Hello!

This will depend a lot on the interview format of the firm you are interviewing with. Some firms have more interviewer-driven interviews - i.e. after you present your framework, they will make it quite obvious which branch they will want you to go down. Other firms will have more passive interviewers.

In more candidate-driven cases, you would just start by testing out the ideas in a structured way and seeing what works. For example, suppose the client's question is how to increase profitability. Your top two buckets would be 1. increase revenue, 2. cut costs, and within those you would end up with 2-4 bullet points on how you would achieve it (e.g. increase revenue: 1. increase price, 2. increase number of units sold, and you can have several sub-bullets for increasing the number of units sold). If the case set-up has given any indication as to which is the more likely solution (e.g. maybe they mention that the client has tried cutting costs in the past and it didn't work), start with that one. If not, go with what you think will be more applicable to the client.

Then, begin discussing your ideas with the interviewer. Be very clear about what data you would need to confirm or reject each idea, and ask the interviewer for it. For example, if you are looking at increasing revenue by increasing the price of your products, you could ask the interviewer whether there is any data on competitor prices (to see whether there is any room for the client to increase prices), or historical data on the client's prices and revenues (to see whether this is something the client has done in the past, and how customers respond to that). The interviewer isn't going to make you guess what data they have over and over again if you're on the right track - they might say something like “well, we don't have historical data on prices, but we do have a breakdown of what prices the client charges for each of its different products right now”. Then, use the data to assess whether your hypothesis holds or not.

In reality, most interviews land somewhere in between fully interviewer-driven and fully candidate-driven, becoming an actual conversation between you and the interviewer. Sometimes they will be more active in guiding you, sometimes they will want to see your thought process a bit more before giving you a hint. You might go down the wrong idea branch at some point, but that's totally fine - what matters is the thought process behind it.

The best way to get a sense of how this works and learn how to drive cases intuitively is by practicing solving cases, preferably with someone who can give you feedback.

Hope this helps - and feel free to message me if you have any more questions about driving cases!

Hi there,

Let me be clear on something first: Your structure is NOT buckets of ideas.

Rather, your framework is an organized, methodical approach to solving the problem in MECE way. This is incredibly hard to explain in writing, but you are not just randomly creating a structure with a bunch of ideas.

Once you understand this, then you will start to understand how to drive the case. Hint: It doesn't involve randomly asking questions, but rather involves you driving forward with an objective-driven approach.

Another way of viewing it:

Your framework is your structure for approaching the problem. It consits of a few main areas you'd like to look at. Inherent in your framework is a view that "If I answer A, B, and C, then we have an answer"

So, for market entry:

1) If the market is big, and it's growing, then we still want to considering entering

2) If #1 = yes, then let's see if it's attractive...can we win there? Is our product good/better than our competition's? Etc. If yes, let's definitely consider entering.

3) If #1 and #2 = yes, then, when we do enter, are we sure we can win? I.e. do we have the right plans. Will implementation actually pan out? Do we have the expertise, capital, etc.? In other words, if #2 is the thearectical, #3 is the reality.

Then, your summary becomes "I believe we should enter the market, if we can prove it's a good market, the it's attractive to us specifically, and that we will win it".

How to ask questions

You need to follow the thinking of bucket 1, then bucket 2, then bucket 3. Ask high-level, but specific/tailored questions to get to the bottom of the answer.

Read these 2 Q&As for some great context + discussion:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/interviewer-led-case-interview-hyposthesis-and-ideas-7390

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/forming-a-hypothesis-case-in-point-vs-victor-cheng-7311

Hope this helps! This is a tricky topic that's difficult to properly answer in writting...if you want a more thorough explanation, and training in the mindset shift required here, don't hesitate

(edited)