How to approach case interviews.

1. How to approach Case Interviews?

2. Case Interviews are not just about solving
cases.
They are about solving cases by interacting
with your interviewer!

3. 6 Building Blocks of Case Interviews
Brainstorming Frameworks
Quantitative
Analysis
Hypothesis
Testing
Estimations
Chart
Interpretation
***Diss at Case In Point and other definite-way, bland case books

4. Brainstorming: Bunch of plausible ideas!
-It is NOT about throwing out a random list of ideas/
hypothesis without structure and priority
-Use issue trees to build a structured list of hypothesis and
ideas

5. Brainstorming: Bunch of plausible ideas!
Low adoption
of a feature
Customers don’t know
about it
Customers know about it
but still don’t use it
Feature is not discoverable in the application
Marketing/WoM not done/working
Customers did not try it because it did not seem useful
UX is not suitable
Feature does not meet
consumer needs
Customers tried but don’t
prefer to use it

6. -A list of the questions you need answered to make a
decision and a systematic way to make sense of them
-Skill tested: How you create a plan (not if you know a
pre-made one!)
-Examples: •How can create a long term growth
strategy? •Help a health minister combat child obesity. •How
would you help a soft drinks company increase its profits?
Frameworks

7. How can create a long term growth strategy?
Frameworks
Existing Market
Geographic
Expansion
Portfolio Expansion
In-Organic Growth
Business Integration
Customer satisfaction, Marketing, New Distribution Channels, Pricing
Domestic, Global, Rural
New Product Line, Additional Services(B2B)
Acquire competitors, acquisitions in new geographies
Outsourcing, Backward/Forward Integration

8. Hypothesis testing
-Serves to test the hypothesis you organized and prioritized
when brainstorming or building your frameworks.
-These tests need to be rigorous but also practical
-Examples: •Would it be worthy for Nestle to start a
premium line of baby food products in order to grow sales
in Europe? •Will building nicer dorms increase the
number of applicants to a university?

9. Hypothesis testing
Would it be worthy for Nestle to start a premium line of
baby food products in order to grow sales in Europe?
Think of Ansoff Matrix! (Existing Market, New Products → Product Development)
Customers: Would
they like it?
Company: Can Nestle
operationalize it?
Competitors: Can
Nestle outcompete?
Do parents currently use baby food products from the market or make on their own?
If they use, how satisfied are they with the current products?
How often and in what quantity do they buy such products?
How long will the R&D take?
Are there other competitors working on it?
Warehousing, logistics and distribution? (since it is for babies and also premium)
How good are the current products?
What is the distribution/shelf space scenario?

10. Estimations
-Used to quantify when you have no data (or insufficient
data) by using logic and assumptions
-Skills tested: Can you model scenarios?
-Examples: •Market size of road maintenance in the US?
•Revenues of a Starbucks store?
•How much do pharma companies spend on R&D each
year?

11. Estimations: (techniques are transferable to similar case studies)
Estimate the number of petrol pumps in *****?
No. of
petrol
pumps
Medium
density
locations
High
density
locations
Low
density
locations
20% of ***’s area
30% of ***’s area
50% of ***’s area
area/ area served
by 1 petrol pump
30% of ***’s area
50% of ***’s area
***’s total area/
area served
***’s total area/
area served
0.20*2000 sq.km.
0.30*2000 sq.km.
0.50*2000 sq.km.
400/(2*2)
30% of ***’s area
50% of ***’s area
600/(3*3)
1000/(5*5)
100
67
40
207

12. Chart Interpretations
-Interviewer gives an already done analysis in the form of a
chart to see how you understand it and find the implications
-Great candidates find more insights, communicate them
better and develop better next steps
-Examples: •A table comparing different countries that
Nestle could invest in on expansion. Their costs and
revenues or any other metric may be given.

13. Chart Interpretations
Your client is a major mass market cosmetics personal care and fragrances company in
Brazil called Bright. Bright is #2 in the Brazilian cosmetics market with 10% of market
share and $5 billion in revenue. Bright executive have recently been approached by
representatives of the 8th player of the market, Teen, who wanted to sell their company To
Bright they believe this could be a good deal and that it might be a good opportunity to enter
the masstige market in which Teen operates. They have asked for your opinion on whether
this is a good acquisition or not.

14. Chart Interpretations

15. Chart Interpretations

16. Chart Interpretations
Negative
Mildly
+ve
Explore!
Insights
Can we use
:Their distribution network?
:Their manufacturing/R&D
facilities?
:Can they fill any of our product
gaps?

17. Quantitative Analysis
-When you have data to calculate
-Skills tested: How you use the data and what do you
conclude
-Examples: •Calculate the cost savings in R&D after
implementing a new process.
•Given this table of data, how much will it cost to improve
the quality of this university’s dorm rooms?

18. Important Mindset
-Cases are meant to be crafted, not cracked. Case books
rarely teach it and if they do, it would take much longer :D
-Any preparation is a case in itself
-Be curious

19. Keynote
-Clarify scope
-Structure the problem
-Choose assumptions
-Calculate
-Check answer

20. Last one for today, promise!
-Mattress market size in Brazil
Market Size
Mattresses
sold
Price per
mattress
# of beds in
use
Replacement
Growth
People who
use beds
Number of
beds per
person
Population
Penetration
%