How much answer-first should the conclusion be?

Hi Anonymous,

in general I agree with Vlad, although, as mentioned by Bruno, you should also explicitly answer why profits went down. Thus I would use something similar to your option 2, that is:

1. Repeat the question. Our goal was to understand (i) why profits are declining and (ii) how we could increase profits
2. Answer first solution. After our initial analysis, we found out that:
   1. As for your first question, profits are declining due a decrease in profits in division 1. More specifically…[SPECIFIC FINDINGS]
   2. As for your second question, in order to increase profits. We would recommend shutting down division 1. That’s for the following reasons…[SPECIFIC FINDINGS]
3. Provide next steps. As additional elements to explore, we would like also to consider the following elements…[RISKS/NEXT STEPS]

Best,
Francesco

Hey anonymous,

Overall I believe Vlad’s proposal is very good and helpful for clarifying your question.

That said, I personally believe that in your recommendation you also need to address the client first question (‘why are profits decreasing?’), otherwise you’re not fully answering his query. Thus, I would for instance add explanation to point b

best

Bruno

Different opinion here. Given this is the case interview conclusion, I would actually rephrase case objectives, state answer and then explain how you got there. Executives care about the answer first, then all the details behind it.

Andrea