Textbook Strategy vs Case Studies Strategy

Hello!

I agree with you that, in theory, case studies are just a small portion of this whole process that you describe in your post.

However, the practice seems totally different. Hence, I would focus on preparing the 30 mins business cases, that are what you are going to have in the interviews, and be very to-the-point with them.

Good luck,

CLara

Hi,

Forget about the textbooks. In real life, it's completely different. It all starts with an objective (5-year strategy? Acquisition strategy? IT strategy?)

The exact process depends on the objective but usually, it includes:

1. Diagnostics
2. Studying competitors, best practices, etc
3. Developing strategic initiatives
4. Developing a business case (estimating the impact of each initiative and required investments)
5. Prioritizing the initiatives and developing a roadmap for implementing them

Strategic cases have a mix of those things and you have a long process of learning how to solve consulting cases. There are many sources of knowledge here (Preplounge website, coaches, books, etc)

Best

Hello,

Yes, you can consider the cases as a small portion of what you have learnt during your studies. Keep in mind that:

• You have +/- 30 minutes to propose a solution for the case
• There are a lot of people that haven't studied economics and do the interviews

I would stick to the case studies' books because that is what your interviewer is expecting from you. Anyway you have a big advantage having those concepts in your mind and you can personalize your frameworks and analyses according to them.

Hope it helps,
Luca

(edited)

Hi,
what textbook are you talking about? The structure strictly depends on the problem type (profitability vs market entry vs M&A vs ...). To fix the theory regarding consulting business cases I strongly recommend to read Cosentino's Case in point or Cheng's Interview secrets.

Best,
Antonello