1) Drivers of revenue (ask for revenue of the #1 market leader)

Price: increase price (dependent on price sensitivity) or decrease price to take part in predatory pricing 

Volume: Organic growth: introduce new products whilst offering some differentiation (launch new products), sell in other geographies (market entry), improve current products

Inorganic growth: acquire a player in the market to increase market share, partnership? joint ventures? 

2) Competitive landscape (especially that of the #1 in the market) 

Market share of competitors, any differentiation or competitive advantage? how will they react? is the market fragmented or concentrated?

3) Customer needs and preferences 

Has purchasing behavior changed? Are there are other alternatives that people are purchasing instead? Have our customer segments changed? Has our product mix changed or does it need to change to adapt to new preferences? Do they have an online presence? Customers willingness to pay?

4) Capabilities 

Operational: required capital to increase production, ability to increase their revenues to a level above #1 

(edited)

Hi there,

I'm sorry but you're not MECE at all!

Your first bucket Revenue implies that revenue has nothing to do with buckets 2, 3, and 4! Ultimately, everything you're doing is to increase revenue so this is a pretty silly bucket to have.

Careful with the overlap in your buckets. When you're saying Product as often as you are, maybe it's more worthwhile to have a Product bucket! (i.e. look at our customers to determine what they want in a product, assess how well our competitors perform there and where they don't, then look to see what we can do to attack that). Now that's a good bucket!

Personally, I would 1) Look to grow revenues in our existing product base and 2) Look to launch new products in areas where we see opportunity (could be organic or inorganic)

That's perfectly MECE…

You need some frameworking mindset shifts! Feel free to reach out for help.

(edited)

Hi there, 

On a quick look, I would for sure also look at the market as a whole, or you could potentially merge this together with ‘Customers’. In market it would be essential to understand what are some of the main trends, segments and growth rates. This would help you then contextualise the recommendation to the client within the overall market situation. 

You made a common mistake I see in many candidates and that will get you rejected at MBB. Your structure is not MECE.

Items 2 to 4 in your list cover topics related to your products. 
So go for products you already sell to current customers, you may sell to new customers, new products on your current customers and to attract new customers. Then add complementary services to add to products you sell. 

There could be even more, but I suggest that you should start from here.