Back to McKinsey Quarterly Magazine
McKinsey Quarterly 2015
McKinsey Quarterly 2015 Number 2

Thriving at scale

Offers strategies to help companies operate successfully at scale in areas including innovation, R&D, and human resources. Also explores technology’s role in building efficient global operations and increasing productivity across organizational lines.

Revving up your innovation engine

Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The eight essentials of innovation
– Strategic and organizational factors are what separate successful big-company innovators from the rest of the field.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Brightening the black box of R&D
– An all-in-one, one-for-all formula to determine R&D’s productivity can help companies see how well the function is performing.

Other highlights

Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Toward a new HR philosophy
– HR should empower managers to decide on standards, hire how they choose, and develop company-wide leaders.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Getting beyond bureaucracy in human resources
– By becoming more strategic and operating with an edge, corporate HR departments can boost their effectiveness and shed their bureaucratic reputation.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Digital hives: Creating a surge around change
– Online communities are helping companies engage with employees to accelerate change.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The globally effective enterprise
– Today’s technology enables integrated operations that can change the globalization penalty into a premium.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Delighting in the possible
– In an unpredictable world, executives should stretch beyond managing the probable.
Article

The real business of business
– Shareholder-oriented capitalism is still the best path to broad economic prosperity, as long as companies focus on the long term.

Research, trends, and emerging thinking

Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Japan: Lessons from a hyperaging society
– The country’s population, already the world’s oldest, is aging quickly. Companies in Europe, North America, and Asia can learn from its experience.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

How agile is your supply chain?
– Our research shows that ten operating practices are tied to higher service levels and lower inventory costs.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Are you ready to decide?
– Before doing so, executives should ask themselves two sets of questions.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Decoding financial-technology innovation
– Start-ups are eyeing a wider revenue pool across a growing and broader range of products and services.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Cohabiting with your e-commerce partners
– Top-performing consumer-product companies are aiming to strengthen their digital-channel strategies by locating teams at Amazon and other key players.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Getting the most from R&D teams
– The size of these teams and the number of sites where they work have a big impact on semiconductor research productivity.

Closing views

Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Changing the nature of board engagement
– Five tips for directors and CEOs striving to make the most of their limited time.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

CEO succession starts with developing your leaders
– Focusing on future priorities and debiasing decisions help, too.