Case Study Preparation
Style of Conducting Cases
1. Candidate-led
a. Interviewer rarely intervenes
b. I structure the problem, drawing frameworks, asking for data, synthesizing
findings, to proposing solutions
2. Interviewer-led
a. Interviewer has the candidate work on specific parts of the overall problem
b. Goal: nail every question, every pitch, every mini case perfectly
Consulting Terms:
● Lever: group of initiatives, actions to perform to meet certain goals
○ Ex: levers to increase customer experience in a hotel are free breakfast, free
Wi-Fi, 24/7 support
● Best practice: refers to how things should be done, especially if it has been successfully
implemented elsewhere
● Granular: refers to how specific and detailed a break-down or an issue goes
● MECE “Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive”: problem solving principles that
ensure complete coverage of the problem
○ No overlap and no gaps
○ 4 hidden rules
■ All items have to belong on the same logical level
■ Items should be arranged in a logical fashion
■ Rule of three
● Sets of three items are the most intuitive to the human mind which
makes info easy to understand
■ No interlinking items
○ MECE mini-frameworks
■ Internal and external
■ Quantitative and qualitative (evaluations)
■ Cost and benefit (decision making)
■ Cause and effect (analyze events)
■ Before vs after (evaluating effectiveness)
● Industry: used to group different companies mostly based on their products
● Function: based on missions and the type of roles of different parts of the company
● Location: where things are geographically
Steps to solving:
1. PROBLEM
a. Objective
b. Timeline
c. Specificity
2. ROOT CAUSE
a. Find the bottom-line reason causing the problem
b. Use ISSUE TREE MECE
Frameworks:
● Segmenting, targeting, positioning → marketing
● Comprehensive framework
○ Profitability: mathematically break down profit until you have gathered enough
info
■ Revenue
● Price
● Unit sales
● Segment the revenues
■ Cost
● Fixed cost
○ Salary
■ Hiring too many
● Why?
■ Paying too much
○ Rental
○ Equipment
● Variable cost
○ 3C and P: customer, company, competition and product
■ Example
● Internal
● External
○ Market
○ Competition
○ McKinsey Merger and Acquisition
■ What do we need to know to find out if this is a good MA or not
● How is the company doing
○ Values, strengths, and weaknesses
● Is it a good fit → synergy
● Other factors
● Mini frameworks
○ External and internal
■ Internal
● Company itself
● Individuals
● Department
● Any entity
■ External
● Anything outside of entity
○ Qualitative and quantitative
■ Reasons and evaluations
● Quantitative is number
● Qualitative is reputation
○ Cost and benefit
■ Helpful in decision making
○ BCG 2x2
■ Low
Hypothesis: educated guesses where the problem may be to save time
1. Follow frameworks
2. Should be top down
3. Always have a hypothesis
4. Hypothesis should be based on information/data provided
Market sizing/Guesstimate:
1. Clarify the question
2. Break down the problems
3. Solve each piece using estimation and judgment
4. Consolidate into a final result
Mental Math:
● Estimate
● Adjust
● Multiplication
● Division
● Percentages
Concepts to remember:
● Revenues - Expenses = Profits
○ Increasing profitability means either (1) decreasing expenses (2) increasing
revenues
○ Revenues:
■ Income revenue
■ Sales revenue
■ Service revenue
○ Expenses:
■ Raw material costs
■ Equipment cost
■ Supplies cost
■ Rent cost
■ Operating expenses
● Different markets
● Find the root causes and differentiate what are the symptoms
○ Symptom ≠ Problem
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