Case Interview In Point(1)

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Why consulting? Why hires you?

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IBM
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why consulting why hires you

Partner

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1.
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McKinsey, BCGBain,
Booz Allen HamiltonMonitorATKRolandbergerMercerBearingpoint, Deloitte,
IBM BCSAccenture
: What is McKinsey looking for?
There are four key areas where we look for you to demonstrate your skills. Each of these areas is
critical to success in the day-to-day work we do. We hire distinctive people, so we will look for
outstanding potential in each of these areas when we interview you.
1. Problem Solving
McKinsey consultants help clients solve tough problems in their businesses and
implement the solutions. This not only requires strong intellectual abilities and rigor, but it also
requires a good, practical sense of what works and what does not work in complex organizations.
2. Achieving
Our consultants constantly strive to deliver distinctive client service. To achieve this while
handling multiple stakeholders and often tight deadlines requires outstanding energy,
determination, and judgment.
3. Personal Impact
McKinsey consultants work with a wide range of individuals in their day-to-day
jobs. Developing and implementing sound recommendations requires the involvement and
support of these individuals. Skills in interacting with people in sometimes tough situations are
critical to driving distinctive client impact.
4. Leadership
Leading people and fostering effective teamwork are keys to success both within McKinsey and
with our clients. McKinsey consultants need outstanding leadership skills in order to drive
positive change in complex organizations. All our consultants are well rounded individuals, who
have a good mix of these skills and are fun to work with. This is what makes them successful and
valued by our clients. We will look for the same mix of skills when we interview you!

and others case

case


30-40
buffet

offer
2002 2003
2004 3 2005 2 2006

2005 n BA

:
offeree

:
alex sun

diverse

team
team member

team member
screen
commentcomment impressive

HR
2

level They are looking for 4 things:

1. Academic excellence (Award, GPA etc)
2. Leadership experience (Social activities, especially leading roles)
3. Drive to excellence (Always wants more, continued improvement)
4. Personal impact (Less important in resume screening)
The best candidate is what we called unsecured over-achiever. It means that you are an
over-achiever - successful in everything you do; and you are still un-satisfied with your
achievement and want more and working hard for it.

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BCG focus

Looking Beyond the Case

Interview

GMAT, GRE, TOFEL, TSE

Native Speaker
,

McKinsey, BCG, ATK

4

Scholar Program Estrat,

brandstorm

Shell Gourami Business ChallengeJA

Media InsideHPAIR

network

Leadership


Team Team Leader Leader Member

Leader
Leader

teclast Looking Beyond the Case Interview

300 5

Leadership Communication Skill

6

McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Roland Berger, LEK, BAH, ATK, Monitor

BBS
alumni

step by step

3-4
Btw,

1. 4P(Product, Price, Place, Promotion),

2. Fixed Cost vs. Variable Cost
3. BCG Matrix
4. Porters Five Forces (Michael Porter )
5. Balance sheet, Income statement, Cash flow statement
6. Corporate Finance NPV Capital Asset Pricing
Model-CAPMWACC
7. M&A

8.
9. Value Chain Analysis
10. Benchmark Best Practice
Looking Beyond the Case Interview

21
Financial Times

Wall Street JournalMcKinsey Quarterly

accumulate
ShARE

What is Case Interview? Why the case?

: ?

case

5
chemistry fit
6
case
7

case interview case int

erview
1

3
Clarify
Clarify

1What is the product?

2Who hired us?
3 Has the company faced this issue before? If so, how did it react? What's t
he outcome?
4What have other companies facing this situation done? (benchmark, best prac
tice)
5

hint
6

Take you time

7

prioritize

2X2 Matrix
9
Think aloud

10. passionate, proactive

11.

, make sense

www.cnblogs.com/case_interview
1 Market Sizing/Estimation
assumption
Market Sizing

breakdown breakdown

MECE(Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)

MECE
MECE

breakdown data bear

in mind

1.3 Bn 0.5 Bn
50%-50%
life span80
GDP growth rate9-10%
GDP1000-1200
2 Business Operation
1
Profit Improvement
2
Expand the sales
3
Reduce the cost
4
(Sales Team, dealer, channel design)

3 Business Strategy
1) / Market Entry/Expansion
2) Pricing
3) New product introduction
4) M&A
external

barrier

4 Written Case

Monitor 5 3
2
30

5 Brainteaser

sample caseBCGMercer
Wetfeet Vault

No Perfect Candidate

:
alex sun

1
1


3)

4)

1 Cost-Benefit

Cost of new automated order processing system would involve: HW/SW devel
opment cost, marketing to support the new program, customer service Benefit
side new client business generated incremental business that could be
drawn from existing customers
2Internal/External
capacity utilization rate
scheduling and routing system, sales effort, capacity management
process

Business Strategy
1

vs. l
l CompetitorMarket share, strength/weakness
Consumer (Purchasing criteria,l customer segment, profitability)
Company/Capabilitiesl

Channell
l Cost
niche marketl
Business Modell
l Regulation/Restriction
2

/l
l

/l
l
//

l
/
3

4C (Customer, Competition,l Cost, Capabilities)

l
STP 4PProduct, Price,l Place, Promotion
4
Product/Servicel
Customer (Purchasingl criteria, Price sensitive or not)
Competitor/Substitutel
l Supply/Demand
cost basedl
competitor basedl
l
price based

Business Operation
1.

Revenue, Cost Both?

Revenue Stream? Price and Volume
4P promotion efficacy

or

switch suppliers?

2.

Dealer

Direct Sales or Dealerl

Relationship with dealer (Pricel discount, payment terms, commission
rate, training, tech support )
Capacity/Productionl
Customer (Who? Locations?)l
l Distribution cost
Regional Distribution centerl
M&A
l
value to us (financial performance, capacity/production, customer
base, sales coverage, channel resource, sourcing & distribution network)
ability to manage (JV/acquisition, equity structure, management
background )
Legal, Financial, Managementl
5CCharacter,l Capacity, Capital, Conditions, Competitive Advantage
NPV l
l
ROIC
Product line l
Risk (Culture?l Tech Intellectual Property? Management Fit? Regulation?)
Market Sizing

Supply/Demandl
Top down/Bottom upl
Breakdown Demographic,l Application, Age, Income Level, Tier of City etc
Extral step
Advance
1.
l

customer segment, margin, unmet needs

2.
l

3.
l

l
l

l
4.

1 HR professional

2 eye contact manner

3
4 Internete-business
5 historical chart data
6be sensitive to number billion, trillion, million
7Read your interviewer
hint

8
9No perfect candidate case
case
mock interview