CONSULTING
CASEBOOK
Indian School of Business
Co’21 EDITION
Introducing Consulting Clubs Co’21
HYDERABAD
President: Abhisar Garg
Vice President: Gayathri Ramesh
Marketing & Communications: Pulkit Bhardwaj
Alumni Relations: Kanwar Singh, Anmol Bansal
Learning & Development: Bhavika Bhargava,
Sutej Shekhar
Careers: Keshav Khemka
Events: Surabhi Prakash
From the President’s Desk | Hyderabad
Hi aspirants!
It gives us immense pleasure and pride to present the ISB Consulting Casebook 2021 edition. While we
revamp the look and feel of the document for the first time in 15 years, we are adding on to the legacy passed
to us by our ISB Alums. This book rightly captures the essence of how class of 2021 prepared for and cracked
Consulting interviews.
Please use this book as a one-stop resource for your Consulting and Strategy interview preparations. It covers
multiple domains, and some sections are even relevant for Product and General Management interviews.
While ISB can throw a lot of resources at you, stick to top one or two, and you shall easily sail through.
I request you to always remember how your ISB peers and the vast alumni network are readily at your
disposal, leverage them as much as you can. Be it resume preparation, mock interviews, or career guidance,
class of 2021 will always be happy to help you out.
Best wishes,
Abhisar Garg
President, Consulting Club’21, ISB (Hyderabad Campus)
Introducing Consulting Clubs Co’21
MOHALI
President: Shivam Singla
Vice President: Ketan Goel
Marketing & Communications: Sambhav Raj
Alumni Relations: Harshil Kathpalia, Sukriti Handa
Learning & Development: Sarthak Agrawal,
Yaman Arora, Pritam Roychaudhuri
Events: Keshav Goyal
From the President’s Desk | Mohali
Hey aspirants,
Passing on the legacy of Consulting Club, we present the revamped Consulting Casebook 2021.
Resonating with Abhisar’s points, please leverage this book as the guiding light towards cracking the
coveted consulting & strategy roles.
During the next 2-3 months of your case prep, as you stumble upon tons of resources – always remember
to be ‘smart’ about your preparation and fall back to this book for any clarifications. The extensive case
frameworks and ‘interview experiences’ section towards the end will help you understand where your
prep needs to be when the D-day arrives.
As always, feel free to reach out to your friends and alums in this exciting journey. Class of 2021 will
always be at your disposal!
Best wishes,
Shivam Singla
President, Consulting Club’21, ISB (Mohali Campus)
01
02
03
UNDERSTANDING
GUESSTIMATES
TYPES OF CASES
CO’21 INTERVIEW
EXPERIENCES WITH
SOLUTIONS
01
UNDERSTANDING
GUESSTIMATES
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Guesstimates
Several ways to solve a guesstimate – process/ rationale for solution is more important than the solution
Critical
Structured thought process
Logic and Rationale
Comfort with basic Math and numbers
Communication skills
Important
Articulation of
assumptions
(general observations,
industry knowledge)
Ability to think on one’s
feet
Asking for help
Others
Hygiene checks
Basic understanding and
common sense
Types of Guesstimates
General Estimates
▪ Top-down approach: Use main equation as the
starting point and split it into sub- parts
▪ Bottom Up: Use a section to extrapolate the
whole (applicable when there are constraints on
the number to be estimated)
Market Sizing
Data Driven
▪ Set of data is provided
▪ Understand and absorb all data before
attempting a solution
▪ Do not make assumptions in case data is missing
▪ Take hints for segmentation from the given data
Abstract Estimations
▪ Do not follow a particular structure
▪ Estimate the currency value or unit volume
of the market
▪ Not frequently asked but good to practice
▪ Estimate price and quantity to get the final
market size
▪ Break the problem into smaller pieces and
▪ Can use top down and bottom-up
approach simultaneously
▪ Frame an equation(s) to solve the estimate
solve accordingly
Stepwise approach to solve Guesstimates
Define the problem
Construct & deconstruct the problem
State assumptions and solve
1. Define the problem as
granularly as possible
4. Express problem as an equation or set
of equations
8. Clearly state assumptions and
proxy information to be used
2. Confirm understanding
with the interviewer
5. Construct the problem from a larger
point of view
9. Use logical justification to
substantiate all assumptions/
proxies
3. Make modifications, if
required
6. Deconstruct the problem into specific
sub- components
7. Make minor corrections/ adjustments
towards the end
10. Plug information into the
main equation and solve
Illustration – Gold Flake Cigarettes
Estimate the demand for Gold Flake cigarettes in Mumbai.
▪ Preliminary Questions (not exhaustive) –
Q: Do we have any information on the market share of Gold Flake in Mumbai?
A: It is similar to that of Delhi and Bangalore. Assume it is 20%.
ATTEMPT ONCE YOURSELF WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE
SOLUTION!
Illustration Solution
Demand for Gold Flake
= No. smokers in Mumbai x Packs consumed/day x Cigarettes in a pack x Days in a year x Market share of Gold Flake
Mumbai Population = 20Mn
% of smoking age = 75%
=0.75 x 20 Mn = 15 Mn
% of smokers = 50%
= 50% x 15 Mn = 7.5 Mn
(Rounded off to
nearest million)
% of non-smoking age =
25%
% of non-smokers = 50%
▪ Packs consumed per day = 1 (assumption)
▪ Cigarettes in a pack = 10 (assumption basis general observation)
▪ Days in a year = 365 ~ 400 (for calculation convenience)
▪ Market share of Gold Flake is similar to that of Delhi & Bangalore ~ 20%
Demand for Gold Flake = (7.5 x 10^ 6) x 1 x 10 x 400 x 0.20 = 6 billion
Rounded off to nearest ‘00
TYPES OF CASES
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
02
Case interviews
●
●
●
●
A case interview is a simplified, condensed version of a complete consulting project. The candidate
(interviewee) is in the driver’s seat and is expected to explore the data and provide solutions to a
problem statement that a client gave to the interviewing firm.
The case interview is an example of a real business problem based on your interviewers’ past work
experiences. The problems you will encounter are not designed to be brain teasers, or theoretical
problems designed to stump you, but rather to reflect the challenges that our clients face. These reallife examples allow you to learn more about the type of work we do and the impact the firms deliver to
their clients.
The general flow of a case interview is as follows –
○ Scoping
■ Understand and clarify the objective
■ Gather preliminary information (maybe through 5Cs - Company, Collaborators, Customers,
Competitors, and Context)
○ Breaking the problem down to small parts and diagnose the issue
○ Provide recommendations in a structured format
There are multiple types of cases, but the interview can be mixture of many of them.
Profitability
Market Entry
Mergers &
Acquisitions
Private Equity
Growth (1/2)
Growth (2/2)
Pricing
Sales Force
Important tools – Value Chain
Primarily Activities
Support Activities
Firm Infrastructure
Human Resources
Technology Development
Procurement
Inbound
Logistics
Operations
Outbound
Logistics
Sourcing and
Procurement Systems
Suppliers’
Suppliers
Marketing
& Sales
INDUSTRY VALUE CHAIN
Suppliers
FIRM
Service
Customer
Relationship Management Systems
Distributors
Customers
Important tools – PESTEL
03
CO21 INTERVIEW
EXPERIENCES WITH
SOLUTIONS
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Accenture
Strategy
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
HR
Round
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Eshita Singh| Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Personal Interview Questions
Previous work experience; Discussed the most important projects I have worked on in detail - How the projects benefitted the client,
Discussed the academic section of my resume; Any stakeholder management which I have done at work
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
A detailed user journey for an implementation project I mentioned & the business impact of our solution for the client & their
customers
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Personal Interview Questions
Questions regarding my work experience, Salesforce platform and my academic background
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Do not put numbers in your resume, which you cannot justify
Personal Interview Questions
Just a conversation on my location preference and whether I am wiling to relocate
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Mayank Singhal | Designation: Consulting Analyst, India Business Unit
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me something about yourself; Questions around my work with ZS Associates
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Market Sizing for a pharma drug
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
Mentioned the different analytical techniques used in sizing
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Asked a few questions to the interviewer about the distribution of his time spent with pharma clients
Personal Interview Questions
Interviewer talked about my work with a non-profit organization; My prior experience of working with clients, Challenges faced
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
Your friend is launching a "Masala Chaas" drink; How much quantity should he make in Year 1? How? Where to sell?
Scoping Questions
Clarifying questions - Competitors; Region in which it will be sold; Cost and Selling price
Breaking down the problem
How much to make? - Did a guesstimate for the quantity sold; Interview said the target region is Maharashtra; How and Where to sell?
- It was a low margin and high-volume product
Final Recommendations
I suggested to develop a sales force to sell in retail shops and restaurants initially; gradually increase the product portfolio and move
online (BigBasket)
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
This was the final round; The ability to remain calm and engage the interviewer in the conversation was important
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Minal Rahar| Designation: Consulting Analyst, India Business Unit
Personal Interview Questions
Introduction, Some questions around work experience
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
Client is a home textiles (towels and bedsheets) company based out of Mumbai and is the largest exporter of home textiles. They are
performing well in the B2B space and want to venture into the B2C space. The target is to grow by 10x in next 3 years.
Scoping Questions
Product Lines: Mass sheets segment, both value and luxury; Market: 70% private, 20% mass; Current state of B2C: Small website in
India, Presence in US, UK & China where 2-3 big players control 60% market; Comp. Landscape: India - fragmented with 100+ players.
Breaking down the problem
The interviewer wanted to focus on how to launch (channel etc.) first > Divided the case into two phases - 1. Launch Strategy (4Ps) & 2.
Marketing strategy on the identified launch channel e-commerce on four pillars (Product Supply, Listing, Visibility and Promotions)
Final Recommendations
Interviewer had closed the case after discussing the launch strategy
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
(1) The case was interviewer led and he was more interested in knowing the thought process (2) He liked that I was modifying the
approach based on the cues given by him
Personal Interview Questions
Introduction, Questions related to resume points (mainly from the points related to analytics)
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) Industry client involved in building metros, commercial buildings, etc. They want to
improve the profitability by 10%.
Scoping Questions
Geography - Based out of India; Business segments - equally split between metros and commercial; Revenue stream - simple
commercial buildings (pay later model); Competitive landscape - 2nd largest player in India
Breaking down the problem
Broke down profitability into revenue and costs > Was asked to focus on reducing cost > Defined value chain > Was asked to focus on
procurement > Raw Material (out of RM and Inbound Logistics) > Steel (asked the interviewer about RMs in terms of cost).
The case boiled down to reducing the cost of steel using analytics. Broke down Buying into Ordering (Placement, Demand Prediction),
Transportation, Inventory/Warehousing, Other costs.
Final Recommendations
Discussed multiple ideas under each of the buckets
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The case was open ended and the interviewer just wanted to know the thought process
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself. 1. Why do you like Finance? 2. What are your major takeaways from Finance courses at ISB? 3. We think you'll
be a better fit for a strategy role than a finance role, what do you think? 4. Some questions about my previous work experience
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Was not able to convince him that I liked the finance role more - my next round was with CEO enterprise strategy vertical
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Profitability, Market Entry, Guesstimate
Problem Statement
1. An automobile manufacturer is facing a decline in sales in the past 2-3 years. Diagnose why & recommend ways to increase sales
2. A tobacco manufacturing company has witnessed a shift in consumer behaviour & decline in sales. They are contemplating
entering the F&B market. Suggest top 2 categories. (Only had to mention the different aspects to explore)
Scoping Questions
1. (a) Region of operation? - India (b) Countrywide or region specific? – Gurgaon (c) How many models of car do they sell & which
particular model is leading to this decline? - Assume one model (d) Company or industry problem? - Just our client, competitors are
gaining market share (e) Revenue sources? (listed down my ideas on possible sources) - Assume only car sales
2. Listed down factors to be considered
Breaking down the problem
1. Sales = # customers buying cars from dealership x Avg. # cars bought per customer (Assumption: One car purchase per visit) > # of
buyers have declined > # buyers = # customers coming to showroom x Conversion rate > Conversion rate has declined > Possible
reasons - Employees (Trained enough? Change their hiring process?), Process (Change in selling process? Customer service? Postsales services?), Technology
2. Industry attractiveness of F&B > Growth? Competitors? Barriers to entry? Regulatory concerns? > Market size > Operational viability
– Ease of getting suppliers? Existing manufacturing capacity or capability? Current distribution channels? Synergies? > Financial
viability - ROI or payback period?
3. Interviewer further asked to size the market for "packaged namkeen packets" (only key factors to be considered) - # Indian
households, Income bracket (based on price - whether it is a premium packaged product), Frequency of purchase, there may also
be some regional variances, which are not accounted for here
Final Recommendations
Short term: Hire more temporary employees; Long term: Invest in training, bundle with maintenance contracts to attract more
customers
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Since it was a telephonic interview, I couldn't really understand their reactions. For example: During the second case, I was doing of
the talking, I should have included them more in the conversation than just list down all factors one after another.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Prachi Verma| Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Round 3
Candidate name: Prachi Verma| Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
1. Help our client, a publishing company, estimate the revenue potential in year 1 on launching a men's health magazine.
2. After the guesstimate was done: What are different tech-focused initiatives that the client would need to look at?
Scoping Questions
What does the publishing company publish currently? Are they into magazines/novels/newspapers? – Magazines - women's health
and Bollywood; It is a fragmented market
Breaking down the problem
1. Revenue = Market size x Market share x Price > Price - Rs. 1000 for subscription, Rs. 100 for single issue >> Market size - Indian
population -> Male > Urban > Income, > Age brackets - 15-40 would be target market >> How many magazines would they buy
(assume 50% subscription, 50% single issues) > Assume market share captured in year 1 is 10% - would be affected by factors like
competitors, distribution channels, availability, marketing etc.
2. Categories of tech-focused initiative: Acquisition (Targeted advertising, dynamic paywall, efficient payment gateways) Retention
(App/ Website development, Recommendation systems, predictive analytics to reduce churn etc.) and Shared services (ERP
systems at work, collaboration platforms, data servers, forecast demand, optimizing distribution etc.)
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer questioned each of my assumptions a lot. For example: How many would subscribe? - Is there a proxy that we can
look at? - We can look at gym subscriptions/ subscriptions for other health products like whey protein etc.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Sai Sharanya Reddy Gopu | Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell us about yourself (2) Why Accenture (3) Why this role?
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Estimate the # of Zomato deliveries in Hyderabad in a day
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me about yourself (2) Why you for this role ? (3) What is your GPA (sounds weird but yes I was asked this :P)
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
Tata Housing wants to enter the cheap Housing market in India. It is evaluating 3D Printing technique for the same. Evaluate the
feasibility and suggest GTM Strategy.
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Saumya Upadhyay | Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Personal Interview Questions
-
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
Devise an action plan for a CEO of a small bank who wants to improve the ranking of his bank to list it within top 5 banks in India.
Scoping Questions
Bank 's current ranking? Competitors? Bank's offerings? Does the bank have a digital infrastructure? Focus on profitability or costs?
Breaking down the problem
Solved for profitability: Revenue - IR + Non- IR branches > IR = Loan amnt * Int. yield * # customers; Costs - Operating, Customer
Service, Interest & Provisioning Costs > Operating costs - physical & digital infrastructure.
Was asked to focus on loan approval processes & digital infrastructure; Current process – Manual? In line with top banks in the
market? Interviewer mentioned bank is looking to build the process capabilities & asked to perform a cost benefit analysis ->
Mentioned costs and revenues from building digital capabilities
Final Recommendations
Asked him about the structure of capital markets team and different kind of projects taken up by the team
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer liked the split and the structure and found it to be comprehensive. Other than the case, he asked me a lot of
questions around portfolio management and financial jargons.
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
It was a 40 min stress interview. Questions were asked from the major concentrations I intended to pursue.
Problem Statement
1. CFIN concepts - WACC, cost of equity & related calculations, yield curve interpretations
2. Three recommendations I wish to propose to Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance Minister)
Breaking down the problem
1.
Final Recommendations
2.
3.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Collaboration of Neobanks with traditional banks that could mutually benefit each of them > Neobanks could leverage the large
customer base that traditional banks have, & traditional banks could re-engineer their processes with the help of Neobanks
Solvency of IBC to support SME’s > Since government is anyways setting up a bad bank for NPAs, they could absorb the hits for at
least a year till the pandemic settles down
Was not able to think of a third recommendation
He wanted to stress me out a bit so made a few comments such as an actual scenario would not give me the liberty to say only two if
I was asked three. He also asked me why all my recommendations were around banks. I told him smilingly ,' That's the only industry I
have worked for’. I could have brushed up some topics from the core courses.
Round 1
Candidate name: Sonal Gulati | Designation: Consulting Analyst, Capability Network
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
If your fellow ISB cohort member has invented a time machine and there are no supply constraints (you can manufacture as many as
you want tomorrow), what would be the implication on the world and especially in telecom?
Scoping Questions
Breaking down the problem
Apply PESTEL framework
Final Recommendations
Round 2
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
What's the difference between 4G and 5G?
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Alvarez &
Marsal
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 1
Candidate name: Srikaanth Srinivasan | Manager – Turnaround & Performance Improvement
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Service Operations
Problem Statement
Service rate at a Service Center dropped; Need to analyze the situation and give recommendations
Scoping Questions
Ask interviewer whether the problem is supply side or demand side
Breaking down the problem
Follow MECE approach and analyze supply side and demand side possibilities of the problem
Final Recommendations
Give recommendations for both supply and demand side, even if not asked
Round 2
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Profitability Case
Problem Statement
Sales for a pharma company have dropped; Need to analyze the situation and give recommendations
Scoping Questions
Asked variety of scoping questions as per the case book used for preparation
Breaking down the problem
Arrive at the root cause of the problem using case framework.
Analyze from both perspectives of OTC and patented drugs
Final Recommendations
Give short term and long term recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Round 3
Candidate name: Srikaanth Srinivasan | Manager – Turnaround & Performance Improvement
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Market Entry & Product Launch
Problem Statement
Launch a new product in steel manufacturing company in a different market
Scoping Questions
All scoping questions in market entry framework. Ask about the type of product and details to manufacture the same
Breaking down the problem
Analyze the supply side and demand side challenges in launching and entering market. Then analyze 4Ps
Final Recommendations
Recommendations as per 4Ps
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Round 1
Candidate name: Vaibhav Kumar Khokhar | Manager – Turnaround & Performance Improvement
Personal Interview Questions
Brief Introduction including description of prior work experience
Type of case
Profitability Case
Problem Statement
A dermatology chain is facing decline in profitability; investigate & recommend solutions
Scoping Questions
Ask about (a) stores – type, number location; (b) operating model; (c) revenue & cost trend; (d) competition
Breaking down the problem
Which type of stores were facing this issue, is it only in new stores or across all stores? is there a location based trend in profitability?
Listed down cost headers for a store with possible causes of increase in costs.
Final Recommendations
Gave recommendations corresponding to each type of cost - inventory cost, fixed rental cost, doctor's salary cost, etc.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Personal Interview Questions
Type of case
Round 2
Problem Statement
Scoping Questions
Interviewer was okay to give decent amount of time for thinking through the problem & then create set of relevant questions or
analysis, so no need of rushing through the solution.
N/A
PE/VC
A PE firm owns multiple companies spread throughout the globe, each operating in different business to each other. Suggest common
areas of cost optimization applicable to all of the firms
Clarified the objective and asked questions on firm size, industry and geography
Breaking down the problem
Listed down possible cost headers like Employees, IT Systems etc. using Man-Machine-Method framework.
Final Recommendations
Suggested adoption of common modules like ERP (Enterprise Resource Management), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), HR
related applications along with possible bulk procurement of IT hardware etc.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer pointed out common licesning of basic software suites like Outlook, MS Office etc.
Round 3
Candidate name: Vaibhav Kumar Khokhar | Manager – Turnaround & Performance Improvement
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Profitability (i.e. Revenue decline)
Problem Statement
A bread manufacturer has undergone rebranding along with improvement in product quality yet is facing decline in profitability
Scoping Questions
Where is the bread manufacturer based, types of products made, manufacturing is inhouse or outsourced, what are the distribution
channels, why rebranding, how is the competition doing, check if profitability issue limited to any particular channel
Breaking down the problem
Listed down the entire value chain, identified possible causes linked to each stakeholder. Kept checking with the interviewer if my
approach is correct, figured root cause was supply chain inefficiencies for a highly perishable product, hence loss of sales on account of
low availability.
Final Recommendations
Supply chain inefficiencies were due to poor forecast accuracy, as on ground sales team had reduced the no of visited stores for getting a
sales estimate.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Initially I followed a structured case-solving approach, breaking down the problem step by step but the interviewer was short on time and
expected me to quickly deep dive into solutioning. Had to shift my approach accordingly.
Arthur D Little
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Saloni Sehgal | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
The interview began with basic introductions. The interviewer introduced himself first and then asked me to introduce myself. I had
prepared this well in advance, so it was a good start. He seemed impressed and gave me a case to solve.
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Your client is a telecom operator in Columbia facing stagnated revenues (declining 1% YoY). Figure out what is happening and what
should the company do to improve it?
Started with basic scoping questions like –
•
Since when client was facing this issue
•
What is the competitive landscape, geography, business model, products/ services offered etc.
Round 1
Scoping Questions
Breaking down the problem
He told me that client is facing this issue since last 2 years, The client operates only in Bagota where it is the market leader with 3-4
other players.
Client has 3 businesses – residential (60%), enterprise (40%), mobile (1-2% of revenues; new business started 2 years back).
It offers 3 types of products/ services to its customers – fixed line, Broadband, Cable TV. Having a broad sense of the business
•
Firstly, I asked how each of the businesses have been performing: He explained that enterprise is a B2B business facing constant
revenues (in fact increasing ~1% YoY), residential revenues are declining by 6% YoY and mobile is increasing by 100% every year.
•
Since residential revenues were declining, I mentioned that I would like to focus on this business first: He said it makes sense.
•
I further divided residential revenues as ARPU * No. of customers
(ARPU is a typical metric in telecom; since I had prepared for different industry metrics earlier, this was easy for me to break
down).
I gauged to understand that ARPU was in fact declining. The case went into a discussion mode, and I identified that since
customers were moving from landline to mobile, ARPU for residential business was going down. He was satisfied with my
inference and asked me to give some recommendations for tackle the problem.
Final Recommendations
Recommendation's part was a bit tricky. I gave some recommendations, but he was felt that they were not practical given the stage of
client’s business. We discussed all recommendations in detail, and he was convinced with my overall thought process.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Overall, he was happy with my approach even though I felt that I could do better in the recommendations part. What worked for me
was that I did not get nervous even though he was pushing me back. I stayed calm and explained him the thought process. It was very
conversational, and we were solving the case together, rather than just me solving it alone! Questions around portfolio management
and financial jargons.
Candidate name: Saloni Sehgal | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
It was a very ‘warm’ interview as I struck a chord with the interviewer from the very beginning. We started off with discussing how
Covid has changed the overall interviewing experience, pros and cons of the current virtual world. We ended up chatting about it for
10 mins. He then asked me to introduce myself and why I wanted to join ADL. I told him that I see ADL as a startup in India with global
ADL brand name. I like working in small teams and it provides entrepreneurial platform to try new things. Also, my experience in BD,
practice building, GTM will be helpful for ADL. Would highly recommend to think through why you are a good fit for a company and
highlight it very subtly in the intro phase itself 😊
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
It is April 2020 and Covid is surging in Hyderabad. Your client is a restaurant owner. Government has imposed several restrictions and
you can operate with 50% occupancy only. The client has hired you to help him decide whether to run or close down operations?
Round 2
Scoping Questions
Started with understanding the client better – kind of restaurant (fine dining/ fast food), whether it is a restaurant chain or a
standalone restaurant, capacity of restaurant etc.
He clarified that it is a single high end Italian restaurant with capacity of approx. 30 tables.
It is always good to get a feel of the client’s business in the scoping phase itself!
I decided to compare overall profitability if the owner decides to run the restaurant under Covid restrictions.
Analysed the two branches – revenues and costs – one by one and asked specific questions on both.
Breaking down the problem
•
Revenue = No. of table X Avg revenue per table.
Further asked him hours of operations, avg time spent by each customer to calculate revenue per day.
•
Costs = divided into fixed (rent, utilities, staff salaries) and variable costs (cost of ingredients, marketing etc.) He gave me specific
numbers for each cost header, and I had to calculate total costs per month.
Final Recommendations
Based on the calculations, since cost of operations was higher than revenues for the restaurant, I recommended that it should shut
operations. However, can explore online deliveries as an alternative option.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Overall it went well. The problem statement was easy and what he was looking for was my comfort with numbers and ability to make
quick calculations. Since I connected with the interviewer in the beginning itself, overall conversation was very friendly and didn’t feel
like an ‘interview’.
Candidate name: Saloni Sehgal | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
Asked me to introduce myself.
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Estimate the size of Indian video streaming market in 2030.
Scoping Questions
The question was pretty straightforward, so did not ask any specific scoping questions.
Followed a top-down approach
•
Segmented population of India into urban and rural households (assumed that population of India will grow 1% each year and
took 1.6bn as population base for 2030)
•
Further based on internet penetration and income levels, segmented the households as low, middle and high usage households.
•
Further, for each type, assumed average number of subscriptions per household. He wasn’t convinced with my assumptions here
and we had long discussion on this.
Round 3
Breaking down the problem
Final Recommendations
No recommendations. But he was very numbers driven. Did not allow me to make any approximations anywhere.
Made me calculate total market size in dollars (till two decimal places!). He was more interested in my comfort with numbers and
speed of calculations.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
During the interview, he did not seem very convinced with my reasoning and was pushing me back on every step.
But I was also determined and put across my thinking diligently. I guess it worked in my favor since I passed the ‘stress test’ without
being nervous.
Candidate name: Pankhuri Priya | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
PI was short and mostly around interests/hobbies.
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Telecom operator in Bogota facing revenue decline.
•
Scoping Questions
•
•
Round 1
Breaking down the problem
Since when has the decline been? 2 years (2015 case). 1% y-o-y decline.
What products does the client have? Mobile, fixed line, internet and TV bundled as only landline, landline plus internet and landline
plus internet plus TV.
Have competitors seen the decline? Yes
Further questions around 3C1P:
• Which product showed the most decline? Residential fixed line services showed 6% while commercial fixed line showed 1% decline
and mobile showed 1% growth.
• What is revenue share of these product lines? Residential fixed: 60%, commercial fixed 38% and rest mobile.
• Voiced my thoughts that the client seems to be focused on a dying business.
Interviewer says yes, only landline is 50% of their subscriptions, landline plus internet is 35% and landline plus internet plus TV is
5%.
They do not give any bundling discounts. Only landline has seen the most decline. landline plus broadband plus TV has grown.
Interviewer: Do you think unbundling our products would help? Me: No, since only landline has seen the most decline. Client needs to
realign the business from landline first to mobile first.
Final Recommendations
1)
2)
Use data to predict existing customers about to churn and sell them mobile
Bundle products with mobile and give discounts for bundling. Interviewer: In churn prediction, would you take prioritize customers
most likely to churn or least likely.
Me: Most likely. Interviewer: Sometimes most likely will leave anyway. Better ignore the top10% and then prioritize. Me: Yes, that
makes sense
Self-reflection/Thoughts &
feedback
I did not do well I thought and tried to ask more PI questions- Expansion plans in India, new hire strength etc. Interviewer did not seem
happy overall. Got a call for round 2 few hours later.
Round 2
Candidate name: Pankhuri Priya | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
PI came after the case. His profile had mentioned silicon valley investing, had a long discussion about which startups he invests in and
why.
Type of case
Growth Strategy
Problem Statement
Company building a 7-star resort near statue of unity. How should they maximize revenue?
Scoping Questions
Location? Ahmedabad, 20-25kms from statue of unity.
What facilities offered? Assume whatever you think suitable.
Breaking down the problem
Broke down revenue as $/day/customer visit * length of stay * no of customers *no visits per customer * no of customers.
Focused on tariff and length of stay.
Increasing length of stay key by creating new sources of attraction.
Final Recommendations
Interviewer: Do you think they should offer sightseeing packages?
Me: No, there aren't a lot of places in/near Ahmedabad, so they would check out from the hotel and go around Gujrat.
Developing/tie ups with Golf courses, amusement parks would create new reasons to stay which are close by.
Self-reflection/Thoughts &
feedback
My recommendations were not that strong. Tried to engage the interviewer in a long PI to make up for it. Received offer a few hours
later. My advice for day 0: Read a lot of interview experiences of past years. Getting an early slot for companies you care about is key.
Bain &
Company
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 1
Candidate name: Amit Sarkar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
It started with the usual "Tell me about yourself" and then quickly went on to the case.
Type of case
Root cause analysis
Problem Statement
Your client is an FMCG company who is facing an unusually high detention of trucks at distributors' warehouses. The client has 2
manufacturing plant in Maharashtra and ~50 distributors all over Maharashtra. The client needs your help in identifying the root
cause as well as countermeasures.
Scoping Questions
Trend - 4 to 5 years, Pattern (if any) - Seasonal (Apr-June) since the client is a beverage company, Objective - Make the detention 0%
from the current figure of 20-25%, Products - 2 SKUs comprised of 90% revenues while other 4 comprised of 10%, Customers - Large
distributors control 80% of volumes whereas smaller ones made up the rest, Geography - Mumbai (Operations), In and around
Bombay (Issue), Competitors are not facing any such issue
Breaking down the problem
I started solving the problem by first mapping the journey of truck from client's manufacturing plant to the distributor to isolate the
pain point. It turned out that the trucks reached the warehouse but were not getting unloaded. I further explored the issue through 3
lenses - People, Space and Equipment. I then got to know that space was the issue. I then further divided the causes of this issue into
2 parts - Internal to distributors (Demand & Supply mismatch, FIFO/LIFO etc.) and External to distributors (Company led, Transporters
led, Consumers led, Others). It turned out that the client's salespeople were dumping the stocks into the distributors' warehouses
since their KPI was primary sales. They were not responsible for secondary sales i.e. from warehouse to final retailer.
Final Recommendations
1. If incentive can be changed, then change the incentive structure to include secondary sales. If incentive cannot be changed, then 2.
Bypass the distributors' warehouses through building their own network or direct dispatch from manufacturing units (possible due to
geographical proximity). 3. Liason with distributors to increase storage space by building/renting additional space
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer grilled me on how to optimise inventory since it was one of the branches during problem solving. Though it was not
the final answer, I feel that the discussion went really well.
Round 2
Candidate name: Amit Sarkar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself and then directly to a case
Type of case
PE
Problem Statement
Your client is a PE fund who is looking to invest in a hospital (a single hospital with 1000 bed capacity in Gurgaon). How would you
proceed?
Scoping Questions
Objective - 25% YoY return in 5 years , Ask - $100Mn for 20% stake, Hospital - Multi-speciality hospital like Apollo (Rev is 1000 Cr with
20% EBITDA Margin), Competition - Lots of competitors with similar offering, Customer - all segments across diseases
Breaking down the problem
I started with the normal PE framework - Industry attractivenes, Firm attractiveness and Exit. Did Porter's analysis and concluded that
the industry is attractive, In firm attractiveness, the major focus was on numbers. I had to first calculate what would be the EBITDA
after 5 years considering 25% YoY growth. Thereafter, I was asked to check its feasibility given the EBITDA margin remained the same.
I broke down total revenue as No. of beds x Avg Occupancy % x Avg Revenue per bed. It turns out that the current occupancy rate is
50% for EBITDA of INR 200 Cr. Even if 100% occupancy rate is assumed, the max. EBITDA possible is INR 400 Cr which is well short of
tha target of INR 600 Cr at then end of 5 years. He then asked me to explore what can be done. I said the following 3 things can be
done: 1. Increase no. of beds 2. Increase Avg revenue per bed 3. Reduce costs. He then asked me to explore how can we increase
average revenue per bed, which I answered using 4P framework.
Final Recommendations
There was no recommendation as the case was closed by the interviewer.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
I had missed the crucial 25% YoY metric. I assumed 25% after 5 years and hence, had to redo the calculations. However, I was able to
quickly compute 1.25^5, which I think restored my credibility in the eyes of interviewer.
Round 1
Candidate name: HrishikeshNeelesh Ketkar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
We had a quick round of introductions. I had worked in technology consulting pre isb, so I was asked about my biggest challenges and
learnings as a consultant. I was also asked what are the 3 mistakes that you would avoid making as a manger in consulting. It was a
friendly discussion which lasted 10-15 mins, and then we moved on to a case.
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
Your client PVR Cinema (Mumbai) and they want to increase their revenue
Scoping Questions
Kept the scoping very short. Asked about: 1. No of screens 2. No of seats per screen 3. Occupancy rates for peak vs non peak hours
4. Average price of each ticket. (Note: It is not necessary to follow 3CP for scoping out each case. Growth cases typically should have
less time allotted to scoping)
Breaking down the problem
1. Identified the various revenue streams for a movie theatre and was asked to focus on revenue from ticket sales 2. Identified basic
levers to drive the revenue for PVR. Total Revenue = No of screens x No of seats/screen x No of shows/ screen x Occupancy. I got
some data at this point, I had to quickly calculate the weekly revenue which was straightforward. The occupancy rate for non peak
hours was 40% on average, which we identified as being a problem for revenue growth. Discussed basic ways to increase occupancy
during non peak hours, identified primary customer segments during non peak hours, what shows they would prefer, and how PVR
could increase these customers.
Final Recommendations
There wasn't enough time to complete the case, we ended the discussion without recommendations. Before closing, I asked about
the interviewer’s experience at Bain and around digital transformation in financial services and then led to another 5-10 mins of
conversation.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Reflections: What worked was that the interview was a free flowing conversation. While the case is important, the first 5-10 mins of PI
will set the tone for the rest of the interview. It is essential to connect with the interviewer in those 5-10 mins. Be lively, smile, and
don’t look too serious at the beginning of the interview.
Round 2
Candidate name: HrishikeshNeelesh Ketkar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
I was asked to talk about 3 things that interest me. Had a small discussion for 5-10 mins on sports and finance, it was largely to gauge
my personality.
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
Your client is an electronic cigarette manufacturer. They have been doing well in the US for the last 4 years and now want to enter the
Indian market. I was asked to list down 5 key considerations for the entry.
Scoping Questions
I spent a lot of time on scoping and asked detailed questions on - Objective for the entry, details of the product, pricing, effects on
health, overview of the indian market
Breaking down the problem
Identified 5 factors to consider as - Price point, regulation, sales & distribution, resistance to adoption, and surrogate advertisement.
Moved on to identify the target customer segment as Smokers, high income tier 1 urban, age 21-35. Identified channels of sales as
online, cigarette shops, nightclubs, convenience stores, and music events. Next we moved on to discuss the 1 year and 3 year
distribution strategy and reasons why they should use a 3rd party distributor for India.
Final Recommendations
The case ended without a conclusion on whether they should enter or not, it was largely a discussion on go-to market strategy, if they
were to enter India. Once the case ended, I asked the interviewer if this was a live case that he worked on. Then we went on to discuss
(10 mins) how he had approached this case and we extended the conversation to e-cigarettes in India and the difference between US
and Indian market.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Reflection: What helped was that I co-solved the case with the interviewer. I kept asking questions and running him through my
thought process, there were very few pauses. Although the case classifies as market entry, I was not expected to follow the standard
framework. It is important to not stick to frameworks (take cues from the interviewer) and keep him/her engaged, especially if the
interview is online.
Round 1
Candidate name: Prithviraj Singh| Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
The interviewer and I went to the same undergrad college, so had a quick 5 minute conversation about the same, before delving into
the case
Type of case
Market Entry/Abstract
Problem Statement
Client is Flipkart and wants to launch a B2B commerce business. How would you go about it?
Scoping Questions
Broke down the scoping into two parts: 1) B2B Business: products, services, geography, customers, competition, platform; 2)
Objective: Why does Flipkart want to enter and which KPIs does it want to track
Breaking down the problem
Broke the problem down in 4 parts: Market attractiveness, Financial viability, Operational viability and ways to enter the market. The
interviewer asked me to start with assessing the attractiveness. I listed down a few parameters and paused to take a buy-in on the
overall approach. He nodded and gave me data on the size, growth and margins of 4 different markets (Groceries, Fashion, Mobile,
Electronics, Large Appliances). After some number crunching and drawing some insights from the business model of the key player in
B2B market in India (Udaan), I created a 2*2 matrix to place the 4 markets on Benefits vs Feasibility to Enter scale. The interviewer
looked happy and asked me to list down some of the challenges i would face while competing with offline stores. I took 10-20
seconds to come up with a few challenges like cannibalization of existing sales, conflict of interest with current B2B buyers
(Customers will become competition) and distribution challenges in tier 2-4 cities. He then gave me a layout of current distribution
model of FMCG players in India, along with some numbers and asked me to come up with a quick strategy for Filpkart. I suggested
that Flipkart should try to partner up with the secondary distributors that currently have deep presence in tier 2-4 cities.
Final Recommendations
There was no time left for synthesis or closing of the case as he told me that he is getting messages to close the interview. I asked him
if he wants me to do a quick synthesis of the case. He smiled and said "it's okay, you have done multiple mini syntheses while solving
the case.
Candidate name: Prithviraj Singh | Designation: Consultant
What I did right: Clearly scoped out the problem, was highly conversational and was taking periodic buy-ins from the interviewer to
ensure I was on the right track.
Round 1
What I could have improved: Could have closed the case faster to fit in recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
What to Do:
1) Once you and your case group have practiced all the basic case types and you are 1 - 1.5 month away from the D-day, start going
through interview transcripts (with your case group) of at least last 5 years' ISB consulting case book. Sit with your case group
everyday for 1-2 hours, pick up a few transcripts, read up the case question and discuss out loud in the group as to how each one of
you would have solved. Repeat this activity until you have covered at least the MBB transcripts of last 5 years. I cannot stress enough
upon the importance of this activity as it will help you prepare for the kind of questions you might face on the day of interview
2) Make a list of top 10-15 industries that most of the cases belong to (consult club will help you with the list). Sit with your case group
everyday for 1 hour, pick one industry and discuss in detail. The discussion should at least contain the following: Value chain, Revenue
drivers, Cost drivers, Customer journey.
3) Keep a straight mind, filter out the noise/rumors (trust me, it will help a lot) and be confident throughout the prep.
Round 1
Candidate name: Adarsh Rathi| Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
It was my first interview of the day, interviewer made checked with me on how am i doing, asked me about my journey so far and
then directly delved into the case
Type of case
PE
Problem Statement
Online Grocery Company (4-5 yrs in existence), Should the PE invest or not?
Scoping Questions
Business Model (got to know it was a social selling model). Used standard 3CP framework here to understand customer
demographics, geographies and competition. Also understood PE's investment philosophy, past investments and any possible
objectives here (unit economics was key)
Breaking down the problem
Focused on 2 aspects - (i) whether the current revenue sources are sustainable and analysed growth prospects (ii) can the costs of
running business be going down once the business is scaled. Interviewer really appreaciated the analysis and i had taken her buyin
before starting. I took multiple breaks in between to gather my thoughts
Final Recommendations
PE should go ahead and invest with some risks identified and caveats to look for. They could build potential clauses in contract to
protect against those risks (interviewer really liked this insight)
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interview went really well. It was very conversational and i was not trying to impose any framework
Round 2
Candidate name: Adarsh Rathi| Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
This interview had 15 minutes of PI and we spoke about dogs, travel, culture at bain. I was able to hit the chord with the interviewer
very early in the conversation
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
FMCG Client - Struggling with growth
Scoping Questions
Clarifying objective is key in growth cases, hence i did that first. Objective was to figure out what was wrong in the current business
and what should be the next steps. 3CP framework to understand more about the offerings (Haircare primarily - 80% revenue).
Market was predominantly unorganized. Recent entrant Patanjali eating up market share
Breaking down the problem
Breaking the growth framework i realized that the interviewer wanted me look at problems at revenue side and eventually the
quantity sold. Using the profitability framework, i identified that there was an issue with brand's perception as compared with
competitors and at the same time, client was not present in areas which was showcasing growth (Rural India)
Final Recommendations
Divided the recommendations into short term-long term | easy to implement-difficult to implement framework and mentioned
points with respect to each especially the marketing aspects (channels, target and message)
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Like my first Round, this round was very conversational and mostly driven by me. I was given an offer post this round by inviting me
to a separate breakout room.
Candidate name: Chiranjeev Anand| Designation: Consultant
A considerable portion of my interview was PI. Mahadevan and I hit it off really well and we spoke about the general happenings
around us, how things were going, etc. Post this, Mahadevan was curious to understand about my background in the early-stage VC
ecosystem, my experiences, and also some of the investments I had led. He also asked me about the thought process behind
investing in a couple of companies (both were to do broadly with the consumer and retail space).
Type of case
Profitability (had to use the Value Chain Framework for the cost side)
Problem Statement
The case was that of an actual client that Mahadevan had helped out 12-15 years ago. The client was a Fashion Retail Chain based
out of Germany. They were facing losses to the tunes of $1-5 Mn per year over the past 5 years. We need to help them diagnose the
reasons.
Scoping Questions
Being a Profitability Case, I tried to ensure I have structure and not over-scope (Profitability cases usually give you opportunities to
identify certain points as you're solving them). Asked more about the retailer - do they retail own brands or other brands as well (mix
but majorly own brands); Products - sold all categories of apparels (can be thought of as a 'Lifestyle' equivalent in Germany); No. of
stores (25); Channels - only offline retail (since it was 12-15 years in the past, eCommerce was still not a prominent thing). I was then
asked to proceed with the case before I could enquire about the customer base, competition, etc.
Breaking down the problem
Broke down Profits into Revenues and Costs. Was told that Revenues had dropped - the client previously had 50 stores and shut
down 25 stores as they were making higher losses and hence revenues would obviously take a hit. Costs also decreased since the
number of stores were halved, however, not proportionately. Asked if I should proceed with Revenues - saw a bit of hesitance so
decided to proceed with Costs. Drew out the entire value chain (Value Chain Framework) and touched upon the points under each
bucket – was told that none of the costs had changed, which was odd. Probed a bit more about the Warehouse costs and Admin
Costs – warehouse was still the same, staff at the warehouse was still the same despite the number of stores reducing. However, the
warehouse was under a long-term lease and hence we had to retain it. Same situation with the office building – fewer stores &
employees but long-term lease and hence had to retain. Had identified reasons for additional costs but there was no scope for
reduction. Switched to the revenues side – drew out an equation: “Revenues = No. of stores*no. of orders*avg. ticket size”. We knew
that no. of stores had reduced, enquired about the other 2 aspects and Mahadevan mentioned that both had reduced slightly. Broke
down no. of orders = no. of people visiting (same)*no. of conversions (this had reduced). It then came down to the overall Sales
reducing (since no. of conversions and avg. ticket size had reduced). Broke it down into Supply vs. Demand – Demand was the issue.
Enquired about 4P’s – there were no changes there, the client had in fact increased discounts (no changes in 4Ps even from the
competitors side). Looked at other reasons – inventory getting old (no), variety (no), Loyalty (we had a loyal customer base of 40-60
year olds who had been coming to the stores for years now). Finally after a bit of discussion, realized that sizes were the issue – the
retailer wasn’t refreshing the sizes of certain SKU’s and hence customers weren’t getting what they wanted. At that age group, body
sizes changed frequently and customers would come in, not find their size and hence leave. Discounting was not a solution to solve
this problem.
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Candidate name: Chiranjeev Anand| Designation: Consultant
Round 1
Final Recommendations
There were no recommendations asked per se since the solution was fairly straightforward in itself. The case ended with us
discussing that we could explore doing away with the discounts in a phased manner and seeing the reaction of customers plus effect
on sales. It was more of a discussion as Mahadevan mentioned how they had actually gone about resolving the situation and doing
customer interviews.
Mahadevan was pretty satisfied with the interview. His feedback was positive - mentioned that broader thinking was in place, he
would want the subsequent round interviewer to test me on numbers since this was more of a qualitative case.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Personally, I felt I was caught off-guard at a few places as I felt I hit certain roadblocks. Since we're used to over-complication
problems, my thought process was to try and figure what could have gone wrong. A key point here was the issue took place 12-15
years in the past and hence the dynamics were very different - this required pure first principle thinking and calmness to solve the
problem.
Candidate name: Chiranjeev Anand| Designation: Consultant
No PI. Aditya wasted no time and mentioned that he had been asked to test me on my understanding and handle of numbers (as
mentioned by Mahadevan in the previous interview). We got straight to the case.
Type of case
Growth Strategy + Market Size Estimation
Problem Statement
The case was one that Aditya was working on at the time. The client was a Global Pharmaceutical Client and was looking at India as a
growth market. They wanted us to help them chart out a growth strategy for India.
Scoping Questions
Asked initially whether India was a new market for the company or whether they already had presence in India. Aditya mentioned
that they already had presence in India. Broke down scoping hereon into 2 parts – Company & Indian Entity Asked what the company
specializes in – 2 areas: Diabetes and Hemophilia. Diabetes contributed 80-90% and Hemophilia 10-20%. Asked if I can just focus on
Diabetes – yes. For the Indian Entity – focus was to be on Diabetes. There were 2 methods of treating – insulin and pills. Asked about
difference – insulin had better margins and was patent driven. Enquired about the Indian Market – it is a consolidated market with 34 major players, our client is one of them. The market is growing, however our clients market share is stagnant. Hereon, the problem
quickly became about increasing clients India presence.
Breaking down the problem
Started off by breaking the problem into 2 parts – Market Size and Market Share (wanted to explore whether we can increase the
market overall for insulin as well as our client’s share). Aditya asked me to focus on increasing market size. Market size can be
increased by increasing Users, Uses or Usage (3U’s). Users = patients with severe diabetes (joked with Aditya that short of expanding
into chocolates/sweets and malpractice, we can’t really cause more people to have diabetes) Was then asked to focus on Usage. For
this, Aditya asked me to calculate the current Market size and suggest how could we increase the same. Having done a few Pharma
cases recently, broke down the market size into an equation: Market size = No. of people having diabetes*No. of people diagnosed
with diabetes*No. of doses*Price At this point, Aditya helped out with an additional aspect which was specific to insulin and asked me
to include a factor of avg. weight as insulin doses are prescribed basis the weight of patients. The new equation became: Market size
= No. of people having diabetes*No. of people diagnosed with diabetes*No. of units/doses*Avg. weight*Price After this, it became a
pure quantitative problem – Aditya gave me numbers and asked me to calculate the market size basis the numbers given: Population
of India = 1.3Bn No. of people with diabetes = 54% of population No. of patients diagnosed = 11% of those with diabetes No. of
patients requiring insulin = 7% Average weight of an Indian = 70kgs No. of units/dose = 0.15 units/kg/day (took 360 days/year after
checking with Aditya) Cost = Rs. 8/unit Aditya asked me for one final number and mentioned if it were right, we didn’t need to discuss
the solution. I fumbled a bit but got the answer eventually.
Round 2
Personal Interview Questions
Round 2
Candidate name: Chiranjeev Anand | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
The recommendation part was partially mixed with the problem itself. Aditya asked me that if we had to increase the market size,
which are the factors that we could tweak and which one factor would be the most important to focus on. Can’t control population,
can’t control no. of people getting diabetes (legally), can work on increasing the no. of patients getting diagnosed with diabetes, can
have little control over no. of patients requiring insulin, not much control over avg. weight of Indians (unless we start a massive
nation-wide food and nutrition program but costs would outweigh marginally incremental benefits), can tweak no. of units/dose, can’t
change price (insulin market can get competitive). Focus would be mainly on trying to diagnose more people with diabetes as the
current no. stands only at 11% and we can have awareness drives across the nation. (Hint – the higher up in the funnel, the more
impact a 1% change has on the overall number)
Type of case
Again, fumbled with the numbers a bit (took the weight factor twice) but was able to catch it and rework the numbers. Only
recommendation here is to listen carefully, note down all the numbers properly and ensure everything is written down neatly.
Approximation/rounding up is always allowed; get the interviewers buy-in irrespective.
Round 1
Candidate name: Pyusha Dalmia| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Sales force effectiveness
Problem Statement
A global IT services MNC is growing at 7%, whereas the market leader in this industry is growing at 10%. Internal diagnostics of the
firm revealed that they are okay in maintaining existing accounts but are not doing so well in acquiring new logos. This could be the
reason why the firm is not growing faster, what is happening and why?
Scoping Questions
What do you mean by logos? What is the current split of new logos vs legacy accounts? What is the competitor's split? What products
or services does the firm mainly provide?
Breaking down the problem
I made a basic framework - if not acquiring new logos was a demand side or supply side problem. I was told that there were enough
new leads and logos in the market, but we were not able to capture it. Given that these accounts are what eventually generate
revenue in the long run, they were important for the firm's future. I further asked if new logo accounts were less or revenue per logo
was less compared to competitor. I was told that the new logos we were acquiring were generating lesser revenues. So I decided to
segment this further, if this was a problem in a particular industry, geography or product. There was no segmentation provided. I then
moved on to a life cycle analysis of logos and divided into: planning-acquisition-retention. With further discussion it was evident that
planning itself was an issue. The hunters (those who capture new accounts) preferred short term deals that closed quickly. The
acquisition process was also problematic. The hunters felt that they were given less assistance in their job by the account managers.
Account manager used to prefer the farmers (those who work on existing accounts for incremental sales). With these two points, I
realised that this was a sales force effectiveness problem and laid down a new framework: 1. Recruiting and retention practices for
hunters 2. Ability To Sell/Succeed 3. Motivation To Sell/Succeed. The interviewer then listed down all the problems in these areas and
we closed the case with recommendations.
Final Recommendations
Were the incentives of the hunters more focused on short term wins? - Yes. Recommendation: In the short term, realign and change
incentive structure. In the long term, provide training programs and sensitise hunters to the importance of new logos and how the
firm's future is indirectly dependent on attracting the right logos.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Quick mental math calculation of few numbers provided at the beginning itself made the interviewer more comfortable and inclined
to help during the interview.
Round 2
Candidate name: Pyusha Dalmia| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
PE
Problem Statement
Your client is a PE fund that has launched a Growth focused fund recently, where they invest in early stage startups. There is one
company in the insurance tech space, should the firm invest in this company?
Scoping Questions
What – target rate of return from investment? When – timeline of investment? Exit Strategy and existing portfolio? Any regulatory
constraints in investing?
Breaking down the problem
I laid down a 3-part framework. 1. Insurance tech industry attractiveness 2. Target specific metrics and 3. Valuation. With further
discussion, I got to know that the business model was primarily selling a software that is used by insurance brokers to help them sell
more efficiently. The firm had 10% market share and competition was almost identical in their product and services. There were no
barriers to entry. The margins were of 5%. The firm was targeting making its product more popular in the motor and life insurance
industries, with a split of 70%-30% in clientele. I was asked to list down factors that would suggest if this was profitable. I listed down
4 factors for both the motor and life insurance industries: growth, competition, operational feasibility, government regulations.
Further discussion brought out factors such as unfavourable government regulations that would make taking motor insurance futile
and an overvaluation of overall business.
Final Recommendations
I recommended not investing in the firm since: a. the firm would not generate target profits within the 5 yr period b. it had no
barriers to entry. However, the PE Fund could consider investment if: a. it was looking to sell and exit before 5 yrs b. the firm could
differentiate itself on some metrics and c. if lobbying could change the government laws.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Candidate name: Saptarshi Ghose| Designation: Junior Consultant
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Type of case
Puzzles
Problem Statement
You need to find the soap brand in India with the largest market share. What’s the fastest way to do it?
Scoping Questions
First suggested I’d do a quick survey of the people I know, and extrapolate based on that. He said that I don’t have access to any
people.
Breaking down the problem
Suggested using Google to find out. Turns out that’s the answer he was looking for!
Final Recommendations
Nothing else. asked me to go to the next round. Interview lasted 10 mins.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Round 2
Candidate name: Saptarshi Ghose| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Growth + Market Entry
Problem Statement
Flipkart is experiencing stagnant growth. What should they do?
Scoping Questions
I started off by asking standard 3CP questions. Also asked what the objective of the growth was and in what time horizon were they
looking to grow. Since Flipkart is a well known brand, he asked me to use my existing knowledge of Flipkart to make whatever
assumptions were needed. I proceeded with the growth framework.
Breaking down the problem
Using the growth framework, I was able to ascertain that flipkart wanted to expand into the B2B business, very much like the Udaan
model. He then wanted me to explore how would Flipkart enter this market. After asking some probing questions I was able to figure
out that he actually wanted to know which categories should Flipkart enter in. Using logical assumptions, we both concluded that the
fashion and mobile industry looked the most lucrative industry for flipkart. I had to do some math to show him why I believed this,
based on total market size and projected growth rates.
Final Recommendations
My final recommendation was to diversify into the B2B phase, with a focus on the luxury apparel and mobile business. Flipkart would
use its existing network of sellers to get information on businesses they could sell to.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interview was incredibly relaxing and conversational. I took time to think whenever I needed to, and he did not rush me at all. I
got the final offer 2 mins after this interview.
Round 1
Candidate name: Sarthak Agrawal| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Asked me to walk her through my resume
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
The client is McDonalnds. They want to increase their market cap by 3x over next 3-5 years.
Scoping Questions
Understood the meaning of market cap. Did my whole Objective, geography, 3CP, barriers and constraints bucket list.
Breaking down the problem
The problem was a growth problem. Navneet wanted me to focus on listing down factors that will aid in the growth of McDonalds. I
applied the Ansoff Matrixes. In current geography and products, spoke about various combinations of price and volume. Spoke about
awareness, likability and accessibility to increase demand. Spoke on the supply side to have the requisite capacity, distribution and
storage. Spoke about the skill, will and opportunity of both the staff and customers. Then proceeded with new product and new
geography variants. Spoke about acquiring smaller players like Jumbo King. Proceeded to do a 5P analysis and spoke where all can we
do improvements. Spoke about timings, channels both online, offline, etc.
Final Recommendations
Synthesized the case and gave my top 3 recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interview went well but the interviewer said that I should have spent more time on solving the case rather than scoping.
Round 2
Candidate name: Sarthak Agrawal| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Jumped right to the case.
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Estimate the number of dinner plates in a city.
Scoping Questions
Clarified what is a dinner plate. The type of city we are talking about. Asked for a minute before solving the problem.
Breaking down the problem
Listed down all the places where plates are used. Came up with residential places and commercial points like restaurants, stores,
warehouses, etc. Was asked to think more. Thought of malls, hotels, hospitals, etc. The interviewer told me that I forgot offices. He
told me to now estimate the number of plates in a restaurant and what would be the facts that would affect it. I listed down demand
in terms of number of customers coming in, no. of orders they make, amount of time they stay, refresh rate of plates, etc. Came up
with the bottleneck that the minimum number of plates in a restaurant should be at least equal to the maximum demand of plates at
any one point of the day when there are most dishes being ordered.
Final Recommendations
Closed with synthesis of the case and listed down factors that affected number of plates needed at a restaurant.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
What could have gone better: Made a few mathematical errors while solving, forgot a few obvious factors. Could have practiced more
guesstimates during prep. A lot more. What went well: Was calm while solving the case and was structured and logical. Was quick to
catch on to the interviewer's hints, when I was stuck.
Round 1
Candidate name: Shivam Singla| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself? What do you like the most about Chandigarh and why?
Type of case
Growth/Abstract
Problem Statement
A factory owner was recently suggested upgrading to operations technology. Should the Company adopt it?
Scoping Questions
Usual 3CIP - kind of factory? (textiles, auto and mixed) Region? (Pan-India) What is operations technology? (Automation of shop floor
and forecasting tools) Objective? (Profits) Is it patented? (Yes) Synergies and constraints (None)
Breaking down the problem
Applied a typical growth/ due diligence framework. Overview of Operations Technology, Feasibility (Strategy, Operations and
Financial), Synergies and Risks and finally implementation plans. The case went into number eventually - wherein I was asked to
calculate the daily profits realized by the firm. Identified 3 aspects - efficiency, labor costs and maintenance. Don't recall the numbers
but was grilled on them!
Final Recommendations
Did not reach the final stage. Asked the interviewer about advices and reasons for sticking to Bain.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Honestly, I felt I had bombed the round. There were multiple stops and breaks in the flow of the interview. However, tried maintaining
my calm and took breaks to recollect my thoughts even at the silliest moments! Got immediately called for the next round.
Round 2
Candidate name: Shivam Singla| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself? How has your Day 0 going so far?
Type of case
Market entry/ growth/ guesstimate
Problem Statement
A startup based out Middle East has come up with a revolutionary flooring technology and would like your client to adopt it in India.
Should they or should they not?
Scoping Questions
Asked about the startup? Technology? (quicker, cheaper and more reliable flooring of tiles) Client? (Conglomerate like Tata) Patent/
exclusive rights? (Patent for 5 years and exclusive rights to us in India)
Breaking down the problem
Started with my usual framework of market entry -> opportunity size - feasibility - synergies/ risks - implementation. The problem
solving had become a conversation by now and I was asked to estimate the opportunity size in Delhi Basically, the are of tiles needed
to cover Delhi housing? Before deep diving into numbers/ approach - was asked about other ways to find this number. Suggested market reports, government websites, competitor financial reports, etc. The interviewer seemed happy with this approach.
Final Recommendations
Did not reach this stage per say, as we were already running late in our core discussion. Questions - how has your journey been to
become the fastest partner at Bain? (Yeah, had read up on Gaurav before!)
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer seemed distracted throughout the interview (checking phone, etc.), which was later revealed to be a pressure test.
Maintaining a conversation, asking the silliest of doubts and remaining calm are important. Multiple instances during the problemsolving phase, I was able to prioritise and apply the 80/20 rule - which helps. Got the offer immediately after this round!
Round 1
Candidate name: Vignesh Banusekar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
1. Asked briefly about the current state of Underwater Vehicle project that I was part of in my undergraduate. 2. Asked about my past
work role
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
Biscuit segment of a national FMCG player in India facing stagnant market share in a growing market. Wants advice on how to grow
Scoping Questions
1. Clarified about the objective (Client is seeking advice in growing just the biscuit segment, not worried about the company as a
whole) 2. Asked about product portfolio and their prices (stagnant across all products - Marie biscuits, cream-biscuits, cookies. Prices
can be assumed to be typical prices of biscuits in these segments) 3. Asked about the regions (Client was dominant in east and south
region while facing declining share in north and west region from competitors) 4. Asked about the value chain (Client involved in
manf, distribution and retailing)
Breaking down the problem
Used ANSOFF Matrix to list down various forms of growth. 1. Same Market Same Geography - Penetrate further by increasing uses
(can be used in breakfast, new recipes can be introduced), users (can target larger customer segments, can target for pets), usage (can
promote "No-one can just eat one") 2. New Geography (expand to new regions in India, outside India if there is product-market fit) 3.
New Products/Variants
Final Recommendations
Interviewer did not ask for final conclusion/recommendations/synthesis.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Had a back-and-forth debate on how a FMCG growth problem should be tackled - whether at a segment level, product level or an SKU
level. While I suggested product-level, interviewer suggested SKU-level. Basis this comment, I suggested introducing new SKUs within
the same product as a way of growth. Also, recommended analyzing the SKUs that are performing well in one region and attempt to
emulate it in other regions.
Reflections : No numbers or data shared and the case was purely qualitative. Spent very little time on framework and tried to keep it
conversational.
Round 2
Candidate name: Vignesh Banusekar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Interview asked about campus life. He found out he and I grew up in the same city. Spent the next 10 mins conversing with me about
my locality, his locality, my high-school, his high-school etc.
Type of case
Market Entry/ Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Imagine I sell bananas in pushcarts in the locality (he and I lived in). How much loan money should I ask the bank to set up a kirana
store, provided I can earn Rs.2 lakhs/month of revenue ?
Scoping Questions
I was instructed to make reasonable assumptions for all the scoping questions
Breaking down the problem
Structure was expected - dividing the initial funds required into capex, working capital etc. Dividing the product mix into fresh
produce, perishables, non-perishables which have different life cycles and margins
Final Recommendations
In closing, i was to make quick calculations and come up with a figure
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer intervened in between the analysis to point out my errors and give recommendations. In my opinion the interviewer
expected to have a engaging conversation rather than just case solution.
Candidate name: VishwaShripal Shah| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Round 1
Type of case
Tell me about yourself
M&A
Problem Statement
Your client is a large IT services firm (something like an Infosys or TCS but smaller in size). Its focus is selling tech services to US
businesses like banks, retail stores, etc. Five years ago, they acquired a software company which sells health insurance software to
insurance companies in the US. The problem at hand is that since the time of acquisition, revenues of the acquiree have remained
stagnant at $20M. Your client wants to evaluate whether they should continue to invest resources in the acquiree or should they divest
from this business.
Scoping Questions
First asked on what basis will the client decide if they will continue to stay invested in the business. Client would only like to stay invested
if revenues of the acquiree can increase to $100 M in the next 3 years. Then asked questions to better understand the health insurance
software market in the US. Top 5 players hold 50% of the market, 15 - 20 operate in the other 50% of the market. Our acquiree has <1%
market share.
Breaking down the problem
Next tried to understand why we had only 1% of the market. Suggested that it was an issue with either our product, how long we've been
operational or the clientele that we are serving. Our software was at par with others and the top 5 companies had a mix of established
players as well as new entrants. Hence, the issue was in the clientele that we were serving. 4 kinds of clients in the US insurance market: National level players (50-60% market), Govt insurers (15%), Regional players (10%), Small local players (5 - 10%). Discovered that our
acquiree was catering only to the small local players. Discovered that customer needs were not met with our product as national level
players, govt. companies & regional players needed additional services along with just the software. Top players were offering a bundled
software + services product.
Final Recommendations
Recommended that we had 3 options, 1) Integrate the client's offering with the acquiree's software to create a software + services bundle
2) Develop these services in-house and explore how 3) Divest if none of the above 2 are possible and look at possibly acquiring another
player if client is still keen on entering this industry. Interviewer closed the case as the first recommendation is what he was looking for.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Built a rapport with the interviewer in the beginning by making the "tell me about yourself" a conversation rather than just a monologue.
This helped me to be calmer while solving the case as well. Initially the case seemed like a growth case but focusing on the problem at
hand helped me realize it was a case of root-cause analysis rather than growth / any other framework.
Candidate name: VishwaShripal Shah| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Market Entry
Recommend if a real-estate developer should invest in a concrete tech
Scoping Questions
The interviewer opened the case by giving an overview of the problem statement. The client is a real estate developer in India, who saw a
new patented concrete in Dubai, which reduces the floor building time by 50% as well as costs by 50%. He is thinking of buying the license
for this new concrete formula and bringing this tech to India. How much volume can he expect to capture in 1 year in Mumbai (a city of
my choice). Further asked the following scoping questions: Is such technology present in India? No. Where else is it present? Only in
Dubai. Any regulatory barriers? No. Can this tech be used across various types of construction projects like residential, commercial,
industrial, etc.? Yes
Breaking down the problem
Dived right into the case by suggesting that we would first need to estimate the market size in Mumbai and then estimate how much
market share we would be able to capture. The interviewer expressed that he was only interested in a practical approach and not a
guesstimate. Hence, I suggested 3 sources for estimating market size: 1) Check with government sources for newly registered and
ongoing projects (could file an RTI) 2) Euro monitor and other reliable secondary reports on real estate market in India 3) Consider the
top 10 developers in Mumbai and identify their ongoing and current project (although this would be cumbersome and not completely
accurate). The interviewer was satisfied and wanted me to suggest similar ways to estimate market share: 1) Undertake a market survey
and check the interest levels from potential customers 2) Look at when this technology was introduced in Dubai and analyse the market
share captured in year 1 and adjust accordingly for Indian market 3) Analyse if any new player has entered in this industry in India and
what market share they were able to capture. Apply a factor to capture the superiority of our product. I was then given a small numerical
to calculate cost and revenue generated by client in a year.
Round 2
Problem Statement
Final Recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer was only looking for a practical approach. Important to identify what the interviewer is looking for rather than trying to follow
a framework.
Candidate name: Bharat Matta| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Type of case
He started with his intro and then asked for mine
Profitability
Scoping Questions
First confirmed my understanding of the problem statement. Then begun by asking for growth numbers, if available. Used the typical 3CP
approach – plant location, customers (B2B or B2C), products, and competition. Interviewer: Company had only one plant in Delhi and
served North India; served B2B customers; produced A1/A3/A4 sheets; market was saturated and top5 players constituted 10-15% of the
market.
Breaking down the problem
Started with Revenues and Costs and broke it down one more level before asking what information the interviewer had. Interviewer
informed that both the Revenues declined, and Costs were up. Forgot to ask in scoping, I clarified if it was an industry problem or a
company specific problem. It was an industry problem, but our client was hit more than the average player - Broke down Revenues into
#sheets of paper * avg. price. Both were affected. The price rose because the raw material had become costlier, so the increase cost was
passed on to the customer. I then focussed on #sheets. Broke it down further into Supply and Demand. Again both were affected. The
demand was impacted due to increase in prices as was conveyed earlier. So the focus was on Supply. To understand why the supply
reduced, I asked about the concentration of the supplier of wood pulp and where were they located. After some back and forth zeroed
down that supplier was now catering to the Furniture industry which was booming in Delhi. The client was more affected because we had
only one plant and that too in Delhi
Final Recommendations
Short term – diversify into other products, aggregate orders with other players; Long term – setup outside Delhi, backward integrate, R&D
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Very chill guy; started with his intro and was trying to make me comfortable
Round 1
Problem Statement
Your client is a paper manufacturer. They were growing fast but since last 3 years the top-line and bottom-line have both stagnated. How
will you help them
Candidate name: Bharat Matta| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Round 2
Type of case
Asked for a 30 second intro
Market Entry/Pricing
Problem Statement
Your client is MachineCo. They manufacture machines for textile companies. They want to enter the OT space (Operations Tech –
automated shop floors, predictive maintenance). Should they? If yes, how?
Scoping Questions
Asked about the objective, and if they are looking to leverage their existing clientele. Approached it like a market entry case – company,
industry attractiveness, financial feasibility, and strategic fit.
Breaking down the problem
After some back and forth on the industry details such as who are the competitors, and what kind of services do OT players provide,
interviewer told me that the industry is attractive and asked me to move on. Understood that the interviewer is interested in only the
pricing aspect. Changed approach to cost-based, value-based, and competitor-based pricing. Explained what each meant and was then
asked to take the value-based approach. Broke value into three components - People: automation might layoff some people and save
cost - Output: increased output/time due to increased production efficiency - Defects: increased output due to decrease in defects Machine: decreased maintenance costs For each of them I asked for numbers and calculated the total value.
Final Recommendations
Value-based pricing was the only ask
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interaction during the case was a little stressful. I felt i goofed up in the start but did well later.
Candidate name: Snigdha Singhvi| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
N/A
Type of case
Go To Market + Growth
Flipkart wants to enter BRB ecommerce space. How should they go about it?
Scoping Questions
Asked the following scoping questions: 1. What's the objective of entering this space? (Ans.: Want to increase revenue and be profitable
within 2-3 years); 2. Product: Which categories are we looking at? (Ans.: Same as their current B2C categories); 3. Customer: Who exactly
are the customers? (Ans.: Looking at unorganized retail stores, not organized ones); 4. Company: Is there a business model already
thought of for this? (Ans.: Yes, suppliers will sell to businesses at wholesale rate and Flipkart will take care of the logistics)
Breaking down the problem
Summarized my understanding of the case. Recalled that the firm 'Udaan' has a similar model. Mentioned the fact that I'd be going about
analyzing this in 3 parts: a. Is the business they are looking to enter attractive? b. Can they achieve operational and financial feasibility? c.
Are there any risks we should be aware of?; For part (a), I would quantitatively and qualitatively examine market size, growth rate, etc.
Interviewer mentioned, he wanted me to identify what categories existed? (I named these basis my experience on FK). He then asked me
to assume the following categories: Groceries & FMCG, Fashion & Apparel, Mobiles, Other electronics like headphones, Appliances (white
goods). He then asked what data points (metrics) would I need to decide which category to enter? (I broke it down from demand and
supply side information- Demand related were market size, market growth. Supply side- Margins or costs, delivery related time/risks)
Final Recommendations
After a lot of discussion on each of these numbers, 2 categories- Mobile and other electronics were decided) Reason: the metric "Cost to
serve normalized by its sales base" was the lowest for these. I had to guess the possible spend on delivery, risks, etc.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
N/A
Round 1
Problem Statement
Candidate name: Tanya Kamdar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Round 1
Type of case
N/A
Market Entry + Pricing
Problem Statement
Your client is a businessman from India. On visiting Dubai, he came in touch with a cement supplier who has introduced a new variant of
cement which costs 50% less and fries 2 times faster. He wants to introduce this cement in Mumbai and needs your help to decide.
Scoping Questions
Whether he had adequate resources to distribute the cement, his existing market share in the market in Mumbai and whether anyone
else in the market was selling the new variant
Breaking down the problem
I did a market sizing analysis and then was asked to recommend three ways to practically find the price that the contractors would be
okay to pay.
My recommendations were 1. Do a survey of existing builders to ascertain willingness to pay, 2. Do an analysis of price charged when the
previous variant of cement was introduced 3. Check the price in the Dubai Market and adjust basis Mumbai conditions.
Final Recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
I did not ask any question but told the interviewer frankly that since I had attended multiple Bain calls with him, I had already asked him
what I needed, he appreciated my honesty
Candidate name: Jai Newar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Round 1
Type of case
Discussed injuries at ISB (including my own), solved a mini case on why people get injured at ISB (mutually agreed answer was gradient of
road and height of steps), Tell me about your motivation to run the marathon
Growth Case
Problem Statement
A large conglomerate has entered into biscuits industry some time ago. Growth has stunted. How can you solve this issue
Scoping Questions
Explored company - level of forward/backward integration, understood the competitive landscape, understood the product (variety of
biscuits/premium or economy/whether problem persisted across all geographies/categories), asked about rest of industry and who the
consumer was (paan shops-intermediate customer) and retail customers (lower/mid income)
Breaking down the problem
Broke problem up into price and quantity as growth drivers. Since price could not be increased given cutthroat competition First focused
on market share and how to increase it. Explored the 4Ps, (place - distributor margins, promotions and incentives + Shelf space),
(promotion - family packs, branding campaigns, cross sell (with chai) etc), Product - smaller SKUs easier to store, make biscuits more
sturdy given they're usually paired with tea+ reduce sugar content given recent health kick
Final Recommendations
Summarized all recommendations in a quick 30 second short term, long term split, addressed potential competition backlash (both large
players as well as regional monopolies), suggested
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interview cases for me were a lot less structured and conversational. There is no defined end point. It's mostly about how you are
thinking, whether you can back it up under pressure and can you come up with one or two creative suggestions in the process without
straying away from an overarching structure.
Candidate name: Jai Newar| Designation: Junior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Round 2
Type of case
You seem passionate about the social sector, why not explore that more? Tell me about cofounding the Pro-bono consulting at KPMG
Growth
Problem Statement
How can you grow industrial boiler business globally?
Scoping Questions
Understood what a boiler is, the fact the client was a manufacturer only for only boiler plates which actually address the air pollution and
are a regulatory requirement. Understand the geographical presence and if the problem persisted in certain regions with less stringent
air pollution norms etc. , explored what else the company does other than this and how fragmented/monopolised the competition is.
Breaking down the problem
Broke down business into existing and new markets. Within existing, split it between price and volumes. Given price was regulated, tried
to explore if it was a supply or demand issue. Supply was smooth so explored the market size and market share. For size, i broke it up
into users*usage*uses. Didn’t get time to explore market share.
Final Recommendations
Finally concluded exclusive tie ups with factories, suggested incentives for old players to replace their existing boiler plates through
knowledge transfer and discounts. In terms of uses, explored the use of this technology in car exhausts to open up a whole new
customer base.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Dalberg
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Anurag Yadav | Designation: Senior Consultant
1. Tell me about your self 2. Why Dalberg 3. Why not another consulting firm 4. Something that I am very proud of.
Type of case
Guesstimate + Case
Problem Statement
Guesstimate - # of students in India who need remedial education
Case - Factors leading to students not being educated enough in certain areas of India and how do you solve for it
Scoping Questions
Guesstimate - Basics about whether we only focus on K-12, which part of the country, what do you mean by remedial education
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Breaking down the problem
Guesstimate
6 step approach
1> Population
2> Age Group
3> Urban and Rural
4> Income Split
5> Type of Schools
6> Ration of remedial students (suggested using standard scores / conducting some tests).
Case
Factors –
a> Teacher to student ratio
b> Quality of Teaching c> Access
d> Age Group / Other distractions ; Government has invented a personalize Adaptive Learning -> how will you optimally allocate it.
Final Recommendations
Optimized allocations via 1> Time of the day 2> Day of the week 3> Marginal Utility of each laptop 4> Shared Allocation 5> Suggested
to partner with call centres
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
"Reflections1. Be prepared for atypical cases and don't necessarily follow generic frameworks ( I used a normal Customer journey
approach Needs -> Awareness -> Accessibility -> Usage -> Retention).2. Create rapport at the start with the interviewer (with some
solid stories)3. Show the interviewer that you are breaking down the problem statement (again and again)"
Deloitte India
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Abhishek Raj Surya | Designation: Consultant, GBS
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me something about yourself; (2) Why consulting?; (3) What do you know about GBS?; (4) Any questions for us?
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
CHRO of Nestle global wants to know your opinion on activities that they should localize, generalize and outsource in order to reduce
information overload
Scoping Questions
(1) Nestle Global CHRO function; (2) Metrics to consider (3) Any competitive benchmarking
Breaking down the problem
(1) Breaking down the activities undertaken by CHRO office; (2) Scope of each activity; (3) Combining general activities like (Resume
collection, AI scanning); (4) Logic of segregation (Strategic / Non-Strategic)
Final Recommendations
(1) Centralize General jobs; (2) Introduction of computer judges psychometric tests; (3) Localize domain specific tasks such as
interview
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Keeping interviewer engaged is the key. They would be supportive in walking you through the problem
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me something about yourself; (2) Why consulting?; (3) Any questions for us?
Type of case
Guesstimate & Profitability
Problem Statement
Guesstimate - Number of season balls sold in Chennai in a year;
Case - Equity research firm is witnessing a dip in profits despite increase in revenues
Scoping Questions
Guesstimate - Only leather balls, Both Red and white balls (Only Chennai city);
Case - Timeline in business, Market competition, Performance of competitors, Business value chain
Breaking down the problem
Guesstimate - Types of matches (International, National, etc) > Type of matches at each level (ODI, T20, etc) > # balls used in match;
Case – Identify cost drivers and isolate value chain driver > Isolate cost driver to labour > Isolate problem to backend labour force >
Total salary cost = # employees X salary per employee > No change in #employees, Salary at par w/ industry > Very low attrition >
Existing employees are moving up in salary bracket and hence contributes to an increase in total cost
Final Recommendations
(1) Centralize General jobs; (2) Introduction of psychometric tests; (3) Localize domain specific tasks such as interview
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Keeping interviewer engaged is the key. They would be supportive in walking you through the problem
Round 3
Candidate name: Abhishek Raj Surya | Designation: Consultant, GBS
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Share your CV on screen and walk me through it; (2) Why consulting?; (3) Which industry would you prefer to work with?;
(4) How many consulting companies did you apply to?
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Ridhi Vohra| Designation: Consultant, Urban Transformation & Economic Development
Personal Interview Questions
Where do you belong to, How has ISB journey been for you, Work experience at Sattva
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
If you had to set up a transportation center in an urban hub, how will you go about it?
Scoping Questions
Which hub? Similar to Kashmere gate? Types of transports? National or Regional? Private or government contract?
Breaking down the problem
Told them my knowledge is low and walked through my understanding of how set up happens
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Personal Interview Questions
Why this sector? Why this role? Why consulting? Are you okay traveling? Policy discussion on NEP
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Yash Sablok| Designation: Consultant, Mergers & Acquisitions
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself, prior experience in M&A, why does M&A excite you
Type of case
M&A
Problem Statement
A leading commercial bank in Europe is looking to enter India. Identify the synergies and recommend if they should enter.
Scoping Questions
Where in Europe are they based out of?; Types of services offered? How soon are they looking to enter? Main reason why they want
to enter?
Breaking down the problem
Started by analysing the client's company and then understood more about the target company. Identified the synergies from the
deal and listed them as operational and financial synergies. Finally moved on to analyse the cultural and strategic fit.
Final Recommendations
Interviewers were more interested in discussing the synergies and did not care ask much about the recommendation
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Could have scoped the client company a little better. I went into the synergies too quickly, but luckily that is what they were more
interested to discuss on. It was a very open-ended case where I was expected to drive the discussion.
Personal Interview Questions
Just asked me about my prior experiences and how the round 1 went.
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
Asked me to walk him through a post merger integration process and how Deloitte can add value.
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
I had prepared this topic extensively, There are some good resources on PMI on Deloitte's and BCG's website. Walked them through a
structure on how I would look at the integration phase.
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer were very happy with how I had broken down the different phases of the integration process. I had also mentioned
that I had read about this on their website, and this was something he really appreciated.
Round 3
Candidate name: Yash Sablok| Designation: Consultant, Mergers & Acquisitions
Personal Interview Questions
This was more of a conversational and fit interview. He wanted to talk to me about my prior work experience at Deloitte USI, how I
found working at the firm, some of the tools that I had used. He talked extensively about the projects they are working on and asked
the industries that I find interesting.
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
He was happy that I was inquisitive about their work. I majorly relied on asking good company level questions since I was talking to a
partner. It is important to understand the right balance on how many questions you want to ask and maybe I felt I could have done
with 1 or 2 fewer questions. Overall, it was a good talk and he wanted to understand my interest in the field which I felt I was able to
convey.
Deloitte USI
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Kanwar Singh Alagh | Designation: Consultant, Operations Transformation
Personal Interview Questions
Walk me through your previous experience,
Type of case
Guesstimates
Problem Statement
Zomato is looking to automate its Customer Care and achieve 100% automation. How many systems are required and what is the
expected cost?
Scoping Questions
What is the current manpower deployed and their related costs? What is their capacity? How many complaints can the automated
system handle? What are the related costs?
Breaking down the problem
Analysed the various components of the Customer Care process by mapping the process journey. Scoped the costs attached to
different element at each step
Final Recommendations
Interviewer was more interested in the approach and didn’t ask for recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Could have adopted a simpler approach. This would’ve help make the interview more conversational
Personal Interview Questions
Asked about my experience in operations and people management. Wanted me to relate previous experience to this role
Type of case
Business Model Analysis
Problem Statement
Pick your favourite Ecommerce company and walk-through business model. Analyse problems and suggest ways to transform
Scoping Questions
Any particular company or sector that I should focus on?
Breaking down the problem
I analysed Zomato. Developed a framework to analyse profitability of different business streams. Then I categorized them basis their
profitability and analysed the business models for the top 2 verticals where changes were evident (Food Delivery and Food Fests)
Final Recommendations
Suggested revenue sharing for Food Delivery business to increase rider productivity. Recommended virtual attendance for Food Fests
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer were very happy with how I had broken down the different business verticals and was interested in the profitability
framework I developed. However, I could have picked a company with lesser business verticals for ease of calculation
Round 3
Candidate name: Kanwar Singh Alagh | Designation: Consultant, Operations Transformation
Personal Interview Questions
This was more of a conversational and fit interview. He wanted to talk to me about my prior work experience at KPMG. He was
interested in my experiences in the insolvency process of various client and how I handled conflicts with client. He also provided me
details of the kind of clients and asked me how I could add value to these engagements
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
He was intrigued about my work and was interest in conflict management. He wanted to know about my experiences working at
client site and internationally.
He was also happy to see my inquisitiveness regarding the work at Deloiite and the kind of clients. I feel that greater research
would’ve helped me be more pointed with my questions
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Ashish Kona| Designation: Consultant, Cloud Strategy
Personal Interview Questions
Walk me through your previous experience,
Type of case
Guesstimates
Problem Statement
Number of Swiggy orders in Pune
Scoping Questions
Not much to scope, kept stating levers and reasons behind them.
Breaking down the problem
Stated the population of Pune at 10 million. Split the population according to age, to factor in the age bracket that usually orders, ages
20-60 has about 60% of the population so 6 million. Out of this 6 million, stated that there is a 40% smart phone penetration, gives
me 2.4 million. Out of this about half of them will have swiggy installed, giving me 1.2 million. Out of the 1.2 million, there will be a
High (Daily orders), Medium(Weekly 2x) and Low(Monthly 2x) usage rate among the users.
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
No further feedback was provided. He said he was happy with the approach.
There was also a mini-case:
e-commerce website has been facing outage during diwali sale. (Felt more like a PM case).
Performed RCA to find that their estimates on traffic were wrong and not enough scaling capacity was allocated.
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself, what the role at previous organization was.
Type of case
Cloud Migration Strategy, abstract. Deloitte cases are quite different from the usual frameworks.
Problem Statement
Large American Pharma has an In-house data center and a cloud computing facility. They are looking to select applications that need
to be migrated. Design a cloud migration strategy.
Scoping Questions
Traditional 3CP did not work. Asked about the type of applications (critical for business, or operations), what applications have been
built in-house what has been out-sourced, what is the objective for the migration.
Breaking down the problem
Technical structure was followed. Find suitable applications, jot down the dependencies, perform a cost benefit applications, prioritize
according to scalability required assign points. A bunch of numbers were provided to perform a small Cost Benefit Analsyis, nothing
too tough, just to check your thought process
Final Recommendations
Prioritized the applications to be migrated, identified the cases where further analysis is required.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Was not sure how this round went, due to the absurd nature of the case.My Background in working with cloud applications definitely
helped in structuring the case well.Not much feedback was provided
Round 3
Candidate name: Ashish Kona | Designation: Consultant, Cloud Strategy
Personal Interview Questions
1. Describe a situation where you displayed leadership skills. 2. How would you compare credit cards with new-ace payment apps and
where do you think the future is headed towards? 2. Specific questions regarding projects I worked in
Type of case
Mostly about the fitment of the candidate. Why Deloitte? How do you see yourself fit here? Hobbies, Previous work-ex.
Problem Statement
-
Scoping Questions
-
Breaking down the problem
-
Final Recommendations
Asked him about some of the projects the team is currently working on and had a conversation regarding my previous experience in
Deloitte India
Suggestions
Please reduce the theory content and less wordy. Rather than bringing all the content from the slides of coursework, maybe more
focus can be on the frameworks that can be followed itself and maybe bring forwards different approaches/framework that can be
used to reach solution.
Round 1
Round 1
Candidate name: Kaustabh Ray | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself 2. Do you have experience working with Powerpoint and Excel,
Type of case
Merger and Acquisition
Problem Statement
A gym chain is looking towards acquiring a ready-to-eat packaged food products to sell these products in the gym premises. Would
you recommend the company to move forward with the plan?
Scoping Questions
1. Clarificatory questions about the gym: location, customer segment, any other products currently sold in the gym premises. 2.
Clarificatory questions regarding the product: Price, Differentiation from currently available products in market, location, value chain
Breaking down the problem
1. Asked to focus initially on the synergies that the Gym chain can gain from the acquisition. Divided the synergies into two parts:
Tangible and Intangible. Further divided Tangible into revenue and cost synergies and gave examples in each, the interviewer kept on
asking for justifications on each example. 2. Was asked to provide a guesstimate for the no. of customers that can be targeted with
this product: Took a top down apporach, started with population of Delhi, dividing into age group to find out who are eligible to join
the gym (below 18 years and above 60 years were removed), took an estimate of who would actually go to the gym, took a proxy of %
consumers taking protein shakes for finding out people interested in the given product and based on price point decided upon the
population who can be targeted.
Final Recommendations
We had a discussion about how ISB experience has been during the COVID times and how much consulting has been affected by the
same.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
-
Personal Interview Questions
Quick walk-through the CV
Type of case
Merger and Acquisition
Problem Statement
An IT firm is looking towards acquiring another IT firm, the products are similar in nature and our client' firm covers 80% of the
customer base covered by the firm they wish to acquire. How would you assess this decision?
Scoping Questions
Was asked to move forward with assessment of synergies and clarifications can be provided.
Breaking down the problem
It was a stress interview and the interviewer rejected any proposal provided throughout the problem solving phase. Divided the
synergies tangible and intangible. Explored each of the sub-parts, however each of the synergies put forward were rejected.
Final Recommendations
Since none of the synergies were seen to be working for the given acquisition, concluded that there were no synergies if offer from
the acquisition so might want to look for other prospects
Ernst & Young
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Abhisar Garg | Designation: Consultant, Business Consulting
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Why consulting? (2) Top three takeaways from ISB
Type of case
People-Process-Technology
Problem Statement
Our client’s shared services setup in India is taking higher-than-expected TAT in processes. What should EY do to speed this up?
Round 2
Round 1
(1) Client (2) Context (3) Process (4) Workforce
Scoping Questions
Based on Answers –
Our client, McDonald’s, has 3 shared services setups in US, UK and China. However, they are facing backlogs in the invoicing process
and want to outsource to Genpact in India to resolve that. However, the Genpact workforce is running behind and taking higher TAT
in resolving the backlog queue.
Breaking down the problem
Processing time taken is a function of (1) Number of resources (2) Processing time per resource. Interviewer asked to explore (2),
which I broke down into Skills, Experience. Interviewed guided towards skill, since the acquired workforce was unsophisticated.
Further broke down training into Number of Trainers, Quality of Training and Training Methodology.
Final Recommendations
Design a high-quality training curriculum using experiences trainers from US/UK offices for workforce in Genpact division.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Grab subtle hints dropped by the interviewer. Make sure to summarize the case at the end even if not explicitly asked.
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Why Consulting Club President (2) Why EY
Type of case
Growth Strategy
Problem Statement
E-commerce client wants to acquire new customers, suggest which channel they should go for.
(1) Choice of Channels (2) Geography
Scoping Questions
Based on Answers –
US-based Ecommerce client, want to grow xx%, option of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Banner Advertising on websites.
Round 2
Candidate name: Abhisar Garg | Designation: Consultant, Business Consulting
Breaking down the problem
Calculated average CLTV for each channel option. Explored costs related to both SEM and Banner Advertising.
CLTV = Projected Revenue – Cost = (Total Clicks x Conversion rate x Average Customer Spend) – (Total Clicks x Cost per click)
Interviewer helped with all the data/figures, wherever necessary.
Final Recommendations
SEM more profitable based on Average CLTV figures.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
It’s okay to ask about how and what about advertising if you are not aware, interviewer is not testing you on industry knowledge.
Candidate name: Gundeep Kaur Sachdeva | Designation: Consultant, Business Consulting
(1) Recent developments in EY (I was ex-EY) (2) Why EY Consulting, and preference between 3 departments (profitability improvement,
process transformation and GTM)
Type of case
Guesstimate, Pricing and GTM (Asked my favorite industry, and made the case on the spot on FMCG)
Problem Statement
Unilever is thinking to planning to introduce bottled honey which is organic and is produced without harming the bees.
(a) Assess the market for honey in India (b) Price point for the product (c) How should they take this to market
Scoping Questions
(1) I clarified if the market for honey implies market for bottled honey
(2) I clarified if the market in India implies production and sale in India
(3) Customer - clarified if it is fair to assume that the market, we are looking at just includes households and we can exclude honey’s
usage in cosmetics, food & beverage and medical products
(4) Company/ competitors – I made presumptions about competitive advantage and competitiveness about the market and asked the
interviewer if I was thinking in the right direction to assess the market share for Unilever’s bottled honey
(5) Product – asked if it is fine to assume the bottled honey to include 100g of honey
(6) Confirmed if we are looking at the annual demand
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Guesstimate
I confirmed with him if he's fine with a demand side approach.
Looked at the following pyramid structure - population -> rural – urban -> household size -> income -> frequency / month -> market
share -> monthly units in 100g bottles * 12 to determine annual market from households.
Assumed we are not looking at food & beverage industry and medical products or cosmetic.
Breaking down the problem
Pricing
I suggested that we could look at three methods to price – cost + margin, competitor-based approach and value-based approach and
walked the interviewer with pros and cons of all three.
GTM
We never got into the details of solving GTM but just shared the raw structure that I will be looking at (1) who to target, (2) what to
offer them in terms of product and its positioning, (3) How to offer it (pricing, production/ setup, distribution channels, customer
services and marketing)
While defining various cost heads, he quizzed upon the inclusion of overhead expenses in calculating gross profit and operating profit
– though I knew the answer I got a little nervous.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Good structure, communicated my thoughts well, interviewed was very supportive and tried to calm me down.
Round 1
Candidate name: Nikita Gupta | Designation: Consultant, Business Consulting
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me something about yourself; (2) Why consulting?
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Most cost optimum option for travelling from home to EY office in Gurgaon
Scoping Questions
Travelling by self or cab. Assume depreciation of owned car.
Breaking down the problem
Used excel to write all cost components. Discussed with the interviewer the numbers. Chose the final option basis least cost
Final Recommendations
N/A
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer liked the detailed quantitative approach.
GEP Worldwide
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 1
Candidate name: Aagosh Kapoor | Designation: Senior Solutions Designer
Personal Interview Questions
N/A
Type of case
M&A Case related to pharma industry
Problem Statement
Scoping Questions
Breaking down the problem
Final Recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Personal Interview Questions
Round 2
Type of case
Problem Statement
Scoping Questions
Breaking down the problem
Final Recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Basic Statistics, Normal Curve, Probability, Basic Statistical Models
Abstract Case - Come up with a cost saving number for a Swiss multinational electronics manufacturing firm that wants to shift his procurement operations to
the APAC region
Kearney
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 3
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Bashdeep Singh | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself and an interesting project in your last organization
Type of case
Cost Saving
Problem Statement
Reduce the cost of a packaging client by 10%
Scoping Questions
Started with usual clarifying questions - 3CP, understood the client business, its customers, market and products
Breaking down the problem
• Used value chain framework
• Identified major cost avenues (mat, shipping, etc.) - was asked to focus on one area, to find ways/levers to reduce upstream costs
• Was asked to identify cost elements to focus if raw material prices are fixed - Cost of transportation, storage, intermediary/broker,
getting into commodity future contracts, exchange rate, heading costs & time value of opportunity costs of upfront payments
Final Recommendations
Getting into long term contract, bulk purchases, getting into a JV, acquiring a supplier, building own sourcing plant, go for open market
tenders, look-out for substitutable material, buying from nearby location to cut down on transportation cost
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Asked about my work in analytics- nature of analytics/data centric work I have done (2) Detailed questions on a Supply chain
project that I have done (3) Question on how would I go about Stakeholder management required in Consulting (4) Asked about how I
came into analytics being from a non-tech background
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Why Consulting? (2) Is your analytics experience useful in your role at Kearney? (3) Open to learning new thing if required?
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
How would you reduce working capital requirement at the inventory level (upstream) of a Business (Take FMCG for this case)? In
detail, explain your overall objective, how you will achieve it, constraints that you may face, inputs required to build a data model.
Scoping Questions
Not much scope for asking scoping questions here as case was a question in extension to a project I explained.
Breaking down the problem
Working capital → Avg. Receivables – Avg. Payables → Went on to answers questions asked by interviewer → Asked only to focus on
Aps, and to further come up with ideas to build a demand side forecasting model
Final Recommendations
Avg. Payable is cost → Total Cost = f (RM cost, transportation, # of suppliers etc.) → Explained the model I will build using these inputs,
how I would use this model to predict AP and take required actions to bring down total costs
Final Round
Round 1
Candidate name: Mohit Bansal | Designation: Senior Business Analyst
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself. Why consulting?
Type of case
Mix of Profitability and Growth
Problem Statement
Your client is a grocery retailer and the client's market share has declined YoY. Build a data analytics strategy to help them out.
Scoping Questions
(1) More information on the grocery retailer? (2) Product mix of the retailer (3) Kind of operations of the retailer (4) Competitive
landscape of Middle East (5) Current data procurement strategy for the grocery retailer
Breaking down the problem
Started by first discussing about laying a strong data infrastructure layer and then deriving insights from the data analytics layer to
improve business planning → Broke down the insights into two parts:
1. Improving marketing – Explained how analytics can be used while applying the STP framework
2. Improving operations – Explained how analytics should be used in different elements of the value chain: (a) Planning (b) Sourcing
(c) Central Warehouse (d) Distribution (e) Retailer (f) In store operations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
I learnt from my buddy that the interviewer was happy with the way I approached the problem, and the way I could blend analytics
with business processes
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Walk me through your Journey? (2) Explain 1 project that you have done in detail? (3) Why consulting
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
This was the fourth interview and I think all the previous 3 interviewers had given positive feedback on me. It seemed more like that
they wanted me to meet the partner once before rolling out the offer. It was a short conversation that lasted only for 20 mins.
KPMG India
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Taruna Hemnani | Designation: IGH Consultant - Government Advisory (Education)
Tell me about your journey, your work-ex and how did you end up at ISB?
Type of case
Growth Strategy
Problem Statement
Your client is a university having engineering and MBA colleges in Maharashtra. They want to be in the top 100 NIRF rankings(they
currently aren't a part of it). How will you go about identifying the problems and what will be your recommendations?
Scoping Questions
There were not many scoping questions as expectations were very clear
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
From experience I knew what an Engineering and an MBA institute needs to do for getting better rankings.
Breaking down the problem
Few pointers were:
1) Quality faculties( PhD.),
2) Research
3) Student backgrounds
4) Course structure
5) Grading system (assignments, etc.),
6) Industry exposure
7) Also, how do you check improvements in students, infrastructure, placements, etc.
Final Recommendations
NA
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
NA
L.E.K
Consulting
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Adit Makhijani | Designation: Consultant
Tell about yourself and your work; Why LEK over other shortlists?
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
Your client is a global event management company and it wants to enter the Brazil market. How will you go about it?
Scoping Questions
Company - Which countries does our client operate in currently? What is the budget of the events? ; Product - What kind of events Sports/Entertainment? What are the Revenue Sources?; Customer - Who all are our customers - Sports Leagues, Bands, Award
Functions, etc; Competition - Current competitive landscape - no. of competitors, market share, intensity
Breaking down the problem
The interviewer asked me to just focus on the qualitative part and leave numbers out of it
1. Type of events - Sports or entertainment - Brazil is famous for both, soccer & the carnival
2. Market Potential - Analyzed macros - GDP/Capita, Growth rate, Disposable Income, Current expenditure on entertainment, and
micros - Current utilization of stadiums, Ticket prices, Merchandise Sales, Revenue generation strategies etc.
3. Operational Challenges – Interviewer asked to move ahead
4. Competition – Current Players (both domestic & international), Market shares
5. Risks – PESTLE, & currency risk as South American currencies are quite volatile; major focus was on Market Potential and Risks
Final Recommendations
Based on the discussion we had I suggested to enter the market with currency hedging strategies in place
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer was quite happy and said that I touched upon all the important points
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Round 3
Round 2
Candidate name: Adit Makhijani | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself. Asked me to pitch a stock.
Type of case
PE/VC
Problem Statement
Your client is a PE firm who wants to invest in Byju’s who wants to determine – (1) Addressable market size (2) How will it grow and
how much of it can be tapped over the next 10 years
Scoping Questions
I did not spend much time on scoping. I identified the target segment - Supplementary (Classes 6th to 8th)
Breaking down the problem
Each of my answer had a few follow up questions. For the first question I did a guesstimate to calculate the target market size. The
next question was mostly a Q&A that I structured as follows - Demand side growth factors (Awareness, Availability, Likability,
Accessibility) vs Supply side growth factors (Organic - Expansion to new cities vs Inorganic - Acquiring smaller players).
Final Recommendations
The case had to be closed a bit abruptly due to time constraint
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
The interviewer seemed content with my answers
Personal Interview Questions
The entire interview was based on personal questions such as on my past work experience, Why Consulting, Why LEK, How was my
experience at ISB, How was the online learning experience, etc.
Type of case
-
Problem Statement
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
For LEK interviews, one of the 2 rounds will mostly have an education sector-based case. Accordingly, it would be quite helpful for you
to understand the sector broadly and know the common terminology.
Round 1
Candidate name: Amit Sarkar | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me about your self (2) Discussion about school and personal work
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
Your client is a service provider for sports live events. It wants to enter Latin America. How would you prioritize the markets to enter?
Scoping Questions
Objective - Strategic, Company - Revenue streams (Ticket sales primarily), Offering - 80% coverage of sports events and 20% other
events, Competitors - Smaller players
Breaking down the problem
Market Entry framework - Industry attractiveness (Quantitative & Qualitative), Feasibility (Operational & Financial), & Ways to enter.
Focused on qualitative aspects of attractiveness wherein I tried to use Porter's 5 Forces. Asked to evaluate various cost heads & how it
would vary with geography
Final Recommendations
There were no recommendations as the discussion was closed before that
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
I think I was pretty tired as this was the last interview of my day and a little bit too relaxed since I already had offers from Mck and
Bain. A combination of these two factors probably prevented me from giving my best and hence I was not selected, despite building a
good rapport initially with the interviewer.
Round 3
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Avi Mukesh Doshi | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
(1) Tell me about your self (2) Why MBA? (3) Why LEK? (4) Why ISB?
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Solve the problem for an Australian T-shirt company is facing a lower profit
Scoping Questions
COVID impact? – No; Company operations – domestic/international? – both (asked to focus on domestic market only); Lower profit –
industry or firm specific? - Industry was facing this issue owing to change in consumer behaviour. Firm was in a worse position.
Breaking down the problem
Revenue → Cost → Market Size & Market Size both dropped due to lower demand → The demand went down due to change in
consumer behavior and hence reduction in frequency of purchase
Final Recommendations
-
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer was happy with the approach and wanted to see how well I understood the market
Personal Interview Questions
Why LEK? Is money important to you? Why ISB
Type of case
Market entry with a guesstimation
Problem Statement
Japanese traditional jeweler wants to enter Singapore Market
Scoping Questions
Products sold by the jeweler? → The catch was that the jeweler sold only 2 types of product
Breaking down the problem
Market sizing – Broke down the problem to arrive at the fact that tourists are an important market segment
Final Recommendations
Presented a final flow of how to evaluate entry decision: Market Size x Market Share = Revenue - Cost = Profits / Capital Invested =
ROC compare with Hurdle rate
Personal Interview Questions
Where do you live? Which office would do you want - Mumbai / Singapore? Why LEK? Focus on personal growth story
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Gave lot of input about firm and gauged interest of the candidate basis the conversation
Round 1
Candidate name: Snigdha Singhvi | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Introduce yourself; Why LEK over other consulting firms?; Assessed my understanding of how LEK is going to be different; Why
education sector & how it fits into my career?
Type of case
PE Case
Problem Statement
A PE fund wants to invest in a school based out of satellite town (similar to Gurgaon, but not in India). Assess if they should invest
Scoping Questions
Very detailed scoping - details about the fund; objective of investing, timeframe, school's USP, competition (direct + indirect)
Breaking down the problem
Charted the customer journey - identified the right customers, customer preferences; Math heavy case with guesstimate on how
many kids would attend the school. Asked questions on each assumption and what measure/proxy would give that number.
Final Recommendations
It was important to identify that there are competitors in residential towns and these satellite towns have issues. Identifying issues
through discussion and then solutions to those issues was key.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer was happy with the approach
McKinsey &
Company
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Riya Gupta | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
1. How are you doing today 2. How would your family and friends describe you 3. What are you passionate about 4. Why Mckinsey.
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Estimate the animal health market in India and its growth
Scoping Questions
Market sizing in Rupee, What kind of animals - dairy, poultry, pet - was asked to focus on poultry - cattle - cows and buffalos, Kind of
medication - both preventive and curative
Breaking down the problem
Started with first of all need to estimate the number of cows - laid down a rough approach and was told that we know through census
report that there are 300 Mn cows. Then to calculate the health market first of all divided into the different types of players - big
farms, small farms, individuals maintaining few cows. Then told we can calculate the estimated revenue that they would be
generating and the expected costs to arrive at the profits they would be making. Then based on the profits can estimate the amount
they would be willing to spend on health based on a percentage. Was told that the approach seems reasonable and we can move on
to the next part of the case. For that i was given that growth of animal health market is 12%, whereas the growth of poultry market is
just 3%, what could be the reasons. I listed a few reasons such as increase in healthcare cost, increase in awareness about animal
health, increase in the number of bigger players. The interviewer seemed satisfied with the response and said we can close the case.
Final Recommendations
NA
Personal Interview Questions
a) Tell me something about yourself b) What are you most passionate about C) What is the most creative thing you have done.
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
You have to build a city in an emerging market, how would you convince the government to spend money towards creating a circular
economy
Scoping Questions
Budget of the city, Estimate cost of projects under circular economy (carbon capture, reforestation), objective of the govt. - to build a
new Singapore - industries of the future, diversification away from oil, who are we working for - a middle eastern country
Breaking down the problem
Listed down the three key stakeholders - Govt., corporates and people and the incentives for each of them w.r.t sustainability. The
case went to more of a discussion phase post that wherein we started discussion as to can there be a financial model to see the
investment and its impact, recovery, can there be a different way to calculated GDP, what are the things required to bridge the gap
b/w current scenario and the future we want.
Round 1
Candidate name: Anandita Bindra | Designation: Junior Practice Specialist (Digital)
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about a time you faced conflict at your workplace
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
1.Guesstimate the market size of agricultural inputs used in farming (seeds, fertilizers, tractors, pesticides etc) 2. Client is looking to
invest in Agri-tech firm how will you evaluate the decision
Scoping Questions
Clarified: Geography- India, Time period- 1 year, all crops or any specific type of crops, do we need the market size in Rupees?, limited
the inputs to 4- seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, tractors
Breaking down the problem
Started with taking average land size of India (Nitika asked me to take 100 million hectares to simplify the problem solving) Then
divided the land in proportion to population (70:30, rural:urban), assumed that agriculture happened only in rural areas. From the
70% rural land assumed that agriculture happened only in 30% of that area. After obtaining the agricultural area, I asked if I should
consider 2 sowing seasons(kharif and rabi), for simplicity, she asked me to assume only 1 season throughout the year. Then I asked
her how to segment the crops as each crop has different input requirement. Nitika then asked me to assume that 20% area is high
yield crops like fruits and vegetables and 80% is general crops like wheat. After this segmentation I divided the area into smaller
blocks stating that from my own experience, I have seen farmers divide and demarcate land area. (again took simplifying hectare to
square feet conversions here). After this, I assumed that each square feet will have one plant/tree/bush hence 1 seed per square feet
(here Nitika said that I should consider an average of 3 seeds per square feet as some seeds won't germinate). Applied a similar
calculation for fertilizers and pesticides. For tractors, Nitika asked me to assume that each farmer on an average owns 5 hectares of
land and ploughs the land 6 times a year. Also, each tractor can plough 300 hectares of land in a year. I got a little confused at this
stage and asked the interviewer for help. Basically, each farmer ploughs 5*6=30 hectares land per year, and each tractor can plough
300 hectares land per year. So the utilization of tractors is 10% and each farmers needs only 1 tractor in our case. So 100 Million/5=
20 million farmers*1 tractor/farmer= 20 million tractors in total. To summarize, I made a table with seeds, fertilizer, pesticide, tractor
in one column, cost/unit in the next column and the total cost of the inputs in the third column. Gave this table as my
synthesis/summary. Next, Nitika asked me that our client is looking to invest in an agri-tech startup, what factors will we consider?
There was very less time and she only wanted the framework. Explained a mixture of market entry/PE framework. Also mentioned
that since it was an agri-tech start-up, apart from usual ground operations, I will also look at tech operations and the tech stack used
to estimate the future growth potential and scalability.
Final Recommendations
I asked Nitika what would be her advice as partner to someone joining at a junior associate level?
Self reflection
1. Contrary to what we practice, do not take long pauses very often. Walk the interviewer through whatever you are thinking. This
really helped me as Nitika gave many easy simplifying assumptions from time to time only because I was in a conversational mode
with her. This also made sure that I had her attention throughout as it is very easy to zone out in virtual interactions.
Round 2
Candidate name: Anandita Bindra | Designation: Junior Practice Specialist (Digital)
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself
Type of case
Salesforce + Digital
Problem Statement
Give some groundbreaking suggestions to increase Salesforce productivity
Scoping Questions
This is a very common question that was asked several times in the previous years as well. It is important to know that a major
challenge faced by salesforce is high attrition rates. I did not ask too many scoping questions as the interviewer made it clear that we
had limited time and he wanted solutions right away.
Breaking down the problem
I used the PM design question framework here and told Kushe that ideally we would start with a qualitative/quantitative survey to
elicit the user needs and pain points. But for the purpose of our discussion, we can assume a simple customer journey and think of
pain points that they face. Kushe game me a following journey (rough): Finding leads-- evaluating whether the leads are worth
following-- building a client relationship--maintaining the relationship--contract renewal. I started by saying that we can make an
application to record all the things salesperson does on a day to day basis nut Kushe said that he was looking for innovative solutions.
At this point it was totally clear that he was not interested in the finer process details and wanted only fresh ideas
Final Recommendations
1. Although I didn't ask a lot of scoping questions, I asked Kushe how things worked at every step before giving any suggestions. It
was more like a conversation where he explained to me the process and the problem and I suggested a solution and checked with
him if something like that could work.
tions on when client engagement should be increased/decreased 4. speech to text conversion and summary of calls before the
Salesforce person and client Internal process improvement 1. Predicting when the employee is likely to resign and offer them raise. 2.
Personalized training recommender system 3. Rewards and raise suggestions for managers 4. Identify high performing employees
after controlling for external factors like geography. PS: At points, I made references to the thick rim/thin rim model we learn about in
Marketing Services elective with Professor Piyush Kumar. Closing question from my side: What do you like the most and the least
about working at McKinsey
Self reflection
1. Contrary to what we practice, do not take long pauses very often. Walk the interviewer through whatever you are thinking. This
really helped me as Nitika gave many easy simplifying assumptions from time to time only because I was in a conversational mode
with her. This also made sure that I had her attention throughout as it is very easy to zone out in virtual interactions.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Ayush Sirothia | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Major challenges faced at work, situations of conflict and approach for resolution
Type of case
PE Investment
Problem Statement
PE firm wants to acquire a multiplex chain. COVID scenario - between first and second waves - theatres are reopening after being shut
for a few months
Scoping Questions
1. Asked about PE firm - prior investment, domain expertise. 2. Asked about investment objective - IRR, timeline etc. 3. 3CP on the
multiplex chain - geography of operation, target segment, competition, growth rate, etc
Breaking down the problem
Started by analysing company growth avenues and attractiveness. Then took a step back and analysed industry attractiveness first
since industry was not doing good. Approached industry attractiveness analysis from both supply and demand side constraints supply regulations and social distancing limiting considerations supply and consumer apprehensions curtailing demand
Final Recommendations
Ended abruptly, PI took a lot of time
Self reflection
Interviewer feedback - Analyzing company in such cases when the industry itself is tanking might not be very optimum. Might miss out
some global/macro-level issues and instead focus on not so important things.
Personal Interview Questions
No specific questions. Took him through my intro then workex. Then he came up with a case around my workex
Type of case
Growth
Problem Statement
Growth strategies for the brand I worked for at ITC (Fabelle chocolates), discussing problems in existing strategy
Scoping Questions
NA
Breaking down the problem
Tried to use standard growth framework. Focusing on existing business as well as new avenues. Existing business - major focus on
expanding distribution and ways to do the same. In new avenues launching products in ancillary categories such as chocolate spreads
etc.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Romil Shah| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
1) Tell me about yourself. 2) If I ask your friends in ITC and ISB about Romil, what will they say about me. 3) What do you think your
Manager knows you for and is there any feedback or criticism that you have received from your manager at ITC.
Type of case
Pricing, Abstract
Problem Statement
Mumbai is a vertical city and reaching from one point to another takes 45 mins and 45 rupees on a train. While the same journey
takes 1.5 hrs in an AC cab and costs you Rs.500. Your client has come up with a hovercraft which has 100 seats, has AC and takes 20
mins for the same distance. Help the client to price it.
Scoping Questions
NA
Breaking down the problem
I used the standard pricing framework of cost plus, benchmark (had competitor data already) and value based. The partner was
interested in value based pricing. I broke down value pricing into tangibles (value of time saved) and intangibles (convenience and
comfort). He liked the breakdown and asked me to help him measure or gauge customer's willingness to pay for the convenience. I
suggested market survey and customer analytics to find a proxy on spends that customer does on convenience at any other place
(such as pre-book movie tickets, online grocery orders etc. and gauge WTP) OR second method like bidding for everyday seat on an
app for the Hovercraft seat (that would reveal true WTP of the customer).
Final Recommendations
The partner asked me to pitch the entire outcome to him in 30 seconds as if I were in a lift with the CEO of Client company and I had
to convey him the outcome. So recommended bidding solution and spending patter analysis to come up with the pricing.
Self reflection
The interviewer was a mix of casual and funny conversation as well as putting me on the spot while recommendations and synthesis.
He liked the structure and minimal questions I asked to come up with a solution. He liked the innovative idea of bidding for a seat to
extract WTP and finding a proxy for convenience by analysing consumer spending patterns.
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself and he also told his story about working in different geographies across McKinsey and why he is continuing
with the firm. We shared a lot on travel experience and that became a base for my case as well.
Type of case
Market Entry, Abstract
Problem Statement
As yo like to travel a lot and passionate about traveling, how would a travel enthusiast (in mid 20s) go about monetising this passion
and how would you recommend he or she can go about doing it.
Scoping Questions
I asked about whether the individual will be doing this full-time vs part-time as that changes the nature of recommendations. I also
asked about product or service that he may be interested in offering (the partner said why don't I list out both and what all can he
offer under each).
Round 2
Candidate name: Romil Shah | Designation: Junior Associate
Breaking down the problem
Listed down the structure as 1) Nature of offering - Product and Service. In Product - a) Blog with itinerary and travel experiences - can
be monetised through ads or links to hotel and booking websites, paid access to blog or pay per view etc.); B) Pre-designed travel
packages for a commission fees; In Service - A) Customised travel packages B) End-to-End bookings and travel support with travel
packages. Once the nature of offering was decided, 2) Financial and Operational viability - A) Financial - Operations (check for each
offering) and Non Ops (Sales, Marketing, Travel to build itinerary, Salaries, Rent and office set up etc.); For Operational Viability - A)
Decide presence - online offline B) Market yourself in relevant channels C) Set up ops & resources (required pre-work and itineraries).
3) Timeframe - check out the finances and ops requirement and chalk out a timeline as per the requirement and finally start the
business.
Final Recommendations
The above structure was well received by the partner and no recommendations were asked. I asked about has there been an event
where he felt like leaving McKinsey and still decided to stay. What were the reasons and how did the firm play a role in this. He was
happy to provide an answer and we had a healthy 10 min discussion on this.
Self reflection
I think I resonated with the interviewer on travel experiences. He liked my approach to the random problem he gave me and I quoted
a couple of such travel Instagram pages who have started a business of similar nature (such as bruised passports etc.) which he liked
and gave the image that I indeed know what I am talking about. I took a fair bit of time to understand the scope of the question and
that could have been reduced. But there was a very limited set of information flowing from the interviewer and it was an open-ended
case where I had to rely on my breadth of thinking of what all will go into setting up such a business.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Anshumaan Singh | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Profile walkthrough
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
Your client is a European 'Carbon Black' manufacturer (Raw material that is used as a filler for tyres). How would you advise them in
developing their environment and sustainability practice?
Scoping Questions
Clarified objective by drilling down "Why"s. 3CP, External regulations in play, time horizon, past incidences, proactive vs reactive
strategy etc.
Breaking down the problem
Structured problem by drawing out the end-to-end value chain along with the interviewer, highlighting points where either people or
the environment could be impacted. The interviewer kept probing my structure by providing additional information to gauge the
ability to think on my feet.
Final Recommendations
NA
Self reflection
The interviewer indicated beforehand that it would be an unconventional case, where I realized creating a coherent structure would
be paramount, and tried my best to do so. However, I felt that I could have come up with some more creative branches/suggestions
by drawing from current events had I been less rigid with my approach and taken some more time.
Personal Interview Questions
Profile walkthrough
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Client is an electric 2-wheeler manufacturer facing lower than projected revenues.
Scoping Questions
Standard 3CP
Breaking down the problem
Broadly followed the profitability structure. Drilled down to root cause: Targeting the wrong customer segment who were not driving
the higher priced electric variant enough to reach a breakeven from a lower cost of ownership.
Self reflection
What went well: Getting interviewer's buy-in at each stage and ensuring a conversational flow.
Trimming down scoping/profitability related questions based on verbal & non-verbal cues instead of mechanically following the
structure. Being able to link the cost of ownership and price benchmark from the competition was the key to solving this particular
problem What I could have improved upon: Take a breather when performing calculations and sanity check numbers.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Adarsh Rathi | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Detailed PI in terms of tell me about yourself, deal experience in my previous role, long term goals. The interviewer was an extremely
friendly and humble person, made me comfortable by telling more about his work and what has made him stick to Mck for 10+ years
Type of case
PE
Problem Statement
Diligence for e-grocery company (typical DD cases at consulting firms)
Scoping Questions
Objective: to understand market size, growth potential, profitability. 3CP for company and industry gyan.
Breaking down the problem
Very hypothesis driven interview. Took reference as Big Basket. There was no framework and it was just discussion on first principles.
For example, how would i project company's financials. We broke down PnL into Revenue and Cost projections. I was asked different
approaches to project revenue - (i) historical growth (ii) global benchmark (iii) industry experts' views. Interviewer really liked my 3
approaches for which i took 30s-1min break to think. I was also questioned on value drivers in such businesses and
recommendations on how would i advise on company becoming a market leader (organic and inorganic growth)
Final Recommendations
I structured my recos in terms of the objectives and gave short term and long term views for each bucket. I also cited tata acquiring
majority stake in BB recently which impressed the interviewer
Self reflection
I gave Mck interview post getting an offer from Bain. Having an offer helps your second interview to a large extent especially in terms
of confidence and perception. So what worked for me was trying to schedule first interview with the firm with whom you have a
greater chance of conversion.
Personal Interview Questions
Brief PI in terms of tell me about yourself, how was i feeling and my previous interview experiences of the day (this was my 4th)
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Airline Company facing decline in profits
Scoping Questions
3CP - Low cost airline like Spicejet, timeline of the decline, competitive dynamics, Pre or post covid scenario
Round 2
Candidate name: Adarsh Rathi| Designation: Junior Associate
Breaking down the problem
Standard Profitability framework - revenue side issue - broke down daily revenue into KPIs. (#fleet size * Avg #seats/plane * Avg Occ.
* Avg. price/seat * #trips per day). (Interviewer was impressed by breaking this revenue). Finally post discussion wrt to each
parameter concluded that # trips and avg. occ. was an issue. With no further time, he directed me to evaluate costs and asked me to
focus on 2 key costs - fuel and depreciation. (Fixed vs Variable costs helped me pin point this). Broke down fuel costs into (Avg.
mileage * Avg Distance * Avg Fuel Price). Age of the planes was an issue and hence avg. mileage was low. Along with this, fuel prices
were on the surge
Final Recommendations
I structured my recos in terms of the objectives and gave short term and long term views for each bucket. I also cited tata acquiring
majority stake in BB recently which impressed the interviewer
Self reflection
I gave Mck interview post getting an offer from Bain. Having an offer helps your second interview to a large extent especially in terms
of confidence and perception. So what worked for me was trying to schedule first interview with the firm with whom you have a
greater chance of conversion.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Enakshi Manohar| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Can you please talk about your experience as a sports person?
Type of case
Cost reduction
Problem Statement
You are an automotive player. Please increase the EBITDA by 20%.
Scoping Questions
Where is the company located? What is the product range?
Breaking down the problem
The approach was to break down the EBITDA as Revenue minus Operating costs. Primarily focussed on operating cost reduction.
Split cost reduction into two parts - reducing waste and reducing production cost
Final Recommendations
The case ended with a math problem. Q- If the EBITDA increases by 20% with no change in cost, please calculate %decrease in costs.
Self reflection
Interviewer was testing my ability to think quickly on my feet. She was jumping through the case to see how quickly I adapt to
different problems.
Personal Interview Questions
Primarily spoke about my sports background and my experience as a national level athelete.
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
You are the CEO of a Pharma Company and your drug sales are declining post COVID. What are the top 2 strategies you will employ
for the firm.
Scoping Questions
Asked about the company's product pipeline and primarily point of sales.
Breaking down the problem
The case was entirely recommendation focussed. I broke the problem statement into 2 parts - A) Starting ecommerce sales and B)
Employing a virtual marketing mix with a omni-channel detailing plan
Self reflection
The interviewer was pretty calm and let me lead the case. What worked for me was keeping a calm mindset and trying to have a
conversation with the partner since the case was so abstract.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Mehak Jain| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Market growth
Problem Statement
Your client is a new cement player in the industry that wants to grow its market share, please give recommendations on how the
client may do so
Scoping Questions
Company: Established steel player in India, entered the cement industry around 3-4 years back. Competition: 2 dominant players in
the industry with 25% and 20% of the market share respectively. Product: Standard cement used in construction, one key difference
from the rest of the industry was that it used slag as a raw material instead of the standard fly ash, the use of the slag caused the
cement to be whitish in colour instead of the standard greyish colour. Key objective: Expand current sales from 6 million tons to 25
million tons and gain 6-7% of the market share in the next 4-5 years as opposed the current 2%
Breaking down the problem
Benchmarked our product vis-a-vis the industry on the 4P's to find out factors where there is scope to eat into the competitor's
market share
Final Recommendations
Gave recommendations depending upon the findings in each of the 4Ps: 1. Price: No key recommendations. Promotion: Cross sell to
existing clients in the steel industry. Place: Offer better credit terms, take ownership of unsold inventory, better margins, increase
absolute coverage by tapping into larger distributors. Product: The whitish colour of the cement gave the perception of poor product
quality so the recommendation was to dye the cement (the Partner said this was the actual solution McKinsey was implementing)
Personal Interview Questions
Q1. Tell me about a defining moment of your life Q2. Tell me your biggest weakness as a leader
Type of case
PE
Problem Statement
Your client is a PE investor that invests in the services industry and is contemplating investing in a call centre in the USA that caters to
the health insurance industry, evaluate whether the client should invest in the company
Scoping Questions
Divided scoping questions into 3 parts: 1. Asked about the PE client (location, current portfolio, typical investment size and exit
strategy). 2. Industry (Both the US healthcare industry and the call center industry) 3. Target firm (Current operations details,
competition, managerial capabilities)
Breaking down the problem
Analysed attractiveness of the firm on 3 main fronts: Operational (Revenue and costs), Financial and Managerial and also analysed
potential risks (using PESTEL framework) to both the industry and the firm
Self reflection
The interviewer never asked for any final recommendations, there was a lot of conversation during the interview. I asked only 1
question, "Covid has disrupted the way the consulting industry functions, do you see that change being permanent or temporary"
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Amit Sarkar| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Profile walkthrough
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Your client is a pharmacy chain with 2000 stores. It has been witnessing variable profits across stores. Basis profits, the stores were
divided into 3 categories: Best, Average and Poor. Avg. profit and Avg. area of store was given for each category. Objective is to bring
all stores to same level of profits.
Scoping Questions
Objective - Improve avg. profit by uplifting "poor" stores to the level of "best" stores, All other questions of 3C1P yielded no significant
information apart from the fact that the competition also faced similar issue. The chains were distributed throughout US and there
were no concentration of any type of store in a particular geography.
Breaking down the problem
I directly jumped into the numbers and tried to find a root cause metric such as Avg. profit/sq. ft. However, I was gently nudged by the
interviewer to make a tree, similar to standard profitability framework. I was then told that customer demand seems to be the issue. I
said that I would 1st like to explore these stores from 4P framework and then Customer Journey. I barely reached the final P and the
interview was over.
Final Recommendations
NA
Self reflection
This was my 1st interview of the day and hence, I was a bit nervous. I should have started with the profitability framework instead of
jumping into the numbers.
Personal Interview Questions
It started with "Tell Me About Yourself". Then she asked me about my biggest failure and specifically instructed me to not sugarcoat it.
At the end of it, she was pretty impressed with my failure :D
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Improve IRR for your client which is a renewables company.
Scoping Questions
Objective - Improve IRR from 8% to 10%, Company - Invests in renewable energy (solar, wind) and provides electricity after winning
bids. Company has currently invested INR 6000 Cr which is expected to reap benefits in 18 months, Customers - National Grid of India
(long term contract), Geography - pan India
Candidate name: Amit Sarkar| Designation: Junior Associate
Final Recommendations
NA
Self reflection
I think the interview went pretty well. I was able to display good depth/domain knowledge due to my prior experience on project
management. Moreover, my failure story convinced her that I was a genuine guy who is not afraid to accept his shortcomings.
Round 2
Breaking down the problem
I began my analysis with the basic definition of IRR. To improve IRR, following 2 things can be done - 1. Improve FCFF 2. Reduce initial
investment of INR 6000 Cr. I was then asked to explore FCFF further. I broke it down in terms of revenues and costs and explored
each head. Revenues - Sale of electricity and Income on investments (primarily Land). Costs - Salaries, Maintenance, Depreciation, Tax,
Interest, Advertising. We had a good discussion on different cost buckets basis the phase of project (Plan, Design, Execution and
Signoff). I was specifically asked to explore the different cost elements during execution - People, Material, Equipment and
Ancillary/Support equipment. I was then asked how can we reduce the material cost. I divided the material cost into the core material
cost and the transportation cost. Core material cost can be reduced by 4 methods - 1. Different cheaper material 2. Same material but
different supplier at cheaper rates 3. Same material, same supplier at cheaper rates 4. Same material, same supplier, same rate but
optimised usage. Transportation cost can be reduced by optimising route or by optimising mode of transport for the same routes.
However, I had missed one element to improve IRR which is the time of completion of project. This was brought on by the interviewer
towards the end of the interview to which I acknowledged my oversight.
Candidate name: Sarthak Aggarwal| Designation: Junior Associate
The interviewer introduced himself and asked me to walk him through my resume. Understood my background in the digital space
and came up with a case on similar lines.
Type of case
Market Entry
Problem Statement
The client is a middle eastern country who want to introduce a Digital GP Layer in their healthcare system. They want our advice on
how to go about it.
Scoping Questions
My first few questions, revolved around understanding the problem statement better. I first asked what is the product exactly, to
which I was told that the product will be a General Practitioner who will give day to day advice to patients over small issues like the
common cold, over video conferencing. Essentially the patient wouldn't have to physically visit a doctor, they can consult him from
home. I asked for the timeline over which this was to be implemented. The interviewer responded with 1 year. Money was not an
issue. The doctors could be from anywhere in the world. I asked what was the motivation for the country to proceed with this
initiative? The interviewer responded by saying that they felt that the product is more convenient, the consultation offered would be
better and a lot of times doctors weren't accessible.
Breaking down the problem
I realised that the interviewer did not care much for the monetary feasibility of the product. He wanted to understand my thought
process of what factors could I consider with respect to implementing it and what are the challenges we might face. I ran him through
my thought process on how I wanted to solve the problem. I told him I wanted to understand the current system and understand it's
challenges. I would want to see whether these challenges could be addressed in the newer proposed GP solution. I broke down the
product into a people, process and tech framework to check for feasibility of the solution. People would have doctors and patients.
Process would involve the Tech Implementation of the product and whether the patients would actually know how to use the app.
Finally, in technology I spoke about the app, cellphones and a database implementation. We realised that the product was in fact
feasible but wanted to check for the pros and cons and risks of the product. I compared the pros and cons for the existing and
proposed solution. There was a risk of wrong diagnostic from the doctors in both the cases. However, there was a pro win favour of
the digital solution given that it was a digitally enabled solution.
Final Recommendations
The final recommendation was to go ahead with the product. I advised the client to take credit for the development of the product
but put a disclaimer that they are not responsible for the Doctor's advice. The doctors on the platform would have to meet a specific
standard in order to be eligible to provide consultations through the app.
Self reflection
The interview was very conversational and I was in a calm headspace. Didn't try to force fit a framework. Just went with the
conversation.
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Round 2
Candidate name: Sarthak Aggarwal| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
The interview started off on a very good note. I asked him about his story when he presented to the PM of India. He asked me to walk
him through my resume and then asked me a few personal questions. Some of the questions were, "What was my biggest
achievement at work?", "How was my experience at ISB and what would be my biggest takeaway?"
Type of case
PE/VC and Guesstimate
Problem Statement
The client is a PE Firm. They are evaluating the inverter and inverted battery market in India and would like me to tell them the
Demand Drivers and estimate the demand of the product in 2020. And is there, any long term potential in the market.
Scoping Questions
I started off the case by asking him, the difference between an inverted and an inverter battery. Shirish asked me in return the
difference between a laptop and a laptop battery. I got his point and moved on. Next was the basic Objective, Timeline, 3CP... He
didn't want me to focus on scoping and wanted me to move on to the case. I complied.
Breaking down the problem
I asked to take a minute and then wanted to walk Shirish through my approach. He said he doesn't want to hear it and just wants me
ti get right to it. I listed down the demand drivers being the lack of electricity, customers' buying power, vehicle market, etc. He asked
me to think of a few more. I couldn't think of anything else. He told me about the corruption at state levels. Then he asked me to
proceed with guesstimating the market of inverters and inverter batteries in India and this is when all hell broke loose. I went with the
number of households in the Rural/Urban spread and then Shirish stopped me and asked me that why am I taking this approach. I
told him that I assume that Urban households would have better access to electricity. He counter questioned me on where I think
there is more electricity supply, Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh? I replied that basis my assumption it would be Maharashtra. He
said that I was wrong and that I should think of a different approach. I asked for a minute to think and then decided to go ahead with
an infrastructure approach. I tried guesstimating that which states would have public and private supplier and have the requisite
infrastructure. He again stopped me, told me that I was on right track but wanted to think more. He said that some states would have
better infrastructure but still have worse electricity supply. He finally told me to also incorporate Government corruption in my
analysis. I finally incorporated that in my analysis by taking a ball park percentage to account for the corruption. Spoke about growth
in the demand of batteries, their shelf lives(separate for both inverters and inverter batteries).
Final Recommendations
Gave my answer on a guesstimate and spoke about the potential in the market if whether it seems attractive or not.
Self reflection
The interview went horribly for me. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The guesstimate threw me off completely. There was
a point where I had no idea on what to do. The interviewer asked me to speak a little slowly and loudly and rejected all of my
suggested approaches. He wanted me to quickly get to the answer. I was making mistakes left, right and centre and even did simple
mathematical errors.
Round 3
Candidate name: Sarthak Aggarwal| Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
The Client is the CEO of a food delivery app. The pandemic has just hit and the investors have come in. There is no money left and
further investment is not possible. Given this scenario, estimate the daily orders in a metro city and predict the market trend.
Scoping Questions
Basic clarifying questions about the company and city.
Breaking down the problem
I started off with estimating the industry market size of the food delivery business. Went with the household approach where I
estimate the average number of orders per household basis their income segments, family size, frequency of ordering. Got a number
in the millions. Forgot to take a percentage specifically for the client. Shwaitang asked me to correct that. I took a fixed percentage of
the industry market size to estimate the client's market size. Did a sanity check from the supply side as well. Then proceeded with
discussing the trends. Listed down factors that might work in favour and against the industry. Factors in favour: - More people
spending time with their families, Utensil washing being a pain, boredom, slow improvement in covid scenario. Factors against: People are mentally scared, curfews.
Final Recommendations
I suggested that the industry will see a U shape. First they might see their complete business being shut down for a few days or
months basis the curfews and public fear. But, eventually the growth would be very fast as people would be craving restaurant food
and would be fed up of cooking at home at all times.
Self reflection
The interview went well. Shwaitang made me feel comfortable and was trying to understand my thought process.
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Shivam Singla | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself? Leadership experiences - learnings and most exciting story? What does Sports mean to you? Asked about a
typical project at McKinsey Knowledge Centre and how we worked through it? Went on for 15-20 mins
Type of case
NA
Problem Statement
NA
Scoping Questions
NA
Breaking down the problem
NA
Final Recommendations
Closing questions - What has made you stick to McKinsey for 20+ years? Any advice for an aspiring young consultant?
Self reflection
Overall the interview lasted for only 13 minutes and was purely PI focused. It was imperative to establish a connection early on in the
interview. Proactively asked counter questions to the interviewer (hobbies, industry, etc.) to maintain a dialogue. Remain calm, even if
your interview was short and did not have a case per say - usually, it means either you aced it or bombed it.
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Growth, Abstract
Problem Statement
McKinsey is facing an issue of high attrition and low bench strength, which is leading to severe losses. Suggest a way out
Scoping Questions
Asked the typical 3CIP questions - scale of problem? (Only India office) How many consultants we have vs how many are expected?
(500 vs 1000) Industry wide issue? (Yes, the entire service industry worked on short lead times). Which level of employee facing the
issue? (Across the board with maximum in JA/ Associate level) How are we typically recruiting/ hiring? (The usual B School way!))
Breaking down the problem
Tried finding out the root causes for the problem - discussed both supply and demand sides. Initially focused on salesforce model skill, motivation and number. Within the same, discussed in detail recruiting, hiring, referral, incentive, etc. practices. Also discussed
ways on how to increase the lead time and better forecast.
Final Recommendations
Threw in multiple ideas such as outsourcing, spare capacity pooling amongst service sector, leveraging Knowledge Centre employees,
bettering recruitment cycle, etc.
Self reflection
Honestly, the interviewer consistently gave a straight face and did not seem happy with any of my ideas. It eventually became a
pressure test and what was important was to remain a calm, smiling face. Closing questions were introductions and work-life
Round 3
Candidate name: Shivam Singla | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
How has your day been like? Tell me about yourself? Experience at McKC? (all interviewers identified my small team at McKC)
Type of case
Abstract
Problem Statement
Will the inverters/ batteries category exist in India after 10 years?
Scoping Questions
Growth of industry/ segment? (8-10% annually) Penetration numbers in India? (5-12%) Regional issue? (Northern states) Outage rates
in India? (High)
Breaking down the problem
Tried looking at the battery industry from the porter's 5 forces lens (back of my mind) and applied industry knowledge. Identified core
threats to the power industry in India in the next 10 years - supply/ demand capacity of India? Scope and adoption of renewable
energy sources? Privatization of electric grid lines? Breakthrough innovations in the offering? Electric vehicles and adoption rate?
Final Recommendations
The category will continue to exist in India - majorly due to lack of infrastructure, automobile industry and high dependency in Tier 2/3
cities. Questions for the interviewer - Advice for a young aspiring consultant? Why McKinsey since last 20+ years?
Self reflection
Although I had no background or relation with the battery/ inverters industry - what helped extremely was going through industry
primers (not just from the IIM casebook, but also internally made and discussed with case groups). Overall, I received extremely
positive feedback from the interviewer throughout the case and that was a big boost. Applying personal examples and stories
throughout problem-solving phase helps create a connection. Received the final offer shortly after this round (Welcome back to the
Firm!)
Round 1
Candidate name: YashDevang Merchant | Designation: Junior Associate
Personal Interview Questions
The interview started with Karthi mentioning that even he had gone to Duke and had been at McKinsey ever since. Post this he said
that we only had 30 minutes for this round so he said that we would dive right into the case and come back to the PI if we had time
remaining in the end. We had about 5 minutes to spare after the case so he asked me: What is one of the most difficult situations
you've faced in a team setting and how did you address it?
Type of case
Profitability
Problem Statement
Your client is a large US health insurance company who has been serving customers in the Midwest region for the last 30 years. The
company currently caters to large and small organizations wherein they negotiate contracts with doctors and hospitals (mentioned
that think of your client as someone like Blue Cross Blue Shield). After all these years, they have decided to enter the Individual
insurance market and have been in this market for a couple of years now. However, their profits have remained stagnant since entry.
How would you go about improving their profits?
Scoping Questions
Objective - Improve avg. profit by uplifting "poor" stores to the level of "best" stores, All other questions of 3C1P yielded no significant
information apart from the fact that the competition also faced similar issue. The chains were distributed throughout US and there
were no concentration of any type of store in a particular geography.
Breaking down the problem
I directly jumped into the numbers and tried to find a root cause metric such as Avg. profit/sq. ft. However, I was gently nudged by the
interviewer to make a tree, similar to standard profitability framework. I was then told that customer demand seems to be the issue. I
said that I would 1st like to explore these stores from 4P framework and then Customer Journey. I barely reached the final P and the
interview was over.
Final Recommendations
NA
Self reflection
This was my 1st interview of the day and hence, I was a bit nervous. I should have started with the profitability framework instead of
jumping into the numbers.
Praxis Global
Alliance
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 2
Round 1
Candidate name: Nikhil Inamdar | Designation: Senior Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
1. What are some failures in personal and professional life? 2. What keeps you going? 3. Talk about your biggest learnings at
workplace
Type of case
Strategy
Problem Statement
A fintech company wants to expand its business and lend to retailers. How would you decide on the min and max amount that you
would want to lend to these merchants?
Scoping Questions
What kind of merchants, What is the client selling to these merchants
Breaking down the problem
1)
2)
Final Recommendations
Max lending amount to be capped at minimum working capital required.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
NA
Personal Interview Questions
NA
Type of case
Guesstimate
Problem Statement
Number of cars sold in Bengaluru in the month of march
Scoping Questions
Passenger vs. commercial? , whether to include second hand
Breaking down the problem
Factors (in order) - Population, Income levels, No. of households based on average size, Average number of cars in each category,
Average lifetime of a car, Account for seasonality in annual numbers
Final Recommendations
NA
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
NA
Base lending on meeting,
Working capital for merchants. identified working capital required on running basis.
PwC AC
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 1
Candidate name: Rohan Sodhi | Designation: PwC AC Healthcare Strategy - Experienced Associate
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself.
Type of case
Abstract Market Entry
Problem Statement
How would you go about setting up a dairy farm in Chandigarh?
Scoping Questions
Key themes covered – 3C 1P
•
Why Chandigarh,
•
In Chandigarh or some farmland around,
•
Regulations/ unions,
•
Spoke about Chandigarh being a relatively premium market and positioning of product in the premium tier.
Breaking down the problem
1.
2.
Started off by looking at regulatory barriers striking the conversation with the interviewer about land costs being high in Punjab.
Continued with the operational aspects –
Bucketing various Fixed (rent, storage, electricity, administrative, salaries etc), and
Variable ( cow maintenance/feed, packaging, costs),
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Financial viability analysis ( when is the company looking to breakeven how much profits are they looking at),
What would be the best modes of entry ( Acquire, Start from scratch ,JV),
Would cold storage be required
How would the role of delivery guys shape up
Maintaining quality and consistency across the city.
Final Recommendations
Aggregating multiple farms and delivery drivers under one roof to serve different areas, developing just in time delivery model to
deliver early morning and leveraging hyperlocal deliveries via kiryana stores, using a mobile application for payments, ordering,
creating content to generate loyalty etc.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer was impressed with the structure and introduction of a digital side of things in the case as well. It was important to be
open to feedback from the interviewer on the go and stay calm.
PwC India
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Round 1
Candidate name: SriSantoshi ManiSiddabathula | Designation: Management Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself, project you are proud of.
Type of case
Profitability – Cost reduction --> efficiency improvement
Problem Statement
An old pharma plant is not doing well, help improve.
Scoping Questions
The question was quite abstract. Since it is a efficiency improvement/ cost reduction problem, I started off with Understanding the
company's value chain from supplier to consumer and its manufacturing process.
Breaking down the problem
Went into each part of the value chain and manufacturing process to identify opportunities for cost reduction.
Final Recommendations
Supplier consolidation, Supplier Quality, Labor Reduction, Process Automation, Predictive maintenance
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Took the interviewer through every aspect of the value chain and suggested improvements. Interviewer was quite happy with the
elaborate analysis
Candidate name: SriSantoshi ManiSiddabathula | Designation: Management Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Take me through your resume. Here I talked about digitalization and predictive maintenance which made the basis for the interview
going forward.
Type of case
Abstract
1.
2.
Problem Statement
Choose any industry of your choice and tell me 5 areas where you would apply digitalization and the different technologies you
will use.
If you are on a flight with Ratan Tata and he asks you for 3 areas where Tata Steel needs improvement - “Take 2 minutes and give
me solid structured answers along with budget required, and savings they will produce.”
(This question was asked since I worked for Tata Steel)
Round 2
3.
Scoping Questions
What's your opinion on predictive maintenance, and why is it so great!?
NA
Q1 –
I chose FMCG and used my experience in steel manufacturing to replicate areas where digitalization can be used.
Breaking down the problem
Q2 –
I covered one aspect each from people, process and infrastructure. I used the selling value of steel coils to calculate a rough estimate
for savings.
Q3 –
I told the advantages of predictive maintenance and trade-offs if we do not follow predictive maintenance.
Final Recommendations
NA
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Overall, the partner seemed to be satisfied. He mentioned that he is a big fan of predictive maintenance, and he was quite happy that
I did not change my stance when he tried to derail/ confuse me.
ZS Associates
ISB Consulting Casebook ‘21
Candidate name: Rohit Krishna Rajagopal | Designation: Consultant
Round 1
Personal Interview Questions
Resume walkthrough, Basic questions on past experience, Why Consulting as a career?
Type of case
Market Entry/ Go To Market strategy
Problem Statement
A small pharma company 'Gastropharm' wants to launch a drug in the US market. How should they go about it?
Scoping Questions
Q1. Which sector do they operate in? A1. Gastroenterology. Q2. What type of drugs do they currently manufacture? A1. Prescription drugs
for gastro market. Q3. Who are the current customers and how is it being marketed? A3. Specialist doctors who prescribe. They are met
by medical reps. Q4. What is the new drug and who is the target customer? A4. Company has acquired a drug called 'Pepsol' to treat
stomach discomfort. Long-term it may have other applications also. Q5. Why this particular drug? A5. It can be prescribed by primary care
providers and do not have to rely on specialists.
Breaking down the problem
Final Recommendations
Interviewer asked me to list down the factors for a successful launch. I said the following - Efficacy, cross-selling potential, sales force
spread, positioning, sales force training, regulatory approvals, distribution strategies, price and sensitizing primary care providers to
diagnose correctly. He then gave me a set of numbers to determine the market size. It was a straightforward calculation.
Recommendation was to enter the market but use a separate field force to deal with PCPs and not touch the ones who already deal with
the specialists. He then gave a graph and asked me to identify the ideal salesforce size reqd. Again, a simple calculation where the trick
was to pay attention to cost incurred per doctor visit.
Interviewer was happy with my structure. Immediately got to know I made it to R2.
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
One thing I could have done better - I did not touch upon the pricing aspect much. Could have delved into it but interviewer was not very
concerned about it.
Candidate name: Rohit Krishna Rajagopal | Designation: Consultant
Round 2
Personal Interview Questions
Resume Walkthrough & Why ZS?
Type of case
Had 1 hour to read, synthesize a huge case and prepare a presentation of key factors. This round tested your ability to sift through
massive amounts of info in a short span. It was followed up by a 1 Hr discussion with a Senior Consultant who was more interested in
how you have analyzed the information. There is no right answer in this type of round.
Problem Statement
A Cinema theater chain facing declining profits. Assess the current situation and suggest recommendations.
Scoping Questions
Identified the key factors driving the cinema theater industry. Be quick in eliminating unwanted info that is deliberately given to throw
you off.
Breaking down the problem
Final Recommendations
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Interviewer asked me to list down 10 key factors that was causing this loss - I spoke about Licensing with studios, Slow ticket sales,
unsustainable growth strategy, margins, discounted tickets, food options not upto scratch, Rise of OTT platforms, over reliance on
frequent customers, poor online presence, fragmented data systems
Provide healthy meal options, invest in a good website and mobile app, Invest in a good enterprise system that can draw data from all
the screens across the country to predict customer behavior.
This was the most difficult case I have faced across all companies. There was just too much information thrown at you that is designed to
psyche you out. Interviewers know this and all they want is for you to show that you can differentiate the useful info from the useless info
and use it to come to some structure.
Candidate name: Rohit Krishna Rajagopal | Designation: Consultant
Personal Interview Questions
Type of case
Asked brain teasers involving ratios and proportions
Problem Statement
Gave situational questions regarding client deliverables and team work
Scoping Questions
Round 2
Resume walkthrough, why ZS? Why should we hire you? Spoke to him about my time teaching tennis as a part-time job
You'll want to ask what the firm values the most. Then structure your answers accordingly
Breaking down the problem
Be clear about how you would work in a situation with strong deadlines
Final Recommendations
Put your team ahead of you. Trust them but also go with your own instinct
Self-reflection/Thoughts & feedback
Partner was looking for answers where you emphasize collaboration and team work ahead of individualism
ALL THE
BEST!