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Consulting
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Disclaimer
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Any citation from the internet has been acknowledged. This deck is prepared by the
students team at Consulting & Analytics Club, IIT Guwahati.
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©All rights reserved 2020
2
Contents: A Sneak Peek
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
What are Case Interviews?
Analysis vs Insights
Communicating Ideas during a Case Interview
Pareto Principle
Issue Trees, MECE Approach
Strategic Tools
Case Frameworks
Pro tips to an amazing Slide Decks
How to Ace PM Interviews
Previous Years’ Guesstimate Questions asked in the top firms
Further Reading
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What Are Case Interviews?
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4
The tale of Case interviews
STRUCTURED THINKING
Never blurt out random ideas
Interviewers love Structured thinking,
even if the final answer isn’t right.
ANALYTICAL SKILLS
Don’t get stuck on calculations!
Round off numbers, and use them
quickly and efficiently
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KNOWLEDGE
Be prepared with different
frameworks.
Practice a few cases beforehand
and stay updated on industry
news
CLEAR COMMUNICATION
Communication skills would be
of utmost importance
While solving the case, Think Out
Loud!
5
Case Interview Process
Understanding the problem –
Clarification Questions
4-5 Eliminative Case Study rounds
Recommended Preparation Material
Structuring & Analysis
Case Interview Secrets – Victor Cheng
Case In Point - Marc P. Cosentino
IIM A Case Book
HBR Case Book
For
Practice
Key Insights &
Recommendations
Wharton Case Book
A typical case solving process
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6
Interview Mindset
STRUCTURED THINKING
MECE Principle
It covers all the possibilities exclusively
and without missing any (exhaustively).
80-20 RULE
Don’t boil the ocean to get a cup of
warm water
80% of your results come from only 20%
of your efforts
ANALYSIS V/S INSIGHTS
Recommendations are based on Insights
Analysis is that the costs are high while
insight is that it’s due to the surge in fuel
prices
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Analysis vs Insights
Analysis and insights though closely linked are
different.
Analysis is what you conduct to gain insight.
Part 1:
Synthesize &
Structure
Analysis is something you can control, but insight is
something you seek
Part 2:
Communicate
Top-Down
Female work less to generate same output as men is an
analysis, Female are more productive is an insight
Collect
Data
Apply
Analysis
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Generate
Insights
Recommend
8
Communicating Ideas: The Pyramid Approach
Everything
important in
the
introduction
Supporting
logic in
MECE
components
Supporting
data for
each
argument
Introduction: Key Message
Supporting Argument #1
Supporting
Data #1
Supporting
Data #2
Supporting
Data #3
Supporting Argument #2
Supporting
Data #1
Supporting
Data #2
Supporting
Data #3
Supporting Argument #3
Supporting
Data #1
Supporting
Data #2
Supporting
Data #3
Conclusion
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9
Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle states that 80% of your
results come from only 20% of your efforts.
It indicates you need to focus your efforts, and
work harder in the areas that matter most, while
accepting it’s sometimes okay to let the
smaller stuff slide.
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Example-1
80% of a company's profits may
come from 20% of its product
lines.
Example-2
In customer service, 80% of the
complaints come from 20% of your
customers.
10
Issue Trees & MECE Approach
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Issue Trees
• A 'Map' of your problem
• Helps in clear and structured thinking
and solving
• The issue tree and each of its sub-tree
are MECE structures
• It covers all possibilities without going
into every minute detail
• They force you to see whole categories
of ideas you wouldn’t have seen
before.
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Issue 1
Problem
Issue 2
Sub issue 1
(1)
Sub issue 1
(2)
Sub issue 2
(1)
Sub-sub
issue 2 (1)(1)
Sub Issue 2
(2)
12
MECE Approach
Mutually exclusive means that none of the smaller problems in your issue tree overlap with each
other. This ensures that you are working efficiently since there will be no duplicated or repeated
work.
Collectively exhaustive means that the list of smaller problems in your issue tree account for all
possible ideas and possibilities. This ensures that your issue tree is not missing any critical areas to
explore.
This means every “part” of the problem is here and that each “part” is different/independent
from each other.
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Creating Issue Trees
1. Divide and Conquer
Start from the root problem and divide it into sub problems,
keeping in mind that the division is MECE.
For better understanding, Let's take this guesstimate.
Q. Estimate Toll Collection outside Bangalore Airport.
Clarifying Questions:
- Is only Airport Traffic to be considered?
(For simplicity, let us assume only airport traffic)
- Vehicles with monthly/annual passes are also to be considered?
(For simplicity, let us ignore such vehicles in our calculation)
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Creating Issue Trees
1. Divide and Conquer
Start from the root problem and divide it into sub problems,
7am-12pm (2
vehicles/min)
keeping in mind that the division is MECE.
12pm-5pm (0.75
vehicles/min)
For better understanding, Let's take this guesstimate.
Q. Estimate Toll Collection outside Bangalore Airport.
Clarifying Questions:
- Is only Airport Traffic to be considered?
(For simplicity, let us assume only airport traffic)
Toll Collection
5pm-11pm (2
vehicles/min)
10pm-7am (0.50
vehicles/min)
- Vehicles with monthly/annual passes are also to be considered?
(For simplicity, let us ignore such vehicles in our calculation)
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Creating Issue Trees
Cabs (55%)
2. Add mini MECE layers
7am-12pm
(2 vehicles/min)
Two wheelers (5%)
Assuming
Cabs (55%)
Cabs=55% , Personal cars=40%, Two-wheelers=5%
12pm-5pm
(0.75 vehicles/min)
of the total traffic
Since two-wheelers have a very low percentage,
I'm ignoring them in my further calculations.
(Also because there is very limited space here in
the slide for such a detailed tree :p)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Two wheelers
(5%)
Toll
Collection
Cabs (55%)
5pm-11pm
(2 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Two wheelers
(5%)
Cabs (55%)
10pm-7am
(0.50 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Two wheelers
(5%)
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Creating Issue Trees
3. Continue until you reach the result
60% pass
Cabs (55%)
40% no pass
7am-12pm
(2 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Assuming
Cabs
(55%)
60% Cabs, 15% Personal cars have monthly/yearly
passes.
12pm-5pm
(0.75 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
Thus we use the remaining vehicles for our calculation.
Toll
Collection
40% no pass
15% pass
85% no pass
40% no pass
5pm-11pm
(2 vehicles/min)
15% pass
85% no pass
60% pass
Cabs (55%)
40% no pass
10pm-7am
(0.50 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
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60% pass
Cabs (55%)
Personal Cars
(40%)
After getting the total number of vehicles in a day with
no pass, we can get the total toll collection by
multiplying this number by 100
85% no pass
60% pass
Toll prices:
Cabs/Personal Cars- INR 100
15% pass
15% pass
85% no pass
17
Math Trees
Personal Cars
(40%)
Cabs
(55%)
It is because we have a created a Math
Tree!
If your problem is numerical, Math Trees
can make your work very easy!
40% no pass
7am-12pm
(2 vehicles/min)
Did you notice the '+' and 'x' symbols in the
previous Issue Tree?
Math Equations are always MECE! This
property can be used to create Issue Trees
by breaking down next levels through an
equation.
60% pass
Cabs (55%)
12pm-5pm
(0.75 vehicles/min)
Personal
Cars (40%)
Toll
Collection
85% no pass
60% pass
40% no pass
15% pass
85% no pass
60% pass
Cabs (55%)
40% no pass
5pm-11pm
(2 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
15% pass
85% no pass
60% pass
Cabs (55%)
40% no pass
10pm-7am
(0.50 vehicles/min)
Personal Cars
(40%)
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15% pass
15% pass
85% no pass
18
Decision Trees
Decision Trees are just like
regular Issue Trees, but they
add another layer of logic to it:
IF-THEN statements.
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YES
Statement
1
No
Statement
1.1
Statement
2
YES
No
No
Statement
1.1.1
Statement
1.1.2
Statement
2.1
19
“Problem trees” and “Solution trees”
You have a PROBLEM and you want to know WHY it’s happening. Then
you create a tree with all categories of HYPOTHESES of why it
happened.
But you can also use Issue Trees to map out SOLUTIONS.
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20
Let's solve a profitability Case!
Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how
can it be solved?
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Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how can it be
solved?
Low Earnings
Problem Tree
Why low profitability?
High Spending
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Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how can it be
solved?
Less # of orders
Low Earnings
Low item price
Problem Tree
Why low profitability?
Operating costs
High Spending
Material cost
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Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how can it be
solved?
Less # of
customers
Less # of orders
Less orders per
customer
Low Earnings
Low item price
Problem Tree
Why low profitability?
Rental
Operating costs
Staff Salary
High Spending
Electricity
Material cost
Raw materials
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Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how can it be
solved?
Poor Marketing
Less # of
customers
Low
Earnings
Problem Tree
Why low
profitability?
Less # of
orders
Low item
price
Operating
costs
High
Spending
Material
cost
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Poor Taste
Poor location
/ambience
High Competition
Less orders
per customer
Rental
Staff Salary
Electricity
Limited Menu items
High price of items
Salary per staff
Redundant staff
Raw
materials
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Q. A Café XYZ is not profitable. Why is this and how can it be
solved?
Invest in
marketing
Increase # of
customers
Increase
Earnings
Solution Tree
How to
improve
profitability?
Increase #
of orders
Increase
item prices
Operating
costs
Decrease
Spending
Material
cost
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Hire better chefs
Invest in better
location/ambience
Uniqueness factor
Increase orders
/customer
Shift to cheaper
location
Reduce Staff Salary
Avoid electricity
wastage
Raw materials
Increase Menu
items
Maintain reasonable
item price
Decreasing salary per
staff
Firing Redundant
staff
Prevent
wastage
Buy from
cheaper vendor
26
Guesstimate #2
Estimate the number of coloured television sales in
India from Flipkart during Diwali season.
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Guesstimate #2
Assumption 2
Assumption 1
BPL
15% = 6 Crores
Let’s assume that the number of TVs sold
in rural category are 10 %of the total sales
in the urban category.
Lower Middle
45% = 18 Crores
Population
13.5 Crores
Urban
70%
Upper Middle
30% = 12 Crores
Assumption 2
Let’s assume BPL category
can’t afford to buy TVs from
Flipkart!
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Rural
30%
Rich
10% = 4 Crores
Assumption 1
28
Guesstimate #2
Lower middle
Upper Middle
Rich
Population
18 Crores
12 Crores
4 Crores
TV per 4 people
0.8
1.2
2
= Required TVs
3.6 Crores
3.6 Crores
2 Crores
Average Lifetime
7 years
5.5 years
4 years
TV requirement in 1 year
0.5 Crores
0.65 Crores
0.5 Crores
% purchase online
20%
40%
50%
# of online purchases
0.1 Crore
0.26 Crore
0.25 Crore
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Total Online purchases = 0.61
Crore
Taking market share of Flipkart
as 30%,
We get 18.3 Lakhs annual
coloured TV Sales.
Assuming that 40% sales are
during Diwali season,
We get 7.32 Lakh sales during
Diwali for Urban areas. Adding
10% for Rural areas,
=> 8 Lakh Coloured TV Sales in
India during Diwali Season
29
Estimate the revenue of a coffee shop at the
Bangalore Airport on a Monday morning
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30
Calculating backwards
# of active
flights in the
given hour
Let’s assume the
timeframe between 7-8
AM.
Also, consider only sales
in the boarding area.
# of passengers
in the airport
Required no. of
cups
~670
Revenue by all
coffee drinkers
~67,000
Avg. price of 1
cup
Revenue of a
single coffee
shop
Since a metro city,
let’s assume 10
~8
% of active
runways in the
given hour
~960
Capacity of
each aircraft
% of Coffee
drinkers
# of runways on
BLR Airport
Since, it’s a busy
airport, say 80%
Assuming 20 rows
with 6 seats each, it’s
120 seats
Among my friends,
around 70% of them
are coffee drinkers.
Hence, assuming 70%
Let’s assume it to be
100
~8375
# of coffee
shops
~8 is an fair assumption
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Calculating backwards
# of active
flights in the
given hour
Let’s assume the
timeframe between 7-8
AM.
Also, consider only sales
in the boarding area.
# of passengers
in the airport
Required no. of
cups
~670
Revenue by all
coffee drinkers
~67,000
Avg. price of 1
cup
Revenue of a
single coffee
shop
Let’s assume it to be
100
~8375
# of coffee
shops
~8 is an fair assumption
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% of active
runways in the
given hour
Capacity of
each aircraft
Among my friends,
around 70% of them
are coffee drinkers.
Hence, assuming 70%
Since a metro city,
let’s assume 10
~8
~960
% of Coffee
drinkers
# of runways on
BLR Airport
Assuming 20 rows
with 6 seats each, it’s
120 seats
Since, it’s a busy
airport, say 80%
Sanity Check
~8375 INR revenue of a
single coffee shop seems
unrealistic. It’s due to the
billing constraint, shop will
take around 0.5 mins to bill
a single sale & hence not
more than 30 cups are sold
in an hour. Thus, ~3000 INR
!!
32
Few useful terms
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Return on Investment (ROI) is a ratio that
determines the return, from capital invested.
ROI is used to assess feasibility
CAGR
The Compound Annual Growth
Rate (CAGR) is the percentage rate
at which investment must grow in
each year to reach a given end value
over a certain amount of time.
NET PROFIT MARGIN
It refers to the total Net Income
of a company or business line as a
percentage of its Revenue
Profits (Revenue − Costs)
𝑅𝑂𝐼 =
× 100%
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑
1
3
5
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛 =
𝑁𝑒𝑡 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡𝑠
× 100%
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒
𝐶𝐴𝐺𝑅
1
Ending 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑁𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠
=(
− 1) × 100%
𝐵𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
NET PRESENT VALUE
2
BREAKEVEN ANALYSIS
The gist of Break-Even Analysis cases
is that the Fixed Costs—need to be
overcome by making profit from sales
of products.
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Net present value (NPV) is the
difference between the present
value of cash inflows and the present
value of cash outflows over a period
of time.
33
Strategic Tools
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Strategic Tools: Overview
• Strategic Tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SWOT Analysis
PESTEL Analysis
Porter’s 5 Force Analysis
Value chain analysis
Four Corner’s
The Task environment
BCG Matrix
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A great planning starts from analysing the current situation (sometimes
confronting the brutal facts) and building the future upon them.
SWOT Analysis is a great tool to capture the current state of your
organisation!
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SWOT Analysis
Minimizing the W’s and T’s
Internal
The Good
The Bad
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
BUILD
Shore Up
A Holistic View
of the
organization
External
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OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Invest
Build
37
SWOT Analysis
Minimizing the W’s and T’s
Understanding the CURRENT
state using past and current
data so that future plans can be
chalked out.
Analyses whether or not to
embark on a strategy.
It helps in setting of objectives
for strategic planning.
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It helps in identifying core
competencies of the firm.
38
SWOT Analysis
Minimizing the W’s and T’s
• Decide the objective clearly.
• Get on a whiteboard and chalk out a rough analysis.
• Gather data about the current affairs of your company from different
stakeholders and the industry to validate your analysis.
External
Internal
•
•
•
•
Interviewing board members,
executives
Employee Feedback
Customer Feedback
KPI’s
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•
•
•
•
Mega Trends (e.g. Growth of
millennials)
Industry
Market
Competitors Analysis
39
SWOT
SWOT
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
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Strengths
• Globally Iconic Brand
• Customer Loyalty and
Trust
• Staying ahead of current
technology
• Sustainability through
Liam
• Constantly expanding and
quick service.
• Excellent marketing
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Weaknesses
• Higher priced products
• Investigation for unfair
business practices.
• Incompatibility with other
software*
• Entering areas of noncompetency with Apple
Card and failure of Apple
Maps.
41
Opportunities
• Consistently growing
number of customers.
• Highly qualified and
driven professionals.
• Smart Wearable
Technology, AR/VR and AI.
• Expansion of music
streaming services
• Autonomous software.
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Threats
Coronavirus pandemic.
Supply chain disruption.
Counterfeit products.
US-China trade war.
Increasing competition
from Samsung, OnePlus,
Google, Dell.
• Pending Class-Action
lawsuits
•
•
•
•
•
42
Is SWOT enough?
If SWOT Analysis is so good,
should we just stop here?
• The strength of some department of
a company might be a weakness for
some other department.
E.g.: Farm Equipment vs IT
• Is it an opportunity or a weakness??
E.g.: Less Market Share
NOTE: We can further classify into
external and internal to choose
between weakness or opportunity.
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PESTEL Analysis
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PESTEL Analysis
Political
Technological
Political factors such as Govt.
P
policy, Foreign trade policy, Tax
Includes changes in digital
T
transformation, automation and R&D,
Policy, Labour Law
innovation, technological awareness
Economy
Factors such as economic growth,
interest rates, inflation, exchange
Legal
E
L
rates, employment and how they
Employment legislation,
consumer laws, health and
safety, trade regulations,
affect your business i.e. how
copyright & patent laws
profitable they are.
Social
Keep up with the changing family
demographics, cultural trends and
lifestyle changes, age distribution, career
attitudes, Health Consciousness
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S
E
Environment
Climate, recycling procedures,
carbon footprint, waste disposal,
sustainability
45
When do we do
PESTEL?
• Starting a new business
• Entering a new market
• Entering a business with an existing
company.
What does it
explain?
• PESTEL Analysis is the analysis of the
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT of an organization
or business.
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EXTERNAL
ENVIRONMENT
• Macro-environmental factors of a
general environment.
• These factors affect your business
and operations but the effect cannot
be seen the other way round.
• These are generally climate, industry
trends, inflation, etc.
• The company has no say on these
factors.
46
PESTEL
ANALYSIS
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POLITICAL FACTORS
●
●
●
Need to make its stand clear about
driver’s
Insurance
Have to follow minimum wage rules
Have to deal with bans in many
countries
ECONOMIC FACTORS
UBER
●
●
●
Easily accessible
Affordable fare charges
Offers job opportunities, but
pay may not be convincing
SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS
●
User friendly
●
Quick pick up
●
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Gives better ride experience
than taxis.
48
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
●
●
Excellent mobile app for users
Using social media and other electronic
media well for promotion
LEGAL FACTORS
UBER
●
●
●
Need to prevent ban in many
countries.
Need to follow labor and employee
safety laws
Copyright laws need to be looked at.
ENVIROMENTAL FACTORS
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●
Fuel usage may increase
●
Traffic congestion is a concern.
49
Why do we need PESTEL
ANALYSIS ?
40%
01
30%
20%
10%
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Salesforce acquires Tableau in lieu of the
growing admiration for Machine Learning and
Artificial Intelligence.
AWARENESS OF RISKS
02
03
PESTEL Analysis helps us identify the
EXTERNAL factors that affect a company or
organisation
METHOD TO EXPLOIT OPPORTUNITIES
04
Huawei stocking chips and ICs to continue
production after the emergence of trade war
between India and China.
GOOD BUSINESS PLAN
Amazon plans of using drones for
delivery of their product.
PROPER MARKETING
Doritos making ads without their logo to
suit the ad-free movement.
50
Is SWOT & PESTEL
enough?
Do we just stop now, or
did we miss something?
• While SWOT and PESTEL analysis
give us a brief understanding of
what is happening inside the
company and the external
environment, there is another
important component we are
missing out. Let us call it:
Task Environment
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The “Environment”
Understanding the elements of an organizational environment
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POLITICAL
THE ELEMENTS
OF AN
ORGANISATIONAL
ENVIRONMENT
LEGAL
ECONOMIC
Compet
itor
Supplie
rs
Buyers
FIRM
Employ
ees
ENVIRONMENTAL
Stakeh
olders
Interm
ediaries
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL
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The TASK Environment
•The outermost circle
represents the external
environment analyzed by
PESTEL.
•The middle circle
represents the TASK
ENVIRONMENT, which is
affected by both the
company's initiatives and the
external factors and is
analyzed by PORTER’S 5
forces.
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•PESTEL ANALYSIS describes
the external environment for
the organization. There is
little one can do to alter the
external environment.
•On the contrary, the
company can take steps to
alter the TASK
ENVIRONMENT.
54
Porter’s 5 Forces
Understanding the Task Environment
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Why do we need Porter’s 5
ANALYSIS ?
• Understand your industry of
interest.
• Identify attractive vs less
attractive industries/markets.
• Identify opportunities and risks
• How profits within an industry
will be distributed
• Extrapolate industry trends &
anticipate changing trends
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TASK
ENVIRONMENT
57
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The vertical line talks about the
COMPETITORS.
58
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The horizontal line talks about the
SUPPLY CHAIN.
59
PORTER’S 5
ANALYSIS
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Rivalry from existing competitors
HIGH COMPETITION
PRICE WARS
LOW SELLING PRICE, SAME COSTS
LOWER PROFIT MARGINS
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● Large number of players
(Emirates, Delta, easyJet, Etihad)
● Growth: Stagnant
● Fixed Costs: High.
● Diversity of Competitors: Low
● Size of competitors: Similar.
● Switching Costs: High
● Barriers to exit: High
● Brand Loyalty: Medium
OVERALL GRADE: HIGH
61
Threat of New Entrants
ENTRY BARRIERS
NEW ENTRANTS
CAPACITY TO OCCUPY MARKET
SHARE
LOWER PROFIT MARGINS
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Barriers to entry: High
Economies of Scale: Takes time.
Brand Loyalty: Medium.
Capital Needed: High
Govt. Policies: Tough.
Switching Costs: High
Access to distribution channels:
(considering airports) Limited.
● Cumulative experience: Required.
● Innovation: Needed! (easyJet)
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
OVERALL GRADE: MEDIUM
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Threat of Substitutes
SUBSTITUTE PRODUCT/SERVICE
INDIGO v/s AIR INDIA
SUBSTITUTE NEED
●
●
●
●
●
●
Number of substitutes: Medium
Differentiation: Medium
Price of substitute: Changing
Willingness to substitute: Medium
Switching costs: High
Substitution of Need: Low
(hyperloop, bullet trains)
OVERALL GRADE: MEDIUM-HIGH
REDBULL v/s COFFEE
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Bargaining Power of Suppliers
IMPACT OF SUPPLIER:
DEPENDENCE ON ONE SUPPLIER
● Number of suppliers: Low
(For aircrafts, Boeing and Airbus
rule the market)
● Uniqueness of Supplier’s product:
Medium to Low
● Company’s ability to substitute the
supplier: Low
● Switching costs: High
SUPPLIER INCREASES COSTS
OVERALL GRADE: VERY HIGH
LOWER PROFIT MARGINS
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Bargaining Power of Buyers
BUYERS ≠ PASSENGERS
B2B BUYERS INCLUDED
CAPACITY OF CUSTOMER TO
DEMAND BETTER PRODUCT
BETTER QUALITY -> HIGH COSTS
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● Differentiation: Low
(Buyers can compare prices online)
● Switching costs: Low
(Almost zero cost of switching for
buyers)
● Brand Loyalty: Medium
(People are willing to change their
airline for lower costs)
OVERALL GRADE: HIGH
● Some companies have
implemented customer loyalty
programs.
65
Difference between PESTEL and PORTER’S 5
The company can do something about it..!!
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Value Chain Analysis
Delivering the most value for the least cost
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Value Chain: Schematic
Primary Activities
Support Activities
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Primary
• Inbound Logistics:
Getting raw materials from suppliers.
• Operations:
Making of the product.
• Outbound Logistics:
Distribution & Delivery.
• Marketing & Sales:
Presentation of the product.
• Services:
Customer Support, Warranty,
Guarantee.
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Secondary
• Firm Infrastructure:
All management, finance and
legal decision.
• Human Resource Management:
Managing employees and hiring
new ones.
• Technology Development:
Innovation to give an edge.
• Procurement:
Sourcing from suppliers for the
best quality possible.
69
VALUE CHAIN
ANALYSIS
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Primary
●
Inbound Logistics:
Sources it’s vegetables, meat and coffee
from pre-selected, low-cost suppliers.
●
Operations:
Franchise model. 37,000 locations, each
owned by a franchise.
●
Outbound Logistics:
Fast-casual restaurants: Self, drive-through
or counter-service.
●
Marketing & Sales:
Media and print advertising.
●
Services:
High-quality customer services
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Secondary
● Let’s leave this one for
homework..!!
CLUES:
● Hierarchy of McDonald's
executives.
71
Four Corners
Understanding the competitors
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Four Corner’s: Schematic
Motivation
Motivation
Drivers
Current Strategy
GOAL:
Competitor’s Future Strategy
UNDERSTANDING COMPETITORS
Management
Assumptions
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Capabilities
73
Corporate Strategy
Asking the most fundamental questions
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The Pyramid
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Which business should I focus on?
BUSINESS STRATEGY:
How do we compete and gain competitive advantage?
TOOLS: Porter’s 5, Value Chain, etc.
FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY:
How do I support the business strategy?
TOOLS: Marketing, R&D, Technology, etc.
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BCG Growth Matrix
Which business to focus on?
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MARKET GROWTH RATE
The Matrix
● Determines path from startup to
LOW
HIGH
QUESTION
MARKS
STARS
DOGS
CASH COWS
RELATIVE MARKET SHARE
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market leader.
● Company goal: To get a balanced
portfolio of Question Marks, Stars and
Cash Cows..!!
HIGH
LOW
RELATIVE:
Here, we take the market share of
the company with respect to the
company with the highest market
share in the industry.
THE DISTINCTION:
The distinction line is different
across industries, but a general 10%
would be apt.
77
The Factors
COMPANY COMPETITIVE
MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS
RELATIVE MARKET SHARE
MARKET GROWTH RATE
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QUESTION MARKS:
STARS:
●
Low relative market share but high market
growth rate.
●
High market share in fast growing industry,
generating large cash flows.
●
Normally how startups start.
●
Indication of successfully diversified companies.
●
RISK: Might degenerate into DOGS as growth
declines over the years.
●
Once growth rate declines, might change into
CASH COWS!
DOGS:
CASH COWS:
●
Low market share and low market growth,
typically just break-even.
●
High market share in a stagnant market, thus, high
profits.
●
This money could be used for other businesses,
so businesses likely end up
liquidating/divesting.
●
Less growth rate->lower investments.
●
Excess cash to be “MILKED.”
●
Displays balance and stability.
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Applying BCG Matrix on Coca Cola
HIGH
STARS
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HIGH
Its own titular drink is a cash
cow since it experiences low
growth despite its high market
share, a categorization that
makes sense given Coca-Cola's
ubiquity among soft drinks.
STARS
QUESTION
MARKS
LOW
CASH COWS
QUESTION MARKS
Market growth rate
Its bottled water brands
Kinley and Dasani are stars
since they dominate the
market in, respectively,
Europe and the U.S. and show
no signs of slowing growth.
LOW
CASH COWS
DOGS
Diet Coke and Minute Maid are
question marks, as these names
attract a modest audience but still
have plenty of room to grow.
DOGS
Coca-Cola is also a dog, because
legislation against soft drinks –
not to mention public sentiment
turning against them – has
lessened soda sales.
Relative market share
80
Frameworks
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Case Interview Frameworks: Overview
• Profitability
• Market Entry
• Pricing Strategy
• 4P Marketing Mix
• 3c Framework
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Popular Case Frameworks
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Source: IGotAnOffer.com
83
Profitability Framework
• Profitability is a ratio while profit is an
absolute amount
• Profit is simply the difference between
revenues and costs
• Profitability refers to multiple ratios like
the EBIDTA Margin, Net Profit Margin,
Gross Profit Margin
• In essence, profitability is a measure of the
efficiency of a company
• Profit Margins provide a better picture of
the business performance of the company
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Profitability Framework
• Quantitative Method
• Signals – profits, margins, rate of returns, costs, revenue
• Profitability frameworks starts off in the same way as a profit
calculation
• Most frequently used framework
Profit = Revenue - Costs
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Profitability Framework
Unitary Price
Revenue
Sales Volume
Profits
Unitary
Manufacturing
Price
Costs
Fixed Unit
Costs
Variable Costs
Sales Volume
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86
Problem:
A telecomm is facing declining profits. How’ll you
approach this as a consultant?
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Indicator of profitability case
Problem:
A telecomm is facing declining profits.
How’ll you approach this as a
consultant?
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Approach
• We’ll be drilling down both the main branches of revenue and cost
• We’ll continue to pursue until we’re reasonably sure that’s not the
problem.
• We will also switch branches and decide to revisit them later in
case we think that’s not the big factor
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89
Problem: A telecomm is facing declining profits. How’ll you approach this as a
consultant?
Price
Revenues are already increasing
Will revisit later!!
Revenue
(2% increase)
Quantity
Profits
(5% decline)
Installation
Variable Costs
(steady)
Costs
(8% increase)
Fixed Costs
(10% increase)
Customer
Service
Peek hour
Excess Costs
Telecom
Infrastructure
Retail Outlets
Marketing
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Probing Deeper in Telecom Infrastructure Costs..
Installation
Variable Costs
(steady)
Customer Service
Installation
Telecom
Infrastructure
Fixed Costs
(10% increase)
Retail Outlets
(Steady)
Marketing
(1% decrease)
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Cellular Data
Infrastructure(Steady)
Broadband Services
(15% increase)
Due to laying down
of more expensive
Optical Fibre Lines
Root cause
Identified!!
91
Pitfalls
•
•
•
•
•
•
Too quantitative, qualitative aspects can be missed
Requires the use of multiple frameworks at a deeper level of the framework
Chances are interviewer will overwhelm you with data especially in cost side
Requires practice to end a branch at the right time
It is easy to loose the big picture when going for a deep analysis.
For example, we committed a big error in the previous case:
• We didn’t probe a little deeper into the revenue generated despite putting it
off for later.
• It’s possible the revenue increase was due to hike in prices while we are
actually bleeding customers or many other reasons.
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Tips to optimize framework according
For an advertising website,
No. of Visitors * Revenue per
Visitor
makes sense.
For a supermarket, Price*Qty =
Revenues makes little sense.
Break it in
Average Bill Size * No. of Bills
instead!
Say a supermarket has low
inventory, instead of building their
own inventory they could also
partner with external solutions
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Tweaking Branches
to the Situation
Strategic Final
Solutions
For a subscription based company
like Spotify, Revenue per
Subscriber * No. of Customers
is far more useful!
If a workers union is rendering
production unprofitable, you could
outsource it to a different
contractor altogether
93
Market Entry Framework
• Needs to be tailored specifically to the question by the candidate.
• Is it an expansion into a new geographical area? Or is it an expansion into a new
product category?
• Different goals will result in different solutions.
Market Dynamics
We need to analyse 4
broad branches in
order to reach the
results.
Company Capabilities
Company Financials
Possible Strategies
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Market Growth
Market Entry Framework
Profitability
Market
Dynamics
Competition
Regulations/Barriers
Differences b/w current and
old market
Company
Capabilities
Should I Enter the
Market?
Distribution Channels
Experience in Market Entries
Success of competitors in
entering market
Financial Situation of
company
Financials
Cost of entry
Revenue Expected
ROI and Break Even
Direct Entry
Strategies
Acquisition
Joint Venture
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Licensing
95
Problem:
Taco Bell Expanded Rapidly and successfully in
UK. Should they do it in France?
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Approach/ Pre Case Clarifications
Approach –
• We’ll be completely drilling into each branch, one at a time to get a
complete picture.
• Once we obtain a clear picture, we’ll summarise the points and present a
solution in line with the company’s goals
To Clarify • What specifically are the company’s goals.
• What are the core competencies of the company.
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Problem: Taco Bell Expanded Rapidly and successfully in UK. Should they do it
in France?
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time
Market Dynamics
(Fast Food)
Company
Capabilities
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Market
$50B at 12% increase
YoY
Profitability
Rapidly and steadily
growing market
Competition
No Mexican Fast Food
Chains
Regulations/ Barriers
Higher Minimum Wage
Differences b/w current
and old market
18 – 25 traditionally.
Adding 25-30 too.
Distribution Channels
Local Wholesale suppliers.
Delivery traditionally drive
thru, transitioning to sit in
Experience in Market
Entries
Very Successful entering
UK
Success of competitors
in entering market
McDonalds had to shift
focus to larger café area and
seating
98
Problem: Taco Bell Expanded Rapidly and successfully in UK. Should they do it
in France?
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time – Next 2 branches
Financial Situation
of company
Financials
Cost of entry
Average revenue from store
increasing
Infrastructure
Fixed (bulk)
Variable
Revenue Expected
1% of Market as Mexican
cuisine unpopular(500M)
ROI and Break Even
Can’t Say
Direct Entry
Strategies
$11B Revenue, Double Digit
Growth
Marketing
Best Way Going forward
Merger/Acquisition
Joint Venture
Results in Loss of Brand
Value
Re Brand
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99
Problem: Taco Bell Expanded Rapidly and successfully in UK. Should they do it
in France?
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time – Next 2 branches
Financial Situation
of company
Financials
Cost of entry
1% of Market as Mexican
cuisine unpopular(500M)
ROI and Break Even
Can’t Say
Best Way Going forward
Merger/Acquisition
Re Brand
Infrastructure
Fixed (bulk)
Revenue Expected
Joint Venture
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Average revenue from store
increasing
Variable
Direct Entry
Strategies
$11B Revenue, Double Digit
Growth
Results in Loss of Brand
Value
Marketing
Owing to risks, start
with a few
locations in Paris as
it has loads of
tourists and locals.
This will mitigate
any losses.
100
Pitfalls
• Needs to be very well customized to the specific goal.
• Needs high level of business intuition and familiarity with industry
• More on the qualitative side. Business Intuition is necessary
• Results in a very large issue tree and it’s easy to loose track of the
original question.
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101
Tips to Optimize Framework to the Case
• Ask the interviewer some questions which are not directly a part of the
framework, like what’s the vision of the company/How much in control
do they want to be of operations?
• During the final answer try and delve deeper into the strategy for
example by differentiating between franchise and contract
manufacturing under Licensing
• Acknowledge the existing business model of the company.
Suggesting McDonalds (Franchise Based) to go for a direct Investment
entry is not advisable.
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102
Pricing Strategies Framework
• Different goals require inherently different Pricing strategies
• Price Elasticity : The ratio of percentage change in demand vs the unit’s
percentage change in price.
• Product segments often determine the price elasticity dynamics of
every product
Investigating the
company
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Investigating the
product
Investigate the
competition
Decide Pricing
Strategy
103
Pricing
Strategy
Framework
Market Position
Company
Product
Deciding Pricing
Growth
Company’s Position
Leader/New Entrant etc
Company’s Goal
Market Share/ Profits/
Revenue Growth
Difference in Product
Diff in Production
Alternatives (products or
destruction of service)
Diff in Features & USP
Alternate Products
Product Lifecycle Stage
Rendered Obsolete
Foreseeable Supply and
Demand
Price Comparison
Comparable Products
Competition
Maturity Level
Features /USP Comparison
Customer Habits
Price Elasticity/ General
behaviour
Competitor's Costs
Higher/ Lower/Similar
Effect on Competitor’s
Pricing
Drastic Changes/ Hold
Steady
Break Even
Cost Based Pricing
Pricing Strategies
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Cost Price
Profit Margin
Value Based Pricing
What can Customers Pay
Value Levels
104
Business Situation
A formerly Dominant Internet Services Provider has asked for your
help to decide the pricing of it’s new Fiber-Optic Cable Internet
Services to once again have the largest market share in India.
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Situation: A formerly Dominant Internet Services Provider has asked for your help to decide the
pricing of it’s new Fiber-Optic Cable Internet Services to once again have the largest market
share in India.
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time
Market Position
Company
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Quality → Convenience
Growth
Sustained Double Digit
Growth Rates
Company’s Position
Established Declining Player
Company’s Goal
Market Share
Difference in Product
Product
Maturity
Alternatives (products or
destruction of service)
Diff in Production
Negligible
Diff in Features & USP
Very Similar
Alternate Products
Broadband Connections
Rendered Obsolete
New Tech, No Danger
Product Lifecycle Stage
Visionary (2nd Stage)
Foreseeable Supply and
Demand gaps
No foreseeable gaps
106
Situation: A formerly Dominant Internet Services Provider has asked for your help to decide the
pricing of it’s new Fiber-Optic Cable Internet Services to once again have the largest market
share in India.
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time – Next 2 branches
Comparable Products
Competition
Market Leaders offers more
freebies at bit lower cost
Less reliable Internet
Connection
Customer Habits
Tend to Migrate towards
Lower Cost
Competitor's Costs
Fixed Costs Dominate
Effect on Competitor’s
Pricing
Quick response to price
cuts
Cost Based Pricing
Pricing Strategies
What Customers want to
Pay - Lower
Value Based Pricing
Value Levels – By Speed
and data limits
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107
Situation: A formerly Dominant Internet Services Provider has asked for your help to decide the
pricing of it’s new Fiber-Optic Cable Internet Services to once again have the largest market
share in India.
*We’ll be probing two branches at a time – Next 2 branches
Comparable Products
Competition
Market Leaders offers more
freebies at bit lower cost
Less reliable Internet
Connection
Customer Habits
Tend to Migrate towards
Lower Cost
Competitor's Costs
Fixed Costs Dominate
Effect on Competitor’s
Pricing
Quick response to price
cuts
Cost Based Pricing
Pricing Strategies
What Customers want to
Pay - Lower
Value Based Pricing
Value Levels – By Speed
and data limits
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Due to the large ratio of
PE, and little USPs
available with our
product, it is suggested
to lower the price to
attract more customers
in order to offset huge
fixed costs
108
Pitfalls
• Very Qualitative Framework.
• Final answer depends on qualitative analysis of factors which can
differ from person to person.
• Very limited answering capabilities.
• Can’t factor in the cooperative capabilities of multiple offerings of the
company.
• Complex cases like cross selling and partnerships tend to get
overlooked
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Tips to Optimize Framework to the Case
• Align yourself with the interviewer, make sure you both consider the
similar factors to be of higher precedence before giving final answer.
• Ask about cross selling opportunities with other company products.
• Try to get quantitative data wherever possible in the interview.
• Tailor your solution in line with the company’s goals for the product!
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4P Marketing Mix
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Product
What does the customer want from
the product /service?
Quality
Design
Features
Brand
name
Packaging
How and where will the consumer
use it ? How will customers
experience it?
What colour(s),size(s) or so on
should in be?
Does it satisfy your consumers wants and
needs ?
How is it differentiated versus your
competitors
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Place
Location
Distribution
Where do buyers look for your
product and service ?
If they look in a store, what kind? A
specialist boutique or in a
supermarket, or both? Or online?
Coverage
Availability
Assortment
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How can you access the right distribution
channels?
How do your competitors distribute
their products? Is their distribution
system more effective ?
113
Price
Value
Payment
What is the value of the product or
service to the customers?
What discounts should be offered
to trade customers, or to other
specific segments of your market?
Affordability
Discount
Creditors
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Are the customers price-sensitive?
How will your price compare with
your competitors?
114
Promotion
Advertising
Sales
Where and when can you get your
marketing messages to your target
market
Will you reach your audience by
advertising online, in the press, on TV,
on radio, or on billboards? By using direct
marketing mailshots? Through PR?
Public Relation
Promotions
Influence
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When is the best time to promote? Is
there seasonality in the market?
How do your competitors do their
promotion ?
115
Example of 4P Marketing Mix
PRODUCT
PRICE
How does your product meet the
needs of a consumer?
( Features like camera, screen
size, better touch, memory etc.)
Is your price comparable to other
products with similar features ?
If not, then what additional features
do you have and how do you
differentiate from your competitors ?
PLACE
It’s critical to evaluate what the ideal
locations are to convert potential
clients into actual clients.(Now a days
a large segment of potential clients
are engaged and converted online)
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PROMOTION
Promotion for mobile company
could be festival sales and
intensive advertising of features.
116
3C Framework
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Customer
Define your target audience.
Deeply research the type of
customer and their
demographics..
Understanding consumer
behavior, their spending
power, their habits, and
their needs.
Improving consumer
experience by data
collection and analysis.
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What are your target customers,
ideal customers and how are
customers segmented ?
Which customer can improve the
performance of the organization
and who can cause the failure of
the organization.
How much future value will your
customer add to the firm?
118
Company
Learn the company’s vision the
mission, its location and logo.
Analyze pros and cons of
product and services.
Evaluating short term
and long term strategies
to beat competition.
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What are your company’s capabilities
and expertise?
What is your company’s
organizational structure and what
are its values ?
What is its current financial
situation ?
119
Competition
Competitor’s market share and
financial situation.
Their marketing tactics or
access to distribution
channels.
Competitor product or
services.
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What is the market share and growth
potential of each competitor?
How have the competitors
performed ?
Do they have any strategic
advantage ?
120
Pro tips to an amazing slide deck!
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121
Key Principle: Story Telling is the foundation of a good slide deck.
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122
Pro Tip #1: Insert an executive summary of the case
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Executive Summary
• Summarize the story by introducing the client and it’s pain points
• Summarize your solution and the flow of the presentation
• Highlight the key results, including 1 or 2 statistics that drive home the
takeaway message
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Executive Summary
Things that you should summarize
Keep the
whole
thing light
On text &
use icons
Highlighting the key impact generated by you
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Source: CBS Case Library
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Pro Tip #2: User research is too impressive!
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Research
• It’s an excellent practice to collect user
reviews, feedback and surveys while
solving your case.
• You may float a form to collect
answers to crucial questions related to
the problem
• Helps you in creating your strategy
“User Centric”
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Pro Tip #3: Design is your silent ambassador!
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Some Design principles
• Maintain constant formatting in the entire deck
• Keep it light on text!
• Try an use pictures/chart to express your data or ideas
• Keep the content directional
• Use Selective Bolding to stress upon an important term
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Some Design principles
A picture
is worth
1000
Words!!
Use of charts
Is highly
recommended
Source: CBS Case Library
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Pro Tip #4: Don’t forget to include the Appendix
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Pro Tip #5: Mention the source in the footnotes!
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Using footnotes to
mention the source
Including this type of index
on each slide is a great
practice
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How to ace PM interviews
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The “Meta” part
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What does a Product Manager do?
Product manager’s role is User & Product focused. You
can easily find questions based on customer feedback or
How will you improve a product?
A product manager makes around 20-25 calls/week to its
customers to understand their problems and strategizing
a solution to that problem.
Sample Interview question: Uber received multiple
negative reviews regarding surge pricing from it’s users.
How will you address this as a PM?
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A Product Manager is the
intersection between
Business, Technology and
User Interface. A good PM
should be efficient in at
least one, passionate
about all three, and
conversant with
practitioners in all.
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Product Manager as also
Product Owners’ job
includes road-mapping,
prioritization and being
the voice of the
customer. However, the
level on which they do
it is different.
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The PM Roles-Adjacent
Framework
The Core responsibilities
change little from company to
company. Look at the roles in
the diagram which the
company lacks and make an
educated guess on what the PM
role looks like
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What it is
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ownership of products
Empathising with users
Stakeholder Management
First Principles & Structured
thinking
The Product Dashboard
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What it’s not
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Manager
Authority vs Influence
Tech Consulting
The only business role
Strategy role
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PM Vibes
Must Have
-
Ability to influence people
Crafting a pitch, other people want to be a part of
Clear written comm [Not so obvious/easy]
Technical Acumen
Innate Ownership
Impact driven not Interrupt driven
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PM Vibes
Good to Have
-
Business/ Sales/ Operations on the ground experience
Built a product yourself
Aesthetic sense [Not a skill]
Built a Community (Proxy for product)
Reads a lot. ;D
Thinking on toes
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Why Product Management?
The PM interviewer's starter
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The Actionable part
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How do I get shortlisted?
Resume
Deck preparation/aptitude test
Interview
CV Preparation- What type of experience helps?
-
Previous PM intern
Any managerial experience
Projects showcasing problem solving or decision making ability
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How to prepare a deck?
-
User persona/User research- Having the insights of users whose problems
you will be solving is crucial.
Look for problems, not solutions. A very good way to find them is to make
a user flow. Dive deep into every problem/user step.
Decide priority(compare and choosing) of features/solutions that you’re
proposing.
Identify metrics to measure the success of your solution.
Identify trade offs and situations where your solution may not work and
reasons for the same.
Presentation
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User Persona/Research
1.
2.
Define your research Objectives.
Decide the user base and demographics
- Interview for User Persona (ask everyone the same kind of questions)
- Google doc for User Research (should be focused on user & product)
User Persona
User Research
3. Create 3-5 unique and detailed
personas with consistent layouts.
3. Gather data and make sense out of it to fill
in the gaps of knowledge.
4. Emphasize users’ motivation and pain
points.
4. Try to answer the questions in our
Objectives.
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User
Persona
Sample
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User Research Example
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How to prepare for an interview?
Generally asked questions:❏
❏
❏
❏
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❏
Guesstimate
Product/Business case study
Strategy based (New product/ New market/ Growth)
Metrics based
Product critique (Fav. product/ improvement/ design)
Technical round (optional)
- SQL related question
- Techstacks of projects on your CV
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Guesstimate
How many elevators do you need for a 50-story building?
-
Office building
Assuming 120 people/floor, total 6000 people in the building
People get to work between 8am to 9am. Assuming 6000 people come
uniformly in the 60 minutes, i.e 100 people/minute
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No. of elevators required for a 50 storey building
-
We don’t want people to wait for more than 20 seconds, i.e 33 people wait for each batch
of 20 seconds
-
Assuming each floor is 3 meter high and speed of elevator is 5m/s
Also let’s say the elevator stops 12 times each for 20 seconds on its way up
-
At 5m/s, 150m tall building will be covered in 30 seconds. Total time to reach the top= 30 +
240 = 270 seconds. Let’s say it takes half the time to get down in morning, i.e total of 6.75
minutes (270 + 135 seconds)
-
Let’s say each elevator can contain 10 people. It would take 3.3 (33/10) elevators to
transport first batch. Since 6.75 minutes would’ve passed before the first set of 3.3
elevators return back, we’ll need a total of
67 {(6.75 x 60/20) x 3.3} elevators.
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Product/Business Case study
You’re a Product manager in Swiggy and the CEO comes to you and
says,
“The average revenue per user is decreased by 5% this week,
what might be the reason for this? (Propose solutions for the
same)”
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Swiggy: User flow
Use Sign up/in
Chooses
food and
Sets delivery
restaurant
address
Order
pickup
Payment
confirmed
What might have gone
wrong??
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Metrics based question
What metrics will you use to check the success of
Instagram Reels?
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Instagram Reels
The basic metrics for
measuring success of any
product are:1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Awareness (Discovery)
Acquisition
Conversion
Engagement
Retention
Monetization
- Lead time before discovering
- Net Promoter score
- App installs
- Bounce rate
- Click through rate
- Avg no. of reels/user
- Avg session time/user
- DAU/MAU
- Traffic (Organic/Paid)
- Retention rate cohort
- Churn rate
- App uninstalls
- Average revenue per user
- Monthly recurring revenue
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Product Critique
How would you improve Linkedin?
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Ask the right questions.
What are the metrics of improvement?
Is it the App/ Website that we are optimizing for?
What are the constraints to be aware of?
What are our business goals for the improvement?
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Product Critique
Improving Engagement on LinkedIn mobile app,
Where Engagement = Avg posts created per user per
day/month
Move the metric by 5% over the quarter
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Product Critique
Who writes posts? Get the use stories right
User personas
JTBD Framework
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Product Critique
Prioritise 1 user story
College students want to share their upskilling experiences
with their Network
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Product Critique
And finally come the solutions!!
1.
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Linkedin Campus Editor
2. Featured editorial
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Product Critique
Prioritise the Solutions, Yes again.
Impact vs Effort
RICE: Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort
-
-
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GUESSTIMATES’ BANK
A sneak-peek into what the top companies ask
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Guesstimates from: BCG Interviews
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How many Pay-phones are there on the Island of Manhattan?
How many hotel-sized mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner are produced
each year around the world?
How many people in Uganda have no access to Electricity?
How Many Mazda Dealers Are There in the U.S.?
How to Estimate the Size of Chewing Gum Market in the U.S.?
Describe how you measure the average time taken to queue at an airport
check-in counter?
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Guesstimates from: Bain & Co.
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Guesstimate the number of laptops in working condition in Delhi right now.
Calculate the number of watches that people currently own in Delhi region alone.
How many cups of tea are sold in all of India every week?
Estimate the number of flying cars that would be sold in 2025!
How Many Penguins Can Live in Antarctica?
Guesstimates from: Oliver Wyman
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How many miles of road are there in the United States?
How many people are in the air of U.K. Right Now?
How many liters of petrol a petrol pump sells per Day?
(* Question altered from gallons to liters for ease of understanding)
How Many Songs Are Stored on iPods in the UK?
How many words are there in the daily edition of The Times?
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Guesstimates from: McKinsey Interviews
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Estimate the colored TV sales for Flipkart during Diwali season (in India).
Estimate toll collection outside Bangalore airport (in a week on average).
Estimate the annual logistics cost for Flipkart (in India).
How much change would you find on the floor of an average mall (today)?
How many second hand wedding dresses are sold in the UK each year?
Guesstimates from: Wall Street Firms
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If I were to fill this room with pennies, how many pennies would fit in?
What is the size of the market for disposable diapers in China?
How many Delta Airlines planes will take off in the next hour in United States?
How many gas stations are in North America?
Estimate the annual revenue of Tropicana's orange juice division in the U.S.?
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Guesstimates from: ZS Associates
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Estimate the size of diaper market in India.
Estimate the number of traffic lights in Patiala.
How many kilograms of chicken is sold in your city per annum?
How many cricket bats are produced (in India annually)?
What is the number of mobile phones used in the world?
What is the market size of blue car in your native city?
How many cricket balls will fit into a Boeing 747?
Estimate the revenues of any outlet of Haldirams in 1 day.
Estimate the number of ATM machines in Delhi.
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Guesstimates from: Other Consulting Firms
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Estimate the average revenue of DTC buses in a day. (KPMG)
How many gallons of ice cream are sold in the United States each year? (PwC)
How Many Basketballs are Purchased by NBA Each Year? (Accenture)
How Much to Pay for the World’s Only Dinosaur? (Accenture)
Estimate the number of customers Flipkart gained due to the Big Billion Day sale.
(Accenture)
How Much Paint Does It Take to Paint United Airlines’ Fleet? (Capital One)
Number of Medium size industries in Mumbai? (Deloitte)
How many individual French fries does McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) sell in the United States
each year? (Roland Berger Strategy Consultant)
How Many Cats Are There in the United States? (Advisory Board Company)
How Many Piercings Are Done in India in a Year? (Capgemini Consulting)
What Is Market Size of Hand Knitting Yarn in the U.S.? (E.Y. Advisory)
What is Annual Demand for Natural Gas in India? (A.T. Kearney)
How Many Airplanes Are Over the U.S. at Any Given Time? (FTI Consulting)
How Many Taxicabs Are There in New York City? (Mercer)
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Guesstimates from: Software Companies
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How Many Beer Bottles Are in Circulation in the U.S.? (IBM)
In the United States, how many people are in the air right now? (IBM)
How Many Golf Balls Can Fit into a School Bus? (Google)
How Many Dogs Are There in the United States? (Google)
What Is Annual Demand for Sugar in the United States? (Applied Predictive
Technologies)
Can you guess the size of the grocery market in India? (Flipkart)
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FURTHER READING
Sealing the deal
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Consulting
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Book: Case Interviews Cracked (Saransh Garg, Sankal Kelshikar)
Book: Case Interview Secrets (Victor Cheng)
Book: Case In Point (Marc P. Cosentino)
Website: Crafting Cases
Website: caseinterviewsecrets
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Books you should read for Case Interviews
For Interview Preparation
To know more about the PM role
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Next Steps….
Keep the fundamentals strong
Practice with peers
Research about the firm you’re applying for
Keep up with the industry news and a few demographics
Reach us at [email protected] for any doubts/clarifications
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Thank
You.
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