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Case Interview Guide
By Nebula
Version - 2012
DONT
PANIC
(In Large Friendly Letters)
Seriously.
Dont Panic.
Ask for clarifications and clear any ambiguities (When you say telecom company,
are they a service provider or are they in the hardware business?)
Ask the interviewer for a couple of minutes to collect your thoughts (You can actually tell the
interviewer Ill take a couple of minutes to collet my thoughts)
WRITE down a structure you can follow to analyze the case; but remember to modify any
structure to suit the case given to you. A cookie-cutter approach doesnt work!
Proceed with the analysis of the case ask for inputs from the interviewer wherever
necessary and you can check if your assumptions make sense as well. (Dont overdo it
though!)
It is important to have a recommendation at the end of the analysis on what the company
should do next. Be sure you can justify what your are recommending to the client at the end.
Communicating your thoughts/analyses is important, so keep it simple. Fancy words and
complicated jargon do not make of good analysis.
Last and most important Enjoy the process
Profitability
Growth
Market Entry
M&A
Profitability
Profit
Revenues
Costs
Variety
Understand the product
offered by the company
Value (Price)
Volume
mix
Competition
Competitive Response
Cost +
Determine the Supply-Demand in the
market for the product, and see the
flexibility the company has to change
prices
Construct a pay-off matrix to
determine the best course of action
that a company should follow given
different responses by competitors to
changes in price by a company
Value Based
Market
x
x
Market Position
Product
Brand
Quality of the
product
Competitive
advantage
Packaging
(SKU) and
Imaging on the
product
Volume
Market Share
Value (Price)
Buying Process
Segmentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
Product
Geography
Demographics
Occasion / Place of
Consumption
Price
As determined
earlier
Also check for
the signalling of
quality by the
price (luxury
products have to
priced at a
premium)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Promotion
Advertising
(B2C)
Trade Discounts
(B2B)
Must ensure
both medium and
message are
correct
Want generation
Information search
Evaluation
Purchase
Post-purchase
evaluation
Place
Types of
distribution
channels
Check
Availability,
Visibility and
Freshness
Profitability : Costs
Fixed Costs
Machinery depreciation
Administrative costs
Variable Costs
Flow of Material
Distributors & Retailers
Manufacturer
Raw
Labour
Energy
Inventory
Material
Cost of Raw NonFuel petrol, Storage costs
Material itself managerial
diesel, coal,
better
use
staff
natural gas
forecasting
alternatives
needed
Electricity
Transportatio
captive,
n and Storage
bought
costs
Packaging
Distribution
Margins
Discounts
Smaller
Warehousing Given to
Trade
packaging
rationalize
wholesaler
discounts
can reduce
warehouses
and retailers Discounts
costs and can Transportatio operate own given to
transport
n rationalize points of sale customers
more at a time points of sale
Flow of Information
Customers
Post-Sales
Service
Installation
Maintenance
Spare parts
Labour
Replacement
(warranties)
Profitability
Growth
Market Entry
M&A
Growth
Objective
Understand the reason why the company is seeking new avenues of growth; may include Hedging risks, Current market declining , Attractive opportunity in other markets, Eroding market
share, etc.
PRODUCT
New
MARKET
Old
New
Introduce new products which are adjacent to
existing products or complementary to existing
products
Adjacent You sell Washing machines,
start selling other home appliances
Complementary You sell shaving razors,
introduce aftershave
Upgrade existing product and package as a new
product new and improved
Diversification Vertical and Horizontal
integration
Vertical integration Buy players in your
value chain (suppliers, distributors)
Horizontal integration Buy out
competitors
How?
Old
Variety Expand
product lines
Value Change
pricing; make same
customer spend more
(new uses)
Volume Increased
volume within segment
or in new segments
(gain market share)
Place Increase
where product is sold
Product sell more
stuff
Promotion advertise
to increase sales
Each of the above options has its own way of implementation, also its important to consider
acquisition as a way of growth in each of the above options
Profitability
Growth
Market Entry
M&A
Market Entry
Objective
Recommend whether to enter a given market, product or geographic; may include industry/market
attractiveness, consumer behaviour, operational requirements
Step 1: Strategic
Fit
Understand Customer:
Who is the customer (Segment) ?
Will he buy my product? - Value proposition I
have to offer
What are the substitutes for my offering?
Entry Barriers:
Suppliers Distribution Regulations
IPR
Capital
Economies of
Scale
Step 2: Market
Attractiveness
1
How?
Start from
scratch
OR
Step by Step
3
JV
Acquire
Profitability
Growth
Market Entry
M&A
M&A
Why?
Market
Analysis
What are your goals and objectives for doing the M&A ?
Possible reasons - Growth, access to technology, diversification, market access, pre-empt
competition, synergies (cost, distribution network economies of scale and scope)
Target
Company
Analysis
Context Conduct a market analysis (5 Forces usually works well) and figure out the PESTLE
scenario (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors)
Company Capabilities of the company need to be understood Eg. Manufacturing processes, new
technologies, R&D, Marketing, Sales and Distribution, etc.
Customer
Refer Market Entry
Competition
How Much?
Can I Do It?
Can the company afford the acquisition? How can the acquisition be financed?
Post-merger integration Roles of senior management in both companies? Cost synergies?
Integrate cultures?
Who Is Nebula?
A few PGP-2s trying to help
Ritesh Agarwal
Pushkar Aggarwal
Sudhanva Rao M.
End of Document