Quick Hits An activist group has asked a federal district court to strike down an Illinois law requiring the disclosure of nonprofit organizations’ board demographics. The DOJ has intervened in the case, claiming that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The intervention is part of the DOJ’s effort to eliminate…
AI agents are transforming industries by automating workflows, enhancing productivity, and enabling intelligent decision-making. Businesses are leveraging AI agents to process insurance claims, manage IT service desks, optimize supply chain logistics, and even assist healthcare professionals in analyzing medical records. The potential is vast, and we’re excited to introduce two…
In the payments industry, open banking and account-to-account payments have experienced slower adoption in certain markets as they compete with card-based and peer-to-peer systems. In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, McKinsey payments sector leader Roshan Varadarajan speaks with Johan Tjärnberg, the Group CEO of the open-banking and account-to-account company…
I work on trying to understand the motivations and the drivers of investors’ preference for green investment. I try to understand how can investors use the financial insurance that they have access to better ensure themselves against potential climate change damages or damages from regulation of climate change. I…
Kenneth Goodson, professor of mechanical engineering and senior associate dean for research and faculty affairs in the School of Engineering, has been named Stanford’s vice provost for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, Provost Jenny Martinez announced. His tenure begins April 1. “I’m thrilled that Ken has agreed to be the next…
subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Lessons Learned From Outside Innovators Simone Ferriani and Gino Cattani Key Insight: When creative thinkers bring fresh ideas to an organization, it can spark innovation — if they can find supportive allies. Top Takeaways: People from outside an organization can offer a unique perspective that challenges established…
Sebastian Pichler, Unsplash On March 7, 2025, lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed motions requesting a 120-day stay of the agency’s appeal of district court decisions in the Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, which had blocked the FTC’s proposed ban on non-competes (the “Rule”) in the Ryan v.…
Tax specialists typically put in long hours to meet client deadlines. After the COVID-19 pandemic, audit, accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton Australia noticed its people were especially tired and introduced a “nine-day fortnight,” essentially giving employees a day back every two weeks to rest and recharge. Sandie Boswell, chief…
Global risks are rising, and many companies are struggling with how to adapt. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risks Report makes it clear that challenges like escalating global tensions and conflicts, climate change, economic instability and supply chain disruptions are interconnected and build on one another. And they’re here to stay.Meanwhile,…
In an era of persistent change, how can companies foster an environment that empowers employees to anticipate, respond to, and even leverage unexpected shifts in the business landscape? In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by McKinsey Senior Partners Dan Swan and Ruth Heuss, global co-conveners of…
Recent years have seen the publication of a number of reports about how water and wastewater utilities in the United States can become more resilient, particularly when it comes to addressing rapidly aging infrastructure, optimizing operational efficiencies, and contending with increasing water demand. There has been significantly less discussion about…
Using real world data from 1,600 patients, available through a database created for speeding up research and innovation, the team also found that its reliability differs significantly in winter compared to autumn.Asthma is a common lung condition that can cause wheezing and shortness of breath, occasionally severe. Around 6.5% of…
Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share In times of uncertainty, people seek the comfort of control. Compensatory control theory, developed by researchers in 2009, suggests that when people feel a lack of…
Towfiqu barbhuiya, Unsplash The construction industry’s reliance on digital data and devices has reshaped the construction process. When used properly, digital technology facilitates collaboration and increases productivity. However, growing dependence on digital innovation has also rendered construction companies a prime target for cybercriminals. The stark, inescapable reality is that the construction…
Quick Hits Companies in Mexico must file their tax returns by March 31 of each year. Annual corporate tax returns show the yearly financial results of any entity and whether there were gains or losses. Tax returns are the starting point for the obligations mandated by the FLL regarding profit…
Every day, the work of public finance professionals provides the financial foundation upon which all government activities can be assured, from delivering basic services to ensuring overall economic stability. In a world of rapid change, however, public finance organizations at all levels of government are straining to meet new demands.…
Judy Marks is one of a few dozen women leading a Fortune 500 company. Otis Worldwide Corporation has been making elevators for more than 170 years, so it has seen its share of change over the decades. So has Judy. Not long after joining Otis as president in 2017, she…
The last few years have thrust CFOs into the limelight. The pandemic’s end, the persistence of work-from-home (WFH) plus ongoing economic uncertainty have all fundamentally shifted the CFO’s job description. Beyond just managing financial operations, CFOs are emerging as key leaders in understanding and improving performance across their organizations. By…
Mexico has gone to considerable effort, reducing migrant flows by 66%, putting soldiers on the border, handing drug traffickers over to the US authorities and proposing to match US import tariffs on Chinese goods. The country is even considering withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).Mexican markets have proved relatively stable,…
On March 10, a discussion on nuclear energy and the outcomes of the IAEA Board of Governors session took place at the Valdai Club in Moscow. The event was moderated by Anton Bespalov, Programme Director of the Valdai Club. Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organizations in…
Stanford will increase scholarship totals and introduce a revenue-sharing model that will provide direct benefits to student-athletes, the latest move by the university in response to a college athletics landscape that has seen seismic shifts in the last few years. These actions follow from the expected settlement of litigation against…
The spread of the internet and mobile phones has been one of the most significant technological revolutions of the 21st century.Digital technologies have become integral to many aspects of our lives and have brought wide ranging benefits to many, including greater information, better connectivity, and access to services in more…
Radar Here’s what recent research says about the impact of technology on mergers and acquisitions, and vice versa. Kaushik Viswanath March 10, 2025 Reading Time: 1 min Topics Radar Brief insights on emerging trends in management from the opening pages of MIT Sloan Management Review’s quarterly print magazine. More in…
By: Ridhima Bhalla, Andrew L. Scroggins, and Christopher J. DeGroff In a March 5, 2025 press release, Andrea Lucas, the Acting Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), emphasized the agency’s plans to prioritize holding universities and colleges accountable to prevent the creation of hostile work environments for…
Quick Hits New York lawmakers passed a health information privacy bill that, among other obligations, would require entities to obtain authorization to collect, use, or sell an individual’s health information unless it is “strictly necessary” for certain purposes. The bill broadly defines regulated health information to include data that goes…
On Jan. 22, 2025, the Québec government published its draft regulation (the Proposed Regulation) on the right to repair, following the assent of Bill 29: An Act to protect consumers from planned obsolescence and promote the durability, repair, and maintenance of goods (the Act) in Oct. 2023. The Proposed Regulation…
Updated March 10, 2025: The post contains more than 140 new customer stories, which appear in italics at the beginning of each section of customer lists. The post will be updated regularly with new stories. One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners…
Dr Michael J Sulliivan, Credit: John Cairns Dr Sullivan’s team has been using multispectral imaging, along with X-ray fluorescence and fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy, to explore previously hidden parts of manuscripts. Multispectral imaging involves capturing a variety of images in different spectral bands, or wavelengths, from infrared to ultraviolet. By imaging…
The Oxford Young Sport Leaders Programme began as a pilot with Greyfriars School in the autumn of 2023 and includes sport sessions with University athletes and interactive sport-related workshops led by Oxford academics and departments.The success of the pilot led to an expansion of the Programme in 2024, when The…
The sporting goods industry faced a difficult environment in 2024. Softer growth prospects, persistent inflation, and cautious consumer spending all tested companies’ resilience. Despite these hurdles, the industry managed to sustain a growth rate of 7 percent a year from 2021 to 2024 (Exhibit 1). The growth outlook for 2024…
The automotive industry—including OEMs of passenger cars and trucks, suppliers, and downstream players such as aftermarket or financing providers—is a major part of Europe’s economy. These players collectively account for 7 percent of Europe’s GDP, providing about 13.8 million direct and indirect jobs. In 2019, the European Union dominated the…
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images During the past few years, company strategies have been disrupted repeatedly by major shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, and breakthroughs in generative AI. In the first months of 2025, a stream of political surprises…
Quick Hits South Carolina state lawmakers introduced parallel bills in the state House and Senate that follow other recent executive and agency actions at the federal level and offer additional details not present in federal executive orders, such as definitions of “promoting DEI.” Proposed amendments to the South Carolina Code…
This ironic curse of unknown origin seems to be our current plight, so much so that any article written today will be out of date tomorrow. Accurate predictions require a time machine, but the current uncertainty appears to be with us for the unforeseeable future. What appears certain is that…
The world of competitive spreadsheets is about to take center stage at this year's South by Southwest (SXSW) with the world premiere of Spreadsheet Champions. Produced by GoodThing Productions, this documentary delves into the fascinating world of the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship, shining a spotlight on the Excel…
Unlike parents in many other high-income countries, American parents are largely on their own until their kids are old enough for kindergarten when it comes to childcare and schooling. But over the past two decades or so, municipalities around the country have started rolling out public pre-kindergarten that is available…
The invention of the automobile in the late 1800s soon attracted entrepreneurs. Car manufacturers sprung up across the world, with the number in the United States increasing from 30 in 1899 to about 500 by 1910. The early industry’s hallmark was rapid and constant innovation, which included the introduction of…
Name the businesses leading the artificial intelligence arms race and it’s likely that Google, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Anthropic, among others, come to mind. What do these four companies have in common? Their founders are Stanford alumni.Jonathan Levin, the president of Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for…
The recent decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Huether v Sharpe, 2025 ONCA 140, clarifies what constitutes a “continuous act or omission” that is sufficient to toll the running of the 15-year ultimate limitation period in s.15(2) of the Limitations Act (Act). Background The Township of McMurrich…
Anyone who’s had a hand in hiring and recruiting knows that finding the right person for the job is often difficult and expensive. Typically, organisations assess candidates using a combination of interviews and static tests, such as those that evaluate logical and verbal reasoning or behavioural traits. This process takes…