BUSINESS CASE STUDIES
Business Case Studies have become an integral part of recruitment for most of the post MBA jobs out there. Firms are using business case studies frequently as a tool for evaluating business knowledge, creativity & structured thinking of the prospective candidates. The complexity of these case studies depends & varies from one firm to another. Top notch consulting firms like BCG, McKinsey, Big 4s etc are in practice of conducting multiple case interview rounds to ensure that only the best of the best gets through and joins the firm.
Traditionally, organizations have focused on case studies related to either business strategy or business operations. However, interviews these days are structured around more complex cases where candidates are getting case questions that cover multiple business scenarios and are a mix of strategy & operations usecases.
POPULAR BUSINESS SCENARIOS FOR CASE STUDIES
This section of the site talks about the fundamentals of handling case studies in an interview by discussing following most popular business scenarios in detail –
- Growth Strategies
- Pricing & Valuation
- Mergers & Acquisition
- Industry Analysis
- Starting a New Business
- Entering a New Market
- Developing New Product
- Competitive Response
- Improve Sales / Revenue
- Reducing Costs
- Improve Profitability
- Business Turnarounds
SAILING THROUGH THE CASE STUDY
The candidate needs to be ascertained about the objectives of the case study and the expectations of the interviewer before shortlisting any of the case frameworks for structuring its solution. The structured approach for handling case interviews as expected from a good candidate can be summarized as below –
- Summarize the Case Question
- Verify the Case Objectives
- Ask Clarifying Questions (if necessary)
- Layout the structure for solving the case as per the frameworks presented in the later sections of this site.
- Summarize case findings & Conclude the final recommendation
So, here is what you need to do when you face a case interview next time –
1. Summarize the Case Question
It is important for a candidate to understand and summarize the case question at the start of the interview itself, before making any attempt to solve it. This prevents the candidate from answering the wrong question and ensures that he and the interviewer are on the same page right from the very beginning.
In the process, candidate is expected to weed out the irrelevant information from the problem statement and identify the objective of the case question very clearly.
Example: Case Question
Interviewer: McKing’s is an American fast food company which operates under a franchise model. They are best known for their hamburgers, cheeseburgers and French fries. They also feature products like salads, fish, smoothies, soft drinks, wraps, desserts etc. The company operates 5000 stores in the US as of 2018.
Mr. Mac Milan founder and owner of McKing’s Food chain has recently sold his entire stakes (~80% of company) to an Investment Firm, XYZ Capital for around $500 mn & announced his retirement.
Our client XYZ Capital, has approached us to devise a growth strategy for the franchise chain business. What would you recommend?
Considering the above problem statement, the candidate can summarize the case question at the start of the interview as follows –
Candidate: As I understand, our client XYZ Capital has recently acquired controlling stakes in McKing’s, an American fast food chain company and now wants us to devise growth strategy for the it?
2. Verify the Case Objectives
Once you have summarized the problem statement, it’s time for you to freeze on the case objectives. There are instances when these objectives are too obvious and can be seen directly embedded in the problem statement; Still it makes sense for the candidate to say it out loud and get a consensus on it from the interviewer. This is done to ensure that there are no hidden secondary objectives that you are supposed to take care. Also, at times case studies are designed to serve multiple business goals of the organization. In that scenario, you are expected to split the case in two or more parts and address each goal separately.
Identifying case objectives also bring you a step closer in selecting the appropriate framework that helps you approaching the problem statement in a more structured way.
For the case question described above, a transcript of interview where candidate is verifying case objectives is shared as below –
Candidate: Are there any other objectives that I should be aware of? Do they have any specific growth targets in mind?
Interviewer: Client doesn’t have any other objectives or specific growth targets in mind. It’s just that the final recommendation should be well within the budget of ~$250 mn.
3. Ask the Clarifying Questions
Asking clarifying questions at the start of the interview is more about breaking the ice and turning the interview into a conversation. It also helps in gathering additional information at the start to prevent you going off track during the course of your interview. This step is completely optional and highly situational depending on the type of case study under discussion.
However, candidates are encouraged to interact as much as possible with the interviewer (without actually annoying him) to get a firm grip on the case context and the interviewer’s expectation from this interview.
Example: In context of the given case, a candidate can ask for one or more of the following clarifying questions from the interviewer to get better hold on the case background & expectation –
- How is Fast Food Industry doing overall in the US? Is it growing or de-growing/flat?
- How is McKing’s performing relative to the Industry?
- Who are our main competitors? What are their market shares? Where does McKing’s stand in terms of market share?
- What are our strengths as compared to our competitors and vice versa?
- Is there any difference in product quality as offered by us and that of our competitors? Identify most successful product lines owned by us vs our competitors.
- How is our product priced as compared to our competitors? Are we priced competitive or at premiums? What about our competitors?
- Has the industry seen any product innovation lately by us or others? How does it go? Any learning from there?
- Any major differences in terms of marketing by us and our competitors?
4. Structure the Problem
This is the most important step of your case interview. Here you lay the foundation of what you will be discussing for over the next 40-45 mins of your interview. Use the frameworks discussed in the later sections of this site to structure your problem as per the business scenario that you have identified so far. Just make sure you neatly communicate it to the interviewer by plotting a graph or a decision tree.
In the context of above example, growth strategy framework can be suggested in food industry context as a possible approach for solving this case study.
Growth Strategy framework in food industry context can be summarized under following heads –
- Increase Distribution Channels
- Increase Prices
- Increase Product Line
- Diversify Product & Services
- Invest in Marketing Campaigns
- Acquire the Competition
5. Final Recommendation
Summarizing case findings and making the final recommendation is the most important step of your case interview. Your final recommendation must be concise, well versed & to the point. It should not go beyond 3-5 lines in a normal case. Remember, In a practical scenario these recommendations are made to the leadership who are typically more interested in knowing end results rather than the details of the approach using which you reached there.
A good recommendation will include the following –
- Final Conclusion
- Strong Justification on why?
- Outline risks with recommendation
- Outline 2-3 key next steps
Example: Our client XYZ Capital is looking forward to a sustainable growth strategy for its recently acquired fast food chain business.
I would recommend him to focus on increasing McKing’s distribution channels (Franchise stores) across US, as part of their major growth strategy. This will not only boost their brand’s visibility but also drastically improve their sales. For selecting location of these new franchise stores, they need to analyze & replicate the success factors of their existing stores. A few of the success factors that can be considered are listed below –
- Prefer regions with relatively less competition
- Regions with less cost of operations
- Close proximity to customers
Then at last; they should discourage increasing prices of their products. Doing so will only result in customers switching to other brands in long run.
Plan of Action
- Formulation of stringent location selection criteria for opening of new franchise stores
Associated Risks
- Standard product offerings across US may not go well with the local taste of the customers across US
- Opening too many stores nearby can cannibalize store sales