Business, Management, Marketing, Money, Tax, Law, People

Scams, fraud, and abuse are an increasingly difficult problem for the payments industry. In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, David Excell, the founder of Featurespace, speaks with McKinsey partner and payments industry expert Grace Klopcic about how the company got its start in the gaming and sports betting world, and why it uses machine learning rather than a complex set of rules to understand consumer behavior and quickly identify…

Throughout 2024, the US dairy industry experienced numerous operational headwinds. Reduced herd sizes, inflation, and ongoing labor challenges put pressure on volume, prices, and costs across the dairy value chain, and in March 2024, avian influenza was discovered in North American cows. These challenges have evolved in 2025, and shifting international trade policies have added more unknowns.But the news hasn’t been all bad. Consumers increasingly choose dairy, driving overall volume…

Companies are now turning to building new businesses to fuel innovation and open new revenue sources. Half of CEOs surveyed in the fifth annual McKinsey Global Survey on new-venture building view the development of new businesses as one of their top three strategic priorities, and 90 percent of investors advocate for increased or maintained new-business-building investments. Furthermore, according to other McKinsey research, new ventures are expected to drive over half…

There’s been a growing gap between air travel demand and the aviation industry’s supply of new aircraft to meet it. While passenger demand has rebounded from pandemic-era lows and is projected to keep growing, delivery times for newly manufactured aircraft—and maintenance turnaround times for aircraft in existing fleets—have slowed. What are the implications of this aircraft shortage for key stakeholders along the aviation value chain? What future scenarios are possible?…

For many large medtech companies, scale and diversification were intended to drive innovation and efficiency. Large, diversified companies in other industries have delivered superior shareholder returns by rationalizing fixed costs, mobilizing their balance sheets, and building broad-based relationships with customers. But while many large medtechs are among the industry’s most profitable, their diversification has not brought the same improvements in shareholder value as in other industries (Exhibit 1). Diversification has…

Airlines are often categorized into groups differentiated by their business models—in particular, their cost structures and revenue approaches: Legacy carriers (also known as full-service airlines) tend to offer multiclass cabins and a wide range of amenities, with many service features included in the ticket price. Examples include American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific. Low-cost carriers and ultra-low-cost carriers—a combined group known as (U)LCCs—tend to sell discounted base-fare tickets and…

In 2020, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, an Indian multinational in the motor, power systems, and railway industries, was on the brink of bankruptcy. Plagued by a host of challenges, the company clearly needed a transformation to survive. Under the leadership of Natarajan Srinivasan, CG Power experienced a remarkable turnaround. Once a company teetering on the brink of collapse, CG Power has now seen a significant rise in its stock…

M &A activity is down, as is private equity investment, and companies are facing a range of new geopolitical tensions. Still, there is a path to growth through M&A for those companies that maintain an active acquisition strategy, understand their capabilities, and avoid certain assets, says McKinsey Senior Partner Jake Henry. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, he and McKinsey Senior Partner Mieke Van Oostende join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro…

Airline planning is inherently challenging, in part because many planning inputs are outside an airline’s control. The global aviation ecosystem relies on interwoven networks shaped by competing stakeholder priorities. Travel demand patterns are forever shifting and tough to forecast. Unpleasant surprises—including major storms, airport infrastructure breakdowns, IT failures, ground staff shortages, and aircraft delivery delays—can add significant uncertainty to any projections. This can be further exacerbated by global crises, geopolitical…

Running an airline isn’t for the timid. Weather events, infrastructure failures, and fickle passenger demand can make an already-tough business even more challenging. As this article goes to publication, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tension are both threatening to alter travel flows, piling yet more stress on airline executives. These business challenges show up on ledger sheets. Since 2005, we’ve analyzed the financial performance of the aviation value chain. Our research demonstrates…