Alle Fragen zum Tag MBB Cases - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi Roberto,

You have to be much more specific.

Are you talking a proposal for work (RFP)? Or a project kick-off deck? Or a final deliverable presented to the CEO?

Regardless, for any of these it would be hard to provide an answer as it's very case/client/project/company-specific!

Hello Deborah,
J'ai tenté de rejoindre le groupe il y a quelques jours mais je vois toujours ma demande comme "pending", peux-tu m'ajouter ?
Merci !

Hi,
yes, it usually takes from 12 to 18 months to be able to apply again.

Best,
Antonello

Hi,

First of all you need to ask clarifying questions that would help you clarify the problem.

Aims: What are the success criteria for improving the ecological impact? Any particular benchmark? Do we have any deadline?
Constraints: do we have any budgetary/ any other constraints that we need to take into account?
External factors: do we know any external factors that we need to take into account?

Now let’s choose a framework type for this case:

• conceptual/ business situation frameworks do not fit
• numerical frameworks could potentially fit, but I am not sure we could have the required depth here
• value chain/ process framework - perfectly fits

Here is how I would structure the problem:

1) Fire prevention (aim is prevent as many fires as possible)

• human related cases (regulations; education)
• nature ralated causes (drought - use predictive analytics tools, lightning strikes - build lightning rods)

2) Fire extinguishing (aim is to supply quick response and reduce the sq miles of fire as much as possible)

• fire detection (e.g. use satellites; aviation; ground patrol)
• fire localization (e.g. use mounds and other fire barriers)
• fire elimination (e.g. use of aviations and ground forces)

3) Elimination of the consequences of a fire (aim is to get rid of consequences from fires as much as possible)

• land related
• forest related
• animals related

The trick is to create a structure that would be MECE and deep. And then you can leverage brainstorming techniques to create solutions for all areas in this structure. I fulfilled a few examples.

Hope it helps!

Best,

Anton

Hi Anonymous,

I agree with Guennael, it makes sense to prepare in advance, as there is a relevant amount of preparation to do before interviews (100-150 hours) and it is quite unfeasible to find so much time between the invitation and the interview (although it is often possible to reschedule the interview).

But there is also another reason why starting the preparation in advance can be useful - in this way you are committing to secure an interview. Let me explain.

If you plan to start preparing after you have an invitation, you are telling yourself you are not really sure you are going to receive it in the first place. This will also unintentionally decrease your attachment to the outcome, as you won't be fully invested in obtaining your goal.

If you start to invest time and money on your preparation in advanced, instead, you are creating a sunk cost you won't recoup if you don't succeed. This will make you more likely to succeed, simply because you don't want to lose what you already invested in (in psychology this is called the sunk-cost bias). From a practical point of view, this may push you to invest more time in your CV and Cover preparation, 2nd tier referrals, better MBB referral, or anything else that can maximize the fact you are called for an interview.

The extreme case is when the only option for you is to succeed - think about Cortes destroying his ships. Overall this won't guarantee success but will maximize your chances to indeed be successful.

To directly answer your question, as for personal experience based on the people I helped in securing offers, the best results are achieved by those who start the preparation at least 2-3 months before the interview. In their case, the application took place in the mid of preparation, thus with a minimum of 1-1.5 month invested in practice.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi,

There are typically 3 stages of brainstorming potential solutions to a problem during McK interviewer led cases:

1) Prepare a long list of potential solutions to a problem

You need to create a MECE list of relevant ideas, which can solve the problem. Ways to approach:

• Zero drafting - this technique helps establish what you currently know and get your initial ideas out of your brain and onto paper
• SCAMPER technique
  • Substitute - take a part of the product, service or process etc. that you could replace with another to see whether it will result in improvements, such as efficiency gains
  • Combine - one idea might not work alone, but you could combine several ideas, processes or products into one more efficient output. A great example for a combination of two different products are cell phones with an integrated camera
  • Adapt - an idea that worked to solve one problem could also be used to solve a different problem. An example for the successful adaption to a new situation is Netflix. The company started out in 1999 as a DVD rent provider, but they quickly realized that the future belongs to online streaming and changed their product
  • Modify - Changing part or all of the product or process, or distorting it in an unusual way
  • Put to another use - put the current product or process in another purpose or use the existing product to solve problems. For example, this technique can be used to learn how to shift an existing product to another market segment or user type
  • Eliminate - eliminate inefficient processes with the goal of streamlining them. An example for eliminating is Apple’s approach to not include an optical CD drive in their laptop to make them thinner and lighter
  • Reverse - explore the innovative potential when changing the order of the process in the production line
• Analogy thinking - explore inspiring cases and mix their top features with your industry, to come up with new powerful concepts
• Forced connections - take two unrelated concepts and forge a relationship between them

2) Prepare a shortlist of solutions

You need to select solutions that would be financially adequate, could be achieved in the foreseeable future and do not face any constraints of the client situation.

3) Prioritize solutions

Apply 80/20 rule to select 20% of initiatives that would generate 80% of the upside effect.

Best,

Anton

Actually in Italy MBB did not stop working but they just put on hold around 50% of projects for a month. We hope to start working soon.

Hi,

None of them:) The most useful one as a first step is Case in Point

Other than that, case books can be useful for certain tasks:

• Learning how to approach market sizing cases
• Giving the cases to partners until you get your own library of the cases from the real interviews
• Practicing math problems - they are pretty good in case books and represent different math tasks you can face at the real interview (NPV, breakeven calculation, etc)

Best

Hello there,
Thanks for reaching out.
For public sector cases, I would say there are four key steps:
1. Formulate the problem: do not hesitate to clarify the problem and have the right level of informations (questions help).
2. Structure the problem MECEly: break down the problem into independent sub-problems (either demand/supply/enablers or problem1/problem2/problem3/global solution or else)
3. Ask questions: in this case, the best way to crack the problem is to ask the right questions and not take too many hypothesis especially if you don't know the sector.
4. Take the hint: maybe the most important advice. the interviewer will give you some hints about your issue tree and it will allow you to identify one of the root causes.
5. Sum up + identify creative solutions
For other rare cases (market sizing, out of the box cases like "how many crackers does Bill Gates eat every year (yes, true story)), my tip would be to be structured all the time but not to sound like a robot and bring "business accumen" in non-business related cases.
I hope that helps.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions,
Norah

Hello!

Here's how I did it: I've booked my first session about 10-12 mock cases into practice (assuming I've learned all the basics of case topics, from profitability to growth and market entry). This way, the feedback I got from the coach was a little more specific than basic things which I would've already learned in the first 10 cases (like refining hypothesis, faster arithmetic).

If you book more sessions, make sure that the last session is about a week away from the interview, with the rest of the sessions (the little stingy fella in me is hurting) in between the one after 10-12 cases and the one a week away from the interview.

Before you even book a coach, see if you can find current associates/consultants at your local MBBs/on PrepLounge. You'll get good feedback (though probably not as detailed and critical as a paid coach), and it'll be $0.

Best of luck!

Hey,

Hopefully this information helps:

From my understanding, Candidates are assessed across 5 or 6 areas - FIT/Structure/Comms/Quant/Creativity/Problem Solving etc.

You must perform 'at the bar' for each and every level.

You must 'spike' in at least one area.

Hope this helps!