Seeking Input: Structured Framework for Pre-Engagement Company Analysis (Before Valuation / Strategy Work)

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your questions:

• First of all, is this a structure for a case study or for investing, as the top box in the exhibit shows?

  If it's the former, it's unfortunately not possible to draw down the entire initial structure in two to three minutes, let alone that it's not specific to the client situation.

  However, if it is the latter, you may certainly proceed with a structure like this. I'd still like to add that the vast majority of long-only investors underperform their benchmarks.

• Moreover, I would strongly advise you to consider working with an experienced coach like me on your consulting structuring skills if this is what you're interested in. I developed the "Case Structuring Program" to help exactly such candidates like you.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

hey, 

love the initiative—it’s exactly the kind of thinking that sets a strong foundation. your framework sounds solid! I’d make sure you're always covering: market trends (macro + micro), customer segmentation and behavior, value chain positioning, unit economics, and major strategic shifts in the industry. also, layering in competitor moves (esp. recent ones), regulatory context, and internal capabilities (tech, talent, ops) helps deepen the view. using a combo of MECE structuring and tools like Porter’s 5 Forces, SWOT, and value driver trees usually works well in MBB-style work. happy to take a look at your version if you want!

best, Alessa 😊

1. This is relatively complete - but this kind of framework is not really used in most MBB engagements (including large-scale diagnostic work). Rather than having a one-size-fits-all mega-framework, we would develop a much more targeted, company specific issue tree, perhaps 1/2 the size of yours for a 6-10 week strategy engagement. The framework mentioned above will lead to ‘boiling the ocean’.

2. This really depends on the information available from analyst reports, market reports, company data, and any other publicly available evaluations. We’ll determine how to organize the data based on what we get. A common way is to group relevant data by ‘market, customer, competitor, company’ with some buckets within each one.

3. My advice would be to get familiar with hypothesis-driven problem solving techniques. Most strategic MBB projects rely on hypothesis-driven thinking.

Hi there, 

Overall, this is super comprehensive and it's certainly useful to have created something like this if you are able to refer to it in your mind during the interview.

However, you won't be able to deploy something like this during the actual interview for practical reasons - it's way to large and to broad to enable an actual conversation with the interviewer. 

The key to a great framework is tailoring - you need to bring in the specific elements that speak directly to the context of the client. 

Best,
Cristian

What in the world is this?

That is a database. A factbook. Not a framework. 

As a database, it not bad, quite complete actually. 

But. No one would ever do this (and definitely not in that "bucket" format") in a real engagement or pre-engagement.