The McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly is the business journal of McKinsey & Company.

Register now for immediate access to hundreds
of articles.
First time here? Read our Quarterly Basics.

Functions

	Business Technology Application Management Infrastructure Operations Organization Outsourcing & Offshoring Strategy Corporate Finance Capital Management M&A Performance Valuation Economic Studies Country Reports Productivity & Performance Governance Boards Compensation Leadership Marketing Branding Digital Marketing Management Pricing Sales & Distribution Sectors & Regions Strategy Operations Outsourcing Performance Product Development Purchasing Supply Chain & Logistics Organization Change Management Postmerger Strategic Organization Talent Risk Banking Risk Corporate Risk Strategy Alliances Globalization Growth Innovation Strategic Thinking Strategy in Practice

Industries

	Automotive Strategy & Analysis Energy, Resources, Materials Chemicals Electric Power Environment Oil & Gas Steel Strategy & Analysis Financial Services Banking Insurance Investment Management Personal Financial Services Securities Food & Agriculture Packaged Foods Strategy & Analysis Health Care Hospitals Pharmaceuticals Strategy & Analysis High Tech Hardware Software Strategy & Analysis Media & Entertainment Publishing Radio & TV Strategy & Analysis Nonprofit Performance Philanthropy Public Sector Economic Policy Education Government Regulation Management Retail & Consumer Goods Sectors & Regions Strategy & Analysis Telecommunications Broadband Equipment & Services Strategy & Analysis Transportation Sectors Strategy & Analysis

Regions

	Africa Americas Asia-Pacific China Europe India Middle East

Big Ideas

	Business in Society Climate Change Emerging Markets Growth & Innovation Managing in the New Normal Productivity Talent Women & Leadership

Multimedia

	Audio Interactive Video

Voices

	By Invitation Interviews Surveys

See our complete collection of articles, interviews, and surveys on the strategic, economic, and policy implications of climate change.

MAY 2008

How Chinese companies can succeed abroad

Chinese companies are seeking opportunities abroad. They will have to acclimate to new surroundings—just as the foreign companies that entered China did.
JULY 2008

How to address China’s growing talent shortage

The imbalance between business opportunities in China and qualified executives to manage them will get worse—a lot worse—before it gets better.

Includes:
JULY 2008

How corporate China is evolving

China’s business landscape is changing rapidly. So must the way we comprehend it.
JULY 2008

Reassessing China's state-owned enterprises

China’s state-owned companies, like China itself, are diverse. Many of them would make better partners for multinationals than some of their private-sector counterparts. Openness, not ownership, is the key.
JULY 2008

A growth strategy for a Chinese state-owned enterprise: An interview with ChemChina's president

Ren Jianxin explains how domestic acquisitions helped prepare the way for overseas ones.
MAY 2008

A pioneer in Chinese globalization: An interview with CIMC's president

A company that has already disrupted the container business is moving into transportation equipment and services.
JUNE 2008

China’s track record in M&A

China’s companies are expanding the focus of their outbound M&A, but so far they have struggled to create value.

Includes:
JUNE 2008

A global road map for China’s automakers

China’s carmakers have a great future on the world stage—but not in the immediate future.
JUNE 2008

Global investment strategies for China’s financial institutions

Chinese financial institutions are flush with money at an opportune moment. They should resist the urge to build empires and instead focus on advancing their skills and global experience.
JULY 2008

Meeting the challenges of China’s growing cities

China’s cities are booming. Intelligent policies could make the good effects prevail over the bad ones.

Includes:
MAY 2008

Selling China’s cars to the world: An interview with Chery’s CEO

Yin Tongyao explains how his fledgling automotive company learned to profit from adversity.
JULY 2008

Cleaner energy for China: An interview with the chairman of ENN Group

In a country with a major pollution problem, Wang Yusuo is trying to build a part of the solution.
MAY 2008

Integrating purchasing in M&A: An interview with Lenovo’s chief procurement officer

The chief purchasing officer of Lenovo explains how he helped to create the operational basis for its continuing evolution from a Chinese powerhouse into a global one.

APRIL 2007

When Chinese companies go global: An interview with Lenovo’s Mary Ma

CFO Ma describes the unique challenges awaiting Chinese companies that seek growth through international acquisitions.
FEBRUARY 2007

Governing China’s boards: An interview with John Thornton

The ex-president of Goldman Sachs talks about his experiences as a reformer of board governance in China.
JUNE 2006

Lessons from a global retailer: An interview with the president of Carrefour China

Jean-Luc Chéreau discusses the French company's experiences as its hypermarkets spread out from China’s biggest cities to the vast hinterland.
JUNE 2006

Shaping China’s home-improvement market: An interview with B&Q’s CEO for Asia

Steve Gilman says that because Chinese consumers are changing so quickly, retailers must change quickly to keep up with them.
FEBRUARY 2006

Making China your second home market: An interview with the CEO of Danfoss

The head of the Danish industrial-controls company wants to make China one of its core markets.

FEBRUARY 2008

Seizing China’s pharma opportunity

China’s pharmaceutical market is growing by upward of 20 percent a year, but global drug companies still must capture its full potential.

Includes:
OCTOBER 2007

The opportunity in asset management in China

The country’s asset-management market will grow by 24 percent annually for the next ten years, but the multinational companies attempting to serve it face vastly increased competition.
NOVEMBER 2007

Bringing best practice to China

As the country merges into the world economy, best practice in China will become best practice globally, products developed in China will become global products, and industrial processes developed in China will become global processes.

Includes:
JUNE 2007

Building profitable auto insurers in China

The auto insurance market is booming, but the carriers’ profits are not.
JULY 2007

A quiet revolution in China’s capital markets

Reforms that attracted little attention in the Western world mark a major step forward in the modernization of China’s capital markets.

Includes:
MAY 2007

Developing a new rural payments system in China

China could provide itself with a rural payments system cheaply and quickly by taking advantage of an existing technology and infrastructure.
FEBRUARY 2007

China’s state-owned enterprises: Board governance and the Communist Party

As the state-owned sector attracts strategic investors, they find themselves befuddled by the role of an almost invisible power: the Communist Party.
NOVEMBER 2006

China’s and India’s financial systems: A barrier to growth

Reducing government interference in the financial sector and strengthening its market orientation are essential to make it allocate capital efficiently and meet the needs of savers.
SEPTEMBER 2006

China’s high-tech market: A race to the middle

Multinational high-tech companies in China are losing out to their local counterparts. Here’s how they can regain market share.
AUGUST 2006

Helping China’s companies master global M&A

As they go global, their hardest challenge is to integrate the management of their domestic and foreign businesses.
AUGUST 2006

Developing China’s nonprofit sector

Corporations, the Chinese government, and nonprofits themselves all have important roles to play.
JULY 2006

The promise and perils of China’s banking system

The country's financial system must change drastically. Yet the revolution that has already transformed the overall economy suggests that such changes are beginning to take hold.
JUNE 2006

Meeting China’s energy needs through liberalization

China needs more oil. But the country should get it the way other big consumers do: purchases on the open market.
JUNE 2006

The value of China’s emerging middle class

Demographic shifts and a burgeoning economy will unleash a huge wave of consumer spending in urban China.
JUNE 2006

Understanding China’s teen consumers

Teenagers in China fall into several distinct segments, so companies must identify the right group and tailor their marketing approach accordingly.
JUNE 2006

Marketing to China’s hinterland

The country has hidden reserves of consumer buying power. But they are hard to reach.
JUNE 2006

Building brands in China

Chinese shoppers love brands but don't purchase them consistently. Market research shows the way forward.
JUNE 2006

What executives are asking about China: From entry to execution

The head of McKinsey's offices in China answers the questions that senior managers of multinational companies are asking.
JUNE 2006

Applying lean manufacturing in China

It's no longer enough just to be in China. Companies—domestic and foreign—that make goods there are now feeling the same efficiency pressures that beset companies elsewhere.
JUNE 2006

Checking China's vital signs: The social challenge

China's performance in meeting its key social challenges shows how far it has come and how far it has yet to go.
JUNE 2006

How financial-system reform could benefit China

A more efficient financial system could have a profound and far-reaching impact on China's economy.
JUNE 2006

The road ahead for capitalism in China

One of China's leading economists and a longtime champion of its transition to free markets says that it faces two starkly contrasting futures: a market economy under the rule of law or crony capitalism.
JUNE 2006

China's booming dairy market

Rising affluence should help China's dairy industry grow, but fully half of domestic companies may go out of business.
MARCH 2006

A life insurance policy for China

A strong life insurance industry could help China tackle its economic and social challenges.
MARCH 2006

The China factor in fine paper

China's emergence as a major player is transforming the global fine-paper industry. European and North American producers must consider their strategic options.
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.
JANUARY 2006

How to make M&A work in China

The conditions are right for China's nascent M&A market to flourish. Companies should try a new approach to deal making.

Includes:
NOVEMBER 2005

Competing for China's credit card market

To be competitive, most foreign issuers will need to partner with a local company.
NOVEMBER 2005

China's looming talent shortage

To make the move from manufacturing to services, China must raise the quality of its university graduates.

Includes:
AUGUST 2005

Protecting intellectual property in China

Litigation is no substitute for strategy.
JUNE 2005

In China, opportunity knocks for small business

Small and midsize companies must get creative to compete there.
FEBRUARY 2005

How private equity firms can play in China

Given the difficulties of doing business there, direct investment in Chinese companies isn’t always the best option.
FEBRUARY 2005

How to fix China's banking system

Old bad debt hasn’t been fully resolved. New bad debt is piling up. Yet the problems can be cleared up without a systemic crisis.
FEBRUARY 2005

Can China compete in IT services?

Fragmentation is keeping the country’s industry from grabbing a larger share of the global software-outsourcing market.
DECEMBER 2004

Encouraging consumer spending in China

Weak consumer spending in China is emerging as a big obstacle to the country’s sustained growth.
DECEMBER 2004

Global chemicals: China remakes an industry

Move to China? Export to China? The time to decide is now.
DECEMBER 2004

The aging of China

In ten years, the country’s demographics will probably look very different. How should the government and business respond?
DECEMBER 2004

Spurring performance in China's state-owned enterprises

The government must give a performance-based system space to take hold.
DECEMBER 2004

China and India: The race to growth

The world’s two biggest developing countries are taking different paths to economic prosperity. Which is the better one?
DECEMBER 2004

Selling life insurance to China

The hour is late for foreign companies that haven’t already entered the Chinese market, but not too late for those with strong skills and creative strategies.
DECEMBER 2004

Retail banking in China

The race is on to make money from individual consumers. Foreign banks had better get into the game.
DECEMBER 2004

Checking China's vital signs

A graphic look at the country’s remarkable economic transition.
DECEMBER 2004

Getting sourcing right in China

Three issues hold the key to working successfully with Chinese suppliers.
DECEMBER 2004

What executives are asking about China

The head of McKinsey’s office in China answers the senior executive’s most pressing questions about doing business there.

Includes:
DECEMBER 2004

Marketing to China's consumers

Chinese companies have learned a great deal from multinational ones operating in China. Now the foreigners could learn from them.
DECEMBER 2004

Making foreign investment work for China

The radically different experience of two industries shows that the country needs more competition as well.
JULY 2004

A guide to doing business in China

China lends itself to sweeping statements about the nature of doing business there. Most are unfounded.
JULY 2004

China tackles urban planning

In an effort to spur the local economy, the government of Wuhan has joined with a private investor to develop a new central business district.
AUGUST 2004

Sourcing smarter in China

Establishing a direct-purchasing operation there isn’t cheap, but the potential savings for retailers are too large to ignore.
AUGUST 2004

Shaping the future of China's auto industry

The government does have a role—to encourage, not to control.
MAY 2004

Building on China's construction boom

Foreign companies must carefully choose the projects they undertake in China if they hope to make reasonable returns.
MAY 2004

China's market for mobile phones

Original-design manufacturers in South Korea and Taiwan are key allies for global telecom companies that wish to compete in China.
MAY 2004

The China factor in global steel

China’s increased demand for steel will be met largely by domestic producers, leaving multinational ones to fight for the scraps.

Executives around the world expect competition from Chinese companies to increase, mainly because of their low production costs, yet surprisingly few are acting to meet the threat. A separate survey of executives based in China reveals widespread global ambitions and concerns about finding talent.

MAY 2008

Competition from China: Two McKinsey Surveys

Executives around the world expect competition from Chinese companies to increase, mainly because of their low production costs, yet surprisingly few are acting to meet the threat, a McKinsey survey shows. A separate survey of executives based in China reveals widespread global ambitions and concerns about finding the talent to reach them.

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.
MAY 2008

China’s opportunity in offshore services

China faces major challenges to becoming a global giant in the offshoring and outsourcing of services.
JUNE 2008

Global investment strategies for China’s financial institutions

Chinese financial institutions are flush with money at an opportune moment. They should resist the urge to build empires and instead focus on advancing their skills and global experience.
JUNE 2006

The challenges in Chinese procurement

Companies that source goods from China must overcome several challenges to realize the opportunity in full.
FEBRUARY 2006

The Chinese consumer: To spend or to save?

Chinese consumers are saving for an insecure future—but also shopping for big-ticket items.

Doing business in China

Surprisingly few companies have any operations in China today, but the vast majority expect to be doing business with the country within five years.

FEBRUARY 2007

Doing business in China: A McKinsey Survey of executives in Asia

Surprisingly few companies have any operations in China today, but the vast majority expect to be doing business with the country within five years.

Embed E-mail