Case in point frameworks pdf

The next section will reveal four robust strategies for creating unique and tailored consulting frameworks for any case interview. When given a case interview, you will need to decide which framework strategy you want to use. Some framework strategies will be more effective than others depending on what type of case interview you get. Therefore, choose the case framework strategy that is easiest for you given the type of case that you get.

Strategy 1: Creating Frameworks from Scratch. This case framework strategy can be used for any type of case. This is the most time-consuming strategy, but yields case frameworks that are the most tailored and unique for the given case interview. These 3 — 4 areas will become the buckets in your framework. Once you have your framework buckets, brainstorm a few questions for each bucket that you need answers to.

What 3 — 4 statements must be true for us to recommend that Coca-Cola should enter the beer market? To determine whether the beer market is attractive, we would need to know the market size, the market growth rate, and the average profit margins in the market.

To assess whether the market is competitive, we would need to know who the competitors are, how much market share they have, and if they have any differentiation or competitive advantages.

To decide whether Coca-Cola has the capabilities to produce beer, we need to know if there are any capability gaps or if there are significant synergies that Coca-Cola can leverage.

Finally, to determine the expected profitability of entering the market, we would need to know what expected revenues are, what expected costs are, and how long it would take Coca-Cola to break even. You can repeat this process for any case interview that you get to create an outstanding case framework. Strategy 2: Memorizing 8 — 10 Broad Business Areas. Creating case frameworks from scratch can be quite time-consuming. Because of this, many interview candidates make the mistake of using memorized frameworks for case interviews.

Candidates will either use a single memorized framework for every case or memorize a different framework for every type of case interview. When given an atypical business problem, your framework areas or buckets will not be entirely relevant. Additionally, Interviewers can easily tell that you are regurgitating memorized information and not thinking critically. Instead of creating frameworks from scratch each time, this second case framework strategy provides a method to speed up the process while still creating frameworks that are unique and tailored to the case.

When given a case, mentally run through this list and pick the 3 - 5 areas that are most relevant to the case. If the list does not give you enough areas for your framework, brainstorm and add your own ideas as areas to your framework. This strategy guarantees that your framework elements are relevant to the case. It also demonstrates that you can create unique, tailored frameworks for every business problem.

Running through our list of memorized framework areas, the following six areas would be relevant:. This strategy is a shortcut for creating unique and tailored frameworks for every business problem. Even if you and a friend used this same strategy, you both may end up with different frameworks. That is completely fine. You do not need to develop a framework entirely from scratch every time to create outstanding case frameworks.

Strategy 3: Breaking Down Stakeholders. However, some cases may require you to identify and focus on various stakeholders that are involved in running or operating a business. They have volunteer nurses that go to schools and companies to collect blood from donors.

They then sell this blood to hospitals, which use this blood for emergency situations when a blood transfusion is required. Currently, Hearts4Lives is not profitable because they are not able to collect enough blood to sell to their hospital partners.

What can they do to fix this? For cases in which many different stakeholders are involved, it will be useful to look at each stakeholder and determine what each could do to address the problem. Strategy 4: Breaking Down Processes. Similar to the previous case framework strategy, some cases may require you to focus on improving or optimizing a particular process.

For these cases, the primary areas of your case framework will be each major step of the process. Recently, they have been failing to meet this requirement and are backed up with garbage disposal requests. What is causing this issue and what should they do to fix it? For cases involving processes and efficiencies, it can be helpful to look at the different components or steps in the process. We can think about the process of collecting and disposing of garbage in the following steps:.

Using these steps as the primary areas of our framework, we can create the following case framework:. Once you have systematically listed all of the steps in a process, you can identify the pain points or bottlenecks that are causing the issue and determine ways to improve the process. What should they do? On the revenue side, what is causing the decline?

Is it from a decrease in quantity of units sold? If so, is the decrease concentrated in a particular product line, geography, or customer segment? Or is the decline due to a decrease in price?

Are we selling products at a lower price? Is there a sales mix change? In other words, are we selling more low-priced products and fewer high-priced products? On the cost side, what is causing the increase in costs? Is it from an increase in variable costs?

If so, which cost elements have gone up? Or is the increase in costs due to an increase in fixed costs? If so, which fixed costs have gone up? Next, you need to understand qualitatively, what factors are driving the decline in profitability that you identified in the previous step. Looking at customers, have customer needs or preferences changed?

Have their purchasing habits or behaviors changed? Have their perceptions of the company changed? Looking at competitors, have new players entered the market? Have existing competitors made any recent strategic moves? Are competitors also experiencing a decline in profitability?

Looking at the market, are there any market trends that we should be aware of? For example, are there new technology or regulatory changes? How do these trends impact profitability? Once you have gone through this profitability framework and understand both quantitatively what is causing the decline in profits and qualitatively why this is happening, you can begin brainstorming ideas to address the profitability issue.

Among the ideas that you brainstorm, you can prioritize which recommendations to focus on based on the level of impact and ease of implementation. See the video below for an example of how to solve a profitability case using this profitability framework. To create a market entry framework, there are typically four statements that need to be true in order for you to recommend entering the market:.

We first want to determine whether the market is attractive. We equip you with everything you need to know , starting from the ground up. Specifically, we can support you in:.

Coaching from a real MBB consultant can help even the best candidates pinpoint their weak points and turn them into strengths. As well as helping you master case studies, a coach will give you a new self-awareness of your profile and how best to position yourself for an MBB offer. Just as importantly, they will give you the confidence to know for sure you can succeed against such a formidable challenge!

Join thousands of other candidates cracking cases like pros At MyConsultingCoach we teach you how to solve cases like a consultant Get started. Candidates who sign up to our free services are 3 times more likely to land a job in one of their target firms.

February 21, Are you sure you will land your offer? Work with us. Why the Case in Point approach is misleading So, what's wrong the 12 apparently magical frameworks of the Ivy Case System?

Similar articles. How to make the best of the rule In the consulting world, the Pareto principle is not a business rule but rather a mantra. Communicate like a consultant: The Rule of Three Ask any good consultant or public speaker about the rule of three and their eyes will light up - How can you master this powerful Six tips to succeed in the written case We recently got this e-mail: I have practised around cases and feel reasonably confident about the verbal case interview.

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Review our privacy policy for more details. I understand. There are 2 categories of frameworks: pre-existing frameworks, and custom bespoke frameworks.

In this guide, we'll cover both categories. Let's begin with pre-existing frameworks, which are established business frameworks. Some of them are pretty well known, so you may have heard of them before. Here are the top 7 pre-existing case interview frameworks:. The number one mistakes candidates make in case interviews is to learn frameworks by heart and to reuse them in interviews.

Your interviewer will immediately notice if you do this and penalise you. Instead, you should create custom frameworks for all your cases. Trust us, it's actually not that hard! You can jump to the relevant sections below:. The profitability framework is the most basic framework in business analysis. It simply breaks down profits into its basic revenue and cost components and is commonly used to identify the root cause of profitability issues.

The 4Ps framework is widely used by company executives to design their marketing strategy. This framework is commonly used when launching a new product or when reviewing the positioning of an existing product. Indeed not all industries are structured the same way.

Some industries are really hard to get into E. Suppliers have got strong bargaining power in some industries E. Understanding these dynamics is extremely important when considering to enter a new industry or when assessing the competitive dynamics of the industry a company is already in.

The 3Cs framework is also commonly used to put together strategies for companies. The market entry framework is commonly used to make decisions on whether a company should enter a new market or not. For instance, you could use it to decide if Startbucks should enter the Chinese market. Or if Nike should enter the sports broadcasting business. Companies always face a difficult issue when launching a new product or service.

What should its price be? The pricing framework is extremely helpful to help answer that question. Finally, the merger and acquisition framework is used when companies are looking to acquire or merge with competitors. These situations are not very frequent in a CEO's life but highly stressful which helps understand why consultants are often asked to support such initiatives.

Once you are familiar with frameworks, the question then becomes: how do you now use that knowledge in case interviews? There are a lot of opinions about how you should do this on the Internet. This is an interesting exercise as it exposes you to a range of business problems and helps you think about them in different ways.

Instead of focusing on solving the problem at hand, you end up trying to remember a framework that will not even perfectly fit the case you are solving.

In our experience, the best candidates avoid this strategy. In his LOMS programme, Victor Cheng advocates for a much simpler method than Case In Point and suggests you should only learn two frameworks: the profit framework for profitability cases, and a general framework for all other cases Product, Consumer, Company, Competition. The benefit of this approach is its simplicity. However, in our experience, this approach has got a fatal drawback.

Even if you adapt this general framework to the case you are given, it will not be perfectly tailored to the case you are trying to solve. More importantly perhaps, your interviewer will quickly realise that you are using a pre-cooked framework and that will reflect very negatively on you. In our experience, this is bound to produce average results because all cases are unique.

A good framework is a bit like a tailor made suit: it is adapted to the problem you are trying to solve, the company, the industry and it is also as MECE as possible.