How To Prepare For The Consulting Case Interview In Less Than A Week

Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide to mastering consulting case interviews, focusing on five core types: profitability, market entry, market sizing, mergers & acquisitions, and other miscellaneous cases. The speaker, a Harvard Business School admit and former consultant, breaks down practical frameworks for each case type, helping viewers analyze and solve problems efficiently. Using hypothetical examples, the video teaches how to break down revenue, costs, market potential, and more. It emphasizes the importance of practice, distilling complex concepts into manageable parts, and gives actionable advice to excel in consulting interviews.

Takeaways

• 📈 The video covers five core types of consulting case interviews: profitability, market entry, market sizing, mergers & acquisitions (M&A), and miscellaneous cases.
• 💰 In profitability cases, focus on breaking down the problem into revenues and costs. Analyze revenue per unit, units sold, fixed costs, and variable costs to identify the root cause of the profitability issue.
• 🌍 For market entry cases, analyze four key areas: market size, market growth, potential market share, and the investment required to enter. Weigh the financial viability based on these factors.
• 📊 Market sizing cases can be approached using a top-down method (starting with large numbers and narrowing down) or a bottoms-up method (starting with small data points and scaling up).
• 🤝 Mergers & acquisitions involve evaluating three aspects: the value of the standalone company, synergies (both cost and revenue), and quantitative and qualitative considerations related to the deal.
• 🔄 For miscellaneous cases, apply a principal component analysis by breaking down the business or situation into 3-5 key parts and systematically evaluating each to find the root of the problem.
• 🔍 A core component of case interviews is identifying the problem (70% of the interview) and proposing solutions (30%). Successfully diagnosing the problem gives a significant advantage.
• 📚 Practice is critical to improving case interview performance, especially for market sizing, as there are numerous nuances and varying question types.
• 🎯 The goal of using frameworks is to break down large, complex problems into manageable components and analyze each part methodically.
• 🛠 While frameworks are useful, practice is the most effective way to improve case interview skills, so it's important to simulate actual interviews.

Q & A

What is the primary goal of the video?

The primary goal of the video is to teach viewers the simplest frameworks they can use in consulting case interviews, enabling them to stand out and prepare effectively in a short period of time.

What are the five core types of consulting case interviews covered in the video?

The five core types of consulting case interviews covered in the video are: 1) Profitability, 2) Market entry, 3) Market sizing, 4) Mergers and acquisitions, and 5) Other types of cases.

What is the typical structure for analyzing profitability cases in a consulting interview?

In profitability cases, you typically break the analysis into revenues and costs. For revenues, you can further break it down into price per unit and number of units sold. For costs, you divide it into fixed and variable costs. The goal is to compare past and current data to identify changes, such as an increase in variable costs.

How is a market entry case structured in a consulting interview?

In a market entry case, the analysis is divided into four parts: 1) Market size, 2) Market growth, 3) Potential share the company can capture, and 4) Investment associated with entering the market. By analyzing these components, you can assess whether it is worth entering a new market.

What are the two approaches for solving market sizing cases?

The two approaches for solving market sizing cases are the top-down and the bottoms-up approach. In the top-down approach, you start with a large market and funnel down to the specific market of interest. In the bottoms-up approach, you start with a smaller population or region and extrapolate the data to a larger population.

What are the key factors to consider in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) cases?

In M&A cases, the key factors to consider are: 1) The value of the standalone company being acquired, 2) Synergies (both cost and revenue synergies) from the merger, and 3) Quantitative and qualitative considerations, such as financial feasibility and brand alignment.

What is principal component analysis in consulting interviews, and how is it used?

Principal component analysis in consulting interviews is a method used to break a situation into three to five main buckets or categories. By analyzing each bucket individually, you can identify the problem and propose a solution. This approach is particularly useful for cases that don’t fit into the typical frameworks like profitability or market entry.

How can you analyze a brand-related case using principal component analysis?

For a brand-related case, you can break the problem into five components: 1) Professors, 2) Programs, 3) Students, 4) Facilities, and 5) Curriculum. By analyzing each of these components, you can identify where the problem lies, such as poor facilities or an outdated curriculum.

What is the significance of practice in case interview preparation?

The video emphasizes that while frameworks are important, the best way to improve case interview skills is through practice. Practicing real case interviews helps build familiarity with the process and allows candidates to apply frameworks effectively.

How should you approach cases that do not fit traditional frameworks like profitability or market entry?

For cases that don't fit traditional frameworks, you should take a step back and identify three to five categories that are relevant to the problem. By breaking the case into smaller, manageable parts, you can systematically analyze each aspect to identify the core issue and propose a solution.