The agriculture industry is under pressure. Dramatic cost increases for inputs and labor are putting farmers’ profitability at risk. Globally, farmers report that prices for inputs such as fertilizer and crop protection chemicals have risen by 80 to 250 percent over the past few years. Climate change is also squeezing…
Great design is good business. In 2018, a McKinsey analysis of 300 publicly listed companies showed that those with the strongest design behaviors grow twice as fast, and generate almost twice as much value, as their industry peers. In our previous article, we argued that Japanese companies could have even more…
Success breeds complacency, complacency breeds failure. Andy Grove Most people know the fable The Tortoise and the Hare. In the story, the two animals challenge one another to a race to prove who is faster. The hare starts strong and is soon out of sight. Midrace, the hare lies down…
For the past few years, the middle class in Vietnam has been on the rise, spreading out geographically and growing increasingly diverse. Consumers are growing in number and becoming more demanding and discerning. It is estimated that more than half of the Vietnamese population will enter the global middle class…
US healthcare organizations continue to grapple with the impacts of the nursing shortage—scaling back of health services, increasing staff burnout and mental-health challenges, and rising labor costs. While several health systems have had some success in rebuilding their nursing workforces in recent months, estimates still suggest a potential shortage of…
It is becoming increasingly essential for companies to understand and address the effects that externalities can have on their social license. The latest McKinsey Global Survey on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues asked more than 1,100 respondents in more than 90 countries how their organizations are rising to…
Buying life insurance can be a long, uncomfortable process for consumers. Northwestern Mutual, a 166-year-old company, decided to change the paradigm by building an automated, efficient, and clear solution. In this episode of the McKinsey on Insurance podcast, Eli Larrea, a senior partner in McKinsey’s Boston office, sat down with…
When it comes to women’s representation in the US workplace, the public sector continues to have a clear edge over corporations. However, new McKinsey research finds that governmental organizations may struggle to keep leading the way toward gender parity. The latest edition of our annual Women in the Workplace report…
Semiconductor wafers are the basis of the integrated circuits so crucial to most of today’s technology. The wafers’ packaging—whether metal, plastic, ceramic, or glass—connects them to their environment and protects them from chemical contamination and damage from light, heat, and impacts. Compared with the front-end process of designing and fabricating…
In 2022, the beauty market—defined as skincare, fragrance, makeup, and haircare—generated approximately $430 billion in revenue. Today, beauty is on an upward trajectory across all categories. It has proven to be resilient amid global economic crises and in a turbulent macroeconomic environment. Beauty is now an industry that many people,…
The value of working together is intuitive to most leaders. Capturing the full value of operating as one firm, however, is elusive for most. Those who drive integration and standardization from the top down often stifle business-level innovation, entrepreneurship, and client responsiveness, which can further create talent attraction and retention issues.
