McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly To maximize value for shareholders, a company’s board and management team must be clear—and current—about how they do or could add value to each business in their portfolio. At the very least, they must understand what makes them the best owner of what kinds of businesses and be prepared to act accordingly.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
As companies rethink their portfolios for the post-crisis world, they should ask themselves if they are still the best owners of their assets.
Tomas Hrivnak
Tomas Hrivnak
Just reading the first paragraph makes me wonder if this is still English or some kind of secret code used by McKinsey and - er - copy machines, espresso machines and other office equippment. Out from my Live Feed!
9 hours ago
Pawel Nowak
Pawel Nowak
it's a "i have only friends with MBA" english ;)
8 hours ago
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way companies do business. But can these tools help them achieve their goals?

For a full transcript, please visit:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/links/36472

Shobin Sadanand
Shobin Sadanand
Its a great tool and we have to continuously involve in drawing the benefits in all aspects in our organization.I strongly agree to the fact that it flattens an organization for good.
Yesterday at 5:56pm
Kaushik Rana
Kaushik Rana
The best thing I like about McAfee's interview is what is says about ROI on Web 2.0 investment. Companies are always looking for quick returns but as McAfee says - one can only measure progress about a particular problem where Web 2.0 technology is used for solution - but no definitive ROI is guaranteed. Web 2.0 is phenomena and adoption can at best can happen only in pockets to start with.
10 hours ago
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly To better understand the challenges to ethanol use in the United States, this interactive highlights the problems prevalent in US midstream ethanol distribution and examines some of the difficulties presented in its shipping and blending.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
The US biofuels industry must address midstream ethanol distribution bottlenecks if it hopes to deliver next-generation ethanol in a cost-effective manner.
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Global carmakers should focus on the way individual consumers actually use their vehicles. Matching a car’s energy storage requirements to a consumer’s particular needs will give consumers a better value for their money, and help carmakers to better define a future market for electric vehicles.

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Many carmakers design electric vehicles intended to satisfy the needs of almost all customers. Instead, they should embrace a radical new form of market segmentation.
Kevin Huang
Kevin Huang
Consumers are the key for vehicle innovation
November 19 at 10:53pm
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Scenarios enable the strategist to steer a course between the falsecertainty of a single forecast and the confused paralysis that often strike in troubled times. When well executed, scenarios boast a rangeof advantages—but they can also set traps for the unwary.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
Although it is surprisingly hard to create good ones, they help you ask the right questions and prepare for the unexpected. That is hugely valuable.
Srijayan Iyer
Srijayan Iyer
This is the best tool tool for a strategist to have in his/her cache.
November 20 at 10:08pm
Smita Pillai Bhattacharya
Smita Pillai Bhattacharya
This is a fantastic article- very clear & articulate. The author best summarizes the need for scenario planning with the phrase : " Scenarios will not provide all of the answers, but they help executives ask better questions and prepare for the unexpected. " As we steer through turbulent times, scenario planning opens the eyes of the organization to a range of plausible options beyond just historical trend based projections. And that is most critical. Excellent read!
Sun at 6:08am
McKinsey Quarterly
Efforts to reduce sales costs might seem inevitable during tough economic times...
Jay
Jay
All said and done, but I believe action is purely subjective. In my opinion it all depends your product and the kind of market its catering to. If your product requires you maintain regular contact/meetings with the officials, you arent left with much option but to do so, say for an instance if the client is a Goverment Undertaking, it involves top-down approach. However, I do agree with the aspect of using technology to improvise the operational efficiency and reduce the cost.
November 15 at 9:01am
Prakash
Prakash
Customer acquisition goals are the parameter on which the the options of taking cuts or consolidation etc need to be taken. An organization cannot exclude the impact of short term actions on the long term goals of growth. A through understanding of customers - their buying behavior, commonality among customers and ability consolidate by re-... See Morearranging the sales mix will go a long way in tiding over the concern of productivity of the salesforce. It is still about looking at the customers then just inside the organization approach.
November 15 at 8:44pm
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Novelist and political writer Mark Helprin argues for strengthening copyright protection in his recent book, Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto. In an audio interview, he ontends that diluting the individual voice will weaken intellectual and artistic output.

Mike
Mike
What he is trying to protect is his right to make money, not to express himself. I see a big distinction there. If he was a true artist, the financial return aspect of it would be meaningless. I say pshaw!
November 12 at 9:14pm
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly For the first time in a year, a majority of respondents—51 percent—say economic conditions in their countries are better now than they were in September 2008. However, a majority of executives around the world share the prevailing skepticism that low consumer demand is a worrisome threat to growth.

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Executives’ optimism about the economy continues to climb, especially in emerging markets and in developed economies in Asia. Executives are a little less sure about their companies’ prospects and say low consumer demand is the biggest barrier to growth.
Sanjiv Agnihotri
Sanjiv Agnihotri
Slow down will move very slowly.
November 13 at 9:40pm
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly For executives who run major IT organizations, the implications of the current downturn are clear: they will have to make the IT function dramatically more productive, use IT more effectively to meet larger company goals, and embrace disruptive technologies that will shape the new economic terrain.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
In the ‘new normal,’ successful CIOs will search for value through experimentation with customers and partners.
Thomas Christopher Ty
Thomas Christopher Ty
Most of the time it is the mismanagement and lack of proper allocation and distribution of the company's resources that makes the IT crumble to the ground. When the CIO properly and carefully plans the allocation and distribution of the company's existing IT resources, then a clear path to a productivity can be seen close.
By avoiding favoritism and thinking/planning/allocating/distributing resources objectively; maybe productivity and goal achievement is already at reach.
November 10 at 11:12pm
Bahar Alptekin
Bahar Alptekin
CIO's vision creates strategy. CIO knowing the tangiable
and intangiable assets of data-center and resources
is in a leading role. IT products in the managment of CIO
defines the future. CIO in the board leads the whole
company.
November 11 at 5:15am
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly McKinsey Quarterly, 2009 Number 4: Competing for Asia's consumers

Sudarshan Vyas
Sudarshan Vyas
Thats the way aahan I like it ahan ahaan. Keep rolling ! :)
November 11 at 2:29am
Hana Jeon
Hana Jeon
I received this copy!!!
November 12 at 2:31pm
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Companies around the world are cutting back their financial-incentive programs, but few have used other ways of inspiring talent. We think they should.

Read the essay, then share your thoughts by commenting below.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
The economic slump offers business leaders a chance to more effectively reward talented employees by emphasizing nonfinancial motivators rather than bonuses.
Anisha Verma
Anisha Verma
Some employees respond well to incentive/ reward and others respond to a different type.
However, my observation is that the younger employees especially young mothers respond more to extra time off while the more mature employees respond more to recognition and praise.

Overall a bland article, content not substantial enuf to justify the mckinsie.
November 9 at 12:19am
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly When correctly planned and executed, a truly integrated multichannel strategy will help a retailer maximize its share of a customer’s wallet over time, and emerge from the current recession stronger and more rapidly than its peers.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
In a year of doom and gloom for retailers, the continued emergence of online sales has been a bright spot. Why then do so few companies get true multichannel retailing right?
Nancy
Nancy
Retail merchants need a strong point of view and vision in order to make sense of their value proposition. Presentation is all important. With bean counters and geeks running things, the merchandising gets lost.
Imagine an electronic flea market or a Madison Avenue boutique...
Mostly the experience gets lost in translation...and the stupid tabs on ... See Morethe left and the stupid boxed in photos..the same on every site....
I want to get all caught up in the experience of it and you designers of retail websites just haven't made it happen for me online. Yet.
I am available for consulting if you have a retail web project that needs imagination and professional merchandising to change all that..
November 4 at 10:30pm
Farid Boudissa
Farid Boudissa
Well, the author's view is interesting, while a little optimistic.
Actors are not the same except for monopolistic Cies....
November 5 at 1:31am
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Today, Wal-Mart operates 260 outlets in China and employs more than 90,000 associates. And as China CEO Ed Chan explains in this video interview, Wal-Mart sees enormous potential for further growth in the region.

To read the full transcript, visit: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/links/36231

Dinh Bao Anh
Dinh Bao Anh
The Todd's questions are really good, but frankly Ed's answers are very generally in the sense that everybody knows and Wal-mart also knows.
November 4 at 7:24am
McKinsey Quarterly

McKinsey Quarterly Read what they have to say and then let us know what’s working in your
organization.

www.mckinseyquarterly.com
Cutting costs equally across company units may seem fair, but it doesn't make strategic sense. The authors of this article argue that targeting cuts can leave room to build capabilities, too.
Claude EL Nakhel
Claude EL Nakhel
Risk based Process mapping is needed in order to identify so called duplicated activities within the different layers in the organization. Mapping should be done using innovative tools identifying risks and benefits, time and cost allocation...
November 3 at 11:38am
Ashish Bhardwaj
Ashish Bhardwaj
Well analysed article. I guess the easiest and fastest way to show figures is to cut cost while in mid term or long term this decision may fire back yet top executives choose to do this....cant blame them for having short term focus.
November 3 at 6:34pm