How McKinsey Lost Its Way in South Africa

In late 2015, over objections from at least three influential McKinsey partners, the firm decided the risk was worth taking and signed on to what would become its biggest contract ever in Africa, with a potential value of $700 million. It was also the biggest mistake in McKinsey’s nine-decade history. …

Why Do Americans Stay When Their Town Has No Future?

In recent years, though, Americans have grown less likely to migrate for opportunity. As recently as the early 1990s, 3 percent of Americans moved across state lines each year, but today the rate is half that. Fewer Americans moved in 2017 than in any year in at least a half-century. …

Poverty is moving to the suburbs. The war on poverty hasn’t followed. – The Washington Post

The trend has been as swift and sweeping as it has been overlooked. In 1990, Americans in poverty were 14 percent likelier to live in a city than in a suburb. By 2012, they were 22 percent likelier to live in a suburb. In D.C.’s suburbs, over the first 15 years of the millennium, the number of people in poverty grew by 66 percent. Elsewhere, the explosion was even bigger. Sun Belt cities led the way. The increase was 126 percent in Atlanta’s suburbs; 129 percent in Austin’s; 139 percent in Las Vegas’s. The Midwest wasn’t far behind: 62 percent in Cleveland’s suburbs; 84 percent in Chicago’s; 87 percent in Detroit’s. The suburban poor are likelier than their urban counterparts to be white and to own their homes, but otherwise they’re demographically similar, according to a study from the Brookings Institution. Two-thirds of both groups work, about 15 percent have a disability and nearly half are in deep poverty, below 50 percent of the federal poverty line.

Source: Poverty is moving to the suburbs. The war on poverty hasn’t followed. – The Washington Post

The Great American Road Trip: Shorter and More Popular Than Ever

​Despite taking shorter trips, people nonetheless want to roam as far away as possible. “They don’t want to spend the night any closer than eight hours from home,” Mr. Cohen said. And the trip has to have multiple overnight stops​ with activities and attractions​, “not just Grandma’s house,” he said. For example, Mr. Cohen said retirees typically visit family during their road trips, but most of the time they stay elsewhere.

Source: The Great American Road Trip: Shorter and More Popular Than Ever

Kraft Heinz Made Its Factories Really Efficient. Now It Has to Sell Bologna – WSJ

Over the past 2½ years, thousands of workers lost their jobs, and iconic Kraft buildings, including the original Oscar Mayer headquarters in Madison, Wis., have been shuttered and sold. The cost-cutting project is now wrapping up, giving Kraft Heinz Co. KHC 0.60% the highest operating profit margin among its peers in the U.S. food industry.

That success, however, has unveiled a new, tougher challenge, one that is outside 3G’s traditional area of expertise. Kraft Heinz commands a smaller share of a shrinking overall market for processed meats, hit by consumers’ desire for fresher, more natural foods. And while 3G is expert at taking over iconic American brands and squeezing out costs, it is less known for building sales—especially for a product out of sync with consumer tastes.

Source: Kraft Heinz Made Its Factories Really Efficient. Now It Has to Sell Bologna – WSJ