麦肯锡-处于十字路口的跨国公司：适应新的地缘政治时代（英）

June 2025Geopolitics PracticeMultinationals at a crossroads: Adapting to a new geopolitical eraLeaders of multinational companies are grappling with fundamental questions about how to operate globally in a fragmenting world. The answer lies in reimagining their organizations for an evolving business environment.This article is a collaborative effort by Bob Sternfels, Shubham Singhal, Cindy Levy, Brooke Weddle, and Matt Watters, with Zoe Fox, representing views from McKinsey’s Geopolitics and People & Organizational Performance Practices. Back in 1959, our former colleague Gil Clee cowrote an article in Harvard Business Review that urged CEOs to embrace the challenge of creating “world enterprises.” Given the rapid expansion of international trade taking place at that time, the article advised CEOs “to view [their] responsibility as global in scope … and to organize [their] corporation in such a way that its major decisions are considered and made in the light of world conditions and opportunities.” In the decades since, large corporations have evolved from predominantly domestic organizations with stand-alone international divisions into enterprises with global corporate capabilities supporting multiple geographic or product-aligned business units. In so doing, multinational corporations (MNCs) have been able to harness the best capabilities, assets, and talent across their geographies, delivering significant economic growth and productivity. Today, the morphing geopolitical order is raising cross-border constraints, producing escalating friction for global operators. Leaders of multinational companies now face the challenge of adapting their organizations to fit this fragmenting, complex, and uncertain global business environment. CEOs of MNCs are frequently asking how to reimagine their operating models for the future. While answers vary based on the nature of each business and where it is headquartered, one truth spans all scenarios: The MNC model will need to move beyond enabling growth and efficiency to also embedding the adaptability to capture opportunities and the resilience to withstand geopolitical shocks.Successful MNC leaders will increasingly make business decisions informed by the impact of geopolitics on their strategic priorities. In particular, they need to weigh the implications of ten geopolitical factors, most of which increase the complexity of doing business globally supported by formal governance and organizational structures (see sidebar “The ten geopolitical factors affecting global business”). As the impact of each geopolitical driver unfolds, new norms will in time take form. In the meantime, MNC leaders should prepare for different scenarios stemming from the geopolitical shifts by exploring three fundamental aspects of their organizations: value at stake, governance structure, and organizational structure.The multinational-corporation model will need to move beyond enabling growth and efficiency to also embedding t