Building a business is hard, and doing so in a start-up or scale-up context is even harder. Building a successful start-up is akin to building a rocket ship: the team setting the direction (market and product–market fit), growth engines (go-to-market [GTM] strategy and product), crew (talent and leadership), and capabilities…

The decline in post-pandemic logistics funding continues. After reaching an unprecedented $25.6 billion in 2021, venture funding for logistics start-ups fell to just $2.9 billion in 2023—a two-year plunge of nearly 90 percent, and the lowest level of funding since 2015. A number of factors are driving this sharp pullback…

Over the past couple of years, the world has marveled at the capabilities and possibilities unleashed by generative AI (gen AI). Foundation models such as large language models (LLMs) can perform impressive feats, extracting insights and generating content across numerous mediums, such as text, audio, images, and video. But the…

What is humanity’s greatest innovation of the industrial age—the steam engine? Penicillin? The internet? These are all good candidates, yet without the productivity gains from another crucial innovation, the modern business company, it’s hard to imagine how these inventions could have improved the world at the same scale. The trouble…

SEKO launched in 1976 with one office, in Chicago. The logistics, transportation, forwarding, and warehousing firm now boasts 150 locations in more than 60 countries. It serves as a global end-to-end logistics partner for its customers, aiming to turn supply chain strategy into a competitive advantage.Akhil Nair, based in Hong…

Airlines around the world are committing to ambitious decarbonization goals to reach the industry target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Among potential decarbonization measures, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will make the biggest contributions—up to 50 percent of abatement, depending on the airline. Sustainable fuels, which are already certified for use…

It isn’t easy to forecast the next two to three years when macroeconomic conditions and business dynamics are profoundly complex. Yet as technology races ahead—a major (but by no means only) driver of disruption—many companies continue to build models with the same flawed approaches they’ve been using for years. Even…

Organizations are grappling with unprecedented workforce challenges, including labor market shortfalls and evolving generational needs. Talent management has become a primary concern for business leaders, with industry experts offering valuable guidance on shaping a future-ready workforce. They examine the impact of technology on operations, the importance of leadership and development…

For airlines around the world, fleet maintenance is increasingly challenging. In the United States, for instance, airlines have endured a 15 percent increase in maintenance costs over the past five years. Meanwhile, there’s been a 14 percent increase in the share of flights delayed. This has raised the pressure on…

Almost two centuries ago, Lewis Tappan and John M. Bradstreet illustrated the potential for turning data into a profitable product. At the time, businesses and merchants were expanding their operations and needed a reliable way to determine the creditworthiness of potential partners. Bankers and investors were eager for more consistent,…

Although the relentless rise of generative AI (gen AI) has many fearing for the loss of their livelihoods to machines, it may actually end up benefiting management and workers alike. Ironically, this most advanced of technologies doesn’t require technical skills to use, and instead puts a premium on very human…

The aerospace industry is pivotal to connecting the world for economic growth and global security. But while other industrial supply chains have recovered from the shocks from the pandemic, aerospace continues to grapple with significant operational challenges: persistent shortages in key commodities, uncertainty of future demand, supply chain consolidation, and…

The job market in the United States may have grown stronger in the past few months, but a closer look at the data suggests retailers face difficulties. As of May 2024, there were about 2.5 million more job vacancies than job seekers. That spells trouble for retail executives, who continue…

The global aerospace and defense (A&D) sector is booming. The return of air travel to prepandemic levels is one factor behind soaring demand. Another is greater geopolitical instability, which has led to growing national defense spending (in Europe, for example) and rising demand for ammunition. Order volumes across products have…

Despite challenging overall market conditions in 2023, continuing investments in frontier technologies promise substantial future growth in enterprise adoption. Generative AI (gen AI) has been a standout trend since 2022, with the extraordinary uptick in interest and investment in this technology unlocking innovative possibilities across interconnected trends such as robotics…

Electrifying heat production is not just good for the planet; it is also technically feasible and increasingly cost competitive. However, enduring perceptions of industrial heat as “difficult to electrify” have hindered progress toward the decarbonization of heat. Electrification can be an accessible and viable option to decarbonize most low- and…

Africa is both heavily dependent on nature and experiencing rapid nature loss. Some 62 percent of African GDP is moderately or highly dependent on the services that nature provides and 70 percent of communities in sub-Saharan Africa depend on forests and woodlands for their livelihoods. In parallel, momentum is building…

Founded in 2013, Flexport is a global supply chain technology platform and logistics provider. Flexport describes its technology platform as providing services “from factory floors to customer doors,” helping cargo owners manage and monitor end-to-end shipments via sea, air, rail, and road, with customs brokerage, direct-to-consumer fulfillment, wholesale distribution, and…

Revenues from embedded finance (EF)—the delivery of financial products by nonfinancial entities within their broader offerings—could surpass €100 billion in Europe by the end of the decade, according to McKinsey forecasts. The distribution of financial products and services, such as loans and insurance, in third-party channels is gaining importance as…

Only 36 percent of the 500 largest companies in the United Kingdom are publicly listed, a marked shift that has been under way for many years, so a thorough understanding of today’s UK corporate landscape requires looking beyond the “UK plc”. Our research, which goes beyond publicly listed companies to…

The CFO is a company’s “connector in chief.” No one else in the organization is more important for ensuring that strategy, financial controls, stakeholder management, technology, and personal development link together for value creation. Marjorie Lao, who served as the CFO of the LEGO Group—and before that, as CFO of…

Assisting management in navigating today’s geopolitical complexity has become one of boards’ most important and difficult tasks. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Ziad Haider, Celia Huber, and Jon Huntsman Jr. discuss how boards can address this challenge. Huntsman spent nearly two decades in US public service…

Alistair Brownlee, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time triathlon world champion, three-time Ironman winner, and bestselling author, isn’t one to shy away from making a mantra his own: “If you want to achieve something no one has achieved before, you have to approach the challenge in a way no one has…

With the coming of age of Gen Z—both as customers and new workforce entrants—customer demands are evolving. At the same time, generative AI (gen AI) is transforming how contact centers respond to these demands. Forward-thinking leaders must explore the latest trends, emphasize cohesive support strategies, and take actionable steps to…

Data and AI leaders have been working feverishly on generative AI (gen AI) use cases for more than a year. Their experience has provided promising glimpses of the considerable value at stake in gen AI but has also exposed a variety of challenges in getting to scale. Managing data remains…

A shareholder activist tends to improve a company’s stock price during its campaigns—and sustains those gains for three years after the campaign is announced. But when one considers the period after an activist has exited its position, the picture becomes murkier. We examined almost 170 shareholder activist campaigns worldwide over the…

3D image of people forming the shape of India and organized based on their clothing color creating the pattern of the national flag. India is a place of superlatives. It’s home to the world’s fifth-largest economy. Its population, at over 1.4 billion people, has surpassed China’s to become the largest…

Among tens of thousands of products, millions of customers, and an infinite number of outside forces shaping demand, how does one identify the next “it” beauty product—and get it in shoppers’ hands as quickly as they want it? While those questions were top of mind for Coty before the COVID-19…

The majority of people can now expect to grow older. By 2050, 1.6 billion people will be over the age of 65. The challenge—and opportunity—that comes with increased life expectancy is ensuring that those extra years are as healthy and productive as possible. It’s an attainable goal, asserts British economist…

As publishers of insights, we believe that reading books can be a powerful tool for learning, growing, and navigating the landscape of today’s complex business environment. And books can both illuminate and provide moments of respite from the demands of daily life. McKinsey Global Publishing leader Raju Narisetti returns with…

Today’s insurers are exposed to multiple risks, from financial risks, such as shifting interest rates, changing costs and sources of capital, and increasing claims levels due to consecutive years of significant inflation, to an array of nonfinancial risks, including extreme climate events and generative AI (gen AI). This uncertain environment…

Some technologies are so compelling that they quickly take on a life of their own. Generative AI (gen AI) made the leap from the laboratory to the mainstream in late 2022, when Open AI launched a public beta of its ChatGPT service. Within two months, it had more than 100…

Consumers and businesses looking forward to the fillip of an interest rate cut may have to wait a little longer. Among our surveyed economies, only Brazil’s Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) cut its policy rate in May—but by just 0.25 percentage points, taking the Selic rate to 10.50%.Hopes of imminent interest…

Digitalization of the financial sector has brought significant benefits but has also exposed businesses to rising technology risks, including cyberattacks, system outages, and third-party information and communications technology (ICT) failures. To ensure financial institutions (FIs) remain resilient in the face of these threats, the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act…

To explore how generative AI (gen AI) could transform the future of work globally, and in Singapore particularly, McKinsey partner Sanjna Parasrampuria, an expert in data, artificial intelligence and generative AI,  talked to Terence Chia, assistant chief executive of the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore, and to Kathryn…

At a glance Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death for women. Cardiovascular conditions in the United States make up at least a third of the women’s health gap because of inequities between women and men in care delivery, efficacy, and data availability. Addressing heart health at every…

Demographic, regional, and technological shifts all influence the current story of global productivity. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partners Chris Bradley and Olivia White join editorial director Roberta Fusaro to discuss how best to measure productivity, what’s behind reduced productivity numbers, and what can be done to ramp…

Following a record showing in 2022, the global banking sector continued to exceed expectations during 2023. Global return on tangible equity reached 13 percent in 2023, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, the worldwide Tier 1 ratio hit a ten-year high of 13.4 percent, and net interest…

Since it was founded in the United Kingdom close to two decades ago, enterprise software company Anaplan has been built around the core concept of what it has dubbed “connected planning.” For customers who had long dealt with a messy patchwork of different systems and manual processes, this has meant…

Over the past decade, private-capital firms and insurers have built a symbiotic relationship. Private-capital firms, which typically raise money from institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, encompass multistrategy private-market firms, private-credit firms, private equity firms, and real estate firms. Tie-ups with insurers have allowed private-capital firms…