MECE examples

MECE
New answer on Aug 31, 2022
3 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Oct 08, 2018

Hi there!

I believe answering questions as MECE as possible is important when solving a case. Can you please post all MECE structures you can think of? Lets make a list of MECE structures!

I will start:

revenues vs costs

fixed costs vs variable costs

# sold vs average price

internal factors vs external factors

financial factors vs non-financial factors

before vs after

existing customers vs new customers

Please continue the lists!

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Oct 08, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

First of all - not all issue trees can and should be MECE. Very often it's not the case.

Secondly - there is a number of ways how you can approach in a MECE way:

  1. If your structure works mathematically (e.g. Total time spent on cleaning operation = # of people x Frequency x Hours per cleaning per person)
  2. If your structure comes from a formula (e.g. output rate = total number of people being served / time to serve one person)
  3. If you are using the common industry drivers (e.g. revenues = # of customers x av. check) (e.g Passengers on the plane = capacity x Load Factor) or theindustry revenue streams (Fuel revenues / non-fuel revenues for the gas station) or the functional drivers (e.g. for the problems in sales : Sales strategy / sales people and allocation / motivation / sales process)
  4. If your issue tree is a real framework used by the consultants (e.g. the famous Bain Cap framework for PE due dills: Market / Competitors / Company / Feasibility of exit) (e.g. People / Process / Technology) (e.g. The famous McKinsey framework - People don't want to do smth / they can't do smth / smth prevents them from doing that)
  5. If your structure is a well-known academically MECE framework (e.g. Product / Distribution / Price / Marketing (Also known as 4P))

There is no magic pill how you can learn to build the MECE issue trees. !!!! It comes with a lot of Practice and reflection and building proper industry and functional knowledge. !!!!

Best

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Guennael
Expert
replied on Oct 08, 2018
Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

The Ps, the Cs, the business framework, the profitability one... any successful framework is MECE almost by definition. You basically have a near infinite array of solutions. If you want some great frameworks that no-one can use, please also check Case In Point [sorry, I hate this book - couldn't help myself ;) ]

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Simon
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Aug 31, 2022
50+ successful coachings / Ex-Mckinsey JEM & Interviewer / Industry + Engineering background

Dear A,

in general a good structure can be evaluated by a certain depth and breadth. The “depth” should be at least 3-4 levels while the “breadth” should cover the entire solution space. You can cross-check this with the MECE principles (For details see respective article on Preplounge), but the CE (collectively exhaustive) part is basically defining your breadth.

Finally, make sure to check for inter-linkages in your structure and point them out.

Simon

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Vlad gave the best answer

Vlad

McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School
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