案例面试错误示范(科尔尼(ATKearney))

CASE STUDY WORKSHOP
MARKET EXPANSION CASE
A European Manufacturer of confectionery products wants to enter the US market with a premium products line. Should the client consider entering the US market?



Interviewer
At this point in the interview I would like to discuss a business case with you and see how you would approach this business situation. It is a real situation, one that I have faced with a client at A.T. Kearney.

The Client is a European Manufacturer of confectionery products which wanted to enter the US market with a premium products line. They came to us and asked us to tell them whether they should consider entering the US market.

I would like you to imagine that I am the Project Manager for this new assignment and you are a member of the team. I am keen to hear how you would tackle the assignment as this is our first meeting to discuss the case.

Candidate (Interrupts before the interviewer has been able to finish the sentence)
Well, I think the client would have to think about lots of different issues, ummm, let me see, like ummm, what the price would have to be, and what sort of packaging the product would need, and if the product has to be changed for the American market, because I heard that the Americans like things to be sweeter than Europeans like them, and ....etc. etc.

(Note: during this initial response the candidate barely stops for breath and is very animated - attempting to compensate for anxiety with over-enthusiasm)

Simon (FREEZEFRAME)
The candidate is panicking - speaking before thinking and blurting out anything that comes to mind. Also failing to organise the ideas in any way.

Interviewer
So what would you consider to be the most critical issue?

Candidate
Let me think.... They are all very important issues. I think I would probably start with looking at the price, perhaps analyse the price elasticity of demand for the product, look at the prices for comparable products and try to work out if the client can make a significant enough profit margin at that price, because he would have to take into account the shipping and distribution costs and of course the different packaging and the extra expense of conforming to American regulations on the information needed on the packaging. I think I would have to start to draw some demand curves to find out what price the market would bear. This would help me determine the level of saturation of the market and the concentration in the industry.

Simon (FREEZEFRAME)
It is positive that the candidate is thinking about the economics of this situation - as we have already mentioned, it is useful to think about costs and revenues in a case study.

Unfortunately, the candidate is now falling into the trap of trying to impress the interviewer with buzz phrases like 'price elasticity of demand' which really aren't relevant.

The candidate still isn't organising his thoughts and is not answering the question.

Interviewer
Okay, price

is one dimension to consider, but I think we need some sort of framework to ensure we have covered everything in trying to determine whether the client should think about entering this market. How would you ensure this?

Candidate
Oh, of course!! Of course we need a framework! In that case, I recommend that we use the Five Forces - that always seems to work best in these situations. Let me just draw it out for you…

(Candidate begins drawing out a Five Forces diagram) Okay, so Supplier Power is probably quite low, because the inputs to the product are commodities like milk and sugar. Buyers have a lot of choice, so their power might be quite high, particularly in the USA where there is even more choice than in Europe. And of course there are loads of substitutes for confectionery products these days, with health food bars and things like that, so that is a real threat. But I guess because there are plenty of competitors, there aren't really any big barrier to entry, I mean, no big set up costs, except perhaps advertising costs. So Market rivalry is high, and you have to have significant product differentiation to get anywhere in the market.

Simon (FREEZEFRAME)
The candidate has fallen into the trap of trying to force fit the case to a particular framework. This obviously hasn't worked - not least because he has selected the wrong framework!

He is really getting stuck now, and should ask for help!

Interviewer
So could you now synthesise your analysis and make some recommendations for the client?

Candidate
Oh dear, I haven't really finished the analysis yet! I think I'd like to look into the situation in a lot more detail before I felt comfortable about making recommendations!

Interviewer
But what if that information was not available and you had to draw some sort of initial conclusions?

Candidate
Well, I think I would just have to recommend that they do not proceed.

Interviewer
Thank you!

Key Areas for Improvement:
1. Interruption: Jumping in before the interviewer finishes
2. No structure
3. Lots of buzz words
4. Body language: disturbing gestures
5. Persistent in an unwelcoming way
6. Ineffective synthesis
7. Not taking notes