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A business case for women

September 2008

The gender gap isn’t just an image problem: our research suggests that it can have real implications for company performance. Some companies have taken effective steps to achieve greater parity.

Featured Organization, Strategic Organization Article, managing capital projects asia
Managing capital projects: Lessons from Asia

July 2008

Some Asian companies are better at executing capital projects than are rivals elsewhere. What lessons can others learn from them?

The Archive

2008
The promise of prediction markets: A roundtable

April 2008

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

2007
Harnessing the power of informal employee networks

November 2007

Formalizing a company’s ad hoc peer groups can spur collaboration and unlock value.

Innovative management: A conversation with Gary Hamel and Lowell Bryan

November 2007

Forward-looking executives must respond to the growing need for a new managerial model.

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

September 2007

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.

Connecting employees to create value in investment banks

August 2007

Leaders used to have few options for changing their companies, except focusing on financial performance and walking the halls. That’s no longer true.

The link between profits and organizational performance

August 2007

McKinsey research indicates that organizational and financial performance are strongly related.

Better strategy for business units: A McKinsey Global Survey

July 2007

Executives are most positive about the outcomes of strategy formulation for their companies’ business units when they work at companies that use a collaborative approach. And while they say following best practices yields better results, they use those practices less often than they think they should.

Anatomy of a healthy corporation

May 2007

How can business leaders embed “healthy” thinking in the organization?

Better strategy through organizational design

May 2007

Redesigning an organization to take advantage of today’s sources of wealth creation isn’t easy, but there can be no better use of a CEO’s time.

Building the civilized workplace

May 2007

Nasty people don't just make others feel miserable; they create economic problems for their companies.

Cracking the complexity code

May 2007

There are two types of complexity. Understanding where to intervene is the key to managing them to create value.

Managing in a complex world

May 2007

Creating value from the challenges complexity presents is a major challenge confronting today’s companies.

Acting on global trends: A McKinsey Global Survey

April 2007

Executives see opportunities as well as risks in the global business landscape, yet many are not addressing them.

The role of networks in organizational change

April 2007

Companies shouldn’t focus so much on formal structures that they ignore the informal ones.

What public companies can learn from private equity

January 2007

Public companies will need to raise their governance game if they are to compete with private firms.

2006
Managing for growth: An interview with former Emerson CEO Chuck Knight

November 2006

The company's CEO from 1973 to 2000 explains how it transformed itself from a local manufacturer of simple components into a global technology giant.

Improving strategic planning: A McKinsey Survey

September 2006

Executives say their companies could be a lot more effective at developing a strategy and implementing strategic plans, and they suggest some areas for improvement.

Managing your organization by the evidence

August 2006

An organization is much more likely to improve its current performance and underlying health by using a combination of complementary practices rather than any one of them alone, according to new McKinsey research.

Mapping the value of employee collaboration

August 2006

As collaboration within and among organizations becomes increasingly important, companies must improve their management of the networks where it typically occurs.

Building a nimble organization: A McKinsey Global Survey

July 2006

Executives see an urgent need to increase the agility and speed of their organization and are trying in various ways to do so.

Competitive advantage from better interactions

May 2006

Tacit interactions are becoming central to economic activity. Making those who undertake them more effective isn't like tweaking a production line.

Making a market in talent

May 2006

A 21st-century company should put as much effort into developing its talented employees as it puts into recruiting them.

The adaptable corporation

May 2006

To survive, organizations must execute in the present and adapt to the future. Few of them manage to do both well.

An executive take on the top business trends : A McKinsey Global Survey

April 2006

Executives report an accelerating pace of change in an increasingly competitive business environment, driven by knowledge and information trends and the forces of globalization.

Distortions and deceptions in strategic decisions

February 2006

Companies are vulnerable to misconceptions, biases, and plain old lies. But not hopelessly vulnerable.

The human factor in strategic decisions

February 2006

Executives should recognize and compensate for cognitive biases and agency problems.

The 'moment of truth' in customer service

February 2006

Focus on the interactions that are important to customers—and on the way frontline employees handle those interactions.

The right service strategies for product companies

February 2006

As products evolve into commodities, services become more important. But companies that play this new game must understand its rules.

When organization isn't enough

February 2006

Restructuring doesn't always lead to improved performance.

Ten trends to watch in 2006

January 2006

Macroeconomic factors, environmental and social issues, and business and industry developments will all profoundly shape the corporate landscape in the coming years.

2005
Improving productivity, part 2

November 2005

Economic activity in developed economies is again undergoing a broad and deep shift.

Strategy in an era of global giants

November 2005

The world's biggest companies are learning to manage complexity.

The next revolution in interactions

November 2005

Successful efforts to exploit the growing importance of complex interactions could well generate durable competitive advantages.

Building the healthy corporation

August 2005

It is difficult—but vital—for managers to strike a balance between the short and long terms.

Getting bigger

August 2005

The world's largest companies are more successful than ever, but scale brings its own challenges.

The 21st-century organization

August 2005

Big corporations must make sweeping organizational changes to get the best from their professionals.

What IT leaders do

August 2005

Companies that rely on IT governance systems alone will come up short.

The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives , July 2005

July 2005

Confidence is down, distractions are up.

Global champions from emerging markets

May 2005

Developing economies have become an invaluable springboard for companies looking to compete successfully abroad.

How to escape the short-term trap

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?

Leadership as the starting point of strategy

February 2005

Even the best strategy can fail if a corporation doesn’t have a cadre of leaders with the right capabilities at the right levels of the organization.

2004
Organizing for effectiveness in the public sector

November 2004

Traditional public-sector organizations can be redesigned to perform more successfully—even when market forces are lacking.

Making a market in knowledge

August 2004

For companies and their employees alike, knowledge is power—and profit.

Organizing for CRM

August 2004

Companies should treat a customer-relationship-management solution as a product or service and its users as internal customers—by making it valuable, pricing appropriately, advertising, and providing after-sales support.

Next-generation CIOs

July 2004

To ensure that IT investments have the greatest impact, CIOs must involve business-unit leaders and concentrate on the big picture.

Nonprofits: Ensuring that bigger is better

May 2004

The federation structure remains a viable model for nonprofit organizations—if managements transform themselves and affiliates collaborate more closely.

When efficient capital and operations go hand in hand

March 2004

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s head of mobile phones and a former CFO, discusses strategic organization, performance measurement, and the value of financial transparency.

2003
Managing for improved corporate performance

August 2003

Generating great performance requires a more dynamic approach to building and adapting a company’s capabilities than merely squeezing its operations.

What CEOs really think about IT

August 2003

Executives in France are taking a more proactive approach to ensure their IT investments bear fruit.

Knowledge management comes to philanthropy

June 2003

Foundations are endowed with intellectual as well as financial capital. Now is the time to use it.

Organization: Helping people pull together

June 2003

In even the largest and best-managed companies, hundreds of organizational muddles take place every day. Throughout the economy, they add up to a staggering waste of our national resources.

Organizational lessons for nonprofits

June 2003

Teach For America learned the importance of building organizational capacity the hard way.

The value in organization

June 2003

CEOs must now be more architect than general: the job is to design working environments where thousands of people know what to do, cooperate to get it done, and experience it as personally fulfilling.

When reorganization works

June 2003

Even a corporate revamping inspired by state-of-the-art design principles won’t succeed if not driven by a powerful, well-timed business idea adapted to social realities.

2002
Who's accountable for IT?

December 2002

Business leaders—that’s who.

Just-in-time strategy for a turbulent world

June 2002

Uncertainty and rising levels of risk make it impossible for companies to determine the future. But a portfolio-of-initiatives approach to strategy can help ensure that companies take full advantage of their best opportunities without taking unnecessary risks.

2001
Beyond the unbundled corporation Premium Content

August 2001

A new business model may forever change the way companies compete.

Making solutions the answer Premium Content

August 2001

Many companies hard-pressed to maintain their margins through products alone are turning to ’solutions.’ But to succeed, they must not only embrace competitors but also often turn away existing customers.

Managing the knowledge manager Premium Content

August 2001

First agree on what you want to achieve. Then develop and execute an agenda.

The future of the networked company Premium Content

August 2001

Even during the present slowdown, networked companies are outperforming conventional ones. They are likely to go on doing so.

Organizing for growth

May 2001

As drivers of corporate success, organizational design and the quality of leadership now share pride of place with strategy.

The innovative organization: Why new ventures need more than a room of their own Premium Content

May 2001

Companies can grow quickly without sacrificing performance discipline. The trick is to balance partitioning and integration.

Beyond the business unit Premium Content

February 2001

Corporate organization’s future lies in the ability to work across business units. Opportunity-based organizational design may help you succeed.

1999
Dialog: Can a company ever be too big? Premium Content

November 1999

Some people believe that "it is different this time." Others don't.

1998
The new economics of organization Premium Content

February 1998

In their purest forms, markets motivate and hierarchies coordinate. Have we learned to combine the best of both? Two challenges for the corporations of the future: entrepreneurialism and knowledge.

1996
Flatness forays Premium Content

August 1996

When, if ever, should you reorganize around processes? How much functional structure should be left in place? Two companies who got it right: Ford and Kraft.

What’s wrong with the consumer goods organization? Premium Content

February 1996

A new category-based structure is about to be born. Teams fixed functional silos; now there’s no one to integrate processes. The “soft stuff” matters, particularly compensation and evaluation.

1994
Fallacies in organizing for performance Premium Content

May 1994

A brief introduction to the most common assumptions that lead astray efforts to boost performance.

1993
Balancing corporate power: A new federalist paper Premium Content

August 1993

Winner of the McKinsey Award for the best article published in the Harvard Business Review in 1992. How complex modern organizations can achieve unity without uniformity.

Think local, organize . . . ? Premium Content

February 1993

New evidence suggests that the most popular routes to global success are not always reliable.

1992
The CEO as organization designer: An interview with Prof. Jay W. Forrester Premium Content

May 1992

In a complex world, to "design" means to rethink the logic of cause and effect.

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