McKinsey QuarterlyMore from McKinsey QuarterlyBusiness Strategy AlignmentChanging Consumer Behavior in Mexico Since Recession Benefits CPG Companies, RetailersMexican consumers have been hit harder than their U.S. counterparts by the downturn since 2008, but they are more optimistic about their country's prospects than their neighbors to the north are. Their attitudes are of key importance to consumer packaged goods and retail companies.August 23, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentWinning the $30Tr Decathlon: Going for Gold in Emerging MarketsBy 2025, annual consumption in emerging markets will reach $30tr - the biggest growth opportunity in the history of capitalism. To compete for the prize, companies must be disciplined.August 16, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentCustomer Engagement Is Everyone's JobNo organization can avoid coming to grips with the rapidly evolving behavior of consumers and business customers. They check prices at a keystroke and are increasingly selective about which brands share their lives. They form impressions from every encounter and post withering online reviews. These changes present significant organizational challenges, as well as opportunities. The biggest is that all of us have become marketers: the critical moments of interaction, or touch points, between companies and customers are increasingly spread across different parts of the organization, so customer engagement is now everyone's responsibility.July 31, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentManufacturers Can Benefit from 'Supply Circle' ManagementManufacturers can generate new value, minimize costs, and increase operational stability by focusing on four broad areas: production, product design, value recovery - and supply-circle management.June 19, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentExecs Know Importance of Social Media, But Not How to Tap Its Power and PotentialExecutives certainly know what social media is. After all, if Facebook users constituted a country, it would be the world's third-largest, behind China and India. Executives can even claim to know what makes social media so potent: its ability to amplify word-of-mouth effects. Yet the vast majority of executives have no idea how to harness social media's power.May 17, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentCompanies of Varying Descriptions Crowdsource Their StrategiesIn 2009, Wikimedia, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and a number of other online, collaborative projects, launched a special wiki - one dedicated to the organization's own strategy. Over the next two years, more than 1,000 volunteers generated some 900 proposals for the company's future direction and then categorized, rationalized, and formed task forces to elaborate on them. The result was a coherent strategic plan detailing a set of beliefs, priorities and related commitments that together engendered among participants a deep sense of dedication to Wikimedia's future.May 14, 2012All TechnologyMaking the Most of Your Company's Software Layer?The past 15 years have created a very different business environment, which has empowered consumers, commoditized many products and services, and dramatically compressed margins. Not surprisingly, these changes have forced businesses to operate differently. But exactly what kinds of companies have successfully transitioned to the digital age?April 27, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentIs There a Payoff from Having Diversity in Top Management?There are many reasons companies with more diverse executive teams should outperform their peers: fielding a team of top executives with varied cultural backgrounds and life experiences can broaden a company's strategic perspective, for example.April 17, 2012All TechnologyTry This On - Apparel Makers See Bangladesh as Next Hot Spot for SourcingIn 2010, China dominated European and U.S. markets for ready-made garments, accounting for about 40 percent of the import volume in each region. A recent McKinsey survey, however, found that 86 percent of the chief purchasing officers in leading apparel companies in Europe and the United States planned to decrease levels of sourcing in China over the next five years because of declining profit margins and capacity constraints.April 10, 2012Business Strategy AlignmentFulfilling the Promise of India's Manufacturing SectorIndia's manufacturers have a golden chance to emerge from the shadow of the country's services sector and seize more of the global market.March 21, 2012Previous PagePage 2 of 7Next Page