Questions to be asked at the 'initial interactions' stage

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Questions to be asked at the 'initial interactions' stage

Roland Berger case: Light on!

New answer on Jan 03, 2020

2 Answers

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R (Mck Final round)

Skilled

asked on Jan 03, 2020

Been through Bain Final Round

In this case, background information about the product, production, cost, etc seem to be important to determine the structure of the analysis, it is then necessary to ask some background questions? But this kind of overlap with the 'initial interactions' before taking a minute and drawing down the framework.

1. How much time shall be spent on the 'initial interactions' before the 'minute-break'?

Besides, my 3-must questions for each case at the 'initial interactions' stage are:

Which industry is the client in?
What products/ services do they offer?
What is the problem and why?

Are there any recommended must-ask questions at this stage?

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Answer 1

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Luca

Expert

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updated an answer on Jan 03, 2020

BCG |NASA | SDA Bocconi & Cattolica partner | GMAT expert 780/800 score | 200+ students coached

Hello Ronnie,

In order to address this point I usually tell my candidates to ask themselves:
Is this information important to better design my framework? Can the answer significantly change the focus of the framework?
If the answer is yes, you have to ask those questions before the one-minute break. It's better to spend a couple of minutes more to fully understand the case instead of having a framework that is not effective and that will affect the whole resolution.

Hope it helps,
Luca

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R (Mck Final round) on Jan 03, 2020

Hi Luca, Thanks for the prompt reply. The evaluation criteria you listed sounds good, but think it will require some 'getting-used-to' to apply these criteria without appearing to be too slow!

Answer 2

Antonello

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replied on Jan 03, 2020

McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi Ronnie,
these are 3 good questions. You can spend up to 4/5 minutes on initial clarifying questions before write down your structure, depending on how complete is the problem statement. I usually recommend leveraging this time in order to develop the best structure possible.

Best,
Antonello

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R (Mck Final round) on Jan 03, 2020

Thanks Antonello for the response. 4/5 minutes sounds much longer than what I felt comfortable in most cases. Should feel more comfortable asking more questions at this stage then!

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