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IIM

 Calcutta  
 

Case  book  2013  


 

 
AT  Kearney  .............................................................................................................  2  
Rithvic  Rajah  (Summers  2012)  ....................................................................................................................  2  
Case  1:  Market  analysis  for  a  pharma  drug  ....................................................................................................................................  2  
Case  II:  Analysis  of  issues  in  services  offshoring  ............................................................................................................................  2  
Amitej  G  V  S  (Summers  2012)  ......................................................................................................................  4  
Case  I:  Estimate  the  cost  savings  in  services  offshoring  .............................................................................................................  4  
Case  II:  Analysis  of  Productivity  ...........................................................................................................................................................  4  
Nivedita  Sinha  (Summers  2012)  .................................................................................................................  5  
Case  I:  Explain  the  growth  of  Bicycle  Industry  in  India  .............................................................................................................  5  
Kamal  Ganeriwala  (Summers  2012)  .........................................................................................................  7  
Case  I:  Estimation  of  potential  demand  for  experience  tourism  ............................................................................................  7  
Case  II:  Analysis  of  geographic  locations  for  automotive  parts  manufacturer  ...............................................................  8  

McKinsey  ...............................................................................................................  9  
Amit  Sharma,  2014  Batch  (2013  Summers)  ..........................................................................................  9  
Case  I:  Domestic  bulb  company,  how  to  increase  profits  ...........................................................................................................  9  
Case  II:  Market  Entry  for  a  European  Truck  Manufacturer  ..................................................................................................  10  
Gagan  Dixit  117/49  .........................................................................................................................................  11  
Case  I:  Profitability  analysis,  focus  on  costs  .................................................................................................................................  11  
Case  II:  Staffing  issues  at  a  telecom  operator’s  call  center.  ...................................................................................................  12  
Sanket  Agarwal,  2014  ....................................................................................................................................  13  
Case  I:  Facilities  Management  ............................................................................................................................................................  13  
Case  II:  Guesstimate  Number  of  Cricket  Balls  in  Air  .................................................................................................................  15  
TUSHAR  GUPTA  (SUMMERS  2012)  .........................................................................................................  16  
Case  I:  Decline  in  profits  and  volumes  at  a  jeans  manufacturer  .........................................................................................  16  
Case  II:  Profitability  of  an  auto  insurer  ..........................................................................................................................................  17  
Srijan  Sanket  (Batch  of  49/19)  ..................................................................................................................  18  
Case  I:  Market  estimation  of  the  facilities  management  sector.  .........................................................................................  18  
Case  II:  Data  interpretation  and  strategy.  ....................................................................................................................................  20  
Case  III:  Call  centre  operations  optimization.  .............................................................................................................................  21  

BCG  ......................................................................................................................  22  


Aastha  Munjal  (2012-­‐14)  .............................................................................................................................  22  
Case  I:  Market  Entry  for  a  truck  manufacturer  ..........................................................................................................................  22  
Case  I:  Estimation  of  market  for  combined  harvesters  ...........................................................................................................  23  
Case  II:  Profitability  Analysis  ..............................................................................................................................................................  24  
Anonymous  (Summers  2012)  ....................................................................................................................  25  
Case  I:  Warehouse  Location  ................................................................................................................................................................  25  
Venayak  Saran  Gupta  0386/49  (Summers  -­‐2012)  ............................................................................  27  
Case  I  –  Setting  up  a  new  manufacturing  facility  ......................................................................................................................  27  
Apurav  Singhi  (Summer  2012)  ..................................................................................................................  30  
Case  I:  Setting  up  a  warehouse  for  a  steel  manufacturer.  .....................................................................................................  30  
Case  II:  Deciding  a  strategy  for  a  modular  furniture  manufacturer.  ................................................................................  32  

Bain  &  Co  .............................................................................................................  34  


Srinivas  Bhaskar  (Summers  2012)  ..........................................................................................................  34  
Case  I:  Blade  Manufacturing  Company  Analysis  ........................................................................................................................  34  
Case  II:  Culinary  School!  .......................................................................................................................................................................  35  
Pranjal  Agarwal  (Summers  2012)  ............................................................................................................  36  
Case  I:  Losing  market  share  ................................................................................................................................................................  36  
Case  II:  Evaluate  Strategic  Option  ....................................................................................................................................................  37  
Case  III  –  Market  Entry  Ice-­‐Cream  RetailerHarsh  (Partner)  ................................................................................................  38  
Round  IV  -­‐  Healthcare-­‐  Pharmaceutical  Labs  Case.  .................................................................................................................  39  
Anirudh  Srinivasraghavan,  PGP1,  2012-­‐14  ..........................................................................................  40  
Case  I:  Market  Entry  ...............................................................................................................................................................................  40  
Case  II:  Abstract  Case  .............................................................................................................................................................................  41  

  1  
AT  Kearney  
Rithvic  Rajah  (Summers  2012)  
Internship Company: A. T. Kearney
General Background and Interview info
• Number of Rounds – 2 (Case and Personals) + 1 (Case)
• What was the case about? – 1 Guesstimate, 1 Operations (Quantitative and Strategy), 1
IT (Cost Benefit Analysis)
• Anything peculiar about the case? – One of the cases (IT) was profile specific
• What was the tone of the interviewer? – Helpful
• Skills Tested – Communication, Analytical Thinking, Common Sense, Number
Crunching

Case  1:  Market  analysis  for  a  pharma  drug  


There is a pill that allows an individual to sleep for only 4 hours, thereby giving him the
opportunity to maximize his utilization of the remaining 20 hours. What would be the
target market for such a pill in India?
Discussion:
Population of India à Life expectancy of the average India à Assumed that the
population of equally distributed over the age range of 1 year à Took a range of ages
(15-45) who would be the initial target segment à Urban - Rural Ratio à Male –
Female Ratio
1. The interviewer had specified that cost was not a constraint.
2. The interviewer used to stop the interview in the middle to ask additional questions
like – Which governmental organization in India employs the highest number of
people? Which is the second highest employer?
3. Why is the male – female ratio close to about 50%?
4. Who do you think would be the target segment for such a pill?
Male – Female ratio à Determine the target segment (eg:- students, BPO
professionals, etc.) à Number of pills each of those individuals may take à Interview
ends
Your own reflections on the case
The interview ended abruptly. The interviewer was looking for an approach to the
problem rather than a solution. Questions were asked in the middle related to the case
to gauge the interviewee’s understanding of the basic target market. Have a general idea
about most of the important statistics – population of India, life expectancy of an
average Indian, male-female ratio, urban-rural ratio, employment ratios in different
sectors. This may help in case of guesstimates. Practicing a few guesstimates for the
interviews would help.

Case  II:  Analysis  of  issues  in  services  offshoring    


A consultant is hired in India for $10,000, whereas a consultant is hired in the US for
an average of $100,000. Analyze the hiring of a consultant in India in terms of costs
and quality of the deliverable.
Discussion:
Compared the various costs components of hiring a consultant in India vs. hiring a
consultant in the US.

1. The Basic Salary component


2. Travel expenses + Stay (during travel) would be incurred for the consultant in the US

  2  
3. What are the basic necessities for the consultant in India to be operational? Laptops,
internet connection, etc.
4. What is the client charged per hour for hiring a consultant in the US vs. hiring a
consultant from India?
5. What about the work cycle? By hiring a consultant in India, the work usually gets
delayed by a day due to the time difference. How do you account for these costs during
the commencement of your project?
6. Is the deliverable provided by the consultant in India as good as the one provided by
the consultant in the US?

Your own reflections on the case


I felt that the case was vague. Since I had past experience with a company that followed
an on-shore off-shore model of business, I think this question was specific for me. The
interview was mostly comprised of personals. The case lasted for about 7 minutes.
Structuring your thought process is very important. If you have past experience, try
understanding the functioning of your previous employer in terms of say the revenue
drivers, cost drivers, etc.

  3  
Amitej  G  V  S  (Summers  2012)  
Internship Company: A. T. Kerney
General Background and Interview info
• Number of Rounds: 2 (Case and Personals) + 1 (Only Personals)
• What was the case about? 2 cases based on different
• Anything peculiar about the case? Nothing as such
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Chilled out atmosphere
• Skills Tested – Communication, Analytical Thinking, Common Sense, Number Crunching
Case Statement & your discussion/solution

Case  I:  Estimate  the  cost  savings  in  services  offshoring    


The case was about estimating the cost savings in moving a consulting firm’s practice
from US to India. To keep it simple, I took a client’s practice area and estimated the
costs that the consulting firm would be incurring in the US first and then modified
these costs according to Indian standards. It is important to consider the differences in
the organizational structure between the two locations. Depending on the requirements
of the clients, I said I would design the structure. Keep in mind that the entire
hierarchy of practice area should be modified in order to suit the Indian model. After
outlining the structural differences, I calculated the labor, travel, rent, material, software
costs etc. Important thing to consider in this case is there will be some travel as per
client’s requirements. This might form a significant portion of the costs depending on
the frequency of travel requirements. The case was number intensive. I had to do big
calculations while estimating the costs. I used short-cuts and approximations to speed-
up calculations.

Case  II:  Analysis  of  Productivity  


The case was mainly graph based and it involved the productivity Vs workload graph.
The interviewer asked me to draw a graph between the above two variables. The
productivity would increase in the beginning before it starts declining as the workload
increases. Then, the interviewer drew few points on the graph and asked me to rank the
points in the decreasing order of productivity. Then the interviewer asked me to draw
iso-productivity curves and questioned me on these curves a bit. Then the case
discussion moved to factors effecting productivity. Answered that there would be
external (market and environment related factors) and internal (firm specific like
management style, incentives etc.) factors that would affect productivity. Then the
discussion moved on to different management styles and my opinions about these
management styles.

Your own reflection on the case


• What did you do really well in your case
I took time in identifying all the important elements before solving the case. The
interviewers appreciated this after I received the offer.
• What did you do wrong in your case –
Nothing significant
• What do you think was being tested in the case
Communication, Analytical Thinking, Common Sense, Number Crunching
Final Thoughts:
I felt more than the cases, personals was the key – be very very clear about why
consulting and why A.T. Kearney. Try to interact well with buddies, mentor and get
sufficient information about the firm. This will help you while talking about the firm
and consulting. Also, it is better to be thorough with your previous projects or
internships.

  4  
Nivedita  Sinha  (Summers  2012)  
Internship Company: A. T. Kearney

Case  I:  Explain  the  growth  of  Bicycle  Industry  in  India  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? – Analysis, industry trend
• Anything peculiar about the case? – No data other than a trend which was to be
explained
• What was the tone of the interviewer? - Helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Bicycle industry in India has been growing at a rate more than the population growth in
India. How can this be explained? [The interviewer drew a simple graph that showed
the sales, profits & population of India for every decade for last 50 years, showing the
above trend]
Prelude – the discussion before the case statement involved a casual talk about how
many bicycles I had used till date. The discussion had already given me a lead into the
case.
C. [Since the graph showed sales and profit] Should I concentrate only on sales and
profit, or talk about market players etc as well?
I. Let’s just talk about these two for now. I want you to explore the reasons behind this trend. Don’t
worry about data.
C. I will start with analyzing the trend in sales by looking at three aspects - volume,
prices [sales = volume X prices] & product mix. [Interviewer asked me to ignore prices]
Volume –
Demand for bicycles is dependent on three factors: (it does not directly vary with
population; rather it varies with number of families or behavior within families)
i. No. of families – no. of families is growing at a rate higher than that of population
(urbanization, space constraints, nuclear family culture). If we assume each family
capable of owning a bicycle to own one, the trend can be explained.
ii. No. of bicycles per family at a time – In the past, no. of bicycles per family was less
than that today (reasoning – observation, eg. each kid has his/her own bicycle, number
of girls using them has increased with time; in the past generally one or two bicycles
would suffice for the family)
iii. No. of bicycles per family over a decade [replacements etc.] – people tend to
replace them far more frequently now, hence adding to sales numbers. Reasons –
relocation, bicycles for different age groups redundant after certain time period,
fashion.
Also, more bend towards replacing the old bicycles than repairing them, compared to
past.
iv. Affordability – standard of living increased, more families can afford a bicycle;
even families that depend on automobiles, have a demand for them in form of
children’s bicycles etc.

Product Mix –
Customized models – age, gender, special purpose (sports, etc) – create greater
demand. Also lead to more frequent replacement.
[Was stopped at this point. One can go into details comfortably]
I: Let’s talk about profits now. What do you think can help in explaining them? [indicated time
crunch!]
C: Profits = Rev – Cost … We should hence analyze the two aspects Revenue and cost
one by one.
I: That’s ok just give me some examples how cost may improve

  5  
C:
i. Self-dependence in terms of raw materials / spare parts etc (against imports, for
instance)
ii. Vertical integration of production process
iii. Mass production, economies of scale
I: How about revenues? Doesn’t look like much has changed in mainstream bicycles.
C: The product mix in terms of variety of bicycles gets richer with time. For example
special models like children’s or sports. These can be priced with a premium.
[ The discussion ended here due to time crunch!! ]

Your own reflection on the case


• What did you do really well in your case
Identifying the key drivers – in this case it was no. of families (and not population) &
behavior within families
• What did you do wrong in your case –
Should have asked before going into details which might have won me more time to
touch details in the second half of the case as well
• What do you think was being tested in the case
Breadth of analysis, Common sense, structure (only basic though, not too deep)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  6  
Kamal  Ganeriwala  (Summers  2012)  
Internship Company: A. T. Kerney
General Background and Interview info
• Number of Rounds – 2 (Case and Personals) + 1 (Only Personals)
• What was the case about? – 1 Guesstimate, 1 Operations (Quantitative and Strategy)
• Anything peculiar about the case? - Nothing as such
• What was the tone of the interviewer? – Helpful
• Skills Tested – Communication, Analytical Thinking, Common Sense, Number
Crunching

Case Statement & your discussion/solution

Case  I:  Estimation  of  potential  demand  for  experience  tourism  


Guesstimate around potential demand (number of customers) for an “experience
tourism” business in India (Experience Tourism refers to activities such as trekking,
adventure sports, camping, etc.)
Discussion: I began with identified the potential types of customers for this business –
young urban students and professionals in the age group of 16-30, corporates who use
these for “team bonding” and offsites, etc. One group which I missed out was the
demand from international tourists who might sign up for such “Experience India”
programs.
After this, the interviewer asked me to size the market for the young urban customer.
He was not too worried about assumptions or numbers, but wanted a structured
approach – e.g., segmentation based on income levels, gender, age, etc. He kept cross-
questioning why I felt this segmentation was important (basically what are the different
characteristics of the groups within that segment). I got the sense that he was looking at
my reasoning, analytical structure, communication, and lateral thinking (multiple
approaches, being open to explore new dimensions), rather than getting at any number.
Eventually, we did not get to a number as he closed the case abruptly.

   

  7  
Case  II:  Analysis  of  geographic  locations  for  automotive  parts  manufacturer  
An automotives parts manufacturer needs to decide where to set up its new testing
facilities – three geographies with existing demands, growth, capacities, utilizations were
given. I had to come up with a solution that meets the requirements at minimum cost.
Discussion: Limited direction from the interviewer (he was a senior partner). Involved
some number crunching to come up with the requirements at each geography, and
recommendations. The key to this case was understanding capacity issues – since one
of the geographies has excess unused capacity, we had to explore the feasibility of
setting up a facility there to meet the demands of a different geography (so don’t build
a new plant in Asia if there is excess capacity in Europe to meet the growing demands
of Asia – what are the pros and cons of such a decision). The case also involved some
strategic thinking about why would I choose, say Asia over Europe as a hub. Some
common sense rationale was expected, not too detailed though. The interviewer wanted
me to come up with a final cost figure, and so I had to do computations till the end –
computations were simple, just need to be careful with zeroes under pressure!
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case
Was able to adapt and approach the case from multiple angles, especially helpful for the
guesstimates case
• What did you do wrong in your case –
Missed out a few simple issues in both cases (e.g., foreign demand for experience
tourism) but this will not be a big issue if you are otherwise well-structured
• What do you think was being tested in the case
Communication, Analytical Thinking, Common Sense, Number Crunching

Final Thoughts:
I felt more than the cases, personals was the key – be very very clear about why
consulting and why A.T. Kearney. They really appreciate if you are passionate and give
a genuine answer instead of “globing around”. Also, communication is very important
– they look for people who are pleasant to talk to and who can smile under pressure, so
it is important to be calm and chat informally. In the final round, the partner was happy
just talking with me, and I kept asking him relevant questions about the firm (including
my concerns, anything I have heard that may impact my decision) – he was happy
discussing them and did not take any case! I got the offer immediately after this third
interview.

  8  
McKinsey  
Amit  Sharma,  2014  Batch  (2013  Summers)  
Internship Company: Mckinsey & Co
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about?
o Round-I: was given a case in which there was some initial information given and the
interviewer continuously gave additional data after each answer that I gave to his
questions.
o Round-II was a basic market entry case
• Anything peculiar about the case?
o The Round I case involved a proper structure with additional information being
added after each answer.
• What was the tone of the interviewer?
o Round-I interviewer was very friendly. We chatted for 20 minutes before we even
began the case. He also was very friendly and helped me to reach to the answer.
o Round-II interviewer was very poker-facish! Couldn’t figure out till I was offered that
my case was going well.
Case Statement & your discussion/solution

Case  I:  Domestic  bulb  company,  how  to  increase  profits  


The case dealt with a domestic bulb producing company (taken by a principal). The
interview lasted for about 45 minutes. (20 minutes informal chat+20 minutes case
round+5 minutes chat again)
The case started with a problem statement that -The client wants us to increase profits
for the firm. What all factors should be considered in order to decide?
I answered with very standard answers like Price, Quantity sold, competitive
environment, industry understanding (growing or maturing), product segmentation,
costs, price elasticities etc.
The principal then, gave some additional information about various types of product
segments that existed, with costs, power usages, prices, future growth, duration etc.
He then asked me to analyze the data and provide some insights. Again I gave very
standard answers related to how the numbers were linked. This step was the interview
was very easy, though it was very data oriented.
He then told me that our client produces the non-premium segment. He then asked
me if the client should shift from this segment, if yes which one. I fumbled at
answering this question, since there were some pros and cons about each product
segment. I then asked him for a couple of minutes and jotted down pros and cons of
each product segment. I then told him we need to weigh these pros and cons and then
figure out a strategy for the firm. I thought this was when my interview started going
really well, since I could figure out from his expression and his frequent nodding that I
had picked on the right trail. I spoke for nearly 5 minutes, before he asked me if I had
any questions. Some points that I thought that stood out were how using premium
bulbs might be produced cheap, but they lasted longer, causing low resale; also a point
about how people might perceive the non-premium segment non-environment friendly
since it consumed higher wattage and hence not choose it.

  9  
Case  II:  Market  Entry  for  a  European  Truck  Manufacturer  
The next round was with a partner who gave me a market entry case. The interview
lasted for about 25 minutes. (10 minutes chat+10 minutes case round+1,2 minutes
expressing his interest in hiring me for summers)
The client was a European Truck manufacturer who wanted to enter India. Again, the
partner asked me the various factors that we should look into.
I initially began with a simple question that made a lot of analysis redundant, which was
to understand why the firm wants to move out and why to India? The partner answered
that the European market is maturing and they wanted to enter the emerging market
segment.
I then answered his question with standard market entry answers- competition, more
information about the company itself, which segment they cater to, existing segments
in the new market, profitability, cost of capital (since this is a capital intensive sector,
and finding capital might be a problem in a new country) etc.
The partner explained at length about what product segments does the firm currently
caters to. He explained how their biggest revenue share comes from manufacturing
heavy duty long distance trucks.
He then asked me to find one big concern which the firm needs to address before they
move to India given the information about the product information that he gave.
I answered that, talking just about product, the firm needs to re-design their trucks to
suit India’s road environment since the trucks that are designed for European roads
would definitely not last very long on Indian roads.
There was a knock on the door at that point of time, I didn’t even look back in order to
not show that I got distracted! Though the partner ended the case there, and gave the
offer.
Personals—In the chat before the case round starts, I was also asked many personals
questions—questions dealt with about yourselfs, why Mckinsey, why not finance,
would you be able to do grunt work for prolonged period, do you have any issues with
working late at light, what has been your most interesting project ever, any issues with
travel etc.
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case
o The quant case- I was very comfortable with the amount of data that was provided to
me in the first case. Also, my personals went really well; think they can be very crucial
in setting the tone for the case interview.
• What did you do wrong in your case
o I had fumbled up my answer in Round-I where I had started shooting down answers
in a very unstructured manner before I asked a minute to structure my thoughts.
Always make a structure, always, need not be a framework, but build some flow and
structure to every answer.
• What do you think was being tested in the case?
o General Comments: Building a Structure, business sense of the interviewee,
comfort with numbers, new and not so usual ideas to questions
o I had a habit of always repeating the initial case information that the interviewer
provides. That ways you mentally digest the information, you get to check with the
interviewer about the case deliverables are and also sometimes the interviewer in his
repeat explanation gives some cues about where he wants the case to go.
o Eye contact!
o Listen hard, and make notes about everything the interviewer says

  10  
Gagan  Dixit  117/49  
Internship Company: McKinsey & Co.
Case  I:  Profitability  analysis,  focus  on  costs  
General Background and Interview info
• It was a standard format case interview about increasing costs for a company. There
were no peculiarities like limitations on asking questions etc. The interviewer was
helpful throughout the interview. The interview overall was very fast-paced. Once the
interviewer recognized that I’ve reached a certain point, cutting me short, he’d
introduce a new twist/question to test the next thing.
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Our client is a 3rd party auto insurance provider. They’re facing higher insurance costs
at the auto-garages. Could you help them with this problem?
• Higher insurance costs meant that the company has to pay more for repairs at the
auto garages compared to the competitors. This is increasing its costs.
• I broke it down into possible reasons like the auto-garages helping the customers
claim insurance in fraudulent cases, or lenient appraisal of the problem versus insurance
providers instructions, or charging more for insurance paid repairs than normal repairs.
• Was guided to infer that the overall cost structure of our associated garages was
higher.
• Then asked to deduce why higher costs. Broke down repair costs into cost for labor
and cost for parts. The cost for parts was higher.
• Then the case was made numerical to figure out margins on labor and margins from
parts. On a tangent was asked to create income statement and balance sheet of an auto-
garage with numbers provided by the interviewer.
• After finally inferring that the issue is lower margins on parts, which are actually
majority of the repair costs for the garages, was asked recommendations to increase
margins.
• One recommendation was to partner with auto-companies (since third-party auto-
insurance provider will already be having some tie-ups for providing insurance at the
point-of-sale) to help source auto-parts in bulk for associated garages and helping with
improving margins for the client and passing off some benefit to the garages as well.
Your own reflection on the case
• What went really well was that I was able to connect very well with the interviewer by
the introductory questions. Before starting the interview he asked me about my
experience at IIM Calcutta so far. He discussed my leadership positions in brief and
asked me about my learning from past leadership experiences. That beginning actually
made me very comfortable with the interviewer and warmed the interviewer towards
me and helped set the tone of interview as more conversation.
• The interviewer was always willing to help if I asked the right questions. He would
not point out I was going wrong and that is something that I had to figure out myself
from his responses.
• What I could have done better was to be more structured. It was good that I was able
to think from a lot of angles but it would have helped me reach the issue faster had I
been more structured. Also, paperwork is very important and that was one area of
preparation I totally neglected.
• The interviewer was testing for a structured approach, ability to figure out the key
levers in an unfamiliar business given a lot of details and data. I was given insurance
case and also tested preparation and inference of financial statements probably because
of my finance background.

  11  
Case  II:  Staffing  issues  at  a  telecom  operator’s  call  center.  
General Background and Interview info
nd
• The 2 case I got was about staffing issues at a telecom operator’s call center.
• I felt like it was a stress interview with interviewer keeping me under pressure all the
time, bombarding me with questions and saying that I haven’t figured out anything yet
and that I don’t even know what the problem is. It was a very detailed case and the
interviewer kept pushing me till the end and saying at conclusion that I haven’t even
done 20% of what was expected.
• He was very strict in pointing out mistakes but helpful with guidance and data when
moving into the right direction.
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Don’t remember the exact case statement. It was a case about telecom operator, which
has a call center. Their customers are unsatisfied with the call center service. I was
asked to figure out what the problem were and how to deal with them
I was provided a lot of details about the number of employees, the number of calls per
day, number of shifts and shift timings, and breakdown of a typical employees shift. I
was asked to figure out what the problems are and how to deal with them.
• I started by understanding why the customers were dissatisfied. It turned out that the
waiting time was high and their issues did not get handled properly.
• I probed into the details of the call center and was given data regarding the number
of calls per day, employees, number of shifts and shift timings and breakdown of a
typical employees shift.
• The first issue was that the capacity was short. Even at highest possible efficiency the
call center would not have been able to handle the call traffic. That had to be figured
out numerically from the given data.
• Next issue was to improve the efficiency of the call center.
• I proceeded breaking down the call traffic into different types of calls, segmenting the
calls by region and understanding the call volume by time of day.
• Then I looked into issue of handing calls better by either reducing the call volume
(through use of hash-codes to automatically configure services, proactive SMS
responses for any bottlenecks with service/billings etc., to using IVRS for common
issues/queries), to handing calls better (by specializing employees in handing certain
types of calls/better structuring the shifts based on call volume/ overlapping of shifts
etc.), improving capacity by hiring more employees or outsourcing etc.
Your own reflection on the case
• The biggest mistake I did was to bias myself with a similar case I did during my
preparation with a buddy. That case was also a call center case but on different lines.
However, my approach was colored and it took me a lot of time to figure out that I was
making mistakes.
• The interviewer did not guide me at all but let me realize my own mistakes and
structure my approach afresh.
• The interviewer probably tested my performance under pressure, ability to structure
an ambiguous problem into well-defined issues and my ability to assimilate a lot of
information and issues and tackle them properly.

  12  
Sanket  Agarwal,  2014  
Internship Company: McKinsey & Co

Case  I:  Facilities  Management  


General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about - Market Sizing
• Anything peculiar about the case - Interviewer tried to create time pressure on me. I
was rushed at a lot of point. “Give me the numbers quick”, “You have only a minute
left”, etc
• What was the tone of the interviewer - The interviewer was helpful.
Case Discussion
You are waiting with me at an airport. I suddenly see a friend of mine who is a Private
Equity investor. He is considering investing in the facilities management business. He
wants some help with the approach he should take for market sizing of the industry in
India. He has only 10 minutes before his flight departs. You have to help him with an
approach to estimate the market size. Do it quickly in 10 minutes.
Candidate: Before i begin, i would like to reconfirm the problem statement. (checked
the case requirement once again)
Interviewer: That is right.
Candidate: Can you please give me some details about the Facilities Management
business.
Interviewer: Facilities management covers housekeeping, security and other operations
in a building like maintenance, elevator operators, etc. The level of services provided
depends on the contract with the customers.
Candidate: Ok. Can I take a minute to structure my thoughts.
Interviewer: Sure. Go ahead.
Candidate: So the primary unit in facilities management is buildings. Buildings can be
of several types, like residential, commercial, industrial, government buildings.
Interviewer: Are there any other type of buildings? What about where we are sitting ?
Candidate: Oh yes! Educational institutes. Similarly, hospitals, etc.
Interviewer: So how would you estimate the market size? Do it quickly. Just give me
the broad approach first.
Candidate: Any particular type of buildings you want me to look at.
Interviewer: We are short of time, let’s take up residential buildings.
Candidate: Ok. We can look at residential buildings at a city level. Since, I have lived in
Mumbai, can i take Mumbai and proceed.
Interviewer: Sure.
Candidate: Now, professional facilities management would be employed by
apartments and societies only. Individual houses, “chawls”, etc in Mumbai are not the
customers of this business. Is that fair to say?
Interviewer: Sure. Go ahead.
Candidate: Now we would need to estimate the number of apartments which would
outsource facilities management. Also, we will need the cost of services for one
apartment. There would be different types of apartments with different number of flats
and hence different cost structure for each of them. We will need to take a summation
of these to get the market size in Mumbai.
Interviewer: Ok. Can you do the calculations for this approach? Take reasonable
assumptions. Take an average apartment size. Let’s keep it quick and simple.
Candidate: There are about 1.5 crore people in Mumbai. We can take an average
family size of 5. This gives us 30 lakh families in Mumbai. About 30% of the families
would live in apartments. This gives us 9 lakh families or flats. Now apartments can
have different number of flats. On an average we can take a building of about 8 to 10

  13  
floors with 3 to 4 flats per building. So, on an average we can take 30 flats per building.
This gives approximately 30,000 apartments. Assuming that 20% of the apartments
outsource their facilities management, we are looking at 6,000 apartments.
Interviewer: Ok. Carry on.
Candidate: Now we need to estimate the revenue from serving each apartment. Each
apartment would need housekeeping staff, security and elevator operator. Assuming 6
flats being served by each housekeeping staff, each apartment of 30 flats would need 5
housekeeping staff. Assuming security working in 3 shifts, there would be 3 security
guards. There would be 2 elevator operators working in 2 shifts. Probably a manager
would also be needed to coordinate and look after these people. Now we would need
the salaries of these people to know the cost of serving an apartment.
Interviewer: Sounds fine. Take reasonable numbers for salaries of these people.
Candidate: Housekeeping salary would be around Rs 5000. Similarly, security and
elevator staff would be paid around Rs 8,000. A manager’s salary would be around 15k.
Interviewer: So what is the total revenue from one apartment? Give me the number
quickly.No index entries found.
Candidate: The revenue per apartment will be Rs 80,000 per month.
Interviewer: Are you forgetting an important component here?
Candidate: Oh yes! There would also be a margin on top of this. So, I assume margins
would be around 30%. Therefore, total revenue would be around Rs one lakh per
month per apartment. Multiplying this with 6,000 apartments, we get Rs 60 crore per
month in Mumbai.
Interviewer: Ok, now let’s say, we want to estimate the amount of money spent in
commercial buildings in facilities management in the country. Quickly, I just need an
approach.
(Looked stuck)
Interviewer: Say, we are looking only at companies listed on stock exchange.
Candidate: In that case, we would have balance sheets of these firms. So, we can look
at their spending related to building maintenance.
Interviewer: Good. How about spending in government buildings?
Candidate: Similarly, since the spending of public entities is available in public domain
we can estimate the spending by these entities on facilities management.
Interviewer: Thank you. That would be all.

Your own reflection on the case


• What do you think was being tested in the case – The interviewer tried to create
stress by speeding me up. He also tested me on comfort level with numbers.
• What did you do really well in your case – I did not make mistakes with calculations.
Also, I could handle the stress that he created.
• What did you do wrong in your case – Missed out margin on top of cost.
• Any general comments you might want to add – Write down framework and
numbers properly on paper. Interviewer was looking closely at my paper. Stay calm
even when the interviewer tries to create stress.

  14  
Case  II:  Guesstimate  Number  of  Cricket  Balls  in  Air  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about – Guesstimate/Puzzle
• Anything peculiar about the case – The case was preceded by a long Personals
session. The case was rather short and non-standard. It needed thinking on the feet.
• What was the tone of the interviewer – Quite helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Interviewer: Can you estimate the number of cricket balls in air at a time in India.
Candidate: Can I take a moment to structure my thoughts?
Interviewer: Sure.
Candidate: If we look at an international cricket match, on an average, one over takes
about 4 minutes. Now, in one ball, the ball spends about 5 seconds in air.
Interviewer: What percentage is that?
Candidate: About 12.5%.
Interviewer: How did you arrive at that number of 5 seconds? Can you please check it.
Candidate: Ok. A cricket pitch is about 20 meters long. With an average speed of say
90kmph, it would stay about 0.8 seconds in air. A batsman could hit the ball in air or
towards the ground. If he hits it in the air, say for a six, it would be in air for about 3
seconds. Now a shot could be in air for any length of time from 0 to 3 seconds. We can
take an average value of 1.5 seconds for every ball. When the fielders throw the ball
back, it would spend another second in air. So around 3.3 seconds per ball.
Interviewer: That seems more reasonable. Take it as 3 seconds and proceed.
Candidate: So, a ball spends about 7.5% of its time in air. We can assume that in a
normal match as well, the same percentage of time would be spent in air.
Interviewer: So, what is the basis of this assumption?
Candidate: An over usually takes longer in a normal match. But, the speed of the ball
is also slower. Hence, we can assume that the ball stays in air for approximately the
same fraction of time.
Interviewer: Ok.
Candidate: Now we need to find out the total number of cricket matches being played
at a time in the country and the length of these matches.
Interviewer: So, if Kapil Dev walked in at this moment into this room and asked you
about the progress, what would you say to him?
Candidate: (After thinking for a while) A cricket ball spends about 7.5% of its time in
air in a match. We just need to find the total number of matches being played at a time
and their average duration to find the total number of cricket balls in air at a time.
Interviewer: Thank you. That would be all.

Your own reflection on the case


• What do you think was being tested in the case – The case was a non-conventional
case. The interviewer was testing a candidate’s ability to think on the feet. Also, a large
part of the interview was Personals.
• What did you do really well in your case – Was able to come up with a reasonable
framework to solve the case
• What did you do wrong in your case
• Any general comments you might want to add – The interviewer laid quite a lot of
stress on Personals.

  15  
TUSHAR  GUPTA  (SUMMERS  2012)  
Internship Company: McKinsey & Co

Case  I:  Decline  in  profits  and  volumes  at  a  jeans  manufacturer  
General Background and Interview info
• I am a medical graduate from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak
and have worked at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi and also at Medicity,
Gurgaon
• Interviewer: Dr. Jaidev, Associate Partner, did majority of work in health and pharma
• The interviewer was generally very helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
• Statement: Our client, a jeans manufacturer, is experiencing a decline in profits as well
as growth rate. They have hired us to define a growth strategy for them. What do you
recommend?
• MY APPROACH: I tried to get some background information first including their
geographic territory ( U.S.), the segment in which they dealt (Middle Income), their
product portfolio (only jeans) , their competitors and the position of the overall
industry.
Then asked him about what the actual problem was? Was it a volume issue or a
price issue or a marketing issue, every information given was benchmarked against the
competitor.
Following were the points I came up with
• Increase your marketing effort, since the marketing spend of competitors was a bit
high
• Provide offers like bundling discounts, although it will drive up your costs but the
increase in volume might give a boost to your profits
• Since their major customer is the middle class, hence they should try and go for
geographic expansion to Asia and Africa rather than restricting them to U.S. since these
are places where majority of the population lies in their customer segment and hence
this will boost the volume of their sales and hence the profitability
• Widen your product portfolio, venture in another denim products, for this they can
also go for acquisition of the smaller players in the respective industry like the jackets
etc
• Try and create a seasonal balance : Go for selling denim shorts during the summers as
many people are not comfortable in wearing jeans during winters
• Also enquired a bit about their debt status, told him regarding restructuring the debt
( weighted average cost of capital), although this was not an issue but the interviewer
was quite impressed

The interviewer was quite helpful throughout the interview, a lot of stress was given on
personals like biggest achievement of your life, an incident where you showcased
leadership, why consulting, why mckinsey etc.
Your own reflection on the case
• My strengths according to me was that I was able to think and was pretty confident
(possibly due to helping nature of the interviewer), also a good knowledge of
frameworks beforehand do help a lot. I was also quite decent with number crunching
• The interviewer was basically looking for an exhaustive analysis and also one’s
thought procedure.

  16  
Case  II:  Profitability  of  an  auto  insurer  
Internship Company: McKinsey & Co
General Background and Interview info
• Interviewer: Ramanath (Partner), did most of his work in financial services
• The interviewer was actually very adamant on the framework.
• The interviewer was trying to throw me off balance many times ( a kind of stress
interview)
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Statement: Our client is an auto insurance company who are experiencing a decline in
profits. Analyze the situation and come up with a proper framework. The interviewer
was actually very adamant on the framework.
MY APPROACH: I again tried to gather some background information first, whether
1) it was a cost or a revenue problem
2) Enquired about the major costs, it turned out to be claim payouts( the major
issue)
3) Enquired further about how these claims are being paid to which he replied
that it was through the dealers. Some of the dealers he told were very profitable as they
kept the payouts low, others were not

After all this information I came up with following solutions:


1) Try and direct your customers to your profitable dealers: for this you can
provide the towing service to your profitable dealers, also your helpline should list out
only their addresses and contact numbers. If possible help your profitable dealers with
their infrastructure like setting up their garages in more accident prone sites etc.
2) Try and encourage competition for the dealership: This would force your
not so profitable dealers to earn more profits for the company by way of decreasing the
claim payouts, seeing their dealership threatened. Also try and regularly monitor every
dealer before extending their dealership
3) Strict vigilance team: Your vigilance members should be more strict in
deciding which all damages deserve a payout and which do not. Also try and monitor
your dealers for any unwanted behavior as increasing claims for a vehicle damage will
lead to more profitability for them, which might lead to malpractices which can even
involve your vigilance team members
4) Regular evaluation of your vigilance team members: Which all members
are approving bigger claims, are any of them indulging in all sort of malpractises. If
possible try and link their performance evaluation to the amount of savings they are
bringing for the company, hence enhancing their performance.

• Your own reflection on the case


• My strength according to me was that interviewer was focusing too much on the
framework which I came up in a very organized manner. The interviewer was trying to
throw me off balance many times ( a kind of stress interview)
• All this was followed by a few personal questions the discussion on which lasted
some time.

  17  
Srijan  Sanket  (Batch  of  49/19)  
Internship Company: Mckinsey & Co.
Case  I:  Market  estimation  of  the  facilities  management  sector.  
Case Statement:
You are working for a PE firm who wants to invest in a facilities management
company. Therefore they want you to estimate the size of the sector in the next 5 years.
Facilities management sector refers to organisations which take care of cleaning,
maintenance of lifts, security etc. of the designated premise(s).
Notes:
● The interviewer asked me to wrap up the case in 10 minutes.
● I misinterpreted the question and tried to value the firm initially but came back on
track.
● The interviewer tried to put me under pressure by telling me in between that usually
people do the case by that time.
Discussion/solution
I could not get a hang of how to do the case, so after 2-3 minutes of futile efforts I
decided to try an innovative approach since it was the only concrete thing coming to
me.

The approach used is as follows:


● GDP = sum of value of all the products/services produced.
● Divide GDP into primary, secondary and tertiary segments.
● The logic was that primary segment would not use maintenance services while
secondary segment would use a smaller ratio of services as a proportion of total
product value than the tertiary segment.
● Taking typical allocation of maintenance costs in products, we can find out the total
expenditure on maintenance.
● We can take the data as to the employment of organized vs unorganized sector and
use the necessary figures to get to the size of the industry.
However the approach used too many assumptions and we may not have these
information in real life. The interviewer asked me to use a bottoms-up approach giving
me a hint by telling me to consider IIMC.

Approach 2:
● Consider the typical maintenance costs for a building.
● By considering the density of buildings we can find the total costs in the city.
● The breakup between organized and unorganized sector can be found using both
empirical data and extrapolating for city by using data for other similar sized city.
● The analysis can be extended to the whole country by extrapolating on city type (Tier
I, II and III)
I was asked to give all the methods to estimate the industry size I could think of. The
following approaches were suggested by me:

Approach 3:
● Maintenance costs are proportional to size.
● Size can be gathered by segmenting the city into different zones and calculating
separately by height and density of buildings.

Approach 4:
● Maintenance costs would be proportional to waste produced.

  18  
● We can look into the quantity of garbage collected in an area and/or the money
earned by the garbage collectors.

At this point the interviewer stopped me and asked me:


“Give me a reason why I should select you after this interview. Also give me a reason
why I shouldnt”

I firmly believed that I had messed up the case. I replied as follows:


“I believe that the approaches I suggested were innovative and novel in nature. General
approaches are something that can be learnt with training and experience. However,
creativity is not something you can learn. It did not work this time, but it may in
another real life scenario. This is the reason to select me.
As to why you should not select me, I think I could have done the case a lot better and
a proper structure was missing in many parts.”

On asking the interviewer for feedback he said that he agreed with me.

Personal reflection on the case


● What I did well: Not discard far-fetched approaches. That would have meant that I
needed a lot more time without any output. I also feel that the fact that I realized that
my case had not gone well and I knew where it went wrong helped me to try
unconventional approaches. However, I do not know how much that helped me.
● What I did wrong: Panic initially when I was given a case unlike I had ever seen. I
had absolutely no idea how to go about the hospitality management services sector.
● What I think was being tested: Ability to handle pressure and unfamiliar situations.
   

  19  
Case  II:  Data  interpretation  and  strategy.  
Case Statement:
The initial discussion for about 25 mins was on personals. I was asked to talk about
myself and walk through my resume. Later, I was asked to select 3-4 things from my
resume I value the most and why?

The case asked was:


Your client is a bulb manufacturer in Spain and is currently number 2 in market share
with 25%. The market leader has 30% market share. What should the manufacturer do
to become the market leader.

My first question was regarding the product and product portfolio. Subsequently I was
given some graphs and tables and asked to continue based on the data.

Notes:
● The data included price, sales, avg. life, electricity consumption of bulbs ans the
variation of sales with time for the client and the market leader.

Discussion/solution
The data was more or less straightforward. There were 3 products: The incandescent
bulb, CFL and LED.
There were clear indications that the quality of some of the products could be reduced
to bring down the price without affecting consumer choice on basis of quality.
Moreover, the trend also indicated that incandescent bulbs must be phased out and
focus must shift to CFLs and LEDs in the near future. There were a couple of other
inferences about the power usage and the pricing of LEDs.

Personal reflection on the case


● What I did well: An easy case, most of the things could be derived out of common
sense. You just had to start at the right position.
● What I did wrong: Nothing I can pinpoint.
● What I think was being tested: Personals and the ability to process data quickly
with a view to the future.

   

  20  
Case  III:  Call  centre  operations  optimization.  
Case Statement:
Your client is a telecom company and has recently setup a call center to handle requests
and complaints. The numbers for staff and the working hours are given. So are the
number and frequency of calls received. However, the feedback from their customers is
poor. The call centre staff worked in 3 shifts. Improve the efficiency of the call centre.
Discussion/solution
This was a numerical case. The main thing to notice was that the call centre could not
handle all the calls the way it was set up. It could only handle 75% of the calls. The
following steps were suggested after asking the status regarding the same.

● Automate the process for frequently asked queries having customer care executives as
the end of line measure.
● Restructure and increase the number of shifts to better handle peak demand.
● Quality check and database for the calls handled.
● Train the employees so that they may be more efficient.
● One of the key questions I was asked was how to identify the people who needed
training.
● For that I had to ask about the average length of the calls along with the data about
whether the problem was resolved. The people who were performing worse than
others on the same type of calls were to be trained to better handle calls.
● Another thing to notice was the follow-up time. The time it needed after the call to
process the request. Similar thing was to be done there as well.
● Separating the receiving of calls and post-call follow-up could also be done.
I could bring the efficiency up to about 90-95% before the interviewer stopped me.

Personal reflection on the case


● What I did well: A careful analysis of data was necessary. The numbers given initially
showed that the volume was huge. However, it was required to calculate how much of
a shortfall was there and that the peak demand was not satisfied. All the data was
provided as you asked about the operations step by step. Structuring the case into
reducing the volumes + meeting the demands while considering that the call centre was
recently set up was helpful.
● What I did wrong: Once I diverged into whether the call centre can give a feedback
to the parent company regarding some of the complaints which could be fixed
permanently. It took a bit of time to come back.
● What I think was being tested: Number crunching and the dynamics of a new
setup.

Final Interview: Personals


Started with me telling about myself and my family and diverted to what should the
Indian government do to safeguard our heritage. The question was a follow up to the
fact that my dad is an archaeologist. Another question asked was regarding my GPA
being a bit on the lower side.

  21  
BCG
Aastha  Munjal  (2012-­‐14)  
Case  I:  Market  Entry  for  a  truck  manufacturer  
Internship Company: BCG
General Background and Interview info
• Market Entry
• Nothing peculiar. Was very direct.
• The interviewer was generally helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
• The case was about a foreign truck manufacturing company’s entry into the Indian
market. The company already had an idea as to where to set up the plant but had some
decision to be made regarding sourcing.
• The interviewer readily gave all data about the cost figures. Involved simple
calculation taking into account all possible costs (inputs, transportation, etc)
• Once the calculation were done, he asked for a few qualitative factors that could
affect the company (government regulations, exchange rate etc)

• The second round was not a case per se but some sort of analysis was expected.
• A graph of the sales of a bicycle company over a period of time was shown. The
interviewer expected an explanation as to what could be the reasons for the particular
trend in the figures.
• The consumer behaviour had to be gauged and the future trend had to be predicted
with reasons
• Lastly, the interviewer asked for recommendations for the company in question in
order to tap the market/achieve strong growth figures.

Your own reflection on the case


• I asked the right questions. It felt as if the interviewer was just waiting for me to ask
before he gave the data. Moreover, I made sure I wasn’t doing all calculations mentally
lest I should get confused and make a silly error.
• However, in the second round I forgot what the interviewer had drawn in the graph.
I took it as profit figures wherever it was the sales.
• The way you go about analyzing is very important. They expect the candidate to have
very basic logical approach. I didn’t use any fancy frameworks/jargon.
• Keep asking questions and adding comments as and when required. The interviewer
has a lot of relevant information he they won’t share until you ask. Keep your calm,
don’t think too much and keep your analysis simple. Thinking out loud really helped
me.

  22  
Siddhant  Singh  2012-­‐14  (BCG  Summers)  
Case  I:  Estimation  of  market  for  combined  harvesters  
Background
-­‐ A basic sizing and estimation case, followed by some qualitative discussion
-­‐ First case of the day, very genial interviewer
-­‐ Asked personals first,
-­‐ During interview, smiling all the time, so effectively poker-faced

Case Statement

-­‐ You are an economic analyst examining the market for combine harvesters in
India (statement changes during case)
-­‐ I did a macro analysis of Indian growth, how it was reflected in the agricultural sector,
problems faced by agricultural sector, and areas where agriculture is most high-yield.
-­‐ I talked about size of land holdings being a major constraint
-­‐ Interviewer told me to focus on Haryana/Punjab and when asked, gave me an
average land holding
-­‐ Now told me to imagine I am a farmer with such an avg. land holding, does it
make sense for me to buy a combine? Gave me fuel consumption, maintenance costs,
and comparable wages payable to manual labour if I don’t mechanize. (All numbers
given only upon asking)
-­‐ Remember questions like: harvest times, crop types, cycling crops on same
land, etc.
-­‐ Turns into a basic math question. Combine does not make sense- 15 years to
breakeven
-­‐ Yet, he says, combines are being sold. Why? Now you are a combine
manufacturer. You have sales, how do you have sales when farmers cannot
afford it?
-­‐ Large farmers aside, mid-size farmers are buying combines and renting them
out. Thus the economies of scale are radically different, performed quantitative analysis
for the same, created a model village with three tiers of farmers and the highest one
buys the combine and rents it out to everyone else. Was not prompted to do this
analysis, got brownie points for it.
-­‐ Qualitative discussion on policy approaches to mechanizing agriculture, resistance to
subsidized American agri imports, etc.

  23  
Case  II:  Profitability  Analysis  
Background
-­‐ A profitability issue, perform an analysis of where the problem lies
-­‐ Second case of the day, interviewer gets straight to business
-­‐ MAJOR poker face, not only that, actively asked aggressively if I was sure on points I
turned out to be right on. So don’t get thrown, sometimes they are just looking for
conviction.

Case Statement
-­‐ You are a developer in NCR and your projects are delayed compared to your
competitors’
-­‐ Asked about industry norms, information about the industry. Given a minimalist
response.
-­‐ I volunteered information about the industry and kept asking if I was right, got nods
or corrections on each point. Sometimes they expect you to come up with a
framework, if you do, the interviewer will help if you ask him to guide you.
-­‐ Basically there are multiple stages in developing a project, he eliminated a few, said
there is no disparity in land acquisition prices, etc.
-­‐ I came up with: Before we begin a project, we have an in-house architect team. This
team has to co-ordinate with every department – marketing, sales, cost management, to
make sure designs are fine. Any problems in this coordination? Yes.
-­‐ Are there problems because architects are not working synchronously with other
depts. And then having to redesign? Yes. This is causing delays.
-­‐ Is this the only source of delays? “Let’s say no. What if this isn’t the only source? Can
you continue building your framework of a typical project?”
-­‐ Asked about our size, he said we are a smaller than average firm
-­‐ Which means we are more aggressive in our cost cutting? Yes.
-­‐ So we subcontract our actual building to contractors who place a bid. Are we more
aggressive in looking for lower bids than our competitors? Yes.
-­‐ Does this mean we hire less experienced contractors? Yes. Go on.
-­‐ Does it also mean that our contractors in turn are looking to cut costs (since they
have made a low bid) and will not be as mechanized, as professional. Yes that is it.
-­‐ Are we done? No, let’s go deeper into actual construction, since you’ve done this
faster than expected, and we still have some time.
-­‐ I create a model for how a building is constructed, with interviewers’ help. Basically
you go floor by floor, and you construct beams followed by floor/ceiling. There are
some specific schedules/mechanics of this process. Everything has a number
attached to it now.
-­‐ I talked earlier about our contractors not being as mechanized, what is the
quantitative impact on our efficiency? We are missing a tower crane. It reduces our
efficiency in making columns by x%.
-­‐ I feed this drop in efficiency into my model, get a delay of y days.
-­‐ He asks me if I am sure about a calculation (should I add or multiply loss in
efficiency?) He is aggressive and almost in disbelief. I say I am sure. He says, must be
right then. Weird.
-­‐ Y days is the answer. He is satisfied.

  24  
Anonymous  (Summers  2012)  
Case  I:  Warehouse  Location  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? Warehouse location
• Anything peculiar about the case: Nothing worth mentioning
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Encouraging
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
The statement of the case: The case is structured around the location of warehouse for
a steel bar producing company.
What is the company producing?
It produces steel bars (the long ones which are typically used in the construction
industry.
Could you give me an idea about the sale of the company’s products, as in how
does the sale of these bars happen?
The bars are ordered by the customer and they are shipped from the factory.
Is the company setting up a warehouse for storing the raw material inventory or
the finished product?
The finished product is stored in the warehouses before it is shipped.
There are multiple reasons for setting up a warehouse. Is the company planning
to achieve any specific motive that I should be aware of?
What could be the possible reasons?
Let me break the analysis into two important zones for analysis. The demand-
pull factors and the supply push factors.
Could you elaborate on that?
The demand-pull factors primarily comprise of the needs of the
distributors/costumers. (The value-recipients at the end of the manufacturing
process). For instance, the warehouse could serve the demand-pull factors by
holding buffer stock to make sure the stock outs are avoided at the distribution
outlet and also allow the flexibility to decrease the time for the orders of the
costumers to be processed.
The supply-push factors would include the company’s strategy to reduce the
costs by strategically locating the warehouse.
Good. This is an open-ended case. Lets proceed with the case accordingly. So what do
we do next?
For analyzing the case based on the factors suggested above, I like to use
“levers for analysis”
A. Location- Cost benefits/ Meet demand
B. Costs
C. Strategic (Intangibles) Value
For location, I plotted a contour and mapped the demand nodes and said using
linear optimization techinques, the company could get an idea to place the
warehouse.
Costs---
Primarily, Costs could be classified into fixed costs and Variable costs. Fixed
costs could involve the capital for the warehouse, trucks (depending whether the
company would lease them or purchase new ones),labor and licensing fees etc.
(You can refer to an operations text for better picture. During the interviews, we did
not have a clear picture of the warehousing problem, so I took refuge in my intuition to
solve the case, also I am unable to recollect all the costs I mentioned.)
Variable costs

  25  
Operational costs for the warehouse (I do not clearly remember the costs I
mentioned) and other Overheads. Have I been comprehensive in my costs
consideration?
Can you think of other costs?
(Racked my brain for a while) and mentioned about the opportunity cost of
holding the goods at a different location than the factory.
Can you think of a name for this cost?
I am not sure. This is a very interesting idea and I would to learn more about
this.
I believe you completed the operations course?
Not really, we have been halfway through the course and so far we dealt with the
methodology of solving the linear optimization problems but not the application
in detail. It would be taken up in the latter half of the term.

And what about the strategic value?

I believe there is not much differentiation the steel bar firms can offer, except for
quality factors –strength and durability that are not readily perceivable. The
construction industry in Hyderabad is booming and it would open up a lot of
opportunities for the steel bar firms to locate themselves to upcoming
construction hubs.
That's all. Good.

  26  
Venayak  Saran  Gupta  0386/49  (Summers  -­‐2012)  
Company – Boston Consulting Group

Case  I  –  Setting  up  a  new  manufacturing  facility  


Basic question – There is an Indian tractor manufacturer who has a manufacturing
and assembling facility located on the outskirts of Bangalore. Within its facility it has a
manufacturing unit for the trans axel. The capacity of this unit is 20000 axels/year at a
Total Cost of 200 Cr. They have reached the limit of the axel manufacturing facility and
want to expand. They have two options – set up a new factory close to their existing
unit or set up a plant in China. The capacity of the new plant is 100,000 axels. They
have hired BCG to answer this very question. How will you go about giving them a
recommendation?

Structure – Initially I outlined the macro level factors that I would look at, which are
the following:

1) Regulations – whether it is possible to set up such a unit in China


2) CapEx comparison of the two locations (Subsidies or SEZ’s in either location)
3) OpEx comparison of the two regions
4) Come to a break even point for the two factories
5) Look at qualitative factors which might affect the decision

Q1 – Are there any regulatory roadblocks towards setting up such a unit in


China?

A1- No they aren’t. Chinese government is quite open to the idea of the Indian
manufacturer setting up a new plant in China. In fact the company already has a plant
in China in which they manufacture drive shaft of the tractors.

Q2- Now I’d like to analyse the CapEx requirements of the two regions.

A2 – Cost of land in India – Rs. 50 cr


Cost of building and machinery – Rs. 150 Cr

The capital is funded in a 70:30 ratio. Hence the firm will take on a debt of 60Cr at an
interest rate of 10%.

Cost of land in China – 60 Cr


Cost of building and machinery – Rs. 160 Cr

The capital structure remains the same. Hence debt is raised at the same 10%, however
the debt amount rises to 66 Cr.

Q3- lets move on and look at the operating cost in the two regions.

A3 - In India the manufacturing cost remains the same.

For China lets first outline the main cost drivers

  27  
1) Raw Material – 80% of the raw material cost in India. RM in India is 40% of the
total cost of production. (Iron/Steel that is used is purchased from China, hence
import cost is saved)
2) Labour – 90% of the labour cost in India. Labour in India is 30% of the total cost.
3) Electricity and Utilities – 100% of utilities cost in India. Utilities in India are 15% of
total cost.
4) Depreciation – 100% of depreciation cost in India. Depreciation is the remaining
15% of total cost.
5) Transportation Cost – In China it is 4% of TC of India. No transportation cost in
India as the factories are located close to each other.

Thus the Chinese facility has a total OpEx of 92% of the Indian factory. It cost an
extra 20 Cr.

Q4- Now we must calculate the amount of time in which the Chinese facility
will break even compared to the Indian factory.

A4 – We can do an NPV analysis to come up with the time.

We are saving 8% of OpEx per tractor, which comes out to be Rs.8, 000. However we
have taken on a larger chunk of debt. The debt servicing cost in China is higher by 60L
every year, assuming interest isn’t paid on a diminishing balance method.

(Details on payback period can be included to make the case more intensive i.e
repayment schedule can be changed, interest on diminishing balance etc)

Discount rate was given as 0%. Hence the time value of money didn’t matter.

(However to make it more realistic the interviewer can add a time value, especially if he
is testing your calculations. I had an extremely math oriented first round and didn’t
make a calculation error in this case, hence the interviewer relaxed on the math part.)

Saving per year in China –

Rs. (8000*100000) – Rs. 60 L= Rs 7.4 Cr

Thus after and a half years the Chinese factory is a more profitable venture.
Hence the company should set up a factory in China.

Q5 (from the interviewer) – Even after this math could there be any reason why
the firm doesn’t want to set up a factory in China.

A5 – 1) Ideology- they want to create employment for the local population. It might be
one of their core values.

2) Exchange Rate Risk – Currently the Yuan is controlled, however if it starts


appreciating the cost of production in China could shoot up.

  28  
Key Points

1) The initial structure. You lay that out in the beginning it makes life a lot easier and it
gives the interviewer confidence that you understand the problem at hand.
2) If you are willing to take on more work. I asked about debt to equity split and also
took into account the time value of money. Hence giving the impression that I’m
willing to do the math and spend time in coming up with the correct recommendation.
3) Q5 is a bonus. You get that right and you’re guaranteed an offer on the spot. Post
the interview I was told that the last question was a real deal sealer for me.

  29  
Apurav  Singhi  (Summer  2012)  
Case  I:  Setting  up  a  warehouse  for  a  steel  manufacturer.  

Case Statement

There is a steel rods manufacturer based out of Ranchi wants to set up a warehouse in
Delhi, and have hired you to suggest whether they go ahead with this or not. What
factors would you consider, while making this decision?

The Discussion
Do a cost benefit analysis of setting up such a warehouse and break it down into the following parameters,
revenues and costs.
Interviewee - I will first consider the revenue side, what are the major customers of the
company, and how are they geographically distributed?
Interviewer - The company supplies to both large sized builders and small single
construction companies. There is enough demand in the region.
Interviewee - Do we have any existing warehouses in the region? Or does the client
produce anything else that requires some sort of storage, so that they can be clubbed
together in a single warehouse?
Interviewer – No, we do not have any warehouses currently. And, no, the client does not
produce any other goods.
Next, if we look at the costs, there would be the cost of setting up the warehouse, the cost of local
distribution and the cost of holding the goods at the warehouse.
Interviewee - I’ll next move to the costs involved, is the setting up costs a major factor?
Are there any regulatory or trade restrictions?
Interviewer - No, the costs of setting up the warehouse are reasonably within
expectations, and there are no restrictions on setting one up. Neither do we need to take
any permits to operate.
Interviewee - How about the cost of holding the goods in the warehouse?
Interviewer - There is a cost involved in holding goods for a long time, the depreciation
cost of the good, because the capital gets blocked in that resource. So, how would you
proceed?
This is the key problem in the question, to understand that large inventories may be a problem for the
firm. So the value chain for each type of buyer must be analyzed.
Interviewee - How do the buyers source the steel bars from the client? Is the demand
known well in advance or does it fluctuate?
Interviewer - The bigger builders have a structured building plan and hence demand
from them is known well in advance, however the smaller builders do not have fixed
demand and can vary.

  30  
Interviewee – so, would it be a correct assumption that the bigger builders can be
supplied directly from the plant and it is only for the needs of small constructions that
we need to analyze the construction of the warehouse?
Interviewer – yes, that’s a fair assumption. So, what would be the factors that you would
consider while deciding whether to set up a plant or not?

Now, that the target segment has been narrowed down to only the small builders, a simple analysis
profitability framework can again be applied to this narrowed set.

Interviewee – the following factors should be considered while deciding whether to set
up such a plant:

1. The demand from the small builders, and its fluctuations


2. The local transport costs
3. The depreciation cost of storing the inventory, or the inventory holding cost

Important Points

1. The case did not ask how you would decide whether to set up the plant or not,
but rather just enumerate the factors to be considered. It’s important not to go
overboard with the analysis, and solve for something not asked.
2. The time for the interview was around 20 minutes, which is considerably less
than what we spend while practicing, so it would help if you would time the cases
as well, while practicing.

   

  31  
Case  II:  Deciding  a  strategy  for  a  modular  furniture  manufacturer.  
Case Statement
Our client is a modular furniture manufacturer based in India, and they have seen their
profits going down in the past few years. Evaluate what may be going wrong and what
can be done.
The Discussion
I drew the following initial structure –
1. Revenues
a. Prices
b. Volumes
c. Product mix
d. Competitors or the market
2. Costs
a. Raw materials
b. Manufacturing
c. Transportation
d. Others
Interviewee – since the profits are going down, I would like to look at the revenues and
the costs involved. I’ll start with the revenues; how do we compare on prices to our
competitors?
Interviewer – we charge more or less similar to our competitors and operate in roughly
the same markets.
Interviewee – have the sales gone down in the past few years, compared to expectations
and competition?
Interviewer – no, we’ve been growing at an acceptable growth rate, and the sales have
been increasing steadily.
Interviewee – what kind of modular furniture does the company produce? Office
furniture or home or both? And what are the relative contributions of the 2 sectors?
Interviewer - we mainly cater to the office market, where there are standardized products.
Interviewee – What kind of standardization do the products have? Is it that there are
only certain types of wood or laminates that the client uses?
Interviewer – Yes, the industry has a small segment of colors which is generally preferred
in the offices, but we also offer the entire range of options.
Interviewee – So, does that mean that the competition just offers the most selling
varieties and we stock all of the variants?
Interviewer – yes. We have a larger range than the competition, and that is our
differentiating factor.
Now that we know that there’s a difference in the number of products offered, it’s important to find out
why.

  32  
Interviewee – how are these produced, that is, now I’d like to look at the costs of
production? Basically, I’m trying to understand if there’s a reason why the competition
does not offer the entire range.
Interviewer – up until a few years ago, we as well the competition used to source their
laminates from India, but now they have shifted to importing them from Malaysia, while
we’re still sourcing them from Indian suppliers. The Malaysian suppliers offer only a set
range, and not the entire range, hence the competition only produces that range.
Interviewee – since there is a difference in sources of laminates, is there a price
difference between the 2 sources?
Interviewer – yes, the Malaysian imported laminates are 20% cheaper, than the Indian
ones.
Interviewee – Is there any difference in prices in the transportation, or manufacturing
once the laminates arrive at the unit?
Interviewer – no, the laminates are the only difference, rest all are the same in terms of
expenses.
Interviewee – Since, our client’s major consumers are the offices which have a
standardized template of designs, the extra time that laminates take to arrive from
Malaysia should not affect demand substantially. So, the client could possibly import the
most common designs from Malaysia, and use the Indian suppliers for the less popular
ranges. In this way, since we are offering variety that no other firm offers, we can charge
a premium on the Indian range and regain our margins on the range that is imported
from Malaysia. Also, since the Indian ranges are sourced from India, their time gap
between ordering and sourcing would not be high and hence, the time of delivery will
not shoot up greatly.

  33  
Bain  &  Co  
Srinivas  Bhaskar  (Summers  2012)  
Case  I:  Blade  Manufacturing  Company  Analysis  
General Background and Interview info
• Interviewer: Rohithari Rajan (Principal)
• What was the case about? Industry and Firm Analysis
• Anything peculiar about the case? Did not seem like number crunching was required
when the case stimulus was given. However, as soon as I ventured towards number
he bombarded me with them
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Very helpful
• Skills Tested – Number crunching, general industry awareness, communication skills
Case Statement and your discussion/solution
A PE Firm wants to evaluate a blade manufacturing company – What would you look at?
My Approach/Discussion
I started off with a rather broad approach and started discussing about the company and
its products first. From the stimulus it felt like he wanted me to think broadly and put
the various issues on the table.
Once we started discussing the product, he started steering me deeper into numbers. I
was told that the company has 2 key products – the traditional blades and the razor
blades. (He asked me to draw the 2 blades on a piece of paper to make sure I understood
the product!) I was given sales data, industry sales data and loads of other information.
He also gave me per unit manufacturing and selling costs.
What came out of the data was the fact that the company was a market leader in regular
blades with over 90% of the market. It was almost non-existent in the razor market.
However, the market was moving towards razors and also the margins were not very
high in regular blades.
We summed up the discussion by saying that the company should get into razor blades
market more aggressively and use its dominant position in the regular blade market to do
so (leverage distribution channel etc). Also, suggested that they could increase regular
blades sales by targeting rural/semi-urban India (Brownie Points!)
Your own reflection on the case
What did you do really well in your case – Caught on to the interviewer’s clues really
well. Somehow, I was also able to build a great rapport with the interviewer in the first 2
mins – that made solving the case very easy.
What did you do wrong in your case – A little slow with calculations
What do you think was being tested in the case – Ability to make sense of a lot of
numbers and information and ability to communicate ideas and solutions in a simple way
Any general comments you might want to add – Had a lot of random discussion with the
interviewer before the case. Having this conversation (especially about IIMs etc) will put
both you and the interviewer at ease.
   

  34  
Case  II:  Culinary  School!  
General Background and Interview info
• Interviewer: Sri Rajan (Partner and India Office Head)
• What was the case about? General discussion about a company
• Anything peculiar about the case? Super broad case
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Spurts of poker-face moments!
• Skills Tested – Communication skills, Idea generation and structure
Case Statement and your discussion/solution
A PE firms wants to invest in a culinary school – what are your thoughts
My Approach/Discussion
Again a fairly broad topic – I was however told almost at the beginning that he wanted
me to have a qualitative discussion “covering as many bases as possible”. I had the 4-Ps,
5Cs etc going on in my head.
So I steered the discussion around the product-mix, customers, location, competition etc.
He was happy to give me a lot of information on each of this. The key was to assimilate
this information and lay out the issues/concerns and move on.
This case was very different from the last one because the focus here was to recognize all
the major issues (such as: how will you recruit the teachers (cooks)?) and move on.
Whenever I tried to get deeper into any issue his answer was hint enough for me to
move on.
Towards the end he asked me 2 concerns that would be specific to a PE investment; I
said exit opportunities and management. He seemed happy with that answer.
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case – Understood what the interviewer was
looking for early on and steered the case accordingly
• What did you do wrong in your case – Was a little low on confidence because I got
no acknowledgment/feedback from Sri as we were doing the case. Hopefully, this
lack of confidence din’t show.
• What do you think was being tested in the case – This case was all about ability to
have a broad discussion – take a bird’s eye view if you will.
• Any general comments you might want to add – Again, can’t emphasize enough
about the importance of feeling at ease with the interviewer. Really makes solving the
case more enjoyable.

  35  
Pranjal  Agarwal  (Summers  2012)  
Case  I:  Losing  market  share    
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? Sizing/Market Entry/Pricing
• He gave an option to choose between a Supply Chain Management case or an IT
industry case. I chose the SCM case.
• Anything peculiar about the case? e.g. not allowed to ask questions etc.
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Generally helpful/throwing you off
balance/poker face
• Interviewer: Sumit Nadgir (Manager) Extremely helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
A leading steel pipe manufacturer is losing market share over the past few years.
We have been hired to identify the reasons.
Have our revenues decreased?
Our sales have declined over the past few years and our competitors are gaining.
Who are our customers?
Our client makes these pipes for large Oil and Gas companies. We have contracts with
these companies under which we manufacture the pipes for them.
How are these contracts awarded? The interested parties bid for the contract. The
company with the least bid amount wins the contract.
Have we been losing customers or is the value of contracts decreasing?
We’ve been losing customers because our competitors’ bids are becoming better.
Why don’t we decrease the bid amount to get more customers?
The cost of producing these pipes does not allow us to decrease them further.
This means that our client has a problem with managing their costs?
Yes.
I had to examine the Supply Chain of the firm next. I started with the procurement of
Raw Materials. Sumit told me (after I asked him a few questions) that we order raw
materials according to our needs plus a buffer for wastage of material. After beating
around the bush for a long time, I asked him about the value of this buffer. The buffer
was 3%. What about our competitors? It was 1%. Thus, our client was wasting a lot of
raw material because of the overestimation of the wastage. Thus, they were not able to
make competitive bids for the contracts, and lost a big chunk of its market share as a
result.
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case: I eventually solved the case and identified
the major reasons for the problem.
• What did you do wrong in your case: I took a lot of time to reach the solution. My
working was not very structured.
• What do you think was being tested in the case: Ability to think quickly, and how you
can structure a problem.
• Any general comments you might want to add

  36  
Case  II:  Evaluate  Strategic  Option  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? New Product Development and Market Sizing
• Anything peculiar about the case?I was not given enough time to analyse the case.
She kept asking questions. She ended the case abruptly in the middle.
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Yaquta Mandviwala (Manager) Although,
she was very friendly, it was difficult not to get a little hassled by the kind of
questions she was asking.
Case Statement Phillips has the option of buying a technology that would
increase the life of a light bulb to 20 years. Should they buy this technology?
Why does Phillips want to buy this technology?
What do you think the reasons could be besides profit-making.
Maybe they are trying to be more eco-friendly by creating a more sustainable option.
I had not thought about that, but I like the idea. No, their sole motive is maximizing
profits.
Is there a patent on this technology?
Yes, it’s valid for the next 10 years.
We need to benchmark the potential profits with the profits our existing products. For
that, we need to find out who our customers.
Estimate the market for this product.
I estimated the number of households in the world and decided them according to their
incomes to arrive at a figure.
She stopped the case abruptly after this and asked me a few personals questions and that
was it.
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case? I didn’t get flustered in spite of the unusual
nature of the interview.
• What did you do wrong in your case: I could have listed some more parameters at
the beginning of the case.
• What do you think was being tested in the case: Ability to perform under pressure

  37  
Case  III  –  Market  Entry  Ice-­‐Cream  RetailerHarsh  (Partner)  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? Market Entry
• Anything peculiar about the case? He didn’t want me to ask him many questions.
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Harsh (Partner) He looked a little
disinterested.
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Haagen-Dazs is planning to enter India. What factors should they consider?
Do you know what Haagen-Dazs is?
Yes. I told him what I knew about it.
I listed down the factors that might be relevant- Government Regulations, Customers,
Distribution and Production, Competition and Procurement of Raw Materials.
Are we planning to import the products or we have to start a manufacturing facility in
India?
It’s all up to you. You have to decide its entire strategy.
In in the initial stages, they should not think about producing in India, because there’s a
high chance that its products would not be very successful in India. The concept of
premium ice-cream in India has not been extremely successful and there’s no reason to
believe that Haagen-Dazs would change this trend.
But we can reduce the prices because of low cost of production in India, which would
increase our sales.
I said that lowering the price is not a good option, because that would undermine the
brand equity of Haagen-Dazs as it is known as a premium company
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case: I knew some things about Haagen-Dazs
before the case. That helped in my analysis.
• What did you do wrong in your case: Again, structuring the case was a huge problem
• What do you think was being tested in the case: Any general comments you might
want to add

  38  
Round  IV  -­‐  Healthcare-­‐  Pharmaceutical  Labs  Case.  
General Background and Interview info
• What was the case about? Market Entry
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Dinkar (Manager) He was quite helpful.
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
A US healthcare company wants to open Pathology Labs in the country. Should they do
it?
I highlighted some factors such as the Government regulations, availability of customers,
import duties, requirement of land and equipment, availability of manpower, etc.
I listed the various options available such as stand-alone entry and collaboration with big
hospital chains and independent doctors.
Some of my suggestions for entry were:
Revenue Sharing with the doctors; Mutual promotion
We are providing better services than all the existing players in the market. We can tie up
with a large hospital chain to leverage this advantage and slowly try to capture the
market.
Your own reflection on the case
What did you do really well in your case: I came up with a lot of creative suggestions and
the interviewer was quite happy with the solutions offered.

  39  
Anirudh  Srinivasraghavan,  PGP1,  2012-­‐14  
Case  I:  Market  Entry  
General Background and Interview info
• Interviewer: Sumit Nadgir (IIMC alum, Manager at Bain, Gurgaon office,
enthusiastic musician, part of the Bain band)
• What was the case about? Market Entry
• Anything peculiar about the case? No
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Generally helpful
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Case: Market entry of a major European power giant into the Indian market.
Should they enter?
My approach:
Objective: I asked the client's objective to enter the Indian market and the answer
expansion and profitability.
Structure:
1. Analysis of the Indian power sector - the demand, the players (domestic as well as
foreign) and the regulations, 2. Capabilities and strengths of the client, 3. Differentiated
strategy of the client to enter the Indian market, 4. Cost benefit analysis to examine
whether entry would be profitable in the short and long run.
• Important points that came up as answers to my questions: 1. Majority of the power
sector in India is dominated by the government, 2. A few European players are
already present in the Indian market but have seen limited success in the last 5-6
years.
• Structure was approved by Sumit. But he wanted me to focus on the cost benefit
analysis.
• Then, I proceeded to calculate the costs and revenues for the client. First, I estimated
the total power demand (he assisted me quite a bit). Then, allotted a percentage share
that our player would be able to capture and thus estimated the revenues. (I don’t
exactly remember how the costs were calculated)
• After the calculations, the figures showed that it wouldn't make too much sense for
the client to enter the Indian market as they wouldn’t achieve any major monetary
advantages
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case - Clarified the objectives of the client and
structured the case well
• What did you do wrong in your case - No mistakes as such, but I was a bit slow with
the calculations
• What do you think was being tested in the case - Numbers and general structure
• Any general comments you might want to add - Keep your cool, I had just gone
through 2 interviews with BCG and got rejected, and within minutes I was sent in for
this interview, hence I might have been a bit nervous due to which I was slow with
the calculations. As far as I remember, I got a 'maybe yes' feedback after this
interview.

  40  
Case  II:  Abstract  Case  
General Background and Interview info
• Interviewer: Harshvardhan IIMC class of '89 - Senior Partner, Mumbai office (10 yrs
experience in BCG and then joined Bain) - Expertise in financial services
• What was the case about? It was more like a puzzle
• Anything peculiar about the case? No
• What was the tone of the interviewer? Reasonably helpful, was asking too many
questions
Case Statement & your discussion/solution
Case facts: 2 people. 1 of them proposes a deal: I will pay you x amount today and you
will give me y% of your salary every year for the rest of your lifetime. How do you
determine x and y? (no other case facts, that was it!)
My approach:
I proposed using the discounted cash flow method to determine x and y. Once that was
done, the case became qualitative mostly. Some of the important questions he asked me:
1. How do you determine someone's yearly salary? Answer: I assumed the person to be
myself, and charted my career trajectory and accordingly determined my salary for each
year (assuming one average salary for every 5 years and retirement at age 55) He kept
questioning my assumptions but I was firm and said that my hypothesis might turn out
to be completely wrong but this is the best estimate I can give right now, 2. How will you
determine the interest rate? Answer: Macroeconomic factors - bank interest rate,
inflation, etc. 3. Draw a graph of x vs y, 4. What loopholes can be exploited by either
person in this deal? Answer: If x is set to a very high amount, one person might not work
at all resulting in a severe loss to the other. Similarly for y.
Your own reflection on the case
• What did you do really well in your case - Making realistic assumptions and sticking
to my stand even when questioned aggressively.
• What did you do wrong in your case - Not sure
• What do you think was being tested in the case - A bit of numbers, confidence, and
some basic finance concepts such as the discounted cash flow.
• This interview was much better than the previous one. I got a strong yes after this
one and being a partner interview, this had more weightage than the previous one.

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