Best non-profit / public sector cases to practice?

Case Interview MBB non profit Public Sector
New answer on Jan 12, 2021
7 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Jan 09, 2021

As there's several available online, does anyone have any recommendations of which ones to practice in a limited timeframe? Thanks!

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Ian
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updated an answer on Jan 10, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

First, if you have a short timeframe, I cannot recommend a coaching session highly enough. Coaching is the best way to make up for lost time.

Practice Cases

If you want some practice cases:

  • Tepper 2008's "NGO Effectiveness"
  • Colombia 2011's "MadeCasse"

My approach

Public sector cases are tricky because they feasibly be any case type (Product Launch - new service for citizens; M&A - merging two departments; even Profitability - cost cutting mandate). For any public sector case, I recommend:

  1. First identifying the type of case it is.
  2. Second, leverage your knowledge of the public sector as constraints/considerations.

Considerations/Constraints

Regards #2, you know that public perception is particularly important to consider in any public sector move. Additionally, you can count on bureacracy/slowness in implementation. You should identify the goal/mission of the organisation as well and keep this top of mind (if it loses money, but achieves it's goal of helping the poor, no problem). Howvever, just because the government sector doesn't have profit as a target, doesn't mean you should ignore the profit tree altogether - governments are still obliged to take into costs (and sometimes revneues) in decisions (example: setting up a public transport initiative). Don't get tricked into thinking you can't consider the economics of the case!

Other items to consider include, but are not limited to:

  • Politlcal landscape (i.e. upcoming elections, special interest groups)
  • Sustainability
  • Private-public partnerships
  • International vs governmental vs state vs local partnerships/alignment
  • Income = taxes/budgetary landscape
  • Digitialization of government

Framework Resource

In terms of resources, the UPenn Wharton 2011 casebook has a framework for public sector. It's split into:

  1. Strategic rationale (Mission of organisation and stakeholder reactions)
  2. Deal economics (planned investment and returns, if any)
  3. Other (Required capabilities and risks)

Hope this helps, and please don't hesitate to ask any follow-up/clarifying questions!

(edited)

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Gaurav
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replied on Jan 10, 2021
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Francesco
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replied on Jan 10, 2021
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Antonello
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replied on Jan 10, 2021
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Hi,

I recommend having a look at PrepLounge's library!

There's also a book by Cosentino that deals specifically with these types of cases.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Antonello

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Vlad
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replied on Jan 09, 2021
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

I have a dedicated session on non-conventional cases in my syllabus covering most of the non-conventional case types. Usually, I give 10 cases as homework and we go through the structures during the session. Feel free to reach out

Best

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Bernard
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replied on Jan 09, 2021
McKinsey & Company | Expert Coach |Five star rated |First-principles approach to case studies

Hi! I would recommend the COVID-19 vaccine case as it covers the public sector in a very hot topic. It currently has a 4.6/5 rating on PL.

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Clara
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replied on Jan 12, 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Feel free to reach out, I have one I particularly like

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

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Ian gave the best answer

Ian

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