Publications

October 2014
Case

McKinsey & Company, 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2012, McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) was the world's premier management consultancy, providing advice to CEO's and top executives of leading companies around the globe. Many consulting firms were bigger but few could match the reputation McKinsey had built over more... View Details

Keywords: Consulting Firms; McKinsey; Strategy; Consulting Industry; North America

2020
Working Paper

Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968

By: Amar Bhidé

This case history analyzes how the founders of McKinsey & Co. built one of the world's leading management consulting firms by developing a “system” of professional norms, approach to serving clients, personnel policies, organization, governance, and ownership. The... View Details

Keywords: McKinsey ＆ Co.; Company History; Professional Norms; Vision; Organizations; Business History; Business Model; Strategy; Consulting Industry

SSRN

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July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Supplement

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (B)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; CONSULTING Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Construction Industry; United States; California

Awards

McKinsey Award. Second Place

Received the Second Place McKinsey Award for the best article in Harvard Business Review during 2009 for the paper "The Innovator's DNA" (with Jeffrey H. Dyer and Hal B. Gregersen) View Details

July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; Consulting Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Consulting Industry; United States; California

Dataset

McKinsey Offices

March 1993
Case

McKinsey & Co. (B):1966

Covers the firm's growth from 1956 to 1966. May be used with McKinsey & Co. (A)--1956. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation

McKinsey founded the largest management consulting firm in the world. His greatest contribution was focusing attention on budgeting as a major instrument of management. He asserted the need for continued education for future executives... View Details

Keywords: Services

June 1996 (Revised January 2000)
Case

McKinsey & Co.: Managing Knowledge and Learning

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development of McKinsey & Co. as a worldwide management consulting firm from 1926 to 1996. In particular, it focuses on the way in which McKinsey has developed structures, systems, processes, and practices to help it develop, transfer, and disseminate... View Details

Keywords: Management; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Advantage; Global Range; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Processes; Consulting Industry

November 1992 (Revised August 1994)
Case

McKinsey & Company (A): 1956

Professional service firms, in law, accounting, advertising, consulting, and so on are ubiquitous and relatively easy to start. Few firms, however, gain scale or permanence. This case explores the reasons behind McKinsey & Co.'s exceptional success in building a... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Organizations; Service Industry

01 Apr 2013
News

HBS Professor Emeritus John Kotter Wins McKinsey Award

17 Jan 2024
Podcast

Decarbonizing Aviation with McKinsey

This episode in our hard-to-abate series features aviation expert Robin Riedel, a Partner at McKinsey & Company who co-leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility. Robin describes five approaches to decarbonize aviation: upgrading aircraft, improving operational... View Details

14 Apr 2020
News

HBR Announces 61st Annual HBR McKinsey Award Winners

10 Feb 2010
News

McKinsey Awards for Best Articles in Harvard Business Review

01 Jun 2010
News

Three Profs Win McKinsey Award

Christensen have won the 2009 McKinsey Awards, presented by HBR and McKinsey & Company. Pisano and Shih took first-place honors for their July-August 2009 article, “Restoring American Competitiveness.”... View Details

Keywords: Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Manufacturing

Link

2001 McKinsey Award

August 2005 (Revised January 2012)
Case

McKinsey and the Globalization of Consultancy

By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Alexis Lefort

Considers McKinsey's strategy during the first stage of the globalization of the management consultancy industry between the 1950s and 1973. Briefly reviews the history of management consulting before considering the factors that led McKinsey to open its first... View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Service Operations; Consulting Industry

January 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

People Analytics at McKinsey

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Olivia Hull

A private equity–backed fast food chain has hired McKinsey’s new People Analytics group to help it improve performance. As the final client workshop approaches, Associate Partner Alex DiLeonardo ponders the best way to present the team’s findings, especially those that... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Customer Relationship Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Consulting Industry; Service Industry