BCG Perspectives

Smart-Meter Manufacturers May Become Powerful Gatekeepers Between Retail Energy Companies, Customers

August 5, 2014

For retail energy companies, managing data once meant nothing more complex than processing analog meter readings and customer billing information. However, the advent of the smart home, along with the wave of digitization sweeping the industry, is creating major opportunities to tap into an explosion of fast-moving, complex big data in compelling new ways.

Chinese Consumers Seem Poised to Spend More on Retail This Year

July 29, 2014

BCG Perspectives

Last year, China experienced a decline in GDP growth, along with a steep drop in consumer sentiment exacerbated by an anti-corruption campaign that dampened the intention to spend in lower-tier cities in particular. This year, although business activity was slow in the first quarter, the economy has shown signs of stabilizing, with improved consumption growth. After dropping to a five-year low in January and February, total retail-sales growth increased in May to 12.5 percent, its fastest pace since December of 2013.

Equilibrium in Workforce Supply & Demand Is Exception Today, Not the Norm, Study Says

July 18, 2014

BCG Perspectives

Every economy's ability to compete depends on a steady supply of human capital and talent. When that supply is inadequate, imbalances result, creating serious threats not only to the economy but also to social and political stability and future development. This impact, moreover, extends beyond borders.

Best Practices Can Help Overcome Transnational Infrastructure Challenges

May 12, 2014

BCG Perspectives

Transnational infrastructure programs, such as cross-border railway networks and electricity distribution systems, can increase regional trade, prosperity, stability and integration. That is part of the rationale of the Priority Action Plan of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA PAP), encompassing 51 programs and with an investment need of $68bn up to the year 2020. Such programs face formidable challenges, however.

In Two More Years, China Will Have Close to 400 Million E-shoppers

April 23, 2014

BCG Perspectives

China is going digital very quickly. By 2016, the country will have more than 730 million internet users and more than 380 million online shoppers, up from 460 million and 145 million, respectively, in 2010.

It's Time to Catch Up if You Don't Already Know How to Market to Millennials

January 17, 2014

BCG Perspectives

Success in marketing to U.S. millennials"”the generation of people now 18 to 34 years old"”will be critical to companies across product and service categories. One reason, of course, is that millennials represent the consumer market of the future.

Big Data Is Good, But Fast Big Data Is Much Better

December 20, 2013

BCG Perspectives

While the press and many companies continue to marvel at the sheer volume of data being generated and captured in the internet era, forward-leaning corporations have already recognized that big data's transformative potential to generate value in both the digital and physical realms will go largely unrealized unless it's complemented by speed. Fast data can unlock the value-creating power of big (and small) data.

Perhaps It's Time to Reassess Your Strategy for Entering Emerging Markets

November 7, 2013

BCG Perspectives

What should we make of the volatility that seems to be suddenly sweeping some of the world's most dynamic developing economies, including China, India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico?

Moving Away from Cost Reduction to Cost Excellence

August 20, 2013

BCG Perspectives

The list of challenges facing corporate leaders today is lengthy. It includes globalization, rapidly shifting market dynamics, fallout from the European debt crisis, and a potential slowdown in Asia. It is unclear how these economic trends will play out and what impact they will have on industries and countries. Companies will also be faced with unexpected turbulence, whether in the form of adverse changes in their business or the arrival of tough new competitors. All this makes it more critical than ever before for corporate leaders to closely scrutinize the cost side of their income statement.

By 2020, Digital Ecosystem Could Bring Internet of Things to Consumers

July 31, 2013

BCG Perspectives

The everyday consumer world of 2020 will look radically different from today's. Most ordinary devices in the home - heating systems, televisions, cars, watches, toys, light bulbs, sporting goods, home appliances - will have gone digital. They will no longer be islands unto themselves: they will be connected to the internet and to each other in altogether new ways.