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Udo Kopka

Senior PartnerHamburg

Helps global consumer-goods and retail clients with growth strategy, organization, and operations transformations

Udo works in our Hamburg and Beijing offices. He is currently a leader of our global strategy work for consumer-packaged-goods clients. His clients are among the world’s most respected companies in the consumer-goods and retail industries. They include multinational companies and new market entrants in emerging markets. He advises on a range of topics, from developing global growth strategies to restructuring operating models to defining pricing and financial models.

Udo leads our global strategy work and develops state-of-the-art knowledge for the consumer and retail sector. He recently led our 2020 Industry Report, which looks at why major brands often struggle to generate "brand love" among millennials and how companies should seize opportunities by adopting a new model that gets their evergreen brands on the right side of the trends and helps their smaller brands scale up more quickly. On the retail front, the eternal quest for growth is pushing retailers to take a stance on how to address the opportunity of fast-growing e-marketplaces by better understanding shoppers and their needs.

He was the founder and leader of the Middle East and Africa Consumer and Retail Practice. Some of his key projects included developing a growth strategy for a Middle Eastern food-and-beverage family business, delivering and implementing a digital transformation program for a leading Middle Eastern mall operator and retail conglomerate, and designing a turnaround plan for a leading African consumer-goods company.

He was also the leader of the Consumer and Retail Practices in China, where he helped leading Chinese consumer conglomerates embrace the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapidly emerging middle-class consumer and shopper demographic.

Udo joined McKinsey in 1994, after having worked for Degussa in Asia, Deutsche Bank in South America, and IBM in Europe. He is an active and contributing member of a series of not-for-profit organizations, such as Der Übersee-Club, the Anglo-German Club, and the American Club.

Published work

A new model for the consumer-goods industry,” McKinsey & Company, December 2020

Reinvigorating growth in the consumer-goods industry,” McKinsey & Company, August 2020

What got us here won’t get us there: A new model for the consumer goods industry,” McKinsey & Company, July 2020

The new model for consumer goods,” McKinsey & Company, April 2018

From bottom to top: Turning around the top team,” McKinsey & Company, November 2014

Growth in the packaged-food industry,” McKinsey & Company, October 2014

Finding profits and growth in emerging markets,” McKinsey & Company, January 2012

Education

WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany)
Ph.D. Business Administration

Georgetown University (United States)
Business Administration

WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany)
Masters Business Administration

Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (Chile)
International Marketing, Finance

Pennsylvania State University (United States)
International Relations, Business Administration, Logistics