McKinsey Quarterly

Continent-wide trends are creating compelling new business opportunities.

Multinationals may offer a glimpse into how global economic trends could play out.

Few employees experience complexity the way executives do. Here's why it matters.

Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer discusses the changing rules of competition.

This is another in our series of podcasts on Enduring Ideas—classic business-strategy frameworks. For each framework, we talk to a McKinsey expert who can speak to its origins, utility, and continued relevance. In this podcast, we address the strategic control map. This graph measures book equity on the x axis and market-to-book ratio on the y axis. A series of curving isoquant lines plot selected companies’ market capitalization as a component of the metrics on the axes. For many companies, plotting their positions on the map over time is a revelation: executives can see at a glance where they stand relative to industry leaders, which companies are likely to be acquirers and which are likely to be acquired. Mapping performance trajectories for themselves or their competitors, they can also get a sense of the combination of size and performance that will enable them to remain competitive and independent. Even winning companies are often startled to find out how fast the race is being run, and that instead of leading the field, they are merely keeping pace. McKinsey director, Lowell Bryan, will take us through the art of using this framework.

McKinsey's Rob Latoff describes a fundamental tool for analyzing pricing dynamics.

If inflation rises, companies will have to do more than just match it to keep up.

McKinsey's Lowell Bryan on developing strategy in a fluid environment.

Two McKinsey directors discuss obstacles and opportunities in the coming decades.

McKinsey's Ole Jorgen Vetvik discusses the impact of referrals people trust.

Stanford's Garth Saloner on MBA education in a world of companies without borders.

McKinsey alumnus Kevin Coyne discusses aligning actions with strategy.

Dan Lovallo and Olivier Sibony discuss confronting biases where they appear most.

Steve Coley, a director emeritus in McKinsey's Chicago office, describes the three horizons framework. Based on research into how companies sustain growth, this approach illustrates how to manage for current performance while maximizing future opportunities for growth.

McKinsey's Anna Marrs describes longterm structural changes facing the industry.