Market case types you may encounter during interviews with McKinsey, BCG and Bain

Video transcript:
You applied to one of the top tier management consulting firms. What can be a major roadblock on your way to a six figure salary? Exactly! It's the case interview! In this video we will talk about 10 forms of market based cases which you may encounter during your first and second round interviews with tier one and tier two strategy consulting firms.

Gabriel Goldbrain SUCCESS Training

By the way I'm Gabriel Goldbrain. And I want you to succeed. For that I developed the success training. Find it on my website www.gabrielgoldbbrain.com. 

Market Entry Cases

Today we start right away with a slide that I prepared on the market oriented types of cases that you may encounter. Let's dive into it! Let's start with market entry cases! An example for a market entry case could be a US company which manufactures  airplane engines that wants to enter a different  market, let's say South America. Here you may be asked to assess which are the most interesting and attractive markets in South America for airplane engines. And you might be asked about entry barriers and so on.  

Market Sizing and Market Segmentation Cases

Related to market entry cases are often Market sizing and Market segmentation cases. So you might be asked that you have to estimate the size of carpet flooring Market in China. Because a customer, a carpet manufacturer, might want to enter the Chinese market for carpets. So first of all, you would build a market model and estimate how big the market size is. And on the other hand you would also try to develop an understanding "How big are the segments of the market?". You would differentiate between wooden floorings, carpet floorings, stone floorings, plastic floorings, and other floorings. And come up with volume and value figures for these markets. They are very popular in case interview use. So be prepared for these kind of cases! They also might appear as subcases of Market entry cases. And they're also quite easy to practice. Usually I would consider these cases rather the simpler ones but some cases can be tricky as well. So don't underestimate it! Take them seriously! And practice these kinds of cases well! Often times for these cases, it helps you when you have a good understanding of the things around you and can make good estimates by rule of thumb. Sometimes you may need to know how long is a car? Sometimes you may need to know how many? How many seats has an airplane? Things like this! Just you observe your environment and weave it in. And so you impress the interviewer.

Growth Strategy Cases

Another popular category of cases are growth cases. You might find yourself in an interview situation where the interviewer asks you "We are... We have a client, private Equity house, they bought a Scandinavian candy manufacturer and now they're trying, trying to expand the company. They currently make 100 million in revenue and they're asking themselves "What can we do to bring the company to 1 billion in Revenue?"". So in these kind of cases you typically have several levels which you have to explore. One is pricing for sure. The other one is geographical footprint analysis. And so be prepared for these cases as well!  

Pricing Cases

Other popular cases are pricing cases. Could be that you're being asked in an interview about a ferry operator which has kind of flat fees all around the year and they want to improve their profitability and maximize their profits. And so you're being asked what can be done? So for sure you might look into the pricing. You might also look into expanding roots, and so on into competitive routs which determine the pricing. So be prepared for these cases!  

Competitive Landscape Analysis cases

Then a case which you don't see that often in case interviews, but in practice these are cases which don't happen too seldom. This is a competitive landscape analysis. So this could mean which competitors are around? And you could be asked maybe in an interview that they say "Okay! We have a customer. They are producing industrial machines, let's say they produce metal processing machines". And in an interview, you might be asked there. We have a customer and they want to create a new metal processing machine with certain features at a certain price point and a certain cost point. And now you're being asked will this be successful? And what is profitability and the revenue potential by this machine? So what you got to do? You have to look at all the competitors. Look at the products they offer, which are in a similar kind of segment and then assess what is the pros and cons of these machines and what Market potential do you estimate for these machines. So in case interviews, they are, you won't find these cases too often. But it can happen, as they're a bit more complex but in practice these cases are see not to seldom.  

Customer Analysis Cases

Then other market-based cases could be a supplier or a customer analysis. Often times in these types of analysis you want to segment the customers or suppliers into A, B and C customers or suppliers.  And then do something with the A candidates with the B candidates and with the C candidates. Typically you want to increase business with the so-called A customers or A suppliers with the B suppliers typically there is not too much of the problems and with the C suppliers they're usually the problematic ones, the ones you get want to get rid of, the ones where you need to increase prices, the ones that you have quality issues with, and these are the ones you have to work on. Or sometimes the C customers are those where you have problems with the profitability. So these you need to manage and these you need to investigate. also be prepared for these kind of cases. Although they are not as popular as market sizing cases for instance. But these you will see frequently also in interviews in the first second round.

Entry Barrier Analysis Cases

In interviewer lead setups like with McKinsey you may find modules which are around which are centered around entry barriers which are rather qualitative in most cases so basically the interviewer wants to see how you deal with the aspects of a market entry? What risks? Maybe you could say you could get a case where it is about an automotive manufacturer from Europe who wants to enter the Japanese market. And so they want to see a qualified discussion about the key risks you would expect to encounter. I mean for sure you would point out that the cultural aspect is a very big thing there. That maybe protectionist laws, language barriers, this might all contribute into that module. So this is seen in almost any case. In, I would say, maybe in half, a third, of the cases you will have a module like this about entry barriers. So be well prepared for this one. And there also they will ask your smartness. How well you're aware of your environment? And how good you can deal with uncertainties? And maybe make some estimates or assumptions about markets.  

Risk Assessment Cases

And then another set of questions can center about risk assessment. Usually you won't have a whole case about risk assessment. But it may be a module. Maybe you're talking about a bank or like an insurance and then you will be asked "What kind of risks could the company face?". So if you're talking about a US Insurance you may find out during your interview that they have insured a lot of properties in Florida. So what could be bad impacts there? For sure a hurricane landfall that could be a key risk. Other factors might be changes in interest rate. What is an impact of an economic crisis? And these things the interviewer would want to see that you analyze these risks, that you highlight these risks, and that you're aware of these risks which contribute to the success of the client. You will find this slide on my website www.gabrielgoldbrain.com. Don't forget to subscribe my channel to keep up to date on the most interesting topics around your career in top tier management consulting firms. And also like and share my video with your friends. There are two videos you have to watch. The first video is about the McKinsey interviews, are they really as difficult as people think? And the second one is how to master the personal experience interview.