Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images During the past few years, company strategies have been disrupted repeatedly by major shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, and breakthroughs in generative AI. In the first months of 2025, a stream of political surprises has been impacting company agendas — and further upheavals seem likely. This turbulence is having a real impact on business:…
Quick Hits South Carolina state lawmakers introduced parallel bills in the state House and Senate that follow other recent executive and agency actions at the federal level and offer additional details not present in federal executive orders, such as definitions of “promoting DEI.” Proposed amendments to the South Carolina Code would require certification of compliance to the General Assembly, as well as require the state auditor to conduct periodic compliance…
This ironic curse of unknown origin seems to be our current plight, so much so that any article written today will be out of date tomorrow. Accurate predictions require a time machine, but the current uncertainty appears to be with us for the unforeseeable future. What appears certain is that trade conflicts and the potential acquisition of Canada have galvanized Canadian spirits (with already imposed restrictions on American ones). There…
The world of competitive spreadsheets is about to take center stage at this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) with the world premiere of Spreadsheet Champions. Produced by GoodThing Productions, this documentary delves into the fascinating world of the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship, shining a spotlight on the Excel category and the incredible talent it attracts. Organized by Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, the MOS World Championship is a…
Unlike parents in many other high-income countries, American parents are largely on their own until their kids are old enough for kindergarten when it comes to childcare and schooling. But over the past two decades or so, municipalities around the country have started rolling out public pre-kindergarten that is available to all children, usually at age three or four, regardless of income level—what has become known as universal pre-kindergarten (UPK).…
The invention of the automobile in the late 1800s soon attracted entrepreneurs. Car manufacturers sprung up across the world, with the number in the United States increasing from 30 in 1899 to about 500 by 1910. The early industry’s hallmark was rapid and constant innovation, which included the introduction of V-8 engines, the replacement of hand cranks with electric starters, and the addition of folding tops for weather protection. By…
Name the businesses leading the artificial intelligence arms race and it’s likely that Google, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Anthropic, among others, come to mind. What do these four companies have in common? Their founders are Stanford alumni.Jonathan Levin, the president of Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), made this point during the kickoff session at the 2025 SIEPR Economic Summit – but not…
The recent decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Huether v Sharpe, 2025 ONCA 140, clarifies what constitutes a “continuous act or omission” that is sufficient to toll the running of the 15-year ultimate limitation period in s.15(2) of the Limitations Act (Act). Background The Township of McMurrich Monteith (Township) issued a building permit (Permit) for the construction of a dwelling in 1986. Inspections conducted by the Township…
Anyone who’s had a hand in hiring and recruiting knows that finding the right person for the job is often difficult and expensive. Typically, organisations assess candidates using a combination of interviews and static tests, such as those that evaluate logical and verbal reasoning or behavioural traits. This process takes up significant time and resources. Moreover, studies suggest that without careful structuring and design, these hiring methods can suffer from low validity and fail…
The list of liabilities, however, is equally significant. First and foremost, Ukraine has suffered enormous human losses. Hundreds of thousands of men have been killed or wounded. The loss of human capital has been exacerbated by the large number of refugees and émigrés, many of whom are reluctant to return. Given Ukraine’s already challenging demographic situation following the collapse of the USSR – marked by low birth rates and high…
Researchers from the University of Oxford have followed the lives of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam since 2002, informing meaningful policy change to improve the lives of children and young people growing up in poverty. Preliminary findings from the seventh survey round, with the participants now aged 22 and 29, have been released today, and underscore the urgent need for policy action to address the…
Louis-Edgar Jean-François, CEO of national non-profit Groupe 3737, joined Ravi Latour, BLG partner and co-chair of the firm’s Race Action Committee, for a conversation in honour of Black History Month 2025. The discussion touched on how Groupe 3737 is fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Black communities in Canada and how organizations can best support Black talent. BLG has been a proud supporter of Groupe 3737’s initiatives since 2022 and was…
Over the past few years, our analysis shows that the engineering and construction (E&C) industry has grown steadily by about 5 percent per annum. This number is expected to accelerate to 6 to 7 percent by 2030 in response to a confluence of tailwinds, including continued growth in emerging markets, such as Asia and the Middle East; government infrastructure programs and megaprojects in Europe and North America; pent-up demand for…
About 15 years ago, Glenn Carroll and Jesper Sørensen began teaching a mandatory course for first-year MBA students called Critical Analytical Thinking. “It was not a particularly popular course,” Carroll recalls. “These are kids that just came to business school, it’s their first quarter, and rather than learning about business, they’re learning about logic.”Carroll and Sørensen, professors of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, looked for ways to…
February has brought rising concerns over tariffs, with potential consequences extending well beyond traditional industries. The United States has imposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum,1 and the threat of higher tariffs on Canadian products looms large.2 As tensions rise, some Canadian provinces have begun exploring retaliatory measures, such as limiting the U.S. based business’ access to provincial procurement contracts.3 At the federal level, the Canadian government has pledged to…
Services drive the global economy. They make up 75 percent of real gross value-added activity in high-income countries and 63 percent of the same measure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Globally, value-added trade in services now exceeds trade in goods, and services are growing faster than the total world economy. Yet economic development efforts in LMICs often still focus on manufacturing and while that may be understandable—it was the…
NEWARK/BARCELONA – The effects of falling birth rates and rising life expectancy are increasingly evident in advanced economies like Germany, Italy, and Japan. Labor markets are tightening, worker shortages are worsening, and families are struggling to find care for aging parents. In some areas, declining student numbers are forcing schools to shut down.South Korea offers a stark example. In 2023, as the country’s total fertility rate plummeted to just 0.7…
Earlier we wrote about a communication by President Trump about the unfairness of the Value Added Tax. Now the U.S. Commerce Secretary has added his official perspective on the matter. Mr. Lutnick “has warned that Canada's national sales tax will be subject to retaliation.” Retaliation is, of course, a curious term. It is not clear how Canada’s non-discriminatory national sales tax is harming the United States, U.S. exports to Canada,…
McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) found that as of 2020, about 61% of the global population were unable to pay for their basic daily needs and begin to save. Building on the work of development economists, we established the “empowerment line” to measure progress towards a world where everyone’s essential needs are met.Higher than the international poverty line, the empowerment line varies greatly from country to country. In the lowest income…
Jon Denney, Stanford’s vice president for development, has announced that he will retire from Stanford after six years in the role.“I have been incredibly fortunate to spend much of my life at Stanford – first as a student, and then for 28 wonderful years of my professional career,” Denney said. “It has been an honor to serve the university in so many capacities, and I am deeply grateful for the…
On Dec. 23, 2024, the Capital Markets Tribunal (CMT) released its decision in TeknoScan Systems Inc. et al. (Re), 2024 ONCMT 32, in which it made important rulings on the use of transcripts of compelled examinations in enforcement hearings. The CMT held that read-ins from transcripts of compelled examinations of the respondent, when they are admissions against interest, are inadmissible where that respondent has properly invoked the protections against self-incrimination…
US consumers are taking an increasingly active role in their health, seeking information from a variety of sources and considering new engagement models. As this trend continues, healthcare organizations must recognize that many of the assumptions that they have made about healthcare consumers no longer hold true. Addressing these changed expectations and interests can unlock substantial opportunity to engage consumers across their healthcare journeys more effectively and improve business results.It’s…
Research Feature Here’s how an online travel company set out to develop a complex metric to keep decisions made by the business development team aligned with strategy. Omri Morgenshtern and Tarik Fadil March 05, 2025 Reading Time: 20 min Klaus Meinhardt/Ikon Images Key performance indicators are critical tools for evaluating how effectively a company is executing strategy and for making optimal decisions. When KPIs are well chosen and well defined,…
By Minh N. Vu, Kristina Launey, and Susan Ryan Seyfarth Synopsis: The two-year decline in ADA Title III filings stopped in 2024, with plaintiffs increasing filings back to 8,800 complaints in 2024. When we first started tracking ADA Title III lawsuits in 2013, the total for the year was only 2,722. The number climbed steadily to an all-time high of 11,452 in 2021, and then fell to 8,694 in 2022. …
This is one article in our U.S. tariff effect series, featuring a multi-part analysis of the impact of tariffs on Canadian employers With the imposition of tariffs by the current U.S. Administration on the horizon, including increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports recently announced, employers may be faced with difficult decisions regarding workforce reductions. As discussed in our first article of this series, temporary layoffs are one strategy that employers may…
In 2013, SQM, based in Santiago, Chile, became the first mining company to adapt the principles of lean management to the complexities of extracting minerals in some of the world’s most challenging locations. Three years into the company’s transformation, McKinsey spoke with three senior SQM executives about the organization’s progress—especially the lasting benefits from changing the way people lead. Now, more than ten years after SQM’s journey began, leaders at…
Former Intel CEO Andy Grove wrote a book more than two decades ago called “Only the Paranoid Survive.” Intel took that mantra to heart for many years, reinventing itself multiple times and pushing to stay ahead of technology trends. I had a front-row seat to Intel’s aggressiveness, working as an intern at the company 30 years ago and, later, as an investor with the company’s Intel Capital venture-capital unit. As…
Dear graduate students,We are writing to share an important update about the package delivery program for students living on campus that will take effect in fall 2025.Over the past several years, the number of packages delivered to residences on our campus has reached a staggering volume of more than a half million per year. At the same time, package thefts, emissions from delivery trucks, trash, and concerns for student and…
The Republic of Azerbaijan, along with its close ally, Turkey, is trying to define new relations with the new leaders of Syria. The important and long-term consequence of this development will be greater alignment between Syria, Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus, Vali Kaleji writes. The gradual development of relations between Syria and the Republic of Azerbaijan On January 16, 1992, the Syrian Arab Republic recognised…
Roy Scott/Ikon Images The Analysis This article emerged from discussions in the Corporate Growth and International Management Working Group of the Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, a German association that brings together corporate practitioners and business scholars. Authors Martin Glaum and Ralph Schweens head the working group; Alexander Gerybadze and Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum are members. Whether driven by regulation or by conscience, many large companies have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as…
Quick Hits S4424/A5411 would invalidate any contractual provision waiving or otherwise limiting any employee’s substantive or procedural rights, remedies, or claims. A636/S4996 would define certain terms in standard form contracts as unconscionable, effectively rendering them illegal and unenforceable. Waiver of Employment Rights Senate Bill No. 4424, introduced on February 4, 2025 (and the identical Assembly Bill No. 5411, introduced on February 13, 2025), would amend the New York Labor Law…
On March 4, 2025, the Trump administration proceeded to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. Canada retaliated swiftly, announcing tariffs in respect of a limited range of U.S. products, fanning the flames of a trade war between longstanding allies and trading partners. Background President Trump first signed an Executive Order 14193 (Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our Northern Border) on February 1,…
Executive summary:Microsoft Threat Intelligence identified a shift in tactics by Silk Typhoon, a Chinese espionage group, now targeting common IT solutions like remote management tools and cloud applications to gain initial access. While they haven’t been observed directly targeting Microsoft cloud services, they do exploit unpatched applications that allow them to elevate their access in targeted organizations and conduct further malicious activities. After successfully compromising a victim, Silk Typhoon uses…
The research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and led by Professor Trisha Greenhalgh and Professor Martin McKee, is the most comprehensive UK-based analysis of peer-reviewed research into PA and AA roles to date. It was written to inform the ongoing government-commissioned Leng Review which is examining the effectiveness and safety of these roles in UK healthcare.PAs and AAs are being rapidly introduced across the NHS as a solution to workforce shortages and funding cuts.…
7 March 2024 By Clémence Berson, Vasco Botelho, Luis Guirola Abenza, Laura Hospido, Friderike Kuik, Christiane Nickel and Manuel Rojo Lopez The gender gap in labour markets is narrowing. But this process has slowed down. The ECB Blog gives an overview of recent developments for all euro area countries. The gender gap at work is closing – but slowly. Women are paid less for their work than men are.[1] Inequality…
Can a steel company build the infrastructure for the rapidly growing data center business? Nucor CEO Leon Topalian thinks so. Through a series of recent acquisitions, the company aims to offer customers made-to-order data center buildings with most of the components they require—cooling systems, overhead doors, equipment racks, and more—not just the steel that goes into them. That’s just one of the many opportunities Nucor is pursuing. With a history…
The South Caucasus has traditionally been one of the most dynamic regions of Eurasia. As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the former republics of Soviet Transcaucasia have suffered the majority of the region’s ethnopolitical conflicts between de facto states. It was in this region that in August 2008 revised the Belovezha Accords as the key guidelines for post-Soviet demarcation, when the administrative borders between the former Soviet…
This is a special, bonus episode of The McKinsey Podcast. McKinsey Partner Ferry Grijpink joined McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to share some immediate takeaways from the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona.The McKinsey Podcast is hosted by Roberta Fusaro and Lucia Rahilly. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length. Roberta Fusaro: What’s the mood in Barcelona? Ferry Grijpink: On the one hand, it’s very exciting. We…
Topics Innovation Disruption Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Alice Mollon/Ikon Images Wave after wave of disruption promises continual changes to the global economy. Historians will be able to look back and draw lines between before and after disruptive events, but living in the middle is messy. One critical skill in the face…
The IWOWA amendment did not change the minimum wage that employers and employees expected to go into effect on February 21, 2025 (at the rate of $12.48 per hour), but did change the minimum wage rates (and effective dates) for future years, and also revised the minimum cash wage rates for tipped employees and corresponding tip credit amounts. Quick Hits On February 21, 2025, Governor Whitmer signed Senate Bill 8,…