heed.

• February 2007 

  Coaching innovation: An interview with Intuit's Bill Campbell

  A veteran Silicon Valley CEO and mentor of CEOs talks about his years in high tech.

2006

• May 2006 

  The untapped market for offshore services

  Business processes and traditionally outsourced—but not offshored—IT services will be the main drivers of offshoring growth in the near future.

• January 2006 

  How foreign companies can compete in China's high-tech market

  The emergence of strong local high-tech companies is creating a formidable challenge for multinationals seeking to grab a share of the Chinese market.

2005

• August 2005 

  Leading change: An interview with the CEO of EMC

  Joseph M. Tucci describes how to make change stick. Fourth in a series of interviews with leading executives on change management.

• August 2005 

  Mitigating channel conflict

  Some partners are more important than others.

• February 2005 

  Finance 2.0: An interview with Microsoft's CFO

  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.

2004

• October 2004 

  Will high-tech CFOs adapt to slower growth?

  Financial officers in the high-tech sector should learn to balance six roles to help guide companies into a more mature market.

• February 2004 

  High-tech mergers take shape

  Economic pressures to restructure high-tech industries will eventually become irresistible. Executives should prepare themselves for more—and more hostile—acquisitions.

2003

• November 2003 

  What high tech can learn from slow-growth industries

  To drive productivity, high-tech executives should focus not just on technological innovation but also on business process innovation.

• June 2003 

  Keeping Taiwan's high-tech edge

  Many of Taiwan’s high-tech manufacturers have moved operations to China to gain an advantage; now they must streamline those operations to stay ahead of the competition.

• May 2003 

  Recentralizing IT

  Companies can run their IT systems more efficiently by creating new organizational structures in which IT departments and business units share responsibility.

• May 2003 

  Reinventing IT services

  After a hard fall, providers of IT services face demands for more value—at lower prices.

• May 2003 

  Time for a high-tech shakeout

  With high demand replaced by an overhang of capacity, the industry needs a catharsis.

2002

• December 2002 

  Technology after the bubble

  IT will rise again—but only if the providers learn how to help their customers make money.

• November 2002 

  The Greater China high-tech highway

  China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization will also benefit Taiwan’s high-tech companies, as well as their customers in the West.

• February 2002 

  Learning from high-tech deals

  M&A deals are more likely to destroy value than to create it. But when they are executed strategically and often, as part of the routine of running a business, the odds favor success.

• January 2002 

  When computers learn to talk: A Web services primer

  What are Web services? Why should you care?

2001

• November 2001 

  The promised economy

  US investment in Israel has fallen sharply since the NASDAQ crash, but Asian and European companies and investors may fill the breach—to everyone’s benefit.

• July 2001 

  Do-it-yourself Silicon Valley: Using business plan competitions to spur economic development

  Economic development plans are a dime a dozen. A new approach makes it possible to create concentrations of high-tech businesses where they didn't exist previously.

2000

• August 2000 

  The war for technical talent

  A McKinsey survey of computer science and electrical engineering graduates, summarized in "The war for technical talent," found that falling numbers of middle-aged people, the movement of employees out of large corporations, and frequent job-hopping will force employers to offer top dollar to top performers.

• February 2000 

  Internet IPOs: An insider’s game

  Stock options and tricky financial instruments are dividing the interests of insiders from the performance of the Internet companies they dominate. In a market as volatile as the present one, suspicion of skyrocketing initial public offerings should be the order of the day.

1996

• November 1996 

  Software-based innovation

  A reprint from Sloan Management Review.

• August 1996 

  Developing customers before products

  A new strategy for high-tech industrial markets—self-destruction. Getting out early is as important as getting in early. Wrong: taking samples to old customers. Right: drawing road maps with the right ones.

• May 1996 

  Placing your bets on electronic networks

  The wrong debate: the Internet versus on-line services. The distinctive value of networks is the ability to form communities. The basics of quality, cost, and convenience will still drive success.

1995

• November 1995 

  World class: Schools on the Net

  We can put classrooms on the information superhighway now. Is it worth 4 percent of the school budgets?

1994

• February 1994 

  Consumer IT: Europe’s structural weakness

  Restoring the industry to competitive health means learning to avoid the “high-end trap.”

• February 1994 

  The high-productivity electronics company

  Throughout most of its history, the electronics industry has focused on product innovation, not productivity. Times have changed.

1993

• August 1993 

  Excellence in electronics

  Innovation no longer ensures success in the maturing computer market; continuous productivity improvement is what it takes to win.