Welcome to McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey & Company.
If you have a global supply chain, you face a troubling new normal: rising complexity and uncertainty are boosting the odds that decisions you make today about manufacturing and supply locations will become uneconomic tomorrow. These articles will help you rethink how to configure and manage your supply chain.
JANUARY 2011
Getting there means ditching today’s monolithic model in favor of splintered supply chains that dismantle complexity, and using manufacturing networks to hedge uncertainty.
Building bridges between senior managers is a critical step in constructing tomorrow’s global supply chain.
DECEMBER 2010
Insurers that outsource the IT and administration of policies underwritten years ago can improve customer satisfaction, lower costs, and even reduce capital requirements.
AUGUST 2010
Disparities between financial and factory-level productivity measures exist at many manufacturing facilities. Better alignment can improve efficiency, pricing, and product strategies.
JULY 2010
As service operations use IT to become more efficient across all processes and workflows, they will need to align their work practices with the strengths of automation.
Many IT service providers are locating some operations in second-tier cities of their home markets.
MAY 2010
Successes in cost cutting erode with time. Here’s how to make them last.
APRIL 2010
A McKinsey survey finds widespread resilience in corporate R&D programs. Executives say their companies made the right moves in 2009 and are poised to reap benefits from R&D today.
FEBRUARY 2010
By guiding the design of customer interactions, the principles of behavioral science offer a simple, low-cost route to improved customer satisfaction.
JANUARY 2010
Businesses with the best product-development track records stand apart from their less-successful peers in three crucial ways.
Companies were able to cut costs effectively through the crisis, executives say, but they’re less confident of their ability to contain or continue to cut them. Some companies are positioning themselves for longer-term success by planning the next round more strategically.
APRIL 2011
The diversity and dynamism of China, India, and Brazil defy any one-size-fits-all approach. But by targeting city clusters within them, companies can seize growth opportunities.
Dissatisfaction with managers and a lack of knowledge sharing are universal challenges.
NOVEMBER 2010
Senior executives say their companies manage key trade-offs well, yet see barriers to better performance: rising risk, lack of collaboration, and low CEO involvement.
SEPTEMBER 2010
China’s growth depends less on exports than conventional wisdom suggests.
Supposedly low-value calls may convey important information. Mining their content can help companies diagnose problems and make lasting business improvements.
A granular look at back-office operations shows why across-the-board cuts make no sense.
AUGUST 2009
Optimization techniques using noncontroversial metrics such as customer satisfaction can help government agencies improve their service levels.
FEBRUARY 2009
The results of in-depth interviews with operations executives represent major implications for companies in high tech, manufacturing and assembly, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, and retailing.
OCTOBER 2008
A laggard so far, it may be about to take off.
It’s really very simple. People want to do well. People want approval. When they feel they are doing something extraordinary, their motivation increases. – Filippo Passerini
JULY 2008
Filippo Passerini is bringing the back office into the boardroom.
MAY 2008
The chief purchasing officer of Lenovo explains how he helped to create the operational basis for its continuing evolution from a Chinese powerhouse into a global one.
NOVEMBER 2007
A noted quality expert discusses how the underlying principles of quality improvement still hold true.
JUNE 2007
Merrill Lynch has combined operations with IT in a single unit. Diane Schueneman, the head of the company’s Global Infrastructure Solutions, explains how she is changing both to focus on the customer.
Use this HTML code to embed the video on your blog or site:
Your e-mail address* Send me a copy.
Recipient e-mail address* (Separate multiple e-mail addresses with commas. Limited to 20 addresses.)
Subject
Message ( characters remaining)(maximum length reached) Type your letter here.
*Required
The e-mail addresses that you supply to use this service will not be used for any other purpose.