March 2008
Businesses must act on global warming and other issues to narrow a general trust gap between them and the public.
Abstract
March 2008
In one of a series of interactive presentations, Lowell Bryan, a director in McKinsey's New York office, examines 7-S, a framework introduced to address the critical role of coordination, rather than structure, in organizational effectiveness.
Abstract
March 2008
Delos "Toby" Cosgrove discusses innovation in health care—including a key role for top executives to play in reducing the nation’s health care burden.
Abstract
March 2008
Corporate directors want to spend more time developing forward-looking strategies that help maximize shareholder value. Boards that are already highly influential in creating corporate value work differently.
Abstract
February 2008
Consumers’ growing expectations of companies make corporate philanthropy
more important than ever. But many respondents to this survey say their
companies aren’t meeting social goals or stakeholder expectations very
effectively. Companies that are doing well are taking a more strategic
approach.
Abstract
November 2007
The key to effective communication: make it simple, make it concrete, and make it surprising.
Abstract
November 2007
Formalizing a company’s ad hoc peer groups can spur collaboration and unlock value.
Abstract
November 2007
Forward-looking executives must respond to the growing need for a new managerial model.
Abstract
November 2007
A giant in the field of strategy ruminates on strategic planning, diversification and focus, and the role of the CEO.
Abstract
October 2007
Business leaders are now more inclined to incorporate society’s expectations into their core strategies but face many challenges when they do.
Abstract
August 2007
It can be a frustrating exercise, but there are ways to increase its value.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
May 2007
Nasty people don't just make others feel miserable; they create economic problems for their companies.
Abstract
May 2007
A founding father of public-opinion research explains why shareholder value isn't enough.
Abstract
May 2007
The former vice president and his partner in an investment-management firm argue that sustainability investing is essential to creating long-term shareholder value.
Abstract
April 2007
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?
Abstract
February 2007
Companies cannot achieve superior and lasting business performance simply by following a specific set of steps.
Abstract
February 2007
Most measurements of performance are geared to the needs of 20th-century manufacturing companies. Times have changed. Metrics must change as well.
Abstract
January 2007
US business executives say they should play a much greater role in shaping debate about sociopolitical issues and leading efforts to effect change.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
August 2006
Klaus M. Leisinger discusses one company's contribution to the global fight against poverty and disease.
Abstract
August 2006
As companies turn their attention from compliance to growth and innovation, boards must focus on strategy.
Abstract
July 2006
In the short term, emotions influence market pricing. A simple model explains short-term deviations from fundamentals.
Abstract
May 2006
Tacit interactions are becoming central to economic activity. Making those who undertake them more effective isn't like tweaking a production line.
Abstract
May 2006
Psychological biases can make it difficult to get out of an ailing business.
Abstract
February 2006
Companies are vulnerable to misconceptions, biases, and plain old lies. But not hopelessly vulnerable.
Abstract
February 2006
Andy Stern discusses his ideas for reversing the long decline of US organized labor.
Abstract
February 2006
Executives should recognize and compensate for cognitive biases and agency problems.
Abstract
November 2005
How to avoid the cognitive biases that undermine market entry decisions.
Abstract
November 2005
The world's biggest companies are learning to manage complexity.
Abstract
November 2005
Successful efforts to exploit the growing importance of complex interactions could well generate durable competitive advantages.
Abstract
August 2005
Some companies are learning how to take a more creative approach to mobilizing resources.
Abstract
August 2005
The world's largest companies are more successful than ever, but scale brings its own challenges.
Abstract
August 2005
By building social issues into strategy, big companies can recast the debate about their role in society.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
March 2005
A McKinsey survey of directors shows that they’re tired of playing defense.
Abstract
August 2004
For companies and their employees alike, knowledge is power—and profit.
Abstract
February 2004
In basic materials, only diversified companies approach an efficient portfolio’s risk–return performance, since they can exploit negative correlations among the business cycles of different commodities.
Abstract
August 2003
Warfare will surely be transformed. But how, and by whom?
Abstract
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.
Abstract
May 2003
Can insights from behavioral economics explain why good executives back bad strategies?
Abstract
May 2003
Companies that embrace strategies based on high ethical standards are more likely to succeed.
Abstract
December 2002
Automating the flow of information among companies is costly and complex. Web services, argues John Hagel, promise to make it cheap and easy.
Abstract
November 2002
When is a good time to make strategic advances? During a crisis, of course.
Abstract
June 2002
As successful companies mature, they must diversify to survive—and they can dramatically improve their shareholder returns as they do. The only questions are when and how.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
June 2002
Most companies battened down the hatches during the recession of the early ‘90s. But the more successful competitors pressed their advantages.
Abstract
June 2002
Cutting-edge companies are swapping their tightly coupled processes for loosely coupled ones—making themselves not only more flexible but also more profitable.
Abstract
June 2002
The past is no longer a guide to the future. To meet the challenges of discontinuity and to perform like markets, a corporation must learn to change as rapidly as they do.
Abstract
June 2002
Many companies get little value from their annual strategic-planning process. It should be redesigned to support real-time strategy making and to encourage ’creative accidents.’
Abstract
May 2002
Identifying and understanding important individual investors can help corporate executives predict the direction of share prices.
Abstract
November 2001
In extremely uncertain environments, shaping strategies may deliver higher returns, with lower risk, than they do in less uncertain times.
Abstract
August 2001
A new business model may forever change the way companies compete.
Abstract
August 2001
When industries deregulate, their managers face unfamiliar challenges. Price wars are often the unfortunate—and unnecessary—result.
Abstract
February 2001
Across industries and nations, a select few companies are creating almost all of the new shareholder value. Atomization is driving their success.
Abstract
June 2000
Are you making three very big—and often very bad—assumptions? Don’t assess uncertainty unless you are willing to abandon your favorite formulas. Bets and options may be more important than positioning choices.
Abstract
June 2000
In many cases the customer—not the competition—is the key to a company's prospects.
Abstract
June 2000
You can outstrip your competitors in myriad ways, many of which call for you to rewrite the standard "rules" of your industry
Abstract
June 2000
Game theory can help managers make better strategic decisions when facing the uncertainty of competitive conduct. If you don't change your game to gain advantage, one of your competitors will.
Abstract
June 2000
Each article in McKinsey on Strategy presents an important perspective on a single aspect of strategy. Taken together, they represent a formidable body of knowledge, distilled from the experience of thousands of McKinsey consultants, about the art and science of business strategy.
Abstract
June 2000
Evolution across a population is nature's trick for mastering uncertainty. Businesses can use it too.
Abstract
June 2000
Are "webs" a new strategy for the information age?
Abstract
June 2000
"Fishbowl" economics once provided the basis of corporate strategy, but no longer. New theories show that markets are "complex adaptive systems." Can managers be more than blind players in an evolutionary business game?
Abstract
June 2000
The traditional approach to strategy requires precise predictions and thus often leads executives to underestimate uncertainty. This can be downright dangerous. A four-level framework can help.
Abstract
June 2000
Developing and marketing consumer profiles in the information age is a growth industry built on trust.
Abstract
June 2000
Change the way you create value: The case for applying options thinking to any strategic situation.
Abstract
June 2000
A company should make sure that it is the best possible owner of each of its business units—not simply hold on to units that are strong in themselves.
Abstract
June 2000
The forces that fractured the computer industry are bearing down on all industries. In the face of changing interaction costs and the new economics of electronic networks, companies must ask themselves the most basic of all questions: what business are we in?
Abstract
May 2000
Benchmarking is an important way to improve operational efficiency, but it is not a tool for strategic decision making. When competitors all try to play exactly the same game, declining margins are bound to follow.
Abstract
February 1999
Operational excellence is not the whole story. Successful companies need privileged assets, growth-enabling skills, and special relationships too. How to bundle them into a competitive edge.
Abstract
August 1998
Market forces have pushed many countries toward economic freedom. Have our organizations kept pace?
Abstract
February 1998
Value created by knowledge is often not captured. Five accounts of knowledge strategies.
Abstract
February 1998
The idea is this: share ownership of assets with the managers responsible for generating value from them. Then create greater transparency between markets and these owners. And make sure intervention is both difficult and expensive.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
May 1997
"Petropreneurs" have created almost all the market value in the past five years, and deal-making skills have become more important than scale or technology. Is it time the majors did something radical?
Abstract
February 1997
A new study of interactions reveals how pervasive they are. As they increase in number, answers to fundamental questions about intergration, scale, and scope will change. But what will happen when workers can carry out their jobs in half the time?
Abstract
February 1997
Managers now consider just about everything a potential competence. Are you measurably better, can you sustain the difference, and does it matter? Building a core competence: three options.
Abstract
February 1997
Virtual communities will fundamentally change how companies develop, price, and promote their products. Marketers that “get it” will encourage community members to communicate with them and each other. The purpose of advertising will shift from building awareness to selling. There will be new levels of loyalty and disloyalty.
Abstract
November 1995
Modeling afforded a number of insights about why high-technology companies fail. It is much harder to change decision-making procedures than we realized when system dynamics started. Whether in school or mangement education, the focus will be on "generic structures."
Abstract
February 1995
The same laws may govern the evolution of organisms and organizations. “Rugged fitness” landscapes determine the rate of innovation. Breaking your company into “patches” to balance order and chaos.
Abstract
February 1994
An important new theory about how small chance events early in the history of an industry or technology can tilt, forever, its competitive balance.
Abstract
August 1993
A strategy as risky as vertical integration can only succeed when it is chosen for the right reasons.
Abstract