The Elusive Goal Of Corporate Outperformance

Many executives focused on growth assume that companies can sustain strong top- and bottom-line performance over long periods of time. McKinsey research, however, confirms that this kind of success is exceedingly rare and suggests that its pursuit can lead executives to set unrealistic expectations. Indeed, a study of large global companies finds that less than 1 percent of them outperformed their competitors on both revenue growth and profitability over a decade.