Strategy& Super day

Question

Hi,

I have a one-round super-day set of three interviews with Strategy&-US. I was told by the recruiter not to expect standard cases, as the interviewers often just use what they're working on for the interview.

Any experiences?

Answer 1

Hello!

My own final round with McK was like that.

One of the partners literally looked up at the ceiling, looked at the lamp, and made up a case about lamps right there -classical profitability drivers-.

This said, the way to prep is leveraging the classical cases, since they give you the toolkit you will then leverage for the other ones.

I would be keep on:

1. Profitability cases- basic profitability framework.

2. Idea generation cases: for any specif issue

3. Growth cases: market penetration, new product launch, product mix change, etc.

4. Pricing cases

5. M&A cases

6. Valuation cases

7. Value chain cases

Given you are under this much time contraint, consider working with a coach to foster speed and ensure you have a tailored plan to be very targeted. PM me interested!

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 2

Hi A,

I d argue that this is not too uncommon, even for MBB R2. Yes, most iviewers have prepared cases they are not currently working on, but in my experience, the more senior the interviewer, especially Partners / Directors, the more "random" it can be. This should not scare you.

As a baseline this requires all the classic case skills you would prepare for any type of interview. I would, on top of that, just make sure to think a bit more into the direction of case project execution and implementation (i.e. be able to talk about time required, SteerCos, Decisions to make, phases, deliverables per phase etc.) Ideally you pack this into a Roadmap or Gantt Chart.

Best of luck,
Denis

Answer 3

Hi there,

I helped a few people for Strategy& US. Some cases were indeed unusual. However they also had traditional profitability / market entry cases.

Unlike other consulting firms and other geographies, they also had brainteasers in some interviews.

If you need help with the preparation please feel free to PM me, I know 50+ real questions asked at Strategy& during actual interviews.

Best,
Francesco

Answer 4

Hi,

The interviewer has seen and worked on a lot of business cases during his/her career. He/she won't have any problem creating one on-the-spot.

That said, business cases tend to fall in the usual categories (e.g., P&L, market sizing, etc.) so if you're prepared you'll be fine.

Try to spend some time on creative problem-solving and unstructured cases to improve on that aspect of the case prep.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Antonello

Answer 5

Hi there,

This sounds very much like unstructured cases. You should expect a fair amount of brainstorming, quick moving math, etc. etc. You may get a lot of "what if x" as well as them just providing you with final numbers.

Prepare in much the same way you already do, but also hire a coach to test you in this looser-style of casing!

Answer 6

Hi there,

I coached people who were applying for Strategy&, and this is indeed not that unusual, since the interviewers had had some years of experience and can come up with a simple case quickly.

Don't hesitate to write me if you need any other advice, I'd be happy to help!

Cheers,

GB

Answer 7

That is correct. When I was an interviewer, I used cases based on the project I was on at the time and this common across the board. Expect this to be a top-down hypothesis driven case e.g. sizing, entry strategy etc