1160 Posts found for Source: McKinsey Quarterly

There are only two ways to get [substantially higher performance]. One, you can invent your way to success. Unfortunately, you can’t count on that. The second path is to exploit some change in your environment-in technology, consumer tastes, laws, resource prices, or competitive behavior-and ride that change with quickness and skill. This second path is how most successful companies make it. Changes, however, don’t come … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Planning, Strategy

A giant in the field of strategy ruminates on strategic planning, diversification and focus, and the role of the CEO.

Editor’s Note: an excellent interview – highly recommended…

Content: Thought Leader | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management | Industry: Education / Training

Strategic thinking is essentially a substitute for having clear connections between the positions we take and their economic outcomes.

Strategic thinking helps us take positions in a world that is confusing and uncertain. You can’t get rid of ambiguity and uncertainty-they are the flip side of opportunity. If you want certainty and clarity, wait for others to take a position and see how they do. Then … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Opportunity, Strategy

Most of the strategy concepts in use today are static. They explain the stability and sustainability of competitive advantages. Strategy concepts like core competencies, experience curves, market share, entry barriers, scale, corporate culture, and even the idea of “superior resources” are essentially static, telling us why a particular position is defensible-why it holds the high ground.

If the terrain never changed, that would be the end … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Strategy

Outsourcing parts of the supply chain has disrupted the flow of critical data. Targeted IT investments can restore what’s missing.

Content: Article | Authors: Aditya Pande, Ramesh Raman, Vats Srivatsan | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations

Although canceling a project or exiting a business may often be regarded as a sign of failure, such moves are really a perfectly normal part of the creative-destruction process. Companies need to realize that in this way they can free up their resources and improve their ability to embrace new market opportunities.

By neutralizing the psychological biases that make it harder for executives to evaluate struggling … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Dan P. Lovallo, John T. Horn, S. Patrick Viguerie | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Strategy

It’s official: a company’s economic success rests on the quality of its managers.

Content: Article | Authors: John J. Dowdy, Stephen J. Dorgan, Thomas M. Rippin | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management

Services are more difficult to measure and monitor than manufacturing processes are but executives can rein in variance and boost productivity-if they implement rigorous metrics.

Content: Article | Authors: Eric Harmon, Scott C. Hensel, Timothy E. Lukes | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management

Differentiating and measuring degrees of loyalty is an evolving craft. Companies first tried to measure and manage their customers’ satisfaction in the early 1970s, on the theory that increasing it would help them prosper. In the 1980s, they began to measure their customers’ rates of defection and to investigate its root causes. By measuring the value of the customers themselves, some companies also identified high-value … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Customer Related

Companies cannot achieve superior and lasting business performance simply by following a specific set of steps.

Content: Article | Author: Phil Rosenzweig | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Best Practices, Management

Return on capital is the benchmark for comparing performance between businesses. But new math is needed when a company’s capital intensity is low.

Content: Article | Authors: Mikel Dodd, Werner Rehm | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

Ordinarily, the US public attitude is generous and open minded toward profits and compensation. If somebody makes a lot of money the response is, “Great, someday it might happen to me.” What drives people crazy is when you make a lot of money at people’s expense. This is a powerful political form of resentment. It’s resentment at being exploited. Americans want companies to make a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Compensation, Corporate Governance

One of the tests for whether companies are aligning themselves with a broader social engagement is the extent to which the doctrine of shareholder value loses credibility. I don’t think it’s going to be openly repudiated, but I suspect that, gradually, executives will stop making as much reference to it to justify their actions. It privileges one group, one constituency, over all the others, and … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

By the time a company calls in its legal team, it’s probably too late. The best corporations prepare an IP protection plan to keep their knowledge safe from the outset.

Content: Article | Authors: Lei Yang, Meagan C. Dietz, Sarena Shao-Tin Lin | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: International – China

Companies have everything to gain from forging a strong link between regulation and strategy. By shifting their approach to regulation from confrontation or passive compliance to a proactive and informed dialogue with external stakeholders, they can help construct more balanced regulatory frameworks and ensure a better outcome for the organization.

Content: Article | Authors: Denis Bugrov, Luis Enriquez, Scott C. Beardsley | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Legal, Strategy

It takes less time than you think for a clean team to make valuable contributions to the integration of businesses.

Content: Article | Authors: Diane L. Sias, Nicolas J. Albizzatti, Scott A. Christofferson | Source: McKinsey Quarterly

Companies shouldn’t confuse the value created by returning cash to shareholders with the value created by actual operational improvements. After all, the market doesn’t.

Content: Article | Authors: Richard Dobbs, Werner Rehm | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance

Includes the following articles:

Checking India’s vital signs
A graphic look at the country’s economic progress and problems.

What executives are asking about India
The head of McKinsey’s Indian offices addresses the concerns of senior multinational executives.

How India’s executives see the world
Business leaders across India share an upbeat vision of the future while recognizing the obstacles ahead.

Winning the Indian consumer
Multinationals that successfully adapt their products to India’s … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: International

Total Returns to Shareholders (TRS or TSR) doesn’t reflect a company’s performance or health. What does?

Content: Article | Authors: Richard Dobbs, Tim Koller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Finance | Industry: Investing

Executives often treat cost reduction programs as one-time efforts to compensate for a bad quarter or a delayed product launch. These short-term programs tend to fizzle out quickly when leaders lose interest or a return to healthy sales growth frees them from cost constraints. But rising competitive pressures should compel companies to manage their overhead costs in a more rigorous and ongoing way that entails … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Oliver Wright, Robert L. Rosiello, Suzanne P. Nimocks | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management