IIML Consult Casebook 2011

8/10/2019 IIML Consult Casebook 2011

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, IIM Lucknow Page 1No part of this casebook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical,

photocopying or otherwise without prior consent from , IIM Lucknow.


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, IIM Lucknow Page 2

Foreword

As companies worldwide get more and more concerned in hiring the right talent in their key

position, candidate evaluation during interviews has become more and more sophisticated.

The case interview is unique to present with a problem to be solved in the context of real-

world business situations and seeking solution that tests both logical reasoning and creativity.

It allows the interviewer to evaluate candidates skill in deconstructing a problem and

communicating thought process, their ability to think on their feet, how they handle

ambiguity and assess their comfort with numbers. Although traditionally used by consulting

firms in their recruiting processes, the case method is now increasingly used for jobs across

functions whether general management or investment banking.

The casebook by The Consulting & Strategy Club of IIM Lucknow documents candidate

experiences in interviews by different firms that have been hiring from IIM Lucknow campus

over the years. The ideal way to use this book would be for the candidate to first arrive at a

case solution employing his own approaches and then enhance their learning through

comparison with the approach documented in the casebook.

A diligent study of the popular case solving techniques along with practice with this casebookwill enable readers to develop a proficiency in arriving at well-structured case solutions and

face interviews much more confidently.

Arant | Goutam | Pradyut | Rahul | Rohit | Srivalson

Animesh | Anuj | Mahesh | Nikita | Vinita


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Contents

Foreword ..................................................................................................................................... 2

About Case Interviews ................................................................................................................. 4

Skills Tested ................................................................................................................................. 4

Types of Cases Encountered ......................................................................................................... 4

Do List for a Case Interview .......................................................................................................... 5

Frameworks ................................................................................................................................. 5

Some Important Frameworks ....................................................................................................... 5

Accenture Business Consulting ................................................................................................... 10

Interview Experience 1 ..................................................................................................................... 10



Boston Consulting Group............................................................................................................ 20






KPMG ........................................................................................................................................ 38


Interview Experience 10 ................................................................................................................... 40

Mckinsey & Co. .......................................................................................................................... 45


Interview Experience 12 ................................................................................................................... 46Interview Experience 13 ................................................................................................................... 47



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About Case Interviews

Case interviews are usually based on real problems which interviewers

themselves have encountered in the course of their client engagements. They

usually last for about 20 minutes and seek to test the candidates problem

solving skills. In a typical case interview, the interviewer states a problem and

the interviewee goes about tackling the problem by asking a series of questions.

The interviewer answers these questions based on how he wishes to direct the

interview. The candidate must put forth a logical framework for solving the

problem after having understood the key issues and must ideally make some

recommendations/conclusions towards the end of a case.

Skills Tested

Problem solving skills

Quantitative skills

Communication skills

Poise and professionalism

Firm fit

Types of Cases Encountered

Estimation casesDetermine something by making reasonable

assumptions about critical variables.

For example: How many golf balls fit into a 747, or how many pens are

sold every month on the IIM Lucknow campus?

Market Sizing & Entry/Expansion

Profit/LossesAnalyze changes in profitability, revenues and costs

Industry Analysis

Product LaunchHelp a client gauge if and how to launch a product

Mergers & Acquisitions

Competition Handling


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Do List for a Case Interview

Take notes

Do not make any assumptions Ask questions

Take your time before responding

Lay out a structure for the interviewer

Summarize at regular intervals

Frameworks

Knowledge of basic types of frameworks is helpful in case interviews

Helps in structuring the case analysis especially complex cases

Attention should be paid to minute details of the case

Identify the most critical issue and try to find solution for it

All the frameworks are very well-known and just using them wont help

you in cracking the interview

Dont fit a framework forcefully. Use it as a checklist to be exhaustive in

case you are stuck

Try mixing and matching frameworks with different types of cases

Try to form your own effective framework

Some Important Frameworks

SUPPLY AND DEMAND:

The market-clearing price and quantity is determined by the intersection of

demand curve and the supply curve.


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PROFITABILITY:

Try to find out the reason for change in profitability.

Profit = P * Q - ( (VC * Q) + FC)

Profits are defined as total revenue minus total cost. Changes in revenue are due

to a change in quantity, price or both. Total cost is the sum of variable plusfixed costs. Variable costs vary directly with quantity while fixed costs are set

for a given period.

3Cs:

It is one of the most widely used frameworks and one can differentiate their

analysis by not using it. Still, a quick and effective framework for industry

analysis!


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PORTERS 5 FORCES MODEL:

It is usually the first step in industry analysis and should be followed by further

analysis. This makes it very time consuming in nature. Analysts use it for

qualitative evaluation of a firms strategic position.

VALUE AND SUPPLY CHAIN:

It can be used to examine an industrys depth.


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PORTERS GENERIC STRATEGIES:

It is a very effective tool in analysis of the cases.

SWOT:

In a full case analysis, this framework leads to time wastage and should be

avoided. It can be used as a presentation framework.


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MARKETING FRAMEWORKS:

These frameworks are very helpful in analysing marketing cases in consulting

interviews.

STP:

Segmentation:

Consider variables for segmenting markets

Analyse the profile of emerging segments

Validate emerging segments

Targeting:

Formulate a targeting strategy

Decision on which segments should be targeted

Positioning:

Understand the perception of the customers

Position products in the minds of the consumers

4Ps:

ProductFunctionality, brand, packaging and services

Price- Absolute and relative price

Place- Channel, inventory, logistics and distribution

Promotion- advertising, publicity, sales force, sales promotion


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INTERVIEW EXPERIENCES

Summer Internship 2011

Accenture Business Consulting

Interview Experience 1

Company Accenture Business Consulting

Name: Shalabh Malhotra

Round 2 Rounds

Brief Profile : IIT Guwahati, Mechanical Engg., 10 months in NTPCLtd.

Personal interview

questions1st Round

1. Tell me about yourself. Examples from life to

justify for whatever points you had mentioned.

2. Guesstimation Case

3. Do you like travelling? Which all places have you

been to? (A consulting job requires a lot oftravelling. Make sure you justify that you love

travelling)

4. What do you know about Accenture and ABC?Which vertical in ABC interests you the most?

2nd Round

This round is based on your work-ex. Know yourcompany well and have a good hold on your sector.

1.

Tell me about your experience in NTPC Ltd.

2.

Why NTPC Ltd. after engineering and why MBA

now?

3. Present Power Scenario in India. Difficulties

faced by thermal power plants at present.

4. Future of Nuclear Power Plants. Pros and Cons.5.

Hydro-electric plants and their pros and cons.


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Narration of the case

interviewProblem statement:

You are a private company who has got the contract to

install street lights in Lucknow. Guesstimate the numberof street lights that will be required and the expected

profit you think you can earn.

Structure:

1.

I assumed Lucknows area to be 20km by 20km.

2.

I, then, divided the city into a matrix assuming it

to be criss-crossed by #60 20 km roads running

horizontally and vertically each.3.

Then estimated an approximate of 30% area to be

under forest cover.

4.

Divided the roads in the remaining 70% area into

roads present in residential and non-residential

(commercial + highways) areas. Took an estimate

on number of street lights present per km in both

these areas.5.

Finally came to a number on the number of street

lights taking into account that some places will

have 2 lamps on a single post while others willhave just 1.

6. After that estimated the product + set-up cost foreach street light.

7.

Estimated the running charges (maintenance and

electricity). Electricity charges would depend on

the number of operation hours and watt-rating of

the lamp. Maintenance charges and profit marginwas estimated.

8.

In the end a total estimate of profits wascalculated.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

Though I was called for the 2nd interview, I think I

didnt do well in the Guesstimation case (1st round)

itself. The 2nd interview was good but I guess they were

calling people for the 3rd interview based on both the

interviews combined. Prepare for cases and

Guesstimation well.


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Name: Binay Jaiswal

Name of interviewer

and designation

4 rounds were held. I dont remember the specific

names of all the people. The first round was taken by

Gautam and third round was taken by one of the alum.

Round

(First/Second/third)

1stand 2ndround were case interviews. Third was a work

experience specific interview and last was the HR

round.

Brief Profile :(Graduation College,

stream, Work ex

details, etc.)

B.Tech in IT from NIT Durgapur

45 months of work experience:

37 months in IBM and 8 months in TCS as SAP ABAP

Technical Consultant.

Personal interview

questions (With

indicative answers ifyou choose to share

them)

Round 1:

The first questioned asked was the number of shortlist

on day 0 and the interviewer jumped straight into a slidein his laptop. Basically the slide had plenty of line

diagrams. I had no clue what it was about. As we started

interacting, I figured out the line diagrams showed

number of units sold in a span of 8-9 months.

I was asked to analyse the line diagrams. On furtherinteraction and based on my answers, I came to know

the diagrams had the data about the number of units sold

by various companies and total number of units sold ineach month. The figures didnt show any consistent

pattern and I was asked to figure out why was it so.Basically only thing I could figure out was the sales

showed cyclical nature and the number showed a

positive trend just before Oct-Nov and a dropping trend

in Jan-Mar.

There was a clear market leader but the sales were

decreasing in latest months while there was a fierce

competition for the second and the third slot. A detaileddiscussion took place about who can take the second


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place and why. Then he asked some FRA question

related to the graphs. The discussion boiled down to

FIFO/LIFO method and he gave some data for a

particular company and I was asked to show the impact

of LIFO or FIFO on Profit, COGS, Taxes, and retainedearnings.

After that he asked a short case on airline industry and it

didnt revolved around rising oil prices (Aberration of

current Market condition). According to the case, one

courier company increased the freight charges though

there was a decrease in oil prices. My answers revolved

around higher interest rates and depreciation which

decreased the operating profit of the courier company.

But he was looking for something else and the case wassupposed to be analysed from demand-supply side(Microeconomics!!!!). With his input we concluded that

the business model of freight industry was changing.

Companies who used to transport by rail/road now

started using Air Freight which increased the demand

suddenly and hence the price. Further because ofcapacity constraint, the Air Freight company bought few

new aircrafts and hence wanted to break even early to

make the most of current market.

Note: The interview went Ok types. Interviewer

expectation was much more and I think I could nothandle the Airline case upto his expectation. He wished

me good luck for the next round.

Round 2:

I came to know that they have scheduled my first round

again as they were expecting more.

The interview started with How did the first round

went? I said It was decent but I should have done

better. He asked would have or should have? I said

Should have. What went wrong was his instant

question. I gave my analysis and he looked satisfied by

my analysis (He displayed like that). I was told that

this round will have 2 parts: (i) Case (discussed below)

and (ii) some general questions


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As he was very satisfied with the case analysis, the

second part of interview was not much of pain. It was

more of a general discussion. As I had work ex in IT

industry, I was asked how will I handle management

consulting as itsvery different from IT consulting andrequired very competent skills. I was also asked about

the highest level of client interaction and how I

managed them. He specifically asked for one of the CV

point which was about interacting with the program

director of the US based client and how I managed to

convinced him to increase the scope of the development,

issues faced and what it took to convince him to approve

the increase in man hours effort from 400 to 950.

Few questions about my strengths and how I will handlethe clients specifically when I am interacting with CXOlevel people followed. I was also asked why consulting

and whether I would be comfortable travelling after

marriage. Overall I had a very good interview.

Round 3

This round was taken by one of our alums. I was askedif I am nervous or excited. I said both and was asked to

explain why so. (Good Ice Breaking 5 minutes). I was

again asked the number of process I am running for(Other Shortlists!!!). A casual discussion followed like it

must be tough running for different process in different

parts of the campus.

He was constantly picking up points from my CV and it

was more or less work experience related interview.Questions like my greatest failure in life so far and my

learning from it, why Accenture business consulting,

strengths of Accenture etc. I was asked to compare

between Accenture and (i) IBM (ii) Deloitte (iii)

McKinsey and few other consulting companies. Why

consulting figured again and my fit as a consultant was

asked.

I was also asked about my CGPA and relative position

amongst PGP1 students. Questions like do you face


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difficulty studying after 45 months of work ex and how

I adjusted, how I manage pressure here etc. followed. I

asked three questions to him and a detailed discussion

took place.

Round 4

It was HR round which lasted for around 10 minutes.

Questions like Why ABC, Consulting, my strengths,

best and worst feedback received in my previous workex were asked. I was asked about my expectation from

ABC. Brief discussion about my POR and CGPA

followed.

Narration of the caseinterview (Please be

as descriptive as

possible)

Problem statement:The case was about decreasing sales of Nano in Kolkata

and adjoining areas.

Case analysis:

Initially we discussed if it was a normal trend in otherparts of India or not. If there was any price increased by

Nano or any changes with the design which might not

have gone well with the consumers. We also spoke

about impact of negative publicity like engine failureand instances of fire breaking out in Nano. Marketing

strategies of handling negative publicity was alsodiscussed.

But the maximum discussion happened around 2 points:

1) As Nano was mainly for people with 2 wheelers, I

wanted to understand where the real issue was.

Whether consumers are moving to 2.5-3 lakhs

priced car like Alto and Zen (few others also) orpeople with 2 wheelers were not able to buy

Nano. I asked about any trend whether any data

regarding people willingness to buy Nano

(Through Test Drives taken, visits to showrooms

etc.) but not actually buying was there or not.

After few minute of discussion, I was told that the

main issue was people with 2 wheelers are not

buying Nano. So the main issue was affordability.

I recommended zero % interest rate for EMI forfirst 2 years of purchase and very minimal ROI


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after that. We also discussed about the bank Nano

should partner with and then he filtered the

question to 1 bank only. I opted for SBI as it has

branches in adjoining remote areas of Kolkata and

people there have higher trust in Govt. banks.

2)

We also spoke about the Demand-Supply

constraint. If there was any channel conflict. Brief

interaction revealed that Nano had only 7

distributors in that part of region and this was a

major problem and it should increase by 3-4.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

My case performance in the second round went pretty

well. The interviewer complimented me about the

analysis (though it may not look that impressive above).

The structure and thorough conversation helped me sail

through and I was told that I kept the interviewer

interested and hooked throughout the case solving

phase.

After my third round I was also appreciated about my

prior work experience and I was told You had a quality

work experience and I appreciate your practical

approach of business understanding.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

My first round didnt go that well particularly the

Airline question. I should have interacted more to

understand various perspectives rather than being biasedwith current market situation (Like higher oil price and

interest rates which was not applicable here)

Any tips for future

batches on the basisof your experience

1) Stay Cool because it will help you to interact

freely and focus on various perspectives which isvery important in the case

2) Display a lot of enthusiasm and dont shy away

from talking. Remember Consultant need to do a

lot of talking. Just ensure you talk sense on that

day.3)

Practice some cases before interviews.

4)

Never think that you are out of race. Dont judge

yourself in the interview. Interviewer might give

you chance to bounce back.

5)

Higher Work Ex people particularly IT


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background can t get day zero shortlist is a myth



Name: Mahesh

Name of interviewer

and designation

NA

Round


First (of 3 rounds)

Brief Profile :

(Graduation College,stream, Work ex

details, etc. )

Bpharm

Work experience of 2 years

Personal interview

questions (With

indicative answers if

you choose to sharethem)

1. Tell me something about yourself?

2. Asked me about my role at previous workplace?

3. Why consulting?

4. How did you know Accenture?

HR related questions were asked in the subsequent

rounds


interview (Please be

as descriptive as

possible)

Problem statement:A multination firm in oil and gas segment is looking at

setting up a green field plant by collaborating with

ONGC India. You being one of the directors chosen to

work for this partnership what are the most important

factors you would look at?

Case analysis:

I divided the decisions into HR, operations, finance and

marketing related decisions. Since the venture was a

new one I focused on the organizational chart

development and the role of director in selecting theright people for higher and middle management roles. I

also talked about getting policies with regard to skill set

of workers, policy on unions being in place. Talked

about setting up a township and hiring a contractor for itas the location is likely to be in a remote area. Also


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focused on retaining and hiring of talent.

Marketing function decisions included pricing of

product (based on cost estimates of sales force) and

sales force for carrying out B2B activities. Discussion

on operations was the most important one in this case. I

talked about the role of director in hiring a contractor

and overlooking the subcontractors used. I also talked

about the timelines of the project and suggested a

milestone based approach with penalties to ensure that

the work gets done. In addition to contract related

equipment i focused on the equipment specification to

match to the capacity expectations. Aggregate planning

with scaling up was also suggested to make the factory

operational and to sort out initial issues. I focused on thesupply chain related issues to transport the end productto customers.(Suggested pipeline)

Talked about the role of cost accountant in determining

the price of the end product and also focussed on

selecting an external auditor to oversee the accounting

standards.

Structure:Divided the case as per verticals in an organization

A guestimate on the number of streetlights in Lucknowwas asked (He asked me to be very short in description

and wanted me to use numbers at every step)

I approached this by assuming Lucknow to be close to a

rectangle in shape the dimensions being 20 x 15 Km.Then i assumed the main streets to be passing though

lines joining the mid points. I assumed that these roads

to be two lane and had the highest density of lights. The

next part was about the streets branching out of these

streets and i assumed lower density of lights here. Thus i

got a series and added them up to get the number of

lights.


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Other questions

Guesstimate the number of travellers to Antarctica

Guesstimate the number of cab drivers in Delhi

What do you thinkwent right in this

interview?

Got the structure. I was able to use the ques. from theinterviewer and could this helped in approaching the

case better.

After the discussion gave 3 points on which a director

needs to focus

What do you thinkwent wrong in this

interview?

Should have organized the points in each vertical inorder of their importance.

Any tips for future

batches on the basis

of your experience

Ask for clarifications to the interview if needed. Practice

a lot of cases with your peers.

Be clear about Why ABC?


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Boston Consulting Group


Company The Boston Consulting Group

Name: Abhir Bhomavat

Name of interviewer

and designation

Principal

Round First

Brief Profile : BITS-Pilani Goa Campus (8.73 Electronics andInstrumentation, Fresher with an internship at J.P.

Morgan Investment Banking)

Was a convener on the council during my under

graduation.

Institute rank 2ndat IIM-L in the first term with a GPA

of 9.4

Personal interviewquestions

1.

Are you clear about your decision between IB andConsulting?

2.

Why consulting

3. Why BCG?

I had a well prepared answer for all these questions



The client is a company that manufactures an interactiveeducational tool. It is basically something as big as a

blackboard fitted in the classroom and has touch screen

interactivity. What do you think is the scope of this

product and what are the other things that the company

can do in the field of education to increase its revenues

(to 1000 Cr)?

Case analysis:


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I first tried to understand the product properly.

Q. Does the company make any other products?

Ans: No

Q. What is this particular product used for majorly? To

teach what?

Ans: English language

I was trying to build a structure at this point when heinterrupted me by asking me if I had understood the

question. I felt he was trying to put a bit of stress. He

then asked me to explore what all are the options that an

educational tech company in India could explore.

Q. Are we looking at only classroom services or online

as well?

Ans: Upto you what you want to look at

I built a structure which split into Classroom learning

and online learning. Then further split classroom

learning into providing education material and products

(like the one the client makes). In online I split it intovideos and material.

He was happy with this basic structure. He then asked

me that the client was focusing on language needs of

people. So he asked me to estimate the demand of the

English language learners. He then asked me to estimate

how many such are those who already have a source to

learn and how many are wanting to but do not have a

source and what should I target?

I started with the metro population in India. Roughly14mX4 = 56m. Then divided it by the age group. I dint

plug in any figures. I just made the initial tree. I told him

that I would plug in the figures later. Age group of 16

and less who are going to schools.

He then asked me why I have not considered adults who

want to learn English.


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Then I considered that as well.

He then asked me why I have not taken into

consideration those who do not know that they want to

learn English. I didnt understand what he meant, so I

asked him to explain. He told me that a domestic maid is

latent demand because she doesnt know that she want

to learn English (got kind of philosophical at this point)

So he asked me to factor that in as well. He asked mehow we can make them use an online medium when

they do not have basic education in the first place.

Summary:

He helped me a lot with the case. Infact he gave me the

2 most important points of adult demand and latent

demand. Overall I found the case to be very tough andambiguous. He kept on asking me if I understood the

question which made me lose confidence many times.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was passionate about the education industry like I had

mentioned. I also was not put down by his comments of

have you understood my question. He didnt give me

much time to think, but I still managed to build astructure with all the ambiguity in the problem. I feel he

was judging the different ways in which I could thinksince it was a pretty open ended and highly unstructured

case to start with.


interview?

At first I didnt understand why he was focusing on thedemand of English language. I should have taken into

consideration of adults as well. I was looking at only

school children. I was very nervous since it was my firstinterview of the day and was also the very first for BCG

in the morning. The interview was shorter than Ianticipated.

Any tips for future


of your experience

Please make sure of what you say in the initial HR

questions. I had mentioned that I liked teaching. That

was the reason why picked out this case for me. Soplease make sure you can show the passion for a

particular interest that you have mentioned.

Be calm during the case. He will help you out for sure.


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It is important to be persistent and keep going at the

problem.

Round Second


1.

Are you convinced about consulting vs. IB?2.

Why do you want to do consulting and not IB?

3.

Tell me something different/interesting about

yourself.

4. Have you worked on live projects? If so tell me

one in which you used a completely differentapproach.

Ans: I spoke about a project that I had done during an

intern at a CSIR lab after my 2nd year of engg. It washighly technical and involved FEM in the field of

Biophysics. He asked me what I did differently. I

explained it to him in layman terms. He was veryimpressed with my answer.



A financial services company (NBFC) that has entered

India few years ago wants to know whether it should

continue in India or not?

Case analysis:

Q. I asked him the relative position of the business viz-

a-viz its peers.

Ans: It is not very high. Somewhere around 6th

.

Q. What are the different businesses?

Ans: Mutual funds debt and equity, Asset

management, etc.

Equity fund is not performing as well as its competitors.

Debt is on par

Q. What is its target market?

Ans: HNIs with income of INR 5Cr +

I had made a brief structure earlier in which I had said


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that I would like to explore 3 things. The historical

performance of the fund, Its competition, and the third

thing was future growth in India.

He gave me some details on the historic performance

and all.He also told me about the competition.

I was then asked to make a decision of whether to

continue in India.

I told him based on the future growth story they should

remain in India. He wanted me to ask the growth rate of

HNIs in India. He then gave me those figures.

Q: He then asked me what all problems they could face.

Ans: Very volatile equity markets, major source of HNI

money is black so we cant capture the entire growth in

HNI. Competition could outdo us. If interest rates fall,

investors would want to invest abroad. I gave a few

more options that I cant recall right now.

Summary:

The case was very straight forward. Basic questions

needed to be asked. I had expressed an interest infinance so I was given this case.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

He was very impressed with my HR questions. That

gave me major confidence. The case was simple and

need a proper structure initially which I provided. Hewas impressed with the option generation as well.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I forgot to ask him the growth rate of our target market

(HNIs).

Any tips for future


of your experience

Prepare HR answers really well. My case was

something which anybody would have cracked but the

differentiating part was the HR answers.

Round Third


1. Tell me about yourself2. Why does consulting excite you?

Was well prepared for these.

Narration of the case I had 2 cases in this interview.


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interview

1stcase:

Problem Statement:

A taxi driver (black and yellow taxi) asked me if he

should move to a radio cab in Delhi.

Analysis:

I was a simple case of cost-benefit. Split into revenues

and cost. Cost split into fixed (maintenance and

insurance) and variable (fuel)

I asked him the km each car run in a day, the mileage,the cost per liter of diesel. Charge/km. Made the

comparison and gave him the answer.

He asked me what else I should consider. I told him that

the taxi driver had more freedom owning his own cab.

But in the radio cab he wont have to worry about

depreciation of the vehicle. I also told him that owning

his taxi may be a matter of prestige for the driver.

2nd

Case:

Should a PE fund buyout Infosys?

Case analysis:

Q. I asked him what the private equity fund was looking

at: Stake purchase or complete buyout.

Ans. Complete buyout

He asked me how a PE can gain out of buying Infosys.

I told him that the PE would have board members and

would provide guidance and expertise along with the

funding support.

Q. How long is the PE looking to invest in Infy?

Ans. 5 years

Q. what is rate of return that infy will give in 5 years


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Ans: 20%

At this point he asked me will the PE be able to increase

the profits of infy?

I told him that we could better management and

expertise from the PE end. He said that the PE would

not be able to manage Infosys better that what it already

was.

Q. Will the PE be able to bring in new outside business?

Ans: no

Q. Will the PE be able to generate more than the

expected 20% revenue for Infy?

Ans. No

At this point he told me think of it from an IB

perspective. He told me that if infy can be bought for

say Rs 100 and would be worth Rs 120 after 5 years, its

not a big deal. The PE would not be interested insomething like this. So why would a PE look to invest?

I luckily had some prior knowledge of Infy (0 debt on

its balance sheet and a hell lot of cash) So I told him thatthe entire source of funds was only equity. So the PE

could buy the equity and then pay off dividends to it(since INFY was cash rich) or else raise debt for

leverage.

Q. Will the growth remain 20% even if I raise debt?

Ans: yes

So I told him that if INFY raises debt of Rs 100, Firmvalue would be roughly Rs 200 and growth would be

20% -> Rs 240. Therefore the PE would make 40 on its

initial Rs 100 -> 40%.

He was looking for a solution like: Buy it for Rs 100.

Replace Rs 50 of equity by raising debt. And then sell itfor Rs120 5 years later. So effective gain would be Rs

20 on Rs 50 which is still 40%

Q. What is this mechanism called?Ans. Leveraging


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He spoke a bit about LBOs then.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

The extra information I had on Infosys was something

he was very impressed with. He liked the fact that I was

persistent in the PE case. I was thinking of differentoptions. He led me to a solution.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I didnt get the hint of him leading me to an LBO based

solution even though I knew what an LBO was.

Any tips for future


of your experience

Be confident and be persistent. Keep on going at the

case even if you are stuck



Name: Arjun Bhaduri

Name of interviewer

and designation

Arvind Pandey, Partner and Director

Round First

Brief Profile : B.Sc (Economics Honors) from St. Xaviers College

No work experiencePersonal interview

questions

1. Why should BCG select you?

This was a pressure question because everything I saidseemed to displease him. I just tried to match my

personality with BCG and that seemed to work for me.



A cement manufacturer based out of East India has been

seeing his prices in east India dip heavily in the past fewmonths. Despite being the market leader, he seems to be

unable to arrest the fall in prices. The aim as aconsultant lies to raise the prices by 10% and find a

strategy to make sure the prices do not fall so easily

again.

Case analysis:

This was a very complex case with multiple problemsand solutions with each having a different set of pros


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and cons. He wanted me to see the case from a simple

demand and supply point of view.

Structure:

The supply was overshooting demand in the market as a

result of the actions of competitors. So the issue was

also to do with the distributors in the middle and how

brand consciousness would come into the scene. The

structure could be simplified to a 2*2 matrix with price

elasticity of demand and brand consciousness on the

axes. The issue could be then simplified on the basis of

the quadrant in focus.

Summary:

Overall, the issue was embedded in being able to use

game theory with the distributor and play prices up and

down at regular intervals. Another strategy was to enter

into forward contracts.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Calmness and common sense was the key.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

Was a little nervous at the beginning of the interviewing

as a result of the complexity of the case.

Round Second

Personal interview

questions

1.

General conversation for about 5 minutes?

The interviewer was very calm and reassuring and

that helped me build the conversation.



A local taxi driver in Delhi wants to explore the

possibility of signing a contract with a radio taxi service.

Help him with his dilemma

Case analysis:

This was a case that really tested your ability to think far


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and wide because the math was simple but the

underlying logic could have been missed very easily

Structure:

Used a simple revenue-cost structure for the pre andpost radio taxi phase. Then tried to see if any of the key

variables could be modified to come up with a different

result.

Summary:

The case had two parts- one was the initial decision and

the decision after changing a key variable.


interview?

Thought simple and picked up the cues very well.


interview?

Failed to see the obvious solution the first time andneeded a little pushing in the right direction.

Round Third

Personal interview

questions

1.

Asked my questions about my tastes in food?

2.

General discussion on football and tennis and wespoke about our favorite stars from each of them.

More than anything else, this was an amazingconversation where I could speak without any

fears and inhibitions.



A life insurance company in Sri Lanka is losing out on

market share. Where does the problem lie?

Case analysis:

The case was a test of structure to see if you could

create one with all the levers enlisted.

Structure:

The market share could be seen as a function of number


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of policies sold and the revenue per policy. The

discussion would then carry on the aspect of number of

policies. The number of policies itself would be a

function of a number of factors, out of which one of

them was creating an issue.

Summary:

The toxic area was something to do with the insurance

policy salesman and the entire structure had to be

panned out so as to get to that

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Was highly energetic and logical in my approach.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I rushed through the case in parts.

Any tips for future


of your experience

Be calm, logical and energetic. That is all you need to

impress the interviewer.



Name: Aman Bhatnagar

Name of interviewer

and designation

Pranay Mehrotra, Partner & Director

Round First

Brief Profile :

(Graduation College,

stream, Work ex

details, etc. )

IIT Delhi

Electrical Engineering (B. Tech)

Entrepreneur, 17 months

Personal interview

questions (With

indicative answers if

you choose to sharethem)

1. Started with discussion about Tintin, Herge,

literary quizzing, went on to about yourself, gave

his introduction and a chocolate, clarified on why

it took so long to get to see me2.

Interested with Manchester United, talked about

playing vs. watching football vs. gaming for a bit

Narration of the caseinterview

Problem statement:

Client is a life insurance agency in Sri Lanka facingdeclining market share


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Case analysis:

Market leader, no.2 and no. 3 growing in dominance,

Market growing, they didnt release a particular policy,dont give enough incentives to their agents which other

firms are capitalizing on,

Structure:

Broke it down into their business structure, understood

how they operate, tried to find loopholes in each step

Summary:

Was asked to stop after explaining the approach and

asking two or three questions, BCG vs McKinsey took

over, spirited discussion regarding pros, cons and

discussion I had with Gautam Kumra at McK, after

debates and stressing the people point, we called it a

day.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Confidence, at ease, conversational tone and mode

Relating with the interviewer, leading the interview

Any tips for future


of your experience

Take hints, explain approach.

Round Second

Name of interviewerand designation

Arvind Pandey, Partner

Personal interview

questions

Talked about himself, food, asked about experience till

now, outlined that well start with a case and then move

on to any doubts I have about BCGNarration of the case


Leading cement manufacturer is facing declining

profits; prices have halved in the last few months and

facing decreasing prices further as well. Suggest

emergency measures for next few weeks.

Case analysis:

Spoke about the business, market, the competition and


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how everyone else was coping. Talked about how the

business worked; distribution and sales network,

retailers and incentives and breakup in terms of branded,

unbranded cement. Twist in the case, BCG says increase

prices; profits fall by 12% more and take a hit. Nowwhat?

Structure:

Value chain + market scenario, focused on issues like

rising costs, raw material sourcing, manufacturing

difficulties, expansion possibilities but were discounted.

Went on to retailers and distribution and his eyes lit up,

literally. Focused on region wise distribution, why therewere discrepancies in individual dealers selling different

quantities given same consumption patterns, focused on

price prediction patterns and inventory holding practices

by different retailers.

Summary:

Was stopped after this, talked about BCG, consulting as

a career and how the partner found his calling, how

BCG contributes in making real change in the world

What do you think

went right in this

interview?



Any tips for future


of your experience

I was informed later it was a stress interview. Since I got

offers from both firms, seems best to be clear, calm and

logical on the day and not let anything bog you down,

least of all, the pressure and reputation.



Name: Mustafa Rangwala

Name of interviewer

and designation

All interviewers were with partners

Round First


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Brief Profile : Did B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from VJTI.

Worked in JP Morgan for 21 months

Personal interview

questions

Asked me why I wanted to join Consulting and not stay

in finance as my CV was fin-oriented. Also asked I

whether I would join McKinsey or BCG (Be ready withthe answer to the last question as it is going to be

asked).



The client is a financial services company. It has started

a wealth management business five years earlier. The

business is not performing nicely. Should the company

keep on making on investments in this or exit.

Structure:

First asked about the industry. The industry was

growing but the company was losing share. This meant

that the problem was with the company.

Structured to find about the revenue and cost structures

of the industry and the firm in particular. Tried to gatheras much background information on this as possible.

Talked about training the employees, any new adverse

regulations, competitor offerings, etc. In short covered a

lot of different angles.

Finally he asked me to give 10 recommendations tosolve the problem. This was difficult as we had barely

discussed the case for 10 minutes. Took 5 minutes to

write down my suggestions.

Structured my answer in three areas: Customers,

employees and business improvement. Gave 3-4

suggestions in each bucket.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was able to give 10 recommendations which required a

lot of idea generation

Any tips for future


of your experience

Idea generation requires a lot of practice. Make sure you

do abstract cases which involve idea generation. Also

have questions for the interviewer ready for at least 3rounds of the process.


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Name: Vinay Doshi

Round First

Brief Profile : UG : Shri Ram College Of Commerce (2011)Stream: Economics

Work-ex: 0 months

Personal interview

questions

Just a little chat about where youre from, what you like

doing and stuff. Of course, it began with thequintessential -Why don't you tell me something aboutourself?

Well, the simple approach I took to answering this

question each time was to link the major points on my

cv and answer Why you for BCG? I do not think

speaking about only one particular instance or event is avery good idea, unless of course, the interviewer

himself/herself probes the area

arration of the caseinterview Problem statement: About a potato chip manufacturingcompany

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Well I didnt really end up cracking the case as well i

could have. That was really a big negative I thought.

But i hindsight, the fact that i got an offer only affirm

that there is no such thing as cracking the case- they

only judge your approach to problem solving, and as

ou very well know there is no one correct solution

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I really made a connect with the interviewer I felt. Let

him do more of the talking bit as i sat listening. It really

helps, because in the end, the interviewer will inevitably

end up dropping those crucial hints that shall help you

reach a conclusion.

Any tips for future

batches on the basis of

You really need to be calm and only then will the

analytical skills and creativity really show. But do notworry - the interviewer shall go out of his/her way to


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our experience make you feel so.

Just be you and try to establish connecting with the

interviewer. A smiling face comes in handy too.

Also, there is a lot of buildup on campus to the start of

day zero-just remain calm during that time. Its easy to

feel over pressurized, especially with all the short-lists

coming in, but just relax. Itsgoing to be fine.

Round Second

Personal interview

questions

Although the partner did not ask me any questions

specifically, I started talking to him about his day, joband used this as an opportunity to highlight the points in

my work experience which I wanted to share (remember

they will not always ask you everything and do ensure

that you connect it wherever possible)

arration of the case

interview

Problem statement:

The client is a large cement company with the highest

market share. The second close player is cutting prices.

To match the prices the client has also reduced its prices

and is facing declining profits. The client has given us 3

weeks to solve the problem.

Structure:

I asked him about the dynamics of the industry. He

explained that there is not much difference between the

products as well as the cost structures of the company.

This meant that even the competitor is losing money by

the price war.

I suggested 2 alternatives to solve this: first involved

analysing the cost structure and trying to reduce costs.

But the interviewer told me that the client has used all

the cost efficiencies possible (this indicates that the

interviewer does not want me to go deeper).


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Second option that I suggested involved was the Game

Theory approach. This involves indicating to the

competitor that we will not reduce our prices even if he

does so. This I suggested could be done by issuing some

way of communication to the competitor. But he said

that the competitor is not willing to talk. I could not

think of what could be done so he suggested that the

client should increase the prices. This will show to the

competitor that the client is serious.

Then the interviewer said that after one week, the sales

of the client had declined drastically and the competitor

had not reduced its prices. This created a problem ofinventory.

To solve this data was collected geographically and

analyzed. It was found that some dealers had reduced

the stocks of the clients cement. The clients did this as

they expected the price increase to be temporary and

thus wanted to postpone the purchase. I suggested

increasing the prices again. This will signal to the

dealers that the price increase is not temporary.

Finally he asked me to give some suggestions about the

same. I suggested that the dealers should be given

discounts based on the average volumes they generate

every week and month. This will help in inventory

planning. Secondly whenever the price is increased they

should be increased all at once and any decrease should

be spread over a larger period. This will not allow

competitors and dealers to pre-empt the client.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was able to get the fact that the problem related to

Game Theory.

What do you think

went wrong in this

The case had only one solution but I could not exactly

pinpoint that


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interview?

Any tips for future


our experience

Even though the ideas might sound outlandish, get them

across, they will give you the benefit of thinking out of

the box. Try to involve the interviewer in the case asmuch as possible, if he is interested he will point you

out more and more in the right direction.

Round Third

Personal interview

questions

Started directly with the case. At the end of the case

asked me about LBO (Leveraged buyout) and asked me

to give an example in the Indian markets

arration of the case

interview

Problem statement:

I was travelling in a taxi when the driver asked me about

switching his car and joining the radio cab service such

as Meru. What is your advice?

Structure:

I said that we will compare the profits of the two

methods and make our decisions based on that. I asked

about the revenue and costs of the two and calculated

the profit.

I proved that joining the radio cab was better. But the

interviewer told me that was the wrong answer. He

asked me to go back.

I took the current taxi and approached the different line

items one by one. I suggested that if the driver installed

an AC he will be able to charge more. But the

interviewer asked me to suggest something else.

If the engine of the cab (which was currently diesel)

could be replaced by CNG (the radio cab used CNG) the

fuel cost reduced drastically making the current cab


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more profitable. I showed him the calculations.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was able to get to the required answer.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

He expected me to get to the answer much quicker.

Any tips for future


our experience

Try to be receptive to the hints given by the interviewer

in the process. They are extremely important to get to

the solution quickly.


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KPMG


Company KPMGName: Abhishek Mani Tripathi

Round 3 rounds of case interviews

Brief Profile : NIT Trichy, ECE, 2years Analog Devices

Personal interview

questions

1. Why Consulting?

2. Why KPMG? What are your expectations from the

internship programme?

3. What would you do for conflict resolution

4. Questions for the interviewer

Narration of the

case interviewProblem statement:

Round 1:

A company which has a market share of 60% saw

reduction in its revenue for last 3 years due to intense price

competition. Competitors are reducing prices and thecompany is not able to compete since cost of production is

higher than prices quoted by competitors. Machineryemployed for production is old and labor costs have been

rising over years. Customers have been very loyal to the

product.

Round 2:

A multinational insurance company wants to enter into

Indian market. They offer life insurance, general insurance

and fire and damage insurance. Company has been offering

insurance in its parent country through online mode.

Round 3:

A company wants to set up an automobile manufacturing

unit in India. Do a cost-benefit analysis for the company. I

was not allowed to ask questions in this round.

I tried to analyse this case taking into account factors likelocation, government regulations, market size, availability


40/56


of labour, transportation etc. ( Time limit : 3 minutes )

Case analysis:

First case :

I proposed that since machinery has not been replaced

since years, quality of products has degraded. Secondly,

competitors have reduced their prices by outsourcing it to

countries like China.

Second case :

Analyse it by separating life insurance, general insuranceand fire and damage insurance. Give inputs on mode of

delivery (online mode is not very feasible in Indian

scenario). Also, take into account role of brokers and

agents in case of fire and damage insurance.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was able to provide solutions to first 2 cases and the

interviewers looked satisfied but couldnt do well in third

case

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

Was not able to provide a good solution to third case

Any tips for future

batches on the

basis of your

experience

First of all read complete case carefully. Ask questions and

try to get as much information as possible. Communicate

your answers to interviewers and keep them involved.


Company KPMG

Name: Rashik Gupta

Round There were 4 rounds and each round followed a

similar patternHR questions followed by a case

Brief Profile :


stream, Work ex

details, etc. )

BITS-Pilani, Chemical Engineering, 8 months at ZS

Associates

Personal interview 1. Tell me about yourself


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questions 2. Do you know about the work that KPMG does

3. Experience at IIM Lucknow

4. Describe the project that you did at ZS Associates

This question was followed by many questions about

my project5. Short-term and long-term goals

6. Personal goals in life


interview

The only thing they were looking was how you structure

your analysis and your line of thinking. They were not

looking for any detailed analysis and in all the cases I

was stopped after I had discussed my overall approach.

Case 1:

Problem statement:Samsung has come up to you with a business

proposition i.e. they want to start an insurance company

for electronic goods. How will you help them?

Case Analysis:

The only thing they were looking was how you structure

your analysis and your line of thinking.

I started with asking questions about the new businessmodel to extract some information like target

customers,, how is the value proposition different from a

warranty, how much can Samsung expect to charge its

customers for insurance.

My first step was to analyze the business model andestablish the financial feasibility. This was followed by

target customerswho are the target customers and are

they sufficient to justify investment and why will they

be interested in our product. Third step was to deal withoperational issues of providing this product.

Case 2:

Problem statement:

A foreign bank wants to open its branch in India. They

have hired you as a consultant. How will you approach

this?


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Case Analysis:

My first step was to inquire about the bank. So I asked

them about their current scale of operations, countries

where they are operating, their market share andreputation among clients.

I then explored what are the different areas of banking

where the bank can start its operations and based on the

answers to above questions, narrowed down on 1 area.

Next step was to deal with operational issues, how they

will start operations. I focused on 2 questions in this:

1.

Who will be the customers immediately after

starting?

2.

How will be getting those customers and buildtrustworthy relationship with them?

After an approach was finalized to start operations, I

also briefly discussed how they will proceed in short

term to expand their business in India.

Case 3:

Problem statement:

You want to open a petrol pump. Proceed.

Case Analysis:

In this case, my questions were not answered and I was

told that it is your business, make necessary

assumptions. So I took up 3-4 options like highways, a

busy market in a city and similar other options. Then I

followed a guesstimate approach for calculating thedemand in these locations. Comparison of demand or

revenues with investment gave me the best possibleoption for the petrol pump.

Case 4:

Here they followed a slightly different approach. Beforethe case, I was told that no questions will be allowed. I

have to make necessary assumptions by myself and I

have 5 minutes to present my ideas and they wont

allow me to complete if I am not done in 5 minutes.


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Problem statement:

A US car manufacturer wants to setup a plant in India.

You are hired as a consultant. Help them.

Case Analysis:

I started with stating my assumptions to make sure that

all of us are working in the same framework. My

assumptions were:

1.

They already export their cars to India: This

helped me to simplify my case as now I am aware

of my target customers and what is my position in

the market. Also I know how my product isviewed in Indian market.

2. It is amongst the biggest car manufacturers of US:

This simplified the problem of establishing trust

among customers as the company was a big brand

name and enjoyed a good position in the market.

So I started with the reasons of investing in India.Possible reason can be increase in demand and lost sales

because imports are not able to meet demand or increase

in competition and therefore for reducing costs, I haveto operate in India rather than import my cars. I stated

all the possible reasons and assumed one reason to bethe valid one for further analysis. Lets say the reason is

increase in competition.

So we have decided that the motive of investing in India

is to reduce costs. Now next step was to decide on a

location that will help me in this regard. So I looked at 2possibilities for this.

1.

My customers are uniformly spread throughoutIndia. In this case, my only concern about the

location will be investment costs i.e. cost of land,

cost of setting up a plant etc. and the tax rebate

that I will get from state government.

2. I have most of my customers located in aparticular area. In this case, I must strike a

balance between above mentioned investment

costs and my logistics costs i.e. plant must be

located close to my biggest market.Since the reason for investing in India is increased


44/56


competition, my last step was to analyze how I will use

my cost savings to deal with competition. I analyzed

pros and cons of different options mentioned below:

1. Increase my marketing budget to attract

customers2.

Decrease prices by passing on the savings in

manufacturing to customers

3. A mix of both the strategies

Any tips for future


of your experience

Case analysis is very important. Make sure that you

prepare a structure and show them the structure of

analysis before starting.


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Mckinsey & Co.


Company McKinsey & Co.

Name: Aman Bhatnagar

Name of interviewer

and designation

Rajat Dhawan, Partner

Round First

Brief Profile :


stream, Work ex

details, etc.)

IIT Delhi

Electrical Engineering (B. Tech)

Entrepreneur, 17 months

Personal interview

questions

1. About yourself one of my interests is TED talks,

talked about the model of TED, how it works, qualities I

talked about resonated with consulting, led the interview

from there on, asked about mood on campus, preferred

recruiter, dream jobs2. Consulting fits, where do you see yourself in

McKinsey, your career goals, 10-15 years down the

line?

3. Talking about the AIR 147 in IIT-JEE, coaching

institutes, and then questions to him


interview

Problem statement: NANo case

What do you think

went right in this

interview?



Any tips for future


of your experience

Relax. Be yourself. Talk like you would to a senior

colleague at a swanky restaurant when its his treat.

Round Second


Gautam Kumra, Senior Partner

Personal interview

questions

1.

About yourself about TED talks, structure of

TED, about my venture, how it started up, how it

evolved, current state, future plans

2.

Told him about a question Rajat asked, discussed

about that for a bit, and then he asked about otheroffers, shortlists, interest in finance etc.


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3.

Questions about BCG vs McKinsey, detailed

discussion on Collaborative team spirit,

Evaluation patterns, presence in almost all sectors

where other firms are next to absent e.g.Healthcare, Impact in terms of setting up

organizations like the ISB, PHFI, dealing in a

scale which others could never hope to achieve,

always being the innovators, the trailblazers as

well as facts about compensation.


Problem statement: NANo case


interview?

Confidence, at ease, conversational tone and modeRelating with the interviewer, leading the interview


Company Mckinsey & Co

Name: Tejas Choudhari


Mr. Sikka, Associate Partner

Round 1st Round

Brief Profile : BTech(IT) from VJTI, MumbaiFresher

Personal interview

questions

1. Tell me about yourself. I had practiced this answer

many times so was able to say it fluently and perfectly

2. Asked questions about my entrepreneurial venture

and what was my role in it. Current situation of the

venture and future prospects. General questions, nothingspecific

3. Some questions on my cricket career during schooland college



As he was talking to me about cricket, he started talking

about how we could estimate cricket ball sales in thecountry for one year. Basically, I was given a

guesstimate first up.


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Case analysis:

First, I confirmed whether he was talking about leather

cricket ball. Thereafter, I started talking about where a

cricket ball will be used and who will buy a cricket ball.At each juncture, I kept on checking with Mr. Sikka so

as Im not deviating from the solution.

Then I told him that I would estimate sales of cricket

balls for Mumbai and then extrapolate it to the whole

country.

I calculated number of matches played in one day by

estimating number of grounds in Mumbai (having

played on most of the grounds, it was easy for me).

Then I separated one day matches and 20-20 matches asone day match requires 2 balls and 20-20 requires 4

balls(As two 20-20 matches are possible on a single

pitch in one day).

Also, considering that each ground hosts practice

session 2 times a day and this will also contribute

towards the sales. Then he stopped me and said fine. He

did not go into depth of the guesstimate as it could havegot complicated with other parts of the country to be

considered for contribution towards the sales of cricket

balls.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I was able to connect with the interviewer. I asked him

questions on which we spoke for 15 minutes and he

seemed interested.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

No idea as such. I guess he needed something more

from the guesstimate. More number crunching could

have helped.

Any tips for future


of your experience

Please practice your cases as well as guesstimates. Also,

know your CV in and out. Always connect with the

interviewer.


Company McKinsey & Co.

Name: Amit Deshpande


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Name of interviewer

and designation

Rajat Bhargava

Round First

Personal interview

questions

We started the interview by talking about the video

conferencing facilities in IIM L, since there was a VC

setup in the interview room. We talked about it for a

while and then we started the interview.He asked the most standard question: tell me something

about yourself. I gave him a long and descriptive answer

since he wasnt engaging me much. We ended up

talking about badminton since both of us were

badminton players.


Since I am passionate about badminton, he asked me toestimate the no. of badminton courts in India. I started

off by dividing India into rural and urban areas, andconfirmed with him that I can ignore the rural areas for

this guesstimation. I divided the urban areas further into

tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and started with Mumbai as an

average for tier 1 cities. The rest of the case was pretty

straightforward, since I took an average number of

people per badminton court and multiplied it by the

population. I took a percentage of the number in case oftier 2 cities to arrive at the total number.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Structure was good. I clarified key assumptions with the

interviewer before proceeding.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I overestimated the total number the first time, but

corrected the number after a reality check.

Any tips for futurebatches on the basis

of your experience

Draw out an MECE structure before starting analysis ofthe case. Reality checks are essential.

Round Second


Amit Kheda

Personal interview

questions

The interviewer was extremely informal. He was talking

how weird the interview process is these days, ascompared to the process in his days. We talked about

how big the interview room was and how difficult it is


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to focus while sitting in a comfy couch! He didnt ask

me any personal questions since he said he had already

been through my CV a million times.


The case was about a fertilizer manufacturing companybased out of the US which was receiving complaints

regarding its poor customer service.I started by asking details about the company, its

operations, its customers, the competitors and the

market in general (barriers, trends etc.). After the initial

questions, I realized that the problem was in the supply

of fertilizers to the customers (which were 5 majordistributors across the US). So, I broke down the case

into the supply value chain, i.e., raw materials(procurement and transportation), manufacturing

process and inventory handling. This led me to the

problem which was their inventory handling methods.

Specifically, the demand estimation was way off; they

estimated demand on an annual basis and it was a word-of-mouth contract with the customers. Besides, despite

geographical variations within the US, the demand was

estimated by one sales team centrally. This was the key

issue and I got to it pretty quickly. The pace of the

interview was very fast and the interviewer did not letme talk for long periods of time; basically he was testing

me on my speed of option generation. I thought I did

pretty well and suggested seasonal demand estimation

based on geography and that the contracts with

customers should be on paper.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

Good case overall. I got the structure right which helped

me arrive at the solution fast.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

Nothing really. However, I really had to think on my

toes because the interviewer was constantly interrupting

me and trying to disturb my thought process.

Round Third

Name of interviewer

and designation

Gautam Kumra

Personal interviewquestions Very serious interview. He was completely straight-faced right from the word goes. Immediately asked me


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to tell him something about myself. After hearing me

out, he asked me to tell him something about my work

experience at the Bain Capability Centre. This part went

pretty well.


interview

He didnt really give me a case. He asked me which

sector I followed in India, to which I replied the retailsector. We then entered into a discussion into the retail

sector in India. I had very little sector knowledge and

retail was my best bet. SO after giving him some facts

that I had read, he asked me what a retail company think

should about while entering the Indian market, i.e., thekey success factors. I told him that we should consider

the target customer segment, the product offerings, theretail format and the locations. The interview was pretty

OK till this point. However, then he started getting into

details. He asked me what a company should do to

compete with the huge unorganized sector, and wasnt

convinced with my answer. I knew that Id blown it.Finally he ended the case and asked me if I had any

other shortlists before I left.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

HR answers.

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

Everything else. Sector knowledge let me down.

Any tips for futurebatches on the basis

of your experience

Please prepare one sector thoroughly, not just facts, butto have a business opinion about it.


Company McKinsey & Co

Name: Srinath Nagarajan

Name of interviewer

and designation

Gautam Kumra, Partner


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Round


First

Brief Profile :


stream, Work exdetails, etc. )

Chartered Accountant, BCom(Hons) from SRCC, Delhi

University. Prior work ex as a Tax Consultant with

Ernst & Young, a Visiting Faculty at St JosephsColleger, Bangalore and then as a Ratings Analyst with

CRISIL Ratings

Personal interview

questions

1. Tell me about yourself

Had a 1 minute intro prepared highlighting

specific aspects about myself that I wanted tobring to his notice

2.

Tell me what you did in CRISIL

I explained that I was engaged in assigning Credit

Ratings to Corporates under Basel II Regulations

3. How would you go about Rating a Company, lets

say Bharti AirtelBecause it was Bharti Airtel I had to give an

answer tailored to what the approach would be for

a Telecom company would be. While answering I

was conscious of 2 things One, that I have a

clear structure to my answers and Two, tried tokeep it as simple and jargon free as possible.

3.1

(An Offshoot from something I had mentionedin the earlier answer) What are the ratios that

you would look at?

Here I mentioned the financial ratios that I

would look at stating specifically why I wouldlook at each ratio. He probed me on a few

ratios here and there. The intention appeared

to be more to check my articulation of a

financial concept.

Eg: What is a Current Ratio?I explained the formula. However I did not

stop there. I went on to explain that it was used

to assess the liquidity position of the company.

Then I went on to explain to the logic behind

the usage of the ratioSimply put, it tells us if

there is likely to be sufficient inflows of funds

over the next one year to meet the maturing

payment obligations. So a current ratio of less

than one means the company has more to paythan what is coming in, a liquidity problem


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(Based on the approving nods that I was

getting, I felt he liked those portions of my

answer where I endeavored to de-jargonize or

simplify complex concepts)

4.

So Tell me, how would you increase the revenuesof Bharti Airtel

That was my case, it had begun. However, at that

point I thought it was just an extension of my

previous discussion and I started rambling. One

sentence in, I realized that this was my case to

solve and I wasnt doing any of the things had

rehearsed - probing questions/ 2 minute time out

etc. In fact I did not even pick up the pen and the

paper. I will discuss the case in the next session,but what I learnt is that the case can come at you

un announced just be alert enough to grab it and

not ramble on


interview

Problem statement: How do you increase the

revenues of Bharti Airtel

Case analysis:

Preliminary questions - We all know Bharti Airtel and

the services it offered quite wellSo there was no need

to ask preliminary questions. Also, since I wasnt aware

that I was doing a case I did not have the opportunity to

ask preliminary questions.

Structure: The Structure that I used was fairly simple

Increase in Revenues can in Existing markets or through

expansion in new markets.

I explored the existing markets first. Here increase in

revenues could occur through increased market

penetration, increased usage of basic services among

current users or increased usage of Value added services

among existing customers. He asked me a couple of

questions on how these things can be done and I gave

him some off the cuff answers.


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For the New markets, I suggested that the company

could look at inorganic expansion through acquisitions

or through establishment of Greenfield operations in

new markets with high market potential.

The entire case was more like an informal chat. There

were a few follow up questions on some of the options I

had generated. The case did not last very long about

10 minutes at the max.

What do you think

went right in this

interview?

I thought the pre-case portion of my interview went of

really well. I was on top of all the points I had

mentioned in the CV, so any discussion on my pastexperiences especially work ex went well. The thing I

felt worked for me the most was my ability to describe

the entire rating process without using complex

financial jargons and my ability to explain things from a

laymans perspective

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview?

I did not do the case analysis particularly well. I did not

use the pen and paper. This meant that I was generating

options thinking on my feet rather than providing

carefully considered alternatives. This to a very large

extent inhibited my creativity and did not give me

enough opportunity to demonstrate my structuring

skills.

Any tips for future


of your experience

Know your Resume well. At no point in the interview

should you ramble on. All answers must be natural (ie,

must not appear rehearsed), brief, structured and to the

point.

Retaining composure through the interview is critical.

Mistakes may happen during the interview, but it is

important to pick you up and keep at it. People rarely

have perfect interviews where everything has gone right

and interviewers dont expect it either.

Round


Second

Brief Profile :


Chartered Accountant, BCom(Hons) from SRCC, Delhi

University. Prior work ex as a Tax Consultant with


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stream, Work ex

details, etc.)

Ernst & Young, a Visiting Faculty at St Josephs

Colleger,

IIML Consult Casebook 2011

Documents

Transcript of IIML Consult Casebook 2011