Anatomy of a healthy corporation

McKinsey Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 3, 2007, Pages 64-73

  De Smet, Aaron ^a   Loch, Mark ^b   Schaninger, Bill ^c  

^a McKinsey's New York Office

^b McKinsey's Johannesburg Office   (South Africa)

^c Philadelphia Office   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34548208732     PISSN: 00475394     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (10)

1. For a summary of recent research on the diverse sources of long-lived performance - sources ranging from complex economic forces to luck, industry attractiveness, and corporate excellence - see Jay B. Barney, "Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck, and business strategy," Management Science, 1986, Volume 32, Number 10, pp. 1231-41;
2. Richard Schmalensee, "Inter-industry studies of structure and performance," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Volume 2, eds. Richard Schmalensee and Robert. D. Willig, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1989, pp. 951-1009;
3. Richard P. Rumelt, "How much does industry matter?" Strategic Management Journal, 1991, Volume 12, Number 3, pp. 167-85;
4. Gabriel Hawawini, Venkat Subramanian, and Paul Verdin, "Is performance driven by industry- or firm-specific factors? A new look at the evidence," Strategic Management Journal, 2003, Volume 24, Number 1, pp. 1-16;
5. and Gerry McNamara, Federico Aime, and Paul M. Vaaler, "Is performance driven by firm-specific or industry-specific factors? A response to Hawawini, Subramanian, and Verdin," Strategic Management Journal, 2005, Volume 26, Number 11 , pp. 1075-81.
6. John Roberts, The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
7. For more on networks and organizational performance, see Robert L. Cross, Roger D. Martin, and Leigh M. Weiss, "Mapping the value of employee collaboration," The McKinsey Quarterly, 2006 Number 3, pp. 18-41;
8. and Robert L. Cross, Salvatore Parise, and Leigh M. Weiss, "The role of networks in organizational change," The McKinsey Quarterly, Web exclusive, April 2007.
9. For more on this portfolio-of-initiatives approach to strategy, see Lowell L. Bryan, "Just-in-time strategy for a turbulent world," The McKinsey Quarterly, 2002 special edition: Risk and resilience, pp. 16-27.
10. A fuller discussion of metrics can be found in Richard Dobbs, Keith Leslie, and Lenny T. Mendonca, "Building the healthy corporation," The McKinsey Quarterly, 2005 Number 3, pp. 62-71, in which the authors explain why companies should focus on a manageable number of health metrics covering the main areas of the business - not least important, operations, marketing, and external relations.