Hi,
My candidates had 3 types of cases for these roles:
- Cost-cutting cases with layoffs, outsourcing, shared service center, etc.
- M&A deals integration
- M&A deals synergies with the focus on people
1) Here is a basic structure for cost cutting cases:
Structuring:
- What is the cost composition and what are the biggest costs
- Benchmarking of the biggest costs to find the improvement potential
- Process improvements to meet the benchmarks
- Costs and benefits of the proposed initiatives
The key concepts that you have to learn:
- Internal / external benchmarking
- Idle time
- Core processes (usually are optimized) and the supporting processes (usually are cut)
- Math structures (Frequency of operations * time per operation)
- Other useful structures (e.g. people - process - technology)
2) For M&A integration cases it was about understanding what should be the approach to Merging the companies. Make sure you cover:
- Real reasons for the deals (Make sure you cover it in clarifying questions). Criteria for success
- Integration focus and new org structure
- Top management team composition
- Integration plan across different entities
- Communication to the employees and the clients.
- Early wins and potential integration risks
3) For Synergies cases focused on people typically you use a value chain structure tailored to the industry (e.g. supply-production-distribution-marketing-after sales support) to calculate the overlaps and savings on people. Think of outsourcing and shared services as well. Also add Risks - major risks that can decrease the synergies (tip: don't underestimate the merging companies culture factor)
Good luck!
Feel free to reach me for further help with these cases.
Best