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Featured Operations, Performance Article, lean operational improvements

November 2008 

From lean to lasting: Making operational improvements stick

By focusing on the “soft” side of lean and Six Sigma initiatives, leading global companies gain substantial, scalable, and sustainable advantages.

Recent Thinking

The Archive

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

  • November 2003 

    How to make after-sales services pay off

    For manufacturers, service plans can be a valuable second string, but only if they are properly designed and priced.

  • November 2003 

    The hidden value in airline operations

    In other process-, labor-, and capital-intensive industries, superb operators win. Why should airlines be different?

  • November 2003 

    What high tech can learn from slow-growth industries

    To drive productivity, high-tech executives should focus not just on technological innovation but also on business process innovation.

  • August 2003 

    Managing for improved corporate performance

    Generating great performance requires a more dynamic approach to building and adapting a company’s capabilities than merely squeezing its operations.

  • August 2003 

    Streamlining global overhead

    While a multinational company’s scale is important for capturing overhead cost savings, standardizing tasks among offices can be even more valuable.

  • August 2003 

    What power consumers want

    Most customers are satisfied with the reliability of their electric service. So why are power distributors still making huge infrastructure investments?

  • May 2003 

    Drilling down to store level

    One key to improving the performance of retail chains is finding a better way to disseminate more appropriate best practices.

2002

2001

2000

  • May 2000 

    A second wind for ERP

    Implementing enterprise resource-planning systems can be intensely painful, and once you have them up and running they may seem to interfere with the speed and nimbleness required for electronic business. Are they a waste? No, but the real benefits aren’t always obvious.

1998

  • November 1998 

    First National Toyota

    Raising banks' productivity will take more than one-time cost cuts.

  • February 1998 

    Manufacturing’s use and abuse of IT

    Research indicates the greatest potential for IT lies in product development and sales. Moving from laggard to star will take two to three years. Seven highly effective habits.

1997

1996

  • November 1996 

    Beyond benchmarking: How core-based redesign can yield high rewards

    How do companies pull away from the pack once their performance already matches best practice? The answer to superior performance may lie within existing technologies.

  • August 1996 

    Quality is not a black and white issue

    Many companies have embraced Continuous Improvement as a means of ensuring that a product or process is performing satisfactorily. Yet many also fail to reap its benefits because the quality measurements they still employ are too crude.

  • August 1996 

    Virtual vertical integration: The key to success

    Reasons for success in the machinery industry are changing with astounding speed. What now differentiates the leaders from the laggards is their relationships with their customers and their suppliers.

  • February 1996 

    Order to payment

    More and more, this process distinguishes winners. The challenge is to link material, information, and monetary flows. Building “microcosms” with an action perspective may be the answer.

1995

  • August 1995 

    Are you going out of fashion?

    PC and fashion producers face the same key challenge: balancing the cost of lost sales and obsolescence. Milanese fashion houses and Silicon Valley have made remarkable improvements.

  • February 1995 

    Strategic outsourcing

    By assessing the relative costs and risks of making or buying, companies can leverage their skills and resources for increased profitability.

  • February 1995 

    The wrong decisions cost

    When does a technology’s ability to differentiate demand in-house production? The big opportunities: outsourcing entire systems, design-to-cost, sole-sourcing.

1994

  • February 1994