Meating agenda
March 21, 2023
Compared with eaters in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Chinese consumers tend to consider healthiness and product safety more than price when buying meat, find senior partners Sheng Hong and Roberto Uchoa and colleagues. Why this might matter for executives at meat companies: increasing urbanization and rising income levels could make meat more available and more affordable for Chinese consumers.
To read the article, see “For love of meat: Five trends in China that meat executives must grasp,” February 10, 2023.
Rethinking administrative costs
March 24, 2023
Building and maintaining effective support functions requires significant investment, and can affect how two companies think about value creation when separating. Partner Anna Mattsson and coauthors find that across industries, general and administrative (G&A) costs are significantly lower—4 to 8 percent of revenue—for high performers than those in the bottom quartile.
To read the article, see “The power of goodbye: How carve-outs can unleash value,” February 7, 2023.
Big things come in small devices
March 23, 2023
More chips, anyone? The US Department of Defense has earmarked billions of dollars for microelectronics R&D over the next several years, find partner Rutger Vrijen and colleagues. The budget for dual-use (commercial and defense) microelectronics technology research is set to jump from $531 million in 2022 to about $1.1 billion in 2023. To adapt to the government’s shifting priorities, semiconductor companies can consider investing in key areas such as trusted microelectronics and packaging and integration technology.
To read the article, see “Government CHIPS on the table: How higher DOD microelectronics funding is here to stay,” March 3, 2023.
Mining for talent
March 22, 2023
Mining faces an unprecedented skills shortage, which has elevated talent to the top of executives’ agendas. Partner Tino Grabbert and colleagues find mining is not seen as an attractive industry for young talent in Canada, for example. Of nine sectors evaluated in a recent survey, young talent placed mining last when considering sectors for employment.
To read the article, see “Has mining lost its luster? Why talent is moving elsewhere and how to bring them back,” February 14, 2023.
Locating racial inequities
March 21, 2023
Racial inequality trends are national in scope, but vast differences can exist between states and cities. Senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud and Ramesh Srinivasan and colleagues homed in on neighborhood-level data from eight US cities with large Black and Hispanic populations, finding that, in Dallas, for example, Black children are 4.5 times as likely to live in poverty and are 3.3 times less likely to earn a high school degree than their non-Hispanic White peers.
To read the article, see “Zooming in: Using local insights to inform US racial-equity efforts,” February 27, 2023.