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Sector Variations in Small Business ProductivityAmerica's small businesses vary widely in productivity across different sectors. While U.S. MSMEs are on par with those in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and Italy in many areas, they lag significantly in mining, transportation and storage, and administrative services. The productivity ratio of MSMEs relative to large companies also varies by sector, with the mining sector facing the widest gap, followed by information and…

Green-steel manufacturing is crucial for the steel industry and the planet, but decarbonizing the global steel production chain is a massive undertaking. Today, the global steel industry is responsible for 7 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Europe is likely to be the first region to decarbonize, with CO2 taxes and other legislation offering incentives for rapid emissions reductions there. Other regions are likely to follow, driven by similar…

Every business has a best owner, which may—or may not—be your company. But recognizing that it’s time for a separation (which we define as spin-offs, split-offs, carve-outs, and other sales of businesses in a company’s portfolio) and actually executing separations effectively are very different propositions. Successful companies not only understand the separation imperative, but they also anticipate the challenges involved and take practical steps to meet them. As a result,…

As companies across the globe pursue decarbonization targets and the need for green power generation grows, 24/7 clean power purchase agreements (PPAs) are playing an increasingly important role. With their unique ability to provide constant green power, time-matched to demand, these next-level PPAs are helping to unlock investment in nascent technologies and scale their deployment—especially combined with advances in storage and flexible generation. Demand from leading hyperscalers, including major cloud…

New opportunities are coming for organizations to use procurement to gain a competitive edge and drive sustainability impact through innovation and strategic partnerships. However, the complexities of global supply chains and rapidly changing market conditions can make it hard to capture the available value. In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, Mauro Erriquez, McKinsey senior partner, and Dominique Lebigot, chief purchasing officer (CPO) of LVMH Wines and Spirits, discuss how…

Battery technology has evolved significantly in recent years. Thirty years ago, when the first lithium ion (Li-ion) cells were commercialized, they mainly included lithium cobalt oxide as cathode material. Numerous other options have emerged since that time. Today’s batteries, including those used in electric vehicles (EVs), generally rely on one of two cathode chemistries: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which was invented by Nobel Prize winner John Goodenough in the late…

Gilles Dellaert is the global head of Blackstone Credit and Insurance (BXCI), which was created to bring together Blackstone’s corporate credit, asset-based finance, and insurance groups. BXCI now manages more than $350 billion in assets, accounting for the bulk of Blackstone’s total credit assets and a substantial part of the firm’s $1 trillion-plus of assets under management (AUM). McKinsey’s Andrew Reich, Ari Libarikian, and David Schoeman sat down with Dellaert…

Today’s business leaders recognize transformation as the courageous choice required to deliver an ambitious business agenda. As we reported earlier this year, companies pursue transformation to reset the business, venture into areas of greater ambition, deliver bold growth, enable operating-model change, build new and competitive capabilities, and evolve their culture in ways that can set them apart from competitors.What is transformation? We define it as a process that begins with…

From bustling urban centers to small towns across the United States, the economic power and business potential of Latino communities is immense. Today, 19 percent of the US population identifies as Latino or Hispanic. According to the US Census Bureau, Latinos are expected to comprise approximately 28 percent of the total US population by 2060. Latino small-business owners also skew younger, which means there is great promise for long-term value…