At a glance Labor markets in advanced economies today are among the tightest in two decades, not merely a pandemic-induced blip but rather a long-term trend that may continue as work forces age. Tightness means forgone economic output. We estimate that GDP in 2023 could have been 0.5 percent to…

The stock market offers daily lessons in animal spirits and, occasionally, something more. Every so often, investors become obsessed with a small group of companies, and clever analysts give them a name that resonates with the investing public. In the ’60s, we had the Nifty 50; in the 2010s, we…

The changeable nature of fashion extends well beyond its seasonal changes of what to wear. In recent years, one of the industry’s most dramatic changes involves New York City’s position as a global fashion capital. Within the United States, New York City has the country’s highest concentration of fashion sales,…

Soaring temperatures, shrinking glaciers, and rising sea levels provide a constant reminder that climate change is intensifying. Many governments, corporations, and individuals have already attempted to reduce emissions by adopting new green tech and want to expand these efforts to prevent a humanitarian crisis. The McKinsey Platform for Climate Technologies…

Tokenization, the process of creating a unique digital representation of an asset on a blockchain network, has reached a tipping point after many years of promise and experimentation. The benefits—including programmability, composability, and enhanced transparency—can empower financial institutions to capture operational efficiencies, increase liquidity, and create new revenue opportunities through…

As global organizations chart a path to net zero, many are looking to the next frontier of emissions reduction: “Scope 3” emissions. These emissions are not directly produced by a company’s operations, but embedded in its supply chain. They account for the vast majority of companies’ emissions, and a significant…

For a decade, the Indian chemical industry has been a global outperformer in demand growth and shareholder wealth creation. However, global headwinds have recently interrupted this momentum. Chemical companies in India could navigate these challenges and enhance their future prospects by boosting their competitiveness. Indian chemical industry: Interrupted momentum Indian…

The next generation of electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture for software-defined vehicles (SDV) is evolving toward centralization. By 2032, McKinsey analysis estimates that 30 percent of all vehicles produced globally will have E/E architectures with zonal controllers (Exhibit 1). Importantly for the semiconductor industry, this shift will require centralized, high-performance compute units.…

For many years, the Netherlands has enjoyed a robust economy and strong workforce. With a vast active workforce of 9.6 million people (out of a population of 17.6 million), the country has one of the highest employment rates and workforce productivity rates in the European Union. Globally, it ranks fifth…

Thousands of hours spent working closely with CEOs and other leaders of top corporations and nonprofits have revealed a fascinating business phenomenon: many leaders who have mastered all the right executive skills, including financial acumen, strategic and operational management, and system thinking, still struggle to link their aspirations with the…

Credit unions in the United States are at a crossroads. Their membership ranks are aging, and young people don’t always see credit unions’ offerings as a good value. That means credit unions need to work harder to attract younger members, or risk fading into irrelevance. (For more details on credit…

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, served as the United States government’s deputy chief technology officer, and is author of the book Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Jenn joins us to share her personal reflections of…

In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, a podcast dedicated to the exploration of software product management and engineering, McKinsey partner Rikki Singh spoke to Scott Johnston, CEO of Docker. They discuss the importance of continual experimentation and adaptation in scaling platforms, the role of internal tools and infrastructure,…

A vine of green ivy growing from an aluminum sardine tin on a light blue background. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve consumed products in largely the same way. A company will extract or collect the resources to create a product, which consumers then buy, use, and ultimately throw away.…

McKinsey spoke with more than 5,000 travelers across geographies and generations as part of a recently published survey that reveals clear differences in behaviors, motivations, and expectations among a diverse set of tourists. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Margaux Constantin and Jasperina de Vries speak with editorial director Roberta…

Through most advances and innovations in enterprise technology, IT or technology services providers (also known as system integrators [SIs] or managed services providers [MSPs]) have, for the most part, been able to rely on one constant: their customers continuing to look outside their four walls for help stitching together and…

New challenges await payments providers, now that the pandemic-related surge in adoption of digital payments has leveled off. Among them are questions about how the technology and use cases are likely to develop. In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, payments industry expert and McKinsey partner Roshan Varadarajan talks with…

In today’s tumultuous business landscape, where price volatility, geopolitical tensions, and sustainability imperatives converge, one function stands at the forefront of navigating these complexities: procurement. In this context, the procurement function will act as a strategic lever for value protection and creation. Procurement sits at the confluence of huge quantities…

There’s a race on to capture value from digital and AI, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are in danger of falling behind both retailers and consumers. It’s not for lack of trying. Like most sectors, CPG companies have been on some form of digital and AI transformation journey. But…

Generative AI (gen AI) is an advancement that has seized the attention of governments, the public, and business leaders. But it presents unique challenges to the professionals tasked with managing gen AI’s existing and potential threats. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Ida Kristensen, coleader of…

After a slow start, hospitals and payers are making progress toward complying with federal price transparency rules that require them to publish online the pricing information about items and services they provide. As part of a trend of rising consumerism in healthcare, consumers express a high willingness to “shop” for…

The consumer goods industry was an investor darling for decades, delivering a reliable formula of more than 5 percent growth at healthy, stable margins. Over the past ten years, however, topline growth has faded away. While consumer packaged goods (CPGs) have searched for it, they have ended up scrambling to…

Refinery reliability issues have impacted product prices in recent times, and the ongoing reliability issue is creating both challenges and opportunities for refiners. As the wider industry continues to struggle with unplanned outages, refiners can invest to improve reliability and capture value. Operators can do this by revamping fundamental processes…

If you think you know consumer behavior, think again. Middle-income consumers are feeling the squeeze and worrying about inflation but aren’t holding back on splurges. Rather than sticking to tight budgets in retirement, aging consumers are splurging too. Speaking of older shoppers, it turns out that the brand loyalty they’ve…

Three recent trends illustrate significant recent changes in Europe’s chemical markets. First, high prices for natural gas and electricity are resulting in high production costs for energy-intensive chemicals. Second, a global oversupply of many chemicals is leading to depressed unit margins and lower volumes. And third, demand is shifting to…

The recent accelerated rise in global interest rates, the fastest in decades, brought the curtain down on an extended period of cheap money but provided little clarity on the longer-term outlook. In 2024, competing forces of tepid growth, geopolitical tension, and regional conflict are creating nearly equal chances of higher-for-longer…

This conversation between Maya Chorengel, a managing partner at The Rise Fund, and Alexandra Nee, partner and co-lead of the Impact Investing Service Line for McKinsey’s Private Capital Practice, was recorded on November 10, 2023. It was part of McKinsey’s Women in Private Equity Global Forum, which was held virtually,…

Productivity – the amount of output each worker produces – is the core of our shared global prosperity and as the world wrestles with shifting geoeconomics, it matters more than ever. Asia has experienced a productivity surge in recent years, but cannot afford to be complacent if the region’s economies…

Health systems around the world are facing a host of challenges, including rising costs, clinical-workforce shortages, aging populations requiring more care (for example, to treat chronic conditions), and increasing competition from nontraditional players. At the same time, consumers are expecting new capabilities (such as digital scheduling and telemedicine) and better…

The advent of steam power in the late 18th century utterly transformed manufacturing, transportation, and construction. A new kind of upheaval is already under way—one that will energize all language-based capabilities, including communication, reasoning, analysis, sales, and marketing. In this episode of the At the Edge podcast, Reid Hoffman, a…

A hand with bright yellow nails reaches for the handle of a blue suitcase.All aboard! After the pandemic upended life and leisure as we know it, travel is roaring back. The industry is set to make a full recovery by the end of 2024, after losing 75 percent of its…

Most large corporations have annual processes to allocate capital and other resources across business units and for strategic initiatives enterprise-wide. The typical practice is to begin with a strategy or “strategic refresh,” develop a long-term (three- to seven-year) financial plan, and lay out a highly detailed budget for the first…

In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Mike Borruso chats with Elspeth Kirkman, chief program officer at Nesta, about her new book, Decisionscape: How Thinking Like an Artist Can Improve Our Decision Making (MIT Press, March 2024). Kirkman draws parallels between how artists create and how we make…

This article is one of McKinsey’s contributions to the Global Lighthouse Network’s latest white paper, published on December 14, 2023. The first article in this series explored the evolution of AI and how leading manufacturers have harnessed it to propel leading-edge manufacturing from the learning phase to the doing phase of…

For all the impressive revelations and technical feats unleashed by the sudden emergence of generative AI (gen AI), one of the most astounding aspects has been the accelerated pace of its adoption, particularly by businesses. Consider that large global enterprises spent around $15 billion on gen AI solutions in 2023,…

Payers currently face economic pressures that are likely to last a few years. Utilization of medical services has been higher than expected, providers are passing along higher costs through rate negotiations, and Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates are facing the most substantial downward pressure that payers have seen in years. In…

American shipbuilding has reached a critical inflection point—can supply keep up with demand? The US Navy, the industry’s principal customer, increased its shipbuilding budget by 12.5 percent per year from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024, and its most recent 30-year plan calls for the construction of 290 to…

Demand for luxury tourism and hospitality is expected to grow faster than for any other industry segment. This growth is being powered in part by a sharp rise in the number of individuals globally with net worths between $1 million and $30 million. But it’s also resulting from a large…

After falling by 75 percent in 2020, travel is on its way to a full recovery by the end of 2024. Domestic travel is expected to grow 3 percent annually and reach 19 billion lodging nights per year by 2030. Over the same time frame, international travel should likewise ramp…

As destinations and source markets have changed, tourism and hospitality companies have evolved too. Six key trends have shaped business models in this sector over the past decade. In accommodation, asset-light models like franchising and management have proliferated, though luxury and small-scale brands are opting out. Consolidation has driven economies…