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

A great aviator is constantly aware of their surroundings. Watching for changes in the weather and in the paths of other aircraft is vital. The same is true for being a great CEO, which is why the business press is full of information about what’s happening in the business environment: geopolitics, regulatory changes, inflation, generative AI, and so on. Equally important for a pilot’s success is understanding their aircraft and…

Today, banks use risk management to help drive strategic development for growth. This is a comprehensive approach to risk that insurers should aspire to emulate, especially as new risks are emerging more quickly and creating new challenges. According to a 2023–24 benchmarking survey from McKinsey, leading European insurers should look to reorganize their risk functions, build out the necessary capabilities, and elevate the status of chief risk officers (CROs) within…

Active portfolio management should always be “Plan A.” Corporations that consistently refresh their business mix outperform their peers in TSR by 3.5 percent over the long term, honing their portfolios to develop, acquire, and divest businesses to realize their enterprise strategy. The goal, after all, is not growth for growth’s sake but to maximize returns—which is achieved through a combination of growth and investing capital in an enterprise’s most important…

Decades after the internet’s debut, millions of Americans still lack access to high-speed broadband service. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD), part of the US government’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, provides $42.45 billion in federal funding to expand high-speed internet service across the country. By the end of 2024, all US states will mark an important milestone: they will be in a position to begin their…

Although hard to predict, even in the best of times, the fashion industry is in for a particularly tumultuous and uncertain 2025. A long-feared cyclical slowdown has arrived. Consumers, affected by the recent period of high inflation, are increasingly price sensitive. There is also the surprising rise of dupes, the acceleration of climate change, and the continued reshuffling of global trade. Regional differences, which came into focus in 2024, will…

Renewable energy is booming. Power generation from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, is projected to grow from its current share of about 25 percent of total US generation, to about 45 percent, by 2030. Although this new renewable capacity will help meet net-zero climate policy goals, it’s also contributing to power price volatility—an impact that many energy players didn’t plan for. The intermittent nature of solar and wind…

Power and gas trading is undergoing a transformation. The global trading value pool for these commodities is growing by leaps and bounds. It hit nearly $33 billion in 2023, up 50 percent from the year before. But that’s only part of the story. The rise of renewable energy has introduced greater volatility into gas and power markets, increasing the value of optionality and drawing new market entrants. This is creating unique…

Companies globally are looking to adopt Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to boost both productivity and sustainability. However, the path to success is fraught with challenges, from outdated legacy systems to the critical need for workforce upskilling. In some cases, companies need to overcome an image problem that makes it hard to recruit and retain the talent required to fill vacant production roles.In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host…

Although capital deployment is strongly linked to enterprise value (EV) and financial health, it has always been difficult to manage. The chemical industry is no exception.Our research finds that the chemical industry anticipates annual growth of 3 to 5 percent by 2030, a 4 percent increase in capital expenditures, and the reallocation of significant capital to meet strategic and operational objectives. At the same time, chemical companies have been grappling…

Product portfolios tend to grow. Companies add new products and variants all the time to meet specific customer needs, pursue new market opportunities, or exploit technological advances. They can also be reluctant to kill off older items, for fear of upsetting long-standing customers. Finding the sweet spot in a portfolio is an ongoing challenge. Offer too little choice and customers will choose to play elsewhere, costing the company revenue. Offer…