What’s the ultimate driver for CEOs and the top issue for their organizations? Growth. This bonus collection of 18 classic McKinsey Quarterly articles to accompany “The future of growth”—the third of four issues celebrating the Quarterly’s 60th birthday—showcases some of our best pieces on this topic over the past six decades. Dive into these timeless insights—previously available only in archival print issues—to get a sense of how this enduring business theme has evolved. A few highlights:
- Step back in time to when General Motors was the biggest corporation in the world, and learn from its then-chairman Frederic G. Donner about how GM managed its global expansion after World War II in “The Strategy of a Worldwide Operation” (1967).
- Hear from a young Lou Gerstner—a McKinsey partner who went on to become chairman and CEO of both RJR Nabisco and IBM, as well as chairman of The Carlyle Group—in his 1971 article, “Spin-Offs—Tool for Corporate Growth.” The iconic visionary talks about how spin-offs can be proactive growth tools that allow companies to streamline operations, raise capital, and improve financial performance.
- Forget broad strokes and averages. When it comes to corporate growth, adopting a granular perspective on the markets is essential for making decisions on where to compete, according to current Senior Partner Sven Smit and colleagues in “The granularity of growth” (2007), which became a seminal book of the same name.
- After an initial “sale,” how can companies continue to generate revenue streams? “Making profits after the sale” (1993) spotlights aftermarket sales of industrial product replacement and component parts as a powerful source of recurring revenue. We can see direct parallels today in how some manufacturers have become service providers, and even in the widespread adoption of cloud computing.
