Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of contents
About the Authors 9
Acknowledgements 10
Preface 11
1 Chapter 1: READ THIS FIRST 13
2 Chapter 2: Prerequisites and other resources 14
3 Chapter 3: The consulting recruitment process 15
How do you know consulting is for you? 15
Why is consulting considered a good career option? 16
What do consultants complain the most about their job? 16
An overview of the consulting recruitment process 17
What is the shortlisting criteria for consulting firms? 17
How do I write a good statement of purpose (SOP)? 18
How do I write a great cover letter? (for non-campus recruitment) 20
What is good case prep? 21
How should an interviewer give a case? 22
How should one decide the timeline of case prep? 22
How do I make best use of case groups? 23
What is the right way to approach buddy interactions? 24
Presentation guidelines 25
How does an actual case interview flow? 26
Do I need industry-specific knowledge about
finance / accounting for my case interviews? 27
How do I decide my preference order
amongst different consulting firms? 28
How do I plan for the Interview Day
(in the case of multiple interviews occurring on the same day)? 29
4 Chapter 4: Skills development 31
Asking Preliminary Questions 31
Clarifying the objectives 32
Understanding Client's Company
(Applies to all types of cases) 34
Spidey-Sense info (Applies to all types of cases) 34
★ = Easy ★ ★ = Medium ★ ★ ★ = Hard
Having and Conveying an Overall Approach 35
Overall Approach 35
Problem Isolation Tools 36
Segmentation 36
Company Specific or Industry Wide issue 39
Hypothesis driven approach 40
Improving Drill Speed 41
Using the 80/20 rule 41
Competitor benchmarking 41
Business insight 42
Synthesis 43
5 Chapter 5: Conventional vs Evolved approaches 46
Profitability Cases 46
Conventional Vs. Evolved Approach 46
Sample Case 1: Sweets (Conventional approach) 48
Sample Case 1: Sweets (Evolved approach) 51
Market Entry 54
Conventional Vs. Evolved Approach 54
Sample Case 2: Chicken Nutrients
(Using conventional approach) 57
Sample Case 2: Chicken Nutrients
(Using evolved approach) 62
6 Chapter 6: Cases 67
Guesstimates 67
Case 3: Guesstimate 1 | ★ ★ 67
Case 4: Guesstimate 2 | ★ 72
Case 5: Guesstimate 3 | ★ ★ 75
Case 6: Guesstimate 4 | ★ ★ 79
Case 7: Guesstimate 5 | ★ ★ 84
Profitability cases 88
Case 8: Logging Company | ★ 88
Case 9: Drug mafia | ★ 92
Case 10: Mumbai Hotel | ★ ★ 95
★ = Easy ★ ★ = Medium ★ ★ ★ = Hard
Case 11: Fruit juice manufacturer | ★ ★ 99
Case 12: Vodka manufacturer | ★ 105
Case 13: Private Equity Firm | ★ ★ ★ 110
Case 14: Electronics Manufacturer | ★ ★ 116
Case 15: Petrol Pump Owner | ★ 121
Case 16: Delhi Darbar | ★ ★ 124
Case 17: Theatre House | ★ ★ 132
Case 18: Thailand Hotel Chain | ★ ★ ★ 137
Case 19: Book Retailer | ★ ★ 142
Case 20: Petrol Supplier | ★ ★ 146
Case 21: Canada Discount Retailer | ★ ★ ★ 150
Case 22: Fashion Magazine | ★ ★ 156
Market Entry cases 162
Case 23: Home Security Equipment | ★ 162
Case 24: Washing Machine | ★ ★ 166
Case 25: Anti-smoking pill | ★ ★ ★ 171
Case 26: Solar Lantern | ★ ★ ★ 177
Pricing cases 183
Case 27: Anti-balding Pill | ★ ★
For more cases on pricing, refer to
Cases: 10, 22, 25, 30 and 40 as shown below 183
Unconventional cases 188
Case 28: Consulting Firm to IITB | ★ 188
Case 29: Yash Raj Films | ★ 191
Case 30: Godzilla | ★ ★ 194
Case 31: Plot of land | ★ ★ ★ 198
Case 32: Sales force | ★ ★ 203
New Edition Cases 208
Case 33: Guesstimate 6 | ★ ★ 208
Case 34: App-based cab company | ★ ★ 210
Case 35: Newspaper | ★ 216
Case 36: Mango Fruit Drink | ★ ★ 219
Case 37: Mutual Funds | ★ ★ 223
★ = Easy ★ ★ = Medium ★ ★ ★ = Hard
Case 38: Steel Company Admin Cost | ★ ★ 227
Case 39: Public Healthcare | ★★ 232
Case 40: Ship Building Company | ★ ★ 237
Case 41: 4G Telecom Company | ★ ★ ★ 241
Case 42: IT – BPO Firm | ★ ★ ★ 247
Case 43: Student Credit Market | ★ ★ ★ 252
Case 44: Telecom infrastructure | ★ ★ 258
Case 45 Tesla Motors | ★ ★ ★ 264
7 Chapter 7: Appendix 270
Frameworks 270
Data Sheet 271
Case Evaluation Metrics 273