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McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.

Energy, Resources, Materials, Strategy & Analysis, ethanol challenge for the United States

NOVEMBER 2009

The ethanol challenge for the United States

The US biofuels industry must address midstream ethanol distribution bottlenecks if it hopes to deliver next-generation ethanol in a cost-effective manner.

Includes: Interactive
Editors’ Choice
  • Corporate Finance, M&A, Are you best owner of your assets

    NOVEMBER 2009 Premium

    Are you still the best owner of your assets?

    As companies rethink their portfolios for the post-crisis world, they should ask themselves if they are still the best owners of their assets.

  • Economic Studies, Productivity & Performance, Economic conditions snapshot, November 2009 Survey Results

    NOVEMBER 2009

    Economic Conditions Snapshot, November 2009: McKinsey Global Survey results

    Executives’ optimism about the economy continues to climb, especially in emerging markets and in developed economies in Asia. Executives are a little less sure about their companies’ prospects and say low consumer demand is the biggest barrier to growth.

  • Business Technology, Strategy, Time to raise the CIO's game

    NOVEMBER 2009 Premium

    Time to raise the CIO’s game

    In the ‘new normal,’ successful CIOs will search for value through experimentation with customers and partners.

  • Strategy, Strategy in Practice, Tackling sociopolitical issues hard times

    NOVEMBER 2009

    Tackling sociopolitical issues in hard times: McKinsey Global Survey results

    The financial crisis has increased the public’s expectations of business’s role in society. Most companies have maintained or increased their efforts to address sociopolitical issues, and many have already derived better-than-expected benefits from doing so.

  • Retail & Consumer Goods, Strategy & Analysis, promise of multichannel retailing

    OCTOBER 2009

    The promise of multichannel retailing

    In a year of doom and gloom for retailers, the continued emergence of online sales has been a bright spot. Why then do so few companies get true multichannel retailing right?

  • Governance, Boards, Using the crisis to create better boards

    OCTOBER 2009

    Using the crisis to create better boards

    Boards should view the current crisis as an opportunity to review the way they function. A healthy self-assessment can go a long way toward improving a company’s performance.

  • Marketing, Management, Mastering sales force integration in merger

    OCTOBER 2009 Premium

    Mastering sales force integration in a merger

    Companies can seize the opportunity in mergers by involving employees and customers in the integration process, retaining critical staff, generating momentum by quickly winning key accounts, and serving the right customers in the right way.

  • Risk, Corporate Risk, Risk Seeing around the corners

    OCTOBER 2009 Premium

    Risk: Seeing around the corners

    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.

What Matters: Leading innovation with technology

what matters
Does the open sharing of information on the Internet foster innovation or merely stifle the authorial voice? Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, writes that the ease of sharing information on the Web has unleashed massive innovation. Novelist and political writer Mark Helprin argues instead that an extension of copyright laws is needed to protect the creation of new knowledge and new art.
Research in Brief

  • Automotive, Strategy & Analysis, A new segmentation for electric vehicles

    NOVEMBER 2009

    A new segmentation for electric vehicles

    Many carmakers design electric vehicles intended to satisfy the needs of almost all customers. Instead, they should embrace a radical new form of market segmentation.

  • Retail & Consumer Goods, Strategy & Analysis, Consumer electronics back to basics

    OCTOBER 2009 Premium

    Consumer electronics gets back to basics

    Most people don’t use advanced—and expensive—new features. There may be a better way for companies and consumers alike.

Featured Package

Dealing with uncertainty

  • Strategy, Strategy in Practice, use and abuse scenarios

    NOVEMBER 2009

    The use and abuse of scenarios

    Although it is surprisingly hard to create good ones, they help you ask the right questions and prepare for the unexpected. That is hugely valuable.

  • Organization, Strategic Organization, Peter L. Bernstein interview

    JANUARY 2008

    Peter L. Bernstein on risk

    The celebrated author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk explores the history of risk and how it works in real-world markets and in our lives.

    Includes: Video
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