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The BHI Strategy Lab explores game-changing business ideas by capturing, developing, and applying cutting-edge thinking from within and beyond business.

We are not your traditional consultants: we are a diverse group of philosophers, data scientists, biologists, and engineers working with leading academics and external collaborators.

The Strategy Lab was created to formalize a research body within BCG that would help identify and develop ideas that will change the way leaders think about strategy. 

Some of our current research themes include resilience & navigating uncertainty, imagination & innovation, and corporate vitality.

Research Themes

1/5

Resilience & Navigating Uncertainty

How can companies build resilience to increase their capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality, and thrive in altered circumstances?

Harvard Business Review | March 25, 2022

Make Resilience Your Company’s Strategic Advantage

We explore and refute five false beliefs about resilience and look at the key steps required to build it and bake it into strategy and operations.

2/5

Imagination & Innovation

We need imagination now more than ever—to find new opportunities, rethink our businesses, and discover paths to growth.

Books | March 7, 2022

The Imagination Machine

Most leaders agree that imagination in business is crucial for success but they struggle to cultivate this capability. Explore how to harness the power of imagination.

3/5

Corporate Vitality

Learn how to measure and manage corporate vitality—the capacity to explore new options, renew strategy, and grow sustainably.

Fortune | December 2, 2021

The 2021 Fortune Future 50: An Index for Tomorrow’s Growth—and Today’s Resilience

The companies on the 2021 list reflect some of the most salient shifts in the business environment, including those triggered by the pandemic.

4/5

Strategies of Change

Why do some corporate transformations fail while others succeed? Explore how leaders can navigate organizations through change.

BCG Henderson Institute | June 14, 2021

Transform for Resilience

Keep resilience on the transformation agenda. Change programs that prioritize growth, debt reduction, and operational flexibility realize the full value of resilience and build advantage for the next crisis.

5/5

Winning the ’20s

The winners in business have shifted markedly in the last decade. What will it take to win in the ’20s?

BCG Henderson Institute | April 26, 2021

Winning the ’20s in an Accelerated Post-COVID World

Leaders now need to refocus on the long term and attend to five key imperatives.

Books

Our Strategy Lab team’s latest books explore emerging opportunities for business leaders to navigate today’s complex environment.

Books

The Imagination Machine

Most leaders agree that imagination in business is crucial for success but they struggle to cultivate this capability. Explore how to harness the power of imagination.

Books

Inspiring the Next Game series

Strategy is by definition a changing art: strategy is about generating competitive advantage, but what it takes to create advantage is always evolving. This series takes a broad view of strategy, reflecting the multifaceted imperatives that leaders face.

Books

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

The world of strategy is thick with ideas and frameworks; Your Strategy Needs a Strategy will help you cut through the noise and find clarity regarding which approach, or combination of approaches, is your best bet.

34 Minutes | December 14, 2023

Permacrisis with Mohamed El-Erian and Michael Spence

"In a world like this, you better ask yourself every single day whether your company has three characteristics: One is resilience, the second is optionality or open-mindedness, and the third is agility."

27 Minutes | February 13, 2024

Higher Ground with Alison Taylor

"We all seem to have collectively lost sight of what it means to be a good business, in the ethical sense."

28 Minutes | January 30, 2024

The Friction Project with Bob Sutton

"[Friction creates] the feeling that you’re trying to accomplish [something], but there’s something about the system that makes it difficult or impossible for you to get it done. […] When people feel excessively burdened, they’re less creative. They tend to leave the organization. They just give up."

Fortune | January 29, 2024

Where Will Growth Come From In The Next Decade? A Geographic Deep Dive Into The Future 50

It is down to individual firms to deliver on their growth potential in the context created by governments and markets. In these times of turbulence, this may mean embracing new business and operating models.

BCG Henderson Institute | January 19, 2024

Are We Collaborating Too Much?

Collaboration is good for many things—but for businesses, treating it as a default is a mistake. In some cases, discouraging collaboration or even encouraging competition can be advantageous.

MIT Sloan Management Review | November 30, 2023

The Working Limitations of Large Language Models

Overestimating the capabilities of AI models like ChatGPT can lead to unreliable applications.

BCG Henderson Institute | November 27, 2023

Toward A Flourishing Aging Society

Key takeaways from the BCG Henderson Institute’s 2023 Meeting of Minds, which dissected the challenges of demographic aging from a multi-disciplinary perspective and examined emerging solutions for individuals, societies, and businesses.

BCG Henderson Institute | October 19, 2023

We Can’t Outrun Our Biology

Given the links between the human body and organizational effectiveness, we suggest three steps to leaders to mitigate harmful risks—and optimize the way people live and work.

Harvard Business Review | October 12, 2023

Businesses Need to Bring Younger Employees into Their Leadership Ranks

Striving towards intergenerational leadership is key to overcoming challenges of our times, such as climate change, and unlocking competitive advantage by enhancing businesses’ capacity for renewal.

Martin Reeves
Leadership

Martin Reeves

Chairman, BCG Henderson Institute