Hi Preplounge,
At the time I get a "market entry" case from my client, my primary move would not be to analyse my client company financials but rather investigate the opportunity to enter or not, and how the targeted market(s).
By putting 2. before 3., do you mean you could already close the case at stage 2. if the company financials are not sound enough or do not allow such a move?
Thanks for your comments!
Jack M.
Hi Jack,
It's all about being "smart" here. Consultants both cost a lot of money and don't have much time. As such, you need to approach problems tactfully.
Think about: what is the easiest, most impactful thing to look at first? What, if the answer is "no" will tell us we don't need to move forward with any analysis (i.e. stop wasting time/money).
In this case, if you're entering a market, what's that question? Market attractiveness! It's very easy to check if the market is:
1) Large
2) Growing
3) Has good margins/easy competition.
So, market attractiveness should really be first.
There is no right or wrong here on the order. In any case objectives and capabilities of the client are critial to understand whether or not the market entry makes sense.
In a real interview case you are fine in any order. I would however, see the internal questions more as a sense check or confirmation that the findings are reasonable, as the meat of the case is likely in the market characteristics. Of course exception exist and you can adjust your framework based on the context and responses you get from the interviewer.
