Practice With Intermediate Cases on Various Topics
New
Ledgerline Software (McKinsey)
CLIENT OBJECTIVE
Our client, Ledgerline, a US provider of accounting software for small businesses, wants to know whether and how it should move its customers from one-time licenses to a monthly subscription.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Ledgerline's desktop software handles invoicing, bookkeeping and tax preparation for small businesses such as shops, tradespeople and agencies. Customers buy a license once and use it for several years, until a new version or a tax rule change prompts them to upgrade. Many also pay for an annual support plan. Ledgerline sells through its website and through independent accountants, who recommend it to their clients and earn a referral fee. Cloud-based competitors are growing fast with monthly plans, automatic bank connections and mobile apps. Ledgerline's customers are loyal, but its customer base is aging and new customers increasingly choose cloud tools. Investors value recurring revenue, but the board worries about upsetting long-standing customers.
New
AltaVia Elevators
Your client is AltaVia Elevators, a Vienna-based elevator manufacturer and the number 4 player in Europe. The company has two businesses:
New equipment: AltaVia sells about 20,000 new elevator units per year to construction projects, generating about EUR 1.6 billion in revenue.
Service: AltaVia maintains about 400,000 units under paid service contracts, generating about EUR 960 million in revenue. Every installed elevator legally requires certified maintenance, and new units include two years of free maintenance by AltaVia. When that period ends, the building owner decides whether to sign a paid AltaVia service contract or switch to a third party. Paid service customers can also leave AltaVia later.
New equipment sales have just reached a record high and the order book is full. Yet group operating profit has declined for the third year in a row. Over the same period, LiftServ, a PE-backed independent service group, has been buying small maintenance firms across Europe and prices standard maintenance about 30% below AltaVia.
The CEO wants to know: why is profit falling despite record sales, and what should AltaVia do about it?
New
Gulf Coast Fuel Stops
Your client is Gulf Coast Fuel Stops, a family-owned company operating 200 fuel stations across the Houston metropolitan area. Each station sells fuel and runs a small convenience shop. The business generates about USD 2.5 billion in revenue. Two years ago it earned about USD 108 million in operating profit; this year it will earn about USD 72 million, a decline of one third.
Over the same period, MegaMart, a large grocery chain, has opened 15 hypermarkets with their own cheap fuel pumps around Houston. MegaMart’s fuel is currently about 10 cents per gallon cheaper than Gulf Coast’s at nearby stations.
The CEO has asked your team to diagnose the profit decline and recommend how to restore profitability.
Practice Cases with Peers That Are Currently Looking for Interview Partners.
Roland Berger Case: Launch of a Mobile Neobroker
"FemVest" is a venture-backed fintech aiming to launch a mobile neobroker in Germany in 2026. The company believes that women are structurally underserved in the area of retail investing: women are less likely to hold a securities account, invest smaller amounts on average, and enter the market later than men. At the same time, the financial relevance of women is growing — driven by rising incomes, demographic shifts, and inheritances.
FemVest has already secured regulatory approval as well as a custodian bank and execution partner. However, key strategic decisions remain open: the target segment has not been finalized, the product and service offering is not yet defined, the business model has not been established, and the go-to-market strategy has not yet been developed.
The board is asking you, as a consultant, to analyze the market potential, develop an initial business case, and derive concrete strategic recommendations for market entry.
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MBMC Case: AMG | Turning the most affluent prospects into loyal clients
Mercedes‑AMG stands for uncompromising performance, engineering excellence, and emotional driving experiences. Yet recently, AMG’s top management has become concerned that while the product itself continues to exceed customer expectations, the moment of purchase no longer does.
The trigger for this case was a concrete incident: a highly affluent customer configured an AMG top‑end vehicle in detail, was technically convinced, but ultimately decided against the purchase, stating: “It’s a fantastic car – but it didn’t feel special.” For the CEO of Mercedes‑AMG, this statement raises a critical question. In the luxury and performance segment, emotional differentiation at the point of decision is as important as horsepower or technology.
Against this backdrop, AMG is exploring new ways to elevate the buying experience for its most valuable customers. One idea under discussion is the introduction of AMG Individualization Hubs – exclusive physical spaces where customers would finalize their vehicle together with AMG experts in a highly personalized and immersive setting.
The management now asks you and your Consulting Team to assess this idea holistically:
How can AMG strengthen emotional differentiation during the purchase decision, and do Individualization Hubs represent a strategically sound and economically viable solution? The objective is to develop a clear recommendation that balances brand impact, customer experience, and profitability.
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Bain Case: BeautyCo – Where Did the Profits Go?
Our client BeautyCo is a large European perfumery company with 500 shops across Europe. However, BeautyCo has been struggling with a decrease in profitability for some time and would like to work with us to understand what the causes and possible actions could be. Therefore, as a first step the client wants us to identify the cause of the profitability issues.
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Simon-Kucher Case: GST Cruise Company
Cruise company German Sea Tours (GST) is a successful operator of international cruises. GST currently offers several cruise trips, lasting between 5 and 24 days. Additional services can be booked on board (e.g. excursions at each destination, onboard leisure activities). Customers tend to book their tickets several months in advance. GST has had a long history of revenue growth, but in the past five years, it showed lower growth rates. Board members are not sure whether the market, in general, saw lower growth or whether the problem is specific to GST. GST recognizes that winning new customers and stimulating existing customers to book their vacations with GST is crucial for future growth and therefore has always focused on keeping a close relationship with its (potential) cruise-trip bookers. GST’s chief commercial officer (CCO) Ms. Brown has hired Simon-Kucher & Partners to assess the market environment and competitive positioning for cruise ships and to conduct a subsequent evaluation of potential growth options.
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Roland Berger Case: Onlinestar
Onlinestar, an online retailer of furniture and garden products (core business), has grown significantly in recent years as a result of an expansion of its product portfolio. The company mainly imports goods from Chinese manufacturers but also operates its own production of cat lavatories (special business) in Eastern Europe.
The company sells its goods via Amazon and eBay, and recently via an online shop on its website. Despite this development, the financial ratios have deteriorated in recent years. In particular, the gross profit margin decreased significantly. Combined with a significant increase in shipping costs, this led to a negative result for the first time in the recently ended fiscal year and a resulting strained financial situation. Against the background of expected stagnating sales for the current financial year, short-term action is required.
The board of Onlinestar asks you for an analysis of the reasons for the negative result as well as a derived recommendation for action. As a consultant, you should bring in your knowledge in online trading and develop solutions. In addition, the management board would like to receive a sales and gross profit plan from you for the current financial year.
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Bain Case: Old Winery
You have inherited the “Old Winery” from your grandfather, a winery that has been family-owned for five generations and can be dated back to the 16th century.
Half of the eleven hectares are used to grow white grapes, the other half to grow red grapes. They are grown in a conventional way, i.e. they are not organically farmed and certified. The vine stocks are in a good condition regarding age and care. Overall, the only ¼ of the harvest is made into wine by the winery itself; the rest is sold.
Your grandfather never wanted to change the image of the winery and left the managerial and administrative task to a young and energetic wine-maker. Due to the not so well-known brand, the demand for the “Old Winery” wine is currently rather low.
You do not intent to run the winery operatively, given your limited knowledge of winemaking, but find the idea of owning a winery exciting.
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McKinsey Unconventional Case: Inclusive Cafes
Your client is a leading retail coffee chain. They are present in several countries globally and are a popular brand in most of the markets that they operate in, with several thousands stores in operation.
A key focus of the company currently is diversity & inclusion. In their biggest market which is the US, 1 in 4 people have some sort of disability. One realization the client has had is that their retail stores are not as inclusive to individuals with disabilities.
McKinsey has been brought on to help them design more inclusive spaces in their retail stores.
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Deloitte Case: Footloose
Duraflex is a German footwear company with annual men’s footwear sales of approximately €1 b.
They have always relied on the boot market for the majority of their volume. In this market they compete with three other major competitors.
In the fall of 2019, Badger – one of Duraflex’s competitiors – launched a new line of aggressively priced work boots. The strong success of this line has caused Duraflex’s management to re-evaluate their position in work boots.
With limited additional resources, the management must now decide if they should focus their efforts on competing with Badger in the work boot sector, or allocate their resources on further strengthening their position with casual boots. The management team approached you and asked for your advice. In order to advise them on their future work boot strategy please prepare first some insights regarding market size and competitive landscape.
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CleanWave – When the Suds Settle
CleanWave is a leading branded manufacturer of dishwashing products in Germany, primarily selling dishwashing tabs and liquids.
During the Covid period (2020–2021), the company experienced unusually strong growth in revenues and profits. Since 2022, however, CleanWave’s revenues and profitability have declined significantly.
Management believes this is mainly driven by weaker consumer demand and increased price pressure.
You are asked to:
- Estimate the size of the German dishwashing market
- Analyse the drivers of CleanWave’s declining revenues and profits
- Understand the impact of Covid and post-Covid market dynamics
- Develop strategic recommendations for CleanWave going forward
SET Case: Your own Management Consultancy
As one of three management consultants with many years of experience, you have SET yourself the goal of founding your own management consultancy. The topics, contents and solution offering with which you can advise and support potential customers are clear. The legal company is already founded and registered in the commercial register. Now you must pitch your business plan to the banks to get the necessary start-up financing!
Especially the banks are interested in the underlying rationale of the SET Management Consulting business model. Your goal is to think of relevant financial KPIs and be prepared to explain the underlying revenue and cost streams in more detail.
BCG Platinion Case: ERP strategy & S/4HANA migration for “DekoKonzept”
Our client is the company “DekoKonzept”, which primarily sells home accessories and small furniture. DekoKonzept generates approximately €700M in revenue and operates mainly in Germany, with some presence in other European countries. The company is particularly represented through physical stores in major German cities and downtown areas but is also expanding its online shop significantly.
A variety of outdated and often self-developed IT systems are currently used for core processes such as procurement, warehousing, and point-of-sale operations.
DekoKonzept is also facing the challenge that its ERP system (SAP ECC 6.0) will soon no longer be officially supported by SAP. Therefore, they aim to migrate to the successor system SAP S/4HANA as soon as possible. This migration presents an opportunity to review, standardize, and harmonize many of the existing processes and systems. The next step is to further assess and evaluate the impact on costs, budget, and scope.
Note: This case is interviewer-led. The cases in our interviews are more candidate-led. In this case, you take the lead and manage the entire case from start to finish. So be prepared for this when you apply to us.
MBMC Case: Exploring the future of automotive mobility
As a consultant at Mercedes-Benz Management Consulting (MBMC), you are actively shaping the future of automotive mobility. While you are contributing to decisive projects that design the future of the world’s No.1 premium carmaker, you also develop your own career path, and you have the unique possibility to build your personal brand and cultivate relationships with the top management.
Your client on your current project is the head of product strategy who reports directly to the CEO. She asks you to explore new profit pools and business opportunities regarding innovations and monetarization strategies.
Initially, you shall structure and explore potential business models, and discuss necessary conditions and implications of these business models. In a next step, you shall quantitatively analyze possible options and prepare them for decision. And of course, the client is interested in your recommendation.
E.ON Inhouse Consulting Case: E-Mobility
Climate change has become one of the biggest challenges in the 21st century, and with roughly 75% of all CO₂ emissions coming from energy, this sector plays a key role in the transition to a reduced carbon footprint. E.ON has taken up on the challenge to promote more sustainable and efficient energy solutions throughout its whole customer spectrum. Correspondingly, a shift towards more sustainable energy consumption is noticed across the globe with many cities having set themselves ambitious climate targets, among those are:
- Copenhagen -100% CO₂ emissions by 2025
- Amsterdam -60% CO₂ emission by 2030
- New York -40% CO₂ emissions by 2030
With E.ON focusing entirely on the “new” energy world, we have become the partner of choice for solutions propelling the energy transitions. Mr. Jensen, the mayor of Essen has come to E.ON requesting our help to accelerate the transition for his city.
Essen is a city with about 600,000 inhabitants and prides itself as a forward-thinking one with lots of ambitions to become green itself. The economy is well and with his freshly won election the mayor looks forward to put its promised big initiatives into real projects.
E.ON Inhouse Consulting Case: Heating Systems
The European Union pursues the target of lowering the CO₂ emissions of their residents. Therefore, the EU introduced a CO₂ tax to create incentives for consumers to switch to more climate friendly alternatives and stabilize carbon dioxide emissions.
Accordingly, and as E.ON’s strategy focuses on creating a better tomorrow for its customers, E.ON is investing significantly to grow its ‘Customer solutions’ area with climate-friendly solutions, including its heating solutions business.
You have recently joined E.ON Inhouse Consulting and E.ON’s Head of Heating Solutions has hired you to conduct an analysis concerning the European CO₂ tax. Specifically, you are asked to assess whether the EU uses the right tool to steer consumers towards more climate-friendly heating systems.
EY-Parthenon Case: Virtual Marketplace
A leading online real estate marketplace in Germany – your-new-home.com – is struggling with stagnating sales after many years of high growth rates. In a preliminary project with EY-Parthenon, the market environment has already been examined in detail – competitors, new entrants, customer needs, etc.
As a result, you are asked to identify growth areas and quantify the potential sales uplift for the management.
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Oliver Wyman Case: Full Electrons Ahead
Your client, large automotive OEM WyCar, has developed its first fully electric vehicle (EV) and introduced it as a pilot on the Austrian market last year. However, sales have been far below the expected numbers. The management has engaged you to support them in understanding the reasons and advise them on how to adjust the product offering.
MBB Round 1 | Profitability
Our client is a national US fitness chain with roughly 200 clubs and around $600m in annual revenue. Over the last three years revenue has grown steadily, but profit has remained broadly flat over the same period.
The board has asked one question: why has the revenue growth not translated into higher profit, and what should the client do about it?
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