Strategy and Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance - Hardcover

Koller, Tim; West, Andy; Zimmerman, Whitney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1394437676 ISBN 13: 9781394437672

Publisher: Wiley, 2026

Synopsis

For 30 years, McKinsey's Valuation has taught leaders how to measure value. This book shows how to create it.

Strategy & Value: The Four Foundations That Drive Long-Term Performance is the executive's companion to Valuation. It’s a guide to the strategic decisions that promote exceptional, lasting value creation―from the firm that has advised more CEOs on strategy than any other.

Strategy should be getting better. Leaders have never had more frameworks, tools, and data to work with. Yet only one in five executives say their strategies would pass a rigorous test of quality, a 40 percent decline over 15 years. Meanwhile, the gap between economic profit winners and losers has been widening.

Why do some companies succeed while others lag behind? The winners focus on fundamentals that don’t change even when everything else does. This book distills those fundamentals into four foundations and shows how grounding strategy in them unlocks the bold, distinctive choices that build long-term value, even as artificial intelligence and geopolitics shake the business world. In this book, you’ll learn:

• Why most strategies fail the value test―and how to know whether yours will
• How to have the debates that matter: which businesses to own, what to acquire, what to divest, when to return cash
• How to lead through uncertainty―including how to apply timeless principles of value to AI
• How to make strategy an institutional discipline, not an annual event

Written for executives, board directors, founders, and investors, Strategy & Value is the book to read before your next big strategic decision―and to put in the hands of every leader coming up behind you.

When everything changes, the fundamentals don't.

About this title

About the Author

TIM KOLLER is a partner emeritus at McKinsey who focuses on value creation across industries and geographies. Over 39 years at the firm, he built many of McKinsey’s value creation capabilities and is an author of all eight editions of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies.

ANDY WEST is a senior partner at McKinsey and global coleader of its Strategy and Corporate Finance practice. In this role, he directs McKinsey’s strategic advisory work on corporate finance, value creation, and capital allocation for organizations across sectors and geographies worldwide.

WHITNEY ZIMMERMAN is McKinsey’s first distinguished expert in strategy. He leads its research and advisory on the capabilities of strategically effective organizations and on the role of the strategy leader. Before joining the firm, he spent nearly a decade in engineering and manufacturing.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR STRATEGY AND VALUE

“There’s more data and more noise than ever, and it’s easy to lose sight of the fundamentals. Strategy and Value cuts through it and grounds leaders in what builds durable value over the long term.”
―ED BASTIAN, CEO, Delta Air Lines

“Strategy and value are often treated separately, yet effective executives and investors know they are inseparable. With vivid stories and grounded data, Strategy and Value shows how the two work together and why that connection matters. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to create sustainable, long-term value.”
―MICHAEL MAUBOUSSIN, Head of Consilient Research for Counterpoint Global, Morgan Stanley

“At a time when leaders have more tools and analysis than ever, Strategy and Value provides a practical framework and a powerful reminder that smart choices, disciplined execution, and a long-term orientation drive superior performance and enduring benefits for all stakeholders.”
―MICHAEL FISHER, former CEO, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

“The most enduring companies are built with purpose and sustained with discipline over decades. Strategy and Value gives leaders rigorous foundations for creating value that lasts.”
―ALEX GORSKY, former Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson

From the Inside Flap

As AI transforms the way the world does business, a firm grasp of how strategy creates value is becoming more important, not less. In Strategy and Value, McKinsey distills decades of advisory work and research, insights from the eighth edition of its acclaimed Valuation handbook, and broader scholarship into memorable, actionable management practices for leaders at every level.

Strategy and Value grounds readers in four foundational concepts:

• Drive value through return on invested capital and revenue growth
• Manage for the long term rather than the short term
• Harness the attractiveness of the markets you choose to compete in
• Build true competitive advantage

The book demonstrates how each foundation shapes real strategic decisions across an organization.

The authors also explain how the four foundations apply to the challenges executives face today, from AI and corporate stewardship to M&A and managing investor expectations. A candid examination of stock market myths, the biases that distort decision-making, and the work of mobilizing an organization to execute strategy equips leaders to confront the organizational realities that often undermine value creation. Practical applications throughout bring theory to life and provide clarity on what works and why.

Written for anyone who influences an organization’s strategy―from CEOs and CFOs to leaders in strategy, finance, product, and operations―Strategy and Value offers a focused and rigorous resource for using strategy to unlock long-term performance. Whether evaluating capital allocation priorities, assessing potential acquisitions, or setting broad organizational direction, readers will find an evidence-based guide for grounding every strategic choice in the foundations that enable strategy to create exceptional value.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1394437676
• ISBN 13: 9781394437672
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400