Strategy & Corporate Finance Insights

Staying ahead: How the best CEOs continually improve performance

After the heady first years in the job, CEOs must sustain momentum and high performance. Here are four ways to avoid complacency and create even more value.
Article

A €220 billion opportunity in working capital in the Nordics

– Working capital has become more important. Organizations could optimize it through their payables, receivables, and inventory.
Article

Signs of optimism in the M&A market

– After a rough first quarter, will skies brighten for global deal activity?
Survey

Economic conditions outlook during turbulent times, March 2023

– Executives’ enthusiasm for the economy rose—and then came back to earth. Meanwhile, concerns about financial-market... volatility as a risk to growth have increased.
Article

Building optionality: Balance sheet discipline is both timely and timeless

– Companies can build optionality by strengthening their balance sheets, increasing cash, and establishing a cash culture across... the organization.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Working hard for the money: The crunch on global economic profit

– Global economic-profit pools have been shrinking over the past two decades. What’s going on?
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Rising CEOs: Lessons from the McKinsey Leadership Forum

– Preparing for the CEO role can be a challenge and a reward. These eight lessons drawn from more than 300 McKinsey Leadership Forum... participants and the CEOs who advise them will benefit any top executive or aspiring CEO.

Featured blog

Prime Numbers

A collection of short takes on the metrics that matter when evaluating a company’s performance.

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS

Collection

Beat the odds with a bold business strategy

Learn what it takes to unlock the big moves that really matter for exceptional performance.
Book - Practices Capabilities

Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, 7th edition

At the crossroads of corporate strategy and finance lies valuation. This book enables everyone, from the budding professional to the seasoned manager, to excel at measuring and maximizing shareholder and company value.

McKinsey & Company Books

 

CEO Excellence

From McKinsey & Company, an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders—including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. #CEOExcellenceBook

PODCASTS

Expert voices

Interviews and conversations with our partners on how senior management thinks about strategy and how they confront their most pressing challenges.

Latest topics:

Podcast

Deciphering the economy’s mixed signals

– As volatility persists, companies need to be ready for a range of macroeconomic scenarios.
Podcast

Artificial intelligence in strategy

– AI tools can help executives avoid biases in decisions, pull insights out of oceans of data, and make strategic choices more quickly.... And that’s just the beginning.
Podcast

The board’s role in building resilience

– Boards of directors can help executive teams build the foresight, response, and adaptation capabilities they need to manage future... shocks.
Podcast

Tim Koller on the timeless truths of corporate finance

– An expert on value creation shares insights from 20 years of leading McKinsey on Finance.

The Strategy & Corporate Finance blog

Fresh takes on strategic growth and the latest trends in business.

Special collections

Collection

McKinsey on Finance 20th anniversary

Reflections on sustainable, inclusive growth.
Collection

Cash Excellence

This collection of articles and videos explores how to enhance an organization’s performance and resilience through the... application of cash management best practices, mindsets, and capabilities.
Collection

CEO Perspectives

How do the best CEOs think and act? What wisdom can they share? Explore a special collection of CEO perspectives that touches... on everything from corporate strategy to personal working norms.
Global theme

Business Resilience

Resilience is the ability of a business to withstand, adapt, and thrive in the face of shocks that are internal and external,... as well as known and unanticipated.

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More insights

Survey

ESG momentum: Seven reported traits that set organizations apart

– Survey respondents reporting increased ESG impact say their organizations focus on both protecting and creating value.
Article

The times for multiples: Five situations when multiples need more than a second look

– Multiples can be a useful tool for valuation. But in some situations, they can wind up missing or even distorting the real picture.
Podcast

Taking fear out of innovation

– The risk and ambiguity inherent in innovation can make employees shy away from it. Creating an innovation culture where risk-taking... is embraced must start at the top.
Article

The times for multiples: Why value creation always comes first

– Beware of solving for enterprise multiples instead of value creation.
Interactive

What matters most? Six priorities for CEOs in turbulent times

– With economic troubles mounting, it’s a time to tighten belts and put on hard hats. But don’t forget the jet pack,... to accelerate into the next phase of growth.
Article

Communicating headwinds and tailwinds

– Investor relations should always address business-critical headwinds and tailwinds. But which do companies refer to more—and... how does that choice affect market performance?
Report

Toward a sustainable, inclusive, growing future: The role of business

– To make the world as sustainable and inclusive as we hope, a certain kind of economic growth will be necessary—and companies will... play a vital role in generating it.
Article

How effective boards approach technology governance

– As technology’s strategic importance to the business expands, management needs stronger board guidance. Four engagement... models have proven useful.
Survey

The coronavirus effect on global economic sentiment

– In the latest survey, inflation and geopolitical conflicts remain the top perceived economic risks, while concerns about energy... volatility predominate in Europe.
Report - McKinsey Global Institute

The rise and rise of the global balance sheet: How productively are we using our wealth?

– Net worth has tripled since 2000, but the increase mainly reflects valuation gains in real assets, especially real estate, rather... than investment in productive assets that drive our economies.
Article

The great acceleration

– The COVID-19 crisis has intensified existing trends, widening the gap between those at the top and bottom of the power curve... of economic profit. Will your strategy keep you ahead of the accelerated pace of change?
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