You should start every case by asking clarifying questions. Most case interviewers will only give you the bare bones information to start. In order to really crack the case, you need to get more information. If you start off going directly into the analysis, chances are you will head off into the wrong direction. Consider question such as:

MARKET  more...

You should start every case by asking clarifying questions. Most case interviewers will only give you the bare bones information to start. In order to really crack the case, you need to get more information. If you start off going directly into the analysis, chances are you will head off into the wrong direction. Consider question such as:

MARKET Case Study
- Has a new competitor entered the market recently?
- Have the company made any significant changes to its product or service offering?
- Has the company changed it`s pricing structure
- How is the product / service positioned in the market? Luxury or Price Competitive?

PROCESS Case Studies
- Has there been any change in inputs that are used to produce the product?
- Have there been any disruptions in the supply chain?
- Is management comfortable with the amount of spending on R&D?
- What are the bottlenecks in the service are product delivery system?

PEOPLE Case Study
- What does the current organizational case study look like?
- What % of workers are remote?
- Has the workforce dramatically changed over the past five years? Number of people? Demographics?
- How would you describe the culture of the organization vis-a-vis the competition? Compensation? Work style?
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Michael Porter is a renown professor at Harvard Business School that developed one of the foremost frameworks for evaluating a companies competitiveness in the markets in which it competes. It has come to be known as Porter`s Five Forces. It is the best framework I have seen for making sure that you cover all of your bases when breaking down the external f more...

Michael Porter is a renown professor at Harvard Business School that developed one of the foremost frameworks for evaluating a companies competitiveness in the markets in which it competes. It has come to be known as Porter`s Five Forces. It is the best framework I have seen for making sure that you cover all of your bases when breaking down the external forces that impact a companies market performance.

Below is a brief over of the Five Forces from Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com):

1) Substitutes
The existence of close substitute products increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives in response to price increases
* buyer propensity to substitute
* relative price performance of substitutes
* buyer switching costs
* perceived level of product differentiation

2) Barriers to Entry
Profitable markets that yield high returns will draw firms. This results in many new entrants, which will effectively decrease profitability. Unless the entry of new firms can be blocked by incumbents, the profit rate will fall towards a competitive level (perfect competition).
* the existence of barriers to entry (patents, rights, etc.)
* economies of product differences
* brand equity
* switching costs or sunk costs
* capital requirements
* access to distribution
* absolute cost advantages
* learning curve advantages
* expected retaliation by incumbents
* government policies

3) Competition
For most industries, this is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. Sometimes rivals compete aggressively and sometimes rivals compete in non-price dimensions such as innovation, marketing, etc.
* number of competitors
* rate of industry growth
* intermittent industry overcapacity
* exit barriers
* diversity of competitors
* informational complexity and asymmetry
* fixed cost alloca ...less

Whenever considering using the a marketing related question, you should use the Four P`s framework. Your questions and comments should focus on each of these Ps

Product
- The product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any services or conveniences that are part of the offe more...

Whenever considering using the a marketing related question, you should use the Four P`s framework. Your questions and comments should focus on each of these Ps

Product
- The product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any services or conveniences that are part of the offering. Product decisions include aspects such as function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty, etc.

Price
- Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the probable pricing response of competitors. Pricing includes not only the list price, but also discounts, financing, and other options such as leasing.

Place
- Place (or placement) decisions are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as the means for getting the product to the target customers. The distribution system performs transactional, logistical, and facilitating functions. Distribution decisions include market coverage, channel member selection, logistics, and levels of service.

Promotion
- Promotion decisions are those related to communicating and selling to potential consumers. Since these costs can be large in proportion to the product price, a break-even analysis should be performed when making promotion decisions. It is useful to know the value of a customer in order to determine whether additional customers are worth the cost of acquiring them. Promotion decisions involve advertising, public relations, media types, etc.

Source: http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/mix/ ...less

This sounds like child`s play, but whenever approaching a profitability case study question, you should always start with Revenue and Expenses.

Revenue is comprise of two factors, price and quantity. If profitability has been negatively effected, from a revenue perspective, the price has either decreased or the demand for good / services has decrease more...

This sounds like child`s play, but whenever approaching a profitability case study question, you should always start with Revenue and Expenses.

Revenue is comprise of two factors, price and quantity. If profitability has been negatively effected, from a revenue perspective, the price has either decreased or the demand for good / services has decreased. Therefore you should always start with questions about pricing. What may have caused a price decrease? Positioning? Competition? Regulation? Next, address issues of demand. What may have caused decreased demand? Competition? Substitutes? Economic forces?

The other alternative cause of decreasing profitability is increasing cost. This analysis is more complex, because you must understand what is in the cost structure of a particular business. John Rice has written and interesting piece on preparing for consulting interviews. He suggest that you research the industries that consulting firms do a great deal of business in to better understand how those business work. I think this is a great idea. You need to understand the general expense structure of financial service, retail, manufacturing, restaurant and media companies, to name a few.

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Everyone always tells you to bring a notepad to interviews. For case study interviews, I think you should go one step further. Write your frameworks on the top half of the first page. Literally write down the Five Forces, 4 Ps, and any other framework you might employ. Once these interviews start, you will be nervous and feeling the pressure. You might more...

Everyone always tells you to bring a notepad to interviews. For case study interviews, I think you should go one step further. Write your frameworks on the top half of the first page. Literally write down the Five Forces, 4 Ps, and any other framework you might employ. Once these interviews start, you will be nervous and feeling the pressure. You might forget things you never thought you could.

Then rip of the bottom half of the page so that the bottom half of the next page is exposed. That will be your work area. You will need to take notes and perhaps do some calculation during the interview. This way, your frameworks will always be exposed while you work. You won`t have to flip back and forth to different pages. ...less

Most case studies have to do with general business. The language of business is finance. Remember all companies are in business to make money. If the don`t make money, they are not in business. Even nonprofits need to raise money and manage expenses to stay in business. All of this is told through a financial statement. You need to have some understandi more...

Most case studies have to do with general business. The language of business is finance. Remember all companies are in business to make money. If the don`t make money, they are not in business. Even nonprofits need to raise money and manage expenses to stay in business. All of this is told through a financial statement. You need to have some understanding of basic financial statement analysis to do well in these case study interviews. You need to understand what impact external and internal forces have on a a companies profit & loss statement.

A couple of things you should understand:
- difference between income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet
- major line items on the three statements above
- operating income vs. net income
- gross margin
- cash flow
- assets, liabilities, stockholder`s equity
- differences between equity and debt
- why would someone issue equity over debt?

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During the interview, you should always think aloud. By that I mean that you should be talking your way through the entire case as if the person could read your mind. Tell the interviewer what assumptions you are making. Let him hear what you think about the competition and pricing. This is imperative. A good case study interviewer will interrupt you to more...

During the interview, you should always think aloud. By that I mean that you should be talking your way through the entire case as if the person could read your mind. Tell the interviewer what assumptions you are making. Let him hear what you think about the competition and pricing. This is imperative. A good case study interviewer will interrupt you to let you know if you are moving in the right direction.

This does not mean that everything should be in question form. You should make statements aloud so that the interviewer know why you have decided upon one avenue as opposed to another. ...less

There are two ways you can prevent yourself from going down a path from which you cannot recover. They are outlined above:
1) ask questions
2) talk aloud