BCG Henderson Institute

In an increasingly complex and fast-moving business environment—in which organizations are moving through their life cycles twice as quickly as they did 30 years agoleaders are facing a new set of challenges and opportunities: resilience & navigating uncertainty, imagination & innovation, business ecosystems, corporate vitality, strategies of change, Winning the 20s, dynamic advantage, strategy for multiple timescales, and strategic ambidexterity.

Resilience & Navigating UncertaintyView All

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

Harvard Business Review | October 2, 2023

Operations in an Era of Radical Uncertainty

Operations have always been foundational to competitive advantage, but the nature of this relationship is shifting.

Harvard Business Review | September 26, 2023

The Strategic Benefits of Randomized Decision-Making

In highly ambiguous and challenging contexts, a random approach to decision-making confers a number of advantages.

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.

BCG Henderson Institute | January 14, 2022

Building a Mutually Reinforcing System of Organizational and Personal Resilience

Organizational resilience and personal resilience are rarely considered together, yet building a system that facilitates mutually-reinforcing resilience between organizations and employees opens new possibilities on both levels. We explore the relationship between the two forms of resilience.

BCG.COM | November 4, 2021

How Resilient Businesses Created Advantage in Adversity During COVID-19

COVID was a test of resilience for companies, and it has not only widened competitive spreads but also created new winners and losers. Explore our scoreboard. We identified some of the new winners and the strategies and tactics they employed to come out of the pandemic in a stronger position.

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.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 26, 2021

Perspectives on Building a Resilient Company

Kristin Peck, CEO of Zoetis, and Don Allan, president and CFO of Stanley Black & Decker, discuss what it takes to make a company resilient and how resilience creates advantage.

BCG Henderson Institute | December 19, 2020

Resilience vs. Efficiency: Calibrating the Tradeoff

Making tradeoffs between resilience and efficiency is challenging, as traditional optimization approaches are not well-suited for the task. By adopting alternative principles and strategies, leaders can make more effective tradeoffs between resilience and efficiency.

BCG Henderson Institute | August 19, 2020

Becoming an All-Weather Company

The coronavirus crisis has brought renewed attention to the value of resilience. Our research shows that resilience has an outsized impact on long-run performance, and companies can take concrete steps to realize it.

Harvard Business Review | July 2, 2020

A Guide to Building a More Resilient Business

In a this HBR.org article, we suggest six ways leaders can revisit their business models to build greater systemic resilience.

Imagination & InnovationView All

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

BCG Henderson Institute | October 19, 2022

A Simple Map for Innovation at Scale

Creative destruction — where the old replaces the new — is inevitable in any industry, it’s only a matter of when. Few companies make the transition.

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.

TED | February 17, 2022

Why Play Is Essential for Business

Martin Reeves makes a pitch for embracing play to spark innovative business ideas — and invites you to try out a series of imagination games.

12 Minutes | October 25, 2021

Reimagining the Future of Business and Tech

The CEO of Sinovation Ventures shares his thinking and predictions on AI’s potential applications, its social impact, and the regulations required to tame it.

World Economic Forum | July 30, 2021

6 Stages for Fostering and Harnessing Imagination in Companies

While much has been written about innovation and business models, we don’t have a playbook for what lies upstream of innovation: imagination.

Harvard Business Review | June 15, 2021

The Power of Anomaly

Identifying the next big thing is often treated as an exercise in analyzing trends. But that’s misleading. By the time a trend is established and named, any opportunities it presents have probably been captured by competitors. In a new Harvard Business Review article we explain how to spot, understand and exploit “poignant anomalies” that have the potential to become a business opportunity.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 19, 2021

Where New Ideas in Management Come From?

Introducing new management ideas can be a slow process, with plenty of people resisting new ways of working. Christian Stadler suggests four ways to accelerate the generation of new ideas.

17 Minutes | June 16, 2020

The Art of Innovation: a Conversation with Steve Blank

Read our interview with Steve Blank drawing on his forthcoming book about innovation, differences between large corporations and startups, strategic ambidexterity, and the disruption and reimagination of companies in the context of the COVID crisis.

Harvard Business Review | April 10, 2020

We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever

Imagination is one of the hardest things to keep alive under pressure (and especially challenging in today’s environment), but the companies that are able to do so can reap significant value. This article explains why we need imagination more than ever.

BCG Henderson Institute | February 4, 2019

Competing on Imagination

Companies must increasingly compete on imagination, but we don’t have a clear idea of how imagination works or how to systematically improve it. How could we cultivate imaginative capacity, rather than leaving it to chance, intuition, or processes?

Business EcosystemsView All

What are business ecosystems, and how can organizations think about their own ecosystem design, governance, and strategy?

Developing Leaders Quarterly | June 21, 2023

Winning the Ecosystem Game

Orchestrating companies collaboratively lead other companies in digital ecosystems but what does it take to lead orchestrating or participating companies? From our research on the factors which drive the strategic and operational success and failure of ecosystems, we propose the traits, mindsets, and behaviors required of ecosystem leaders.

BCG Henderson Institute | January 9, 2023

Ecosystem Strategies: A Systematic Literature Review

Identifying the guidance from (and gaps in) academic research on business ecosystem strategies for practitioners.

BCG.COM | March 11, 2022

What Is Your Business Ecosystem Strategy?

Drawing on the insights gleaned from three years of ecosystem research, we offer a step-by-step framework for developing an incumbent company’s ecosystem strategy.

30 Minutes | December 9, 2021

Winning the Right Game with Ron Adner

Ron Adner, a Tuck Professor and ecosystem thought leader, discusses his new book, which deals with the intersection of ecosystems strategy and competitive disruption, with Martin Reeves.

MIT Sloan Management Review | November 22, 2021

Setting the Rules of the Road

Good governance is essential to the success of both ecosystem orchestrators and their partners. It is essential to put the right rules in place to orchestrate a platform that creates value for all participants - and helps manage risk.

BCG Henderson Institute | September 1, 2021

How to Benefit From Business Ecosystems If You Are Not the Orchestrator?

The fifth article in a series of publications offering practical guidance on business ecosystems explores how can contributors succeed in business ecosystems.

BCG.COM | April 1, 2021

The Untapped Potential of Ecosystems in Health Care

In business ecosystems, a dynamic group of largely independent partners work together to deliver integrated products or services. While the health care system meets all requirements of a business ecosystem, it is rarely managed as one.

MIT Sloan Management Review | March 9, 2021

How Healthy Is Your Business Ecosystem?

Paying attention to the right metrics and red flags will help leaders sidestep the most common pitfalls in the four phases of ecosystem development.

BCG.COM | February 10, 2021

Building Trust in Business Ecosystems

Winning companies use a multifaceted framework to build trust into their ecosystem operations from the very outset.

35 Minutes | May 28, 2020

The Ecosystem Edge with Peter J. Williamson

Ecosystem Edge focuses on how to start and manage ecosystems. Listen to Peter J. Williamson, professor of international management at the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School and Fellow of Jesus College as he discusses insights from the book, including ecosystem strategy and innovation.

Corporate VitalityView All

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

Fortune | April 5, 2023

Vitality: A Unique Lens for Understanding Companies’ Growth Potential in Turbulent Times

Companies working in climate tech have scored highly in recent years' vitality rankings from BCG and Fortune.

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.

Fortune | April 22, 2021

Inside the Future 50: Why these companies thrived in the pandemic—and could grow even faster coming out of it

What have we learned about what it takes to succeed in crises?

Fortune | February 23, 2021

Inside the Future 50: The 3 Key Traits of Companies that Outperform, Regardless of Industry

The fate of an organization is not predetermined by the industry in which it operates. By fostering the organizational capacity for innovation and reinvention, companies in all sectors can achieve vitality and thrive sustainably.

BCG Henderson Institute | December 3, 2020

The Durable Benefit of Corporate Vitality

Change and uncertainty will surely outlast the current crisis. Companies must continue to build and measure their capacity for innovation and reinvention.

BCG Henderson Institute | October 21, 2019

Achieving Vitality in Turbulent Times

Focusing on long-term growth and reinvention is critical even in the face of short-term adversity. The 2019 Fortune Future index, developed in partnership with BCG, shows which companies are positioned to thrive.

BCG.COM | October 18, 2018

The Global Landscape of Corporate Vitality

As leaders start to plan for the next decade, maintaining vitality — the capacity to explore new opportunities, renew strategy, and grow sustainably — is more important than ever.

BCG Henderson Institute | February 22, 2018

How Vital Companies Think, Act, and Thrive

How can legacy leaders remain vital—to preserve and develop their capacity for growth, risk taking, innovation, and long-term success?

BCG.COM | October 19, 2017

Measuring and Managing Corporate Vitality

Established companies are increasingly vulnerable because of declining vitality — the capacity to explore new options, renew strategy, and grow sustainably.

Strategies of ChangeView All

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

BCG Henderson Institute | August 7, 2023

Directing Corporate Change: Insights from Moviemaking

In this sequel to our work on mastering the science of organizational change, we delve into the realm of moviemaking—an industry relatively successful at repeatedly delivering complex projects—to uncover unique practices that help improve the odds of success in corporate transformations.

BCG Henderson Institute | March 15, 2023

Making Corporate Change Work: Lessons from Superprojects

We attempt to distill the lessons from two truly ambitious projects—NASA’s Apollo program and Pfizer’s Lightspeed project—and show how, to succeed, projects and organizations must resolve the tensions between ingenuity and control.

BCG Henderson Institute | November 19, 2021

Strategies of Change

Instead of defaulting to the standard change management methods, leaders should adopt strategies of change that respond appropriately to the specific characteristics of their change context.

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.

BCG Henderson Institute | October 15, 2020

The Why of Digital Transformation

The technology agenda fits with a broader strategic agenda to embrace and thrive amid uncertainty and complexity, instead of trying to engineer them away.

BCG Henderson Institute | May 8, 2020

Transforming for Growth: An Evidence-Based Guide

Only 27% of transformations lead to growth. How can your organization beat the odds? We found seven factors that increase the chance of a successful growth and value creating transformation.

BCG.COM | July 18, 2019

How Bold CEOs Succeed at M&A Turnarounds

For leaders with strong transformation experience, a slowing economy can be an opportunity to buy troubled assets at a discount and create value by turning them around.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 9, 2019

Winning the ’20s: The Science of Change

There’s no recipe to follow when it comes to transformation. But data and analytics make it possible to decode what works, and emerging science offers lessons that can help business leaders turn change into an opportunity.

BCG Henderson Institute | June 7, 2018

Preemptive transformation: Fix it before it breaks

Should business leaders engage in transformation preemptively or wait for a degradation of performance to trigger change?

BCG Henderson Institute | May 18, 2018

Your Change Needs a Strategy

General advice on ‘how to do transformation well’ risks ignoring this variety of potential change strategies. A better approach is to de-average transformation into its different components and ask, what does it take to succeed in each?

Winning the ’20sView All

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.

BCG Henderson Institute | March 11, 2021

Back to the Future: Resuming the Long Term Agenda for Business

As the post-COVID vista emerges, leaders must shift their attention back to broader and longer-term challenges. By addressing three key themes, they can put their businesses in position to succeed in and shape the new reality.

World Economic Forum | May 7, 2020

5 priorities for leaders in the new reality of COVID-19

COVID-19 requires leaders to respond to a new environment, a new customer, and heightened societal expectations. To address these altered short- and medium-term priorities, we share five leadership imperatives in a new piece.

BCG.COM | April 9, 2020

Leading Out of Adversity

How has COVID-19 changed the priorities for leadership? Rich Lesser, CEO of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Martin Reeves, Chairman of BCG Henderson Institute examine short, medium, and long-term implications for strategy, organization, and leadership.

BCG Henderson Institute | February 19, 2019

Winning the ’20s: The New Logic of Competition

Business leaders accustomed to a world of clear boundaries, familiar competitive arenas, and traditional strategic planning must master new dimensions of competition to succeed in the coming decade.

BCG Henderson Institute | December 8, 2018

Winning the ’20s: A Leadership Agenda for the Next Decade

The winners in business have shifted markedly in the last decade. What will it take to win the 2020s?

Dynamic AdvantageView All

The true test of leadership is continuing to outperform over time. How can organizations build competitive advantage in today’s environment?

BCG Henderson Institute | January 11, 2019

Your Capabilities Need a Strategy

A one-size-fits-all approach to strategy doesn’t work. Use games and neuroscience theories to assess, develop, and deploy the skills each business environment requires.

BCG Henderson Institute | October 4, 2018

Your Strategy Process Needs a Strategy

The process of developing and realizing strategy within a company has remained essentially the same: strategic planning. Leaders need a new toolkit.

BCG Henderson Institute | January 29, 2018

Creating Urgency Amid Comfort

By traditional performance metrics, large businesses are in a more comfortable position now than they have been for several decades but it is important to not get too comfortable.

Harvard Business Review | November 14, 2017

Your Strategy Has to Be Flexible – But So Does Your Execution

A common view of strategy execution holds it’s distinct from strategy, harder to pull off, and more critical to success but such a simplistic view can be misleading.

BCG Henderson Institute | July 18, 2017

Think Biologically – Messy Management for a Complex World

To succeed over the long run, leaders must learn a “biological” approach to management, which acknowledges the uncertainty and complexity of business problems.

TED | September 1, 2016

How to Build a Business That Lasts 100 Years

If you want to build a business that lasts, there may be no better place to look for inspiration than your own immune system.

Harvard Business Review | June 1, 2015

The Self-Turning Enterprise

Wouldn’t it be great if there were an algorithm that could tell you when to develop a new business model or enter an emerging market? Unfortunately, one doesn’t exist. However, it is possible to use the principles behind algorithms to continually retune your strategy and your organization.

TED | December 22, 2014

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

In a business environment that is changing faster and becoming more uncertain and complex almost by the day, it’s never been more important—or more difficult—to choose the right approach to strategy.

Strategies for Multiple TimescalesView All

Businesses and societies today increasingly face the challenge of strategizing across multiple timescales.

BCG Henderson Institute | February 4, 2021

Strategizing and Managing on Multiple Timescales: A Meeting of Minds

To better understand the problem of managing on multiple timescales, we assembled a dozen experts from different fields to discuss examples of multi-timescale problems, common challenges and possible solutions.

BCG Henderson Institute | May 14, 2020

The Challenge of Slow

Companies may be scrambling to deal with rapid global changes, but gradual shifts can also be difficult to navigate. Learn how to think and operate on multiple timescales.

BCG Henderson Institute | April 25, 2020

Fractal Strategy: Responding to COVID-19 Effectively on Multiple Timescales

Companies and governments need to operate on multiple timescales to respond to the biological and economic threat posed by the coronavirus. They need to consider all levels of strategic response—reaction, recession, rebound, and re-imagination—simultaneously. In this piece, we offer the key principles for a multi-timescale strategy.

BCG.COM | March 1, 2019

Fast Execution Needs Fast Strategy

Traditional strategy processes are incompatible with agile ways of working. How can organizations balance autonomy with alignment?

BCG Henderson Institute | July 11, 2018

Competing on the Rate of Learning

To compete on the ability to learn, leaders must reinvent their organizations to leverage both human and machine capabilities synergistically to facilitate learning on all timescales.

Strategic AmbidexterityView All

Very few companies can excel at innovation and efficiency at the same time. How can organizations best balance exploration and exploitation?

BCG Henderson Institute | November 29, 2022

Co-Ambidexterity: A Framework for Winning in a New Era of Competition

Breaking the inherent trade-off between search and execution will require new approaches. We describe one such approach, “co-ambidexterity,” which interweaves firms’ and customers’ search and execution processes.

BCG Henderson Institute | March 12, 2018

The 2% Company

Very few companies can excel at innovation and efficiency at the same time. Of the 2,500 public companies we analyzed, just 2% consistently outperform their peers on both growth and profitability during good and bad times.

BCG Henderson Institute | May 10, 2017

Tomorrow Never Dies: The Art of Staying on Top

It’s harder to stay on top than to get there. How can you avoid the seemingly inevitable and become an “evergreen” corporation?

TED | December 22, 2014

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

In a business environment that is changing faster and becoming more uncertain and complex almost by the day, it’s never been more important—or more difficult—to choose the right approach to strategy.