McKinsey Analysis: 61 Top Growth Firms Beat Crises with Shared Traits

Were you aware that Walmart’s advertising operations contributed approximately 30% to the company’s operating profit in the previous year? Many individuals, myself included, were not even conscious that Walmart maintains an advertising division.

This remarkable statistic, which catches most people off guard, perfectly illustrates the key findings from a recently released McKinsey study. Titled “Inspired for business growth: How five companies beat the market,” this comprehensive report delves deeply into the strategies employed by major corporations to achieve substantial increases in both revenue and profitability over extended periods—a feat that is notoriously challenging to accomplish consistently.

The research pinpointed 61 organizations that significantly surpassed their industry counterparts in performance between 2019 and 2024. Among these standout performers were prominent names such as the investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co., the innovative insurer Progressive, ASML—the leading Dutch producer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment—and Builder FirstSource, a key player in construction materials and services. This timeframe was marked by extraordinary disruptions, encompassing the global COVID-19 crisis, subsequent rampant inflation, and persistent labor market shortages. Despite these headwinds, the top performers on average exceeded their peers’ revenue growth by a striking five percentage points and their profitability metrics by seven percentage points annually. Consequently, they secured a decisive five-point advantage in total shareholder returns, demonstrating their resilience and strategic prowess.

Through meticulous analysis, the McKinsey team uncovered three fundamental attributes shared by all these high-achieving companies, providing a blueprint for sustainable success amid volatility.

Consistent Investment in Growth Regardless of Economic Conditions

The first hallmark is their unwavering commitment to funding expansion initiatives through both prosperous periods and downturns. While this principle sounds straightforward, executing it becomes exceedingly difficult when financial resources are constrained and immediate pressures mount. Nevertheless, these exemplary firms summon the resolve to persist, recognizing that halting investments during tough times cedes ground to competitors who press forward.

Diverse Portfolio of Growth Drivers

Secondly, these leaders cultivate a broad array of growth engines rather than depending on one or two primary sources. Inherent in any innovation effort is the reality that not every initiative will yield success; failures are part of the process. What sets these companies apart is their proactive identification of new revenue streams beyond their traditional core operations. They astutely leverage existing infrastructure, customer bases, and data assets to launch complementary ventures that diversify risk and amplify opportunities.

Leveraging Technology for Accelerated Execution

Thirdly, they harness cutting-edge technology to expedite every aspect of their growth strategies. In an era where artificial intelligence and digital tools are ubiquitous, speed emerges as a critical competitive differentiator. By integrating advanced tech solutions, these firms compress timelines, enhance decision-making, and scale operations more efficiently than their rivals, turning ideas into revenue-generating realities at a blistering pace.

These three pillars circle back compellingly to Walmart’s transformative advertising arm, known as Walmart Connect. This sophisticated platform enables third-party sellers to advertise products available either through the Walmart Marketplace online or within its vast network of physical retail locations. At its core, Walmart Connect thrives on the retailer’s unparalleled repository of consumer behavior data, gathered from millions of daily transactions and interactions. This asset, which many competitors lack, allows for hyper-targeted advertising that drives sales and profitability. Walmart Connect exemplifies how even a behemoth retailer can uncover substantial new growth avenues by creatively repurposing its inherent strengths—data, distribution, and customer reach—without needing to reinvent its foundational model.

Mastering the delicate equilibrium between nurturing the core business and pioneering adjacent opportunities represents the linchpin of enduring success, according to McKinsey senior partner Greg Kelly. In an interview, he emphasized to Fortune that excelling within one’s primary market and category is non-negotiable: “If you don’t grow in your home market, in your core category, you’re highly likely to underperform.” Yet, he stressed that core dominance alone falls short. The real outperformance stems from orchestrating multiple synergistic growth engines, creating a robust portfolio that buffers against sector-specific downturns and capitalizes on cross-pollination effects.

The unprecedented shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vital importance of disciplined, counter-cyclical investing. Kelly noted that while growth rhetoric abounds in corporate boardrooms, translating words into actions during crises separates the elite from the pack. “Everybody says they care about growth,” he observed. “But it’s tough, especially in a time like COVID, which was so impactful to businesses, to maintain that investment through the cycle. Only a third did.” This selective perseverance enabled the winners to emerge stronger, seizing market share from those who retrenched.

At the heart of the McKinsey findings lies a profound insight into the nature of corporate discipline: rigorous commitment to growth investments amid uncertainty. The report’s authors encapsulate this ethos powerfully: “What distinguishes business growth leaders is not better foresight, but greater conviction.” This mindset propels them to allocate capital precisely when doubt peaks, to methodically develop enduring capabilities instead of pursuing fleeting trends, and to approach growth as a deliberate engineering challenge rather than a speculative gamble. Such wisdom merits prominent display in every executive suite, serving as a daily reminder of the disciplined resolve required for market leadership.

Delving deeper into the mechanics, these 61 companies didn’t merely survive the tumultuous 2019-2024 period; they thrived by systematically applying these principles. For instance, JPMorgan Chase expanded its digital banking offerings and investment services, Progressive innovated in usage-based insurance models powered by telematics, ASML invested heavily in next-generation lithography technology despite supply chain disruptions, and Builder FirstSource capitalized on housing demand surges through strategic acquisitions and supply chain optimizations. Each leveraged their unique assets while diversifying into high-potential adjacencies.

Walmart’s trajectory further illuminates these dynamics. Beyond Walmart Connect, the retailer has pursued growth in e-commerce fulfillment centers, health services via Walmart Health clinics, and international expansions. These initiatives, sustained through pandemic lockdowns and inflationary pressures, have compounded to deliver outsized returns. The advertising platform alone, launched relatively recently, now rivals standalone ad giants in scale, demonstrating the potency of data monetization layered atop retail dominance.

Kelly’s observations highlight a common thread: leaders who treat growth as an engineered process build antifragile organizations. They stress-test assumptions with data, iterate rapidly using tech-enabled feedback loops, and maintain investment cadences decoupled from short-term macroeconomic noise. This conviction-driven approach yields compounding advantages, as early movers capture network effects and moats that latecomers struggle to breach.

For fellow executives eyeing similar trajectories, the McKinsey blueprint offers actionable guidance: audit your growth portfolio for diversification, benchmark investment levels against top-quartile peers through cycles, and audit tech integration for speed gains. The era of hoping for favorable conditions has passed; engineered growth demands proactive orchestration across these dimensions.