世界著名咨询公司案例面试真题英文

【最新资料,Word版，可自由编辑！】
案例面世真题1:Help! Our Profit Margins are Shrinking!
You are the consultant to a company that produces large household appliances. Over the past three years, profit margins have fallen 20 percent and market share has tumbled to 15 percent of the market from 25 percent. What is the source of the company's problems?
This is an example of the type of question an undergraduate student (or an MBA student in an early interview round) might receive. The interviewer has done you the favor of defining the problem - your client is in something of a slump! This dialogue illustrates how you, the perspicacious candidate, might drill down into the core of the woes besetting the firm.
You: How would you characterize the current marketplace for these products? Emerging? Mature?
Interviewer: The product line is considered mature.
You: How would you characterize your manufacturing process relative to your competition? (You're looking to see if the company has a strategic advantage.)
Interviewer: Can you be more specific?
You: Do you benefit from an advantage in technology, economies of scale, exchange rates, or other manufacturing element over your competition?
Interviewer: We have not updated our manufacturing process since 1988. We manufacture our products exclusively in the United States. As one of the oldest manufacturers of these products, we have a reliable customer
base and a good reputation. As for price, we are one of the lower-priced in the market, though not the lowest.
You: Do any of your competitors manufacture overseas?
Interviewer: Our number one competitor produces all of its appliances in Indonesia. (Here's your clue - manufacturing outside the country significantly lowers costs.)
You: It probably suffices to say that some of your decline in profit can be attributed to the increased costs you are facing relative to older manufacturing techniques and higher costs associated with manufacturing domestically. This is especially toxic in a mature market where consumers are mostly aware of the product category and the product may be considered a commodity. (A commodity marketplace is one in which customers make their purchasing decisions largely on price. For example, toilet paper is largely a commodity market, where consumers buy whatever's on sale.)
案例面世真题2:Cost-savings analysis for food services company
Cost-savings analysis for food services company
In this case, we will provide you with information regarding a client situation and ask you questions regarding the case issues. After you submit your answer, we'll provide a detailed Bain answer that you can compare with your ideas.
Remember, in case interviews there is no "right answer": interviewers look for problem-solving skills, creativity and common sense. You will not be able to skip questions in this online case, so take your time and have fun!
Question 1
The client situation:
A large fast food chain has hired Bain to improve the company’s profitability. You’re about to have an initial brainstorming session with your team around your clien t’s options, and you want to collect your thoughts first.
How would you begin to tackle your client’s profitability problem?
Your answer:
Bain recommended answer:
Your interviewer wants to know that you have a structure in mind. An appropriate structure for this case would be the profit equation. Be sure to state that to your interviewer.
For example:
"Profit is: total revenue – total cost.
Where Revenue = Price * Quantity and Costs = Fixed Costs + Quantity * (Variable Costs).
In order for the company to improve its profitability, management needs to increase revenues and/or decrease costs.
So to begin tackling my client’s profit problem I am going to look at these two sides of the equation:
* Could the client increase prices? How would customers react?
* Could the client sell more meals, either at existing branches or through opening new ones?
* Are there other creative ways to grow revenue (enter into large-scale catering contracts, for example)?
* Could the client decrease our fixed costs by selling some of our branches or real estate?
* Could the client reduce the quantity of products they buy, such as ingredients for their meals?
* How else could they reduce their costs?"
Question 2
At your case team meeting, your manager informs the team the customer is price sensitive, the market is fairly saturated, and that the fixed costs are pretty stable. Thus Bain and the client agree that the team should focus on lowering variable costs. Specifically the client wants to reduce their spending on purchased items (items the client buys from others and then uses or offers to their customers, like the meat in the hamburgers or the ketchup packets).
Without knowing much more about the situation, what would you suggest are some ways to do so? Which ideas seem the most attractive and why?
Your answer:
analyse the supplier of purchased items to see if there exist the space to reduce the purchaseing cost. Then contacting several similar suppliers, and get the reasonable price of raw materials
Bain recommended answer:
Purchased goods in this business fall primarily into 2 categories: food and packaging. Variable costs are a function of: price and volume. Therefore, the client needs to reduce volumes purchased or negotiate lower prices.
Food:
* We could negotiate lower food prices with our suppliers (consolidate our purchasing, etc.).
* We could look for cheaper ingredients. This sounds risky because it could lower the quality of the food that we sell.
* We could reduce the volume used. For the same reason, this sounds risky because it would change our recipes, one of our competitive advantages in producing winning recipes.
Packaging:
* We could negotiate lower prices with our suppliers or look for cheaper alternatives.
* We could reduce the volume used.
Recommendation:
* Most attractive ideas are: negotiating lower food prices or packaging prices, looking for cheaper packaging materials, or reducing the volume used.
Question 3
At this point in the brainstorming session, the VP adds that two years ago, the company launched a program to centralize purchasing and successfully negotiated much lower prices. Therefore, it is critical to determine if you could reduce the volume of goods that the client purchases. How could you reduce the volume of purchased goods?
Your answer:
11
Bain recommended answer:
Some good creative answers here include (but are in no way limited to):
* Can the client change the shape or size of food containers?
* Can the client packaging for families be consolidated?
* Can the client reduce the weight of the packaging while still protecting the food?
* Can the client reduce other qualities of the packaging including degree of color or logo prevalence without sacrificing their brand?
* Can the client lock bathrooms so that non-customers do not waste toilet paper and towels?
* Can the client charge for extra condiments?
* Can the client reduce the size or number of napkins they purchase? Question 4
Bain focus es on components that make up large portions of a company’s costs: reductions in these areas will have the largest impact on a client’s
overall costs. Bain’s philosophy is to always focus on where the value is. At first glance, napkins would not appear to fall within this category because they are so low cost. But there is a new napkin dispensing technology on the market that you have heard about and think could save the client some money. You decide to investigate.
One way to reduce volume is to reduce how many napkins a customer takes. Customers in fast food chains often take many more napkins than are needed for the meal, or actively hoard them to take home. One action some chains have taken to combat this is to switch their napkin dispensers from small metal dispensers (from which you pull napkins out in bunches) to larger plastic dispensers (from which you pull napkins one at a time, like a reverse Kleenex box). These dispensers are produced by major paper manufacturers.
Let’s assume your chain came to you with the following question:
* How much money could we save per year in the US from using the new type of napkin dispenser in all restaurants?
What information would you like to know from the company? (Do not take into account the cost of the dispensers for now.)
Your answer:
number of customers per day, the average paper usage per meal
Bain recommended answer:
Key information that would be necessary includes:
* Number of restaurants
* Number of customer visits per store per year
* Number of napkins used per customer now
* Number of napkins used per customer after the switch
* Price per napkin
Question 5
As you talk through the data points that you would need to gather with your colleagues, you learn from a fellow AC who worked for a local restaurant that a case of 6000 napkins cost his client $28. Thus, a reasonable price per napkin is about $0.005.
Conduct your estimates as if your client is similar to McDonald's in terms of the number of outlets.
Your manager calls you for a quick estimation of the market size before getting the actual data from your client. Use creative approaches to hypothesize values for each of the above pieces of information and then calculate the estimated savings.
Your answer:
10000*365*100*(3-1)*0.005=3650000
Bain recommended answer:
The interviewer is not looking for you to know the values of each of these buckets, however it is important for you to make reasonable estimates and be able to defend your answer. Were your estimates near these, or did you at least take similar approaches?
Number of restaurants
Actual answer: ~12,000 McDonald's in the US.
One estimation approach:
Think of your hometown: How many McDonald's are there for the number of people? Assume there is a McDonald's for every 20-25,000 Americans, with a population of ~275 million people in the US, that would be
11-13,750 McDonald's.
Other approaches:
* Estimate the entire fast food market and then estimate McDonald's share
* Estimate the area covered per McDonald's across the United States.
Note: With this approach, be careful to account for population differences between 10 square miles of NYC and 10 square miles of Utah.
Number of customers per restaurant per day
Actual answer: Fast food restaurants expect around 1,500 customers a day.
One estimation approach:
Assume the 20,000 people per McDonald's visit an average of twice a month, that's 24 times a year per customer or 480,000 visits / 365 days = 1,315 customers per day.
Other approaches:
* One might take this a step further during a case interview and attempt to segment these customers. For example, one might assume 50% of the restaurants customers are drive-through and 25% of the remaining take their food "to go." Drive-through customers do not take, but are
given napkins. "To go" customers may be more likely to "hoard napkins" as they can not go back to the counter for more.
Note: This would influence potential answers to the next question - but for now, assume you did not take this step and all customers are the same.
Number of napkins used per customer per visit
Actual answer: Five napkins with old dispensers and two napkins with prohibitive dispensers for a savings of three napkins per customer.
One estimation approach:
During a case interview you would most likely just use personal experience here - how many napkins do you take or see others take when you're at a fast food restaurant?
Other approaches:
* Bain would send people to the chain to watch napkin taking behavior or call fast food restaurants with both kinds of dispensers to find out how many napkins they go through a day.
Calculations
$0.005 per napkin * 3 napkins * 1500 customers * 365 days per year * 12,000 restaurants = $98.6M dollars saved in napkin purchases.
Question 6
Does this estimate sound reasonable?
* How would you go about feeling comfortable with this figure and pressure checking your assumptions?
* What would you want to flag for your manager as factors that might significantly alter the answer?
Your answer:
11
Bain recommended answer:
To check the magnitude of the overall number some options include:
* Looking at a comparable company’s operating income to see what percentage of the expense napkins account for.
* Find out what your client currently spends per restaurant per year on napkins.
Keep in mind that with a company of this size any small changes in assumptions will significantly alter your answer. Some things to flag for your manager:
* The chain you work for probably gets a significantly better deal on napkin pricing due to the magnitude of their orders (in contrast to the single-location restaurant napkin price estimate you received) * Up to 50% of customers are drive-through and their napkin behavior should not change. This would reduce the savings by up to 50% * The three napkin reduction estimate needs refining. Perhaps a pilot program would need to be done to see if the dispensers really have the desired effect
Question 7
Assume you would need 10 dispensers per store for a total of 120,000 dispensers. Also note that napkins in these dispensers cost more at a price of $.01 per napkin (remember it is the paper companies that make the new dispensers).
At what price per dispenser would the investment not be worth doing?
Your answer:
11
Bain recommended answer:
120,000 * cost of dispenser + 2 napkins * .$01 per napkin * 1,500 customers * 365 days * 12,000 stores = 5 napkins * .005 per napkin * 1,500 customers * 365 days * 12,000 stores
120,000 * cost of dispenser = $32.85M
The most you would be willing to pay per dispenser would be $273.
Note: In an actual case interview you can use round number estimates so that mental math is easier.
Question 8
The actual cost of these dispensers is around $50.
* Can you see any other factors your client should consider before making a decision?
* What other advantages and disadvantages might there be to this switch? (Impact on costs and customers.)
* How might you evaluate the impact of the extraneous factors?
Your answer:
11
Bain recommended answer:
Some potential ideas include:
Advantages:
* Fewer napkins used per day leads to less restocking which may mean better customer service or lower labor cost.
* Better relationship with paper manufacturer (potential for better pricing).
Disadvantages:
* With the new dispenser locking you into a paper provider you may lose buyer power. There is the potential for additional napkin price increases in the future.
* Customer reaction: Will a customer find this to be poor service? What if he or she needs to grab a handful of napkins after a spill?
Implementation:
* Management will need to negotiate a contract that includes limits on future pricing.
* Bain will need to do customer research and pilot programs to evaluate customer reaction.
And many, many more! As you can see, the keys to a good case interview are logical assumptions, creative thinking, and basic quantitative ability. Take time to think through problems and share your thought process with your interviewer and you will do great.
案例面世真题3:Market Sizing
During your case interview, you may be asked to make estimates or solve a problem. You'll find two examples below that will help you think through the process of arriving at reasonable estimates. The third question is a brainteaser — a reminder to think creatively when tackling any case interview problem.
Q: How many pay phones are there on the island of Manhattan?
A: A logical place to begin your analysis might be to ballpark the number of pay phones on Manhattan street corners. If you think of New York City as a grid of streets, you might guess it is about 300 streets long (north to south) by ten streets wide (east to west), so it has approximately 3,000 intersections. You might then assume there is one pay phone for every two intersections, for a total of about 1,500 pay phones.
If you’re feeling really creative, you might subtract the number of intersections that are “invalidated” because they fall in the area of Central Park. Say Central Park is ten blocks long by two blocks wide, or 20 intersections. Using your one-pay-phone-for-every-two-intersections assumption, you would want to subtract ten pay phones from the original 1,500.
You might then add to the 1,490 the number of pay phones that might be found in restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, and office-building lobbies.
Q: How many hotel-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner are produced each year around the world?
A: You might begin by assuming that hotel-sized bottles are produced for two purposes only:
1. To supply hotels and upscale motels
2. To provide samples for gift packs, salons, and so on
You would then want to start by estimating the number of hotels and motels around the world that offer the products to their guests. One way of estimating the number of hotels is to assume that hotels are found predominantly in major cities and resorts. Figure that there are 2,000 major cities and resorts around the world, an average of ten for each of the wor ld’s approximately 200 countries. Assume that each city averages 20 hotels that offer bottled hair products to their guests. Multiplying 20 by 2,000 gives you 40,000 hotels around the world that require shampoo and/or conditioner for their guests.
To understand how many bottles of shampoo and conditioner the 40,000 hotels require, you now need to estimate the total number of uses each hotel on average represents. You can arrive at that number through the following calculation: assume that there are 100 rooms in each hotel, and that those rooms are occupied 50 percent of the time. Multiplying 40,000 by 100 by 0.5 by 365 (don’t forget the number of days in the year!) gives you approximately 750 million.
However, it is probably reasonable to assume that a guest staying for longer than a day will not use a whole shampoo bottle every day. If you assume that an average of one shampoo bottle is used for every two occupied days in a given room, you can now divide your 750 million estimate in half to 375 million. To get to the number of bottles of conditioner, estimate a ratio between the use of shampoo and the use of conditioner. Since many of us do not condition every time we shampoo, you might assume that the ratio is 2:1. Dividing 375 million in half gives you approximately 190 million. Your conclusion would then be that 375 million bottles of shampoo and 190 million bottles of conditioner are required for hotel use every year.
To estimate the total market size, you can probably make things easy on yourself by assuming that the number produced for sample purposes is a small percentage of the total, say ten percent. Combining your two markets would give you approximately 400 million bottles of shampoo and 210 million bottles of conditioner.
Finally, you might want to “reality check” your total figure. Assuming 610 million bottles are produced and sold each year at an average price of 25 cents each, the worldwide market for miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner is about $150 million. Does that sound reasonable?
Q: You are in a room with three light switches, each of which controls one of three light bulbs in the next room. Your task is to determine which switch controls which bulb. All lights are off. Your constraints are: you may flick only two switches and you may enter the room with the light bulbs only once. How would you set about determining which switch controls which bulb?
A: To solve this riddle you must do some out-of-the-box thinking. The best way to determine which light bulb is which is to flick one switch on, wait for five minutes and flick it off. Then flick one of the remaining two switches on and leave the other off. When you enter the room with the bulbs, you can determine which switch controls which of the two lights that are off by feeling to see which of the bulbs is hot (from having burned for five minutes).
Other creative solutions involve pushing the constraints of the game. You might ask if the room you’re in has a phone, so you could call somebody to help you. You might ask if the rooms have a connecting window. You might assume you can leave the first room a number of times, and therefore go out, buy a drill, and bore a hole through the wall so you can see which light bulb is connected to which switch. Or, you might buy a mirror and place it strategically outside the door to guide you.
Remember, you are limited only by your imagination.
案例面世真题4: Famous Skin Care Whitening Products in China
Case Background: You are the product manager at famous skin care's whitening division and you are asked to whether to launch the product in China
Key questions:
1) What's the size of the skin care market in China? And growth rate?
2) What's the size of the whitening produce in china's market? And growth rate?
3) What are the consumer behavior patterns?
4) Who are the competitors and how has market share changed?
5) Can famous skin care operate profitably? Make local vs. import?
Options and Hypothesis:
1) Consumer goods demand pattern(correlates well with income)- see how well this can be used to project future demands
2) 4P of marketing in analyzing competitors - and see what they have done
3) Profitability model to see the economics impact of the different options Data Requirement
1) Total size of skin care market and growth rates
2) Total size of whitening products and growth rates
3) Market share by competitor and historical market share
4) Consumer behavior surveys/studies
5) Regulations on foreign company investment in China
6) Profitability model for make local vs. import
Data Collection and Analysis:
After you collect the data, then you can look at how your questions are answered:
1) China's skin care market is worth over $10 Billion, with whitening product accouting for 40% of it. There are currently6 major competitors- with only one clear market leader. Consumers are extremely receptive to new skin products and customer loyalty can be established when the products really delivered the results. Even at a high premium, customers are willing to pay for it
2) Based on profitablity model - the import model is more feasible during the first 5 years - then when demand really picks up, the make-local model would be more profitable
案例面世真题5: Famous shoe maker's decition to change supplier
Case Background:
You are the purchasing manager at famous shoe maker and u've learned reports of unfair wage rates at one of your key supplier. You need to decide whether you should discontinue your relationship with this supplier.
Key questions:
1) What is the labor rates that are currently paid to the employees?(VC. the market rates vs. int'l standards)
2) What are the reasons for discrepancies (i.e. are employees compensated in othe ways?)
3) How much does fanous shoe buy from this supplier and what would be the impact of switching to another supplier?
4) What is famous shoe maker's internal policies regarding labor conditions of suppliers? How will this action impact different stakeholders? Options and Hypothesis:
1) Economics argument - lowest cost wins
2) Universality - if you were placed in the different stakeholder's shoe, would you make the same decision and feel fair?
Data Requirement
1) Labor wage rates for your supplier, its competitor, local market rates, int'k rates
2) Company policies regarding supplier labor policies
3) Cost analysis of switching suppliers
Data Collection and Analysis:
After you collect the data, then you can look at how your questions are answered:
1) Labor rates appears to be much lower than int'l standards. But it's comparable to local wage rates, the working condition is also not comparable to int'l standard again, similar to local working conditions 2) Famous shoe maker;s company states that each supplier must fairly compensate its workers and it doesn't work with suppliers that have abusive labor pratices. Supplier does seem to operate below int'l standard
3) Economics argument says there is nothing wrong there - supplier legally operates and has the lowest cost - hence, no need to switch
4) Universality- feels fair because the supplier provides livelihood to local community, famous shoe maker enjoys a good margin and the workers get a fair wage in their local community
5) cost of switching supplier implies severe disruption to supply chain
6) Action item: Continue communication with supplier to make ensure no labor standards are violated
案例面世真题6: Martket Entry report
case background:
I: 德国某制镍nickle集团,在中国设立了一个代表处,有一个首席代表和三个员工主要负责中国区的业务,业务量不大,每年300万左右的规模,但是可以赚的远远不止这些.因为这个首席代表是德国人,他觉得中国的空气环境不好,所以一直没把家人接过来,经常往返于中国和德国,以至于没有更好的开展中国业务.现在德国总部决定任命你做首席代表,然后要求你写一份报告你打算在中国怎么做.
A: 那你能简单介绍一下镍这个产品嘛?
I: 中国是一个缺镍的国家,市场需求量比较大. 镍是一种金属,用途比较广,可以用于手机,眼镜框,开关,灯泡丝等等. 我可以告诉你的是, 在中国对于镍肯定是有很大的需求.现在总部需要你写一份报告,你应该写点什么?
A: 首先我会对中国市场进行调查,获得信息并作一定的分析,然后结合公司自身的情况,提出我的建议.
I: 那就从市场调查开始把,你会做些什么?
A: 恩, 你刚才告诉我中国对于镍的需求很大而且很有潜力, 那到底有大多有潜力,这是我从市场调查需要得到的.
所以我会去获知market size, market growth, 以及我们公司在市场中的market share, 以及宏观环境的情况, 比如政策限制阿.
然后我会去了解一些行业内的现有的Player,他们各自的竞争地位和market share, 看一下有没有也有一些foerign player like us,他们做的怎样
接着我会去了解一些customer的情况,看看我们的客户对于产品的需求以及购买因素
获得了这些信息后,我会结合我们自身的capabilities, 来提出我的建议.
I: 对阿,你获得了这些信息后, 不能只在report里面只写这些, 要给出你的建议, 那你的建议是什么呢? 业务模式是什么呢?
A: 可能出于试水的考虑, 我会提出先不在中国生产产品, 而是直接在中国销售德国的成品. 出于对中国市场不是十分熟悉, 我会考虑通过代理商帮我们sell我们的产品. 当然同时我们需要培养自己的销售队伍.
I: 那你怎么来搞好在中国的销售呢?
A: 首先我会改变中国的组织架构, 因为原先只是一个representative的office, 现在我打算改成以地域来分的组织架构来组织销售队伍. 比如华东区,华南区, 华北区等等.
I : 还有没有别的方式来组织销售?
A: 还可以按照客户来分把, 比如眼镜客户销售, 手机客户销售, 灯泡客户销售等等. 或者按照产品来分.
I: 那你为什么会首先想到地域来分?
A: (笑), 其实我也想到了按照其他方式来分,只不过首先说了按照地域来分, 呵呵.
I: 那然后那,你的报告就完了么?
A: 还没有, 因为现在只是在中国销售在德国制造的成品, 这样成本肯定会高, 所以以后我会打算在中国制造产品后销售.
I: 那你觉得在德国制造和在中国制造的成本差异主要在哪里?
A: 我觉得可能是原材料吧, 以及运输成本, 而在本地制造的话这些成本肯定会降低.
I: 你说对了一半, 其实最显而易见的成本差异就在于人力成本, 中国的人力成本明显低于德国的人力成本,当然还可能会牵涉到关税, 所以成本差异主要可能就在运输, 人力, 关税等等. 好! 那你如果打算在中国制造的话, 你会考虑些什么?
A: 首先考虑选址吧, 然后可能会考虑生产线的问题
I: 再往前一点呢?
A: 采购, 原材料供应吧
I: (笑)看来你很喜欢原材料阿, 再想想看
A: 哦, 那就是我前面提到的到底是自己造厂,还是和local player合资.
I: 如果是合资的话,你需要考虑些什么呢?
A: 我会列一张potential的JV Partner的list, 因为有一些国企公司非常愿意和国外的很强的制造商合作, 来获取国外先进的技术以及管理经验.
然后我会考虑partner的market position, company financial performace (revenue, volume, debt, AR), 接着我可能会考虑有没有合资上的政策限制, 然后再看一下我的partner的产品线是不是符合我的产品, 再接着我会去看一下partner的销售,营销网络以及服务能力.
我还会考虑股权的结构, 比如我们占多少Equity share, 以及看一下partner的管理层是否能够很好的接受西方的领先技术和管理经验(management fit), 因为有的国企管理层是40几岁的中青年,他们非常愿意接受西方先进的理念,这样也便于以后更好的沟通.
I: 非常好, 那我们的讨论就到这吧, 谢谢
案例面世真题7: ATK Case 1
Case setup (facts offered by interviewer):
Your client is a manufacturer of bicycles
They have been in business for 25 years
They manufacturer and sell three categories of bicycles:
Racing bikes: High end, high performance bikes for sophisticated cyclists
Mainstream bikes: Durable, but not overly complicated bikes for everyday riders
Children’s bikes: Smaller, simpler versions of their mainstream bikes for children
Profits at your client have decreased over the past five years
Question:
What is driving the decline in overall profits?
What recommendations might correct the situation?
Suggested solutions:
The first question is to determine what has caused overall profits to decrease. To accomplish this the candidate must first understand what has transpired in each of the three product categories over the past five years during which profitability has slipped. The following are questions and answers that would be provided in an interview scenario.
What are the client’s margins for a bicycle in each of the three segments?
Racing: Cost = $600/unit, Profit=$300/unit
Mainstream: Cost = $250/unit, Profit = $75/unit
Children’s: Cost = $ 200/unit, Profit = $50/unit
What has happened to the market size of each of the three segments over the past five years?
Racing: Has remained constant at its present size of $300MM Mainstream: Has increased at 2% growth rate per year to its present size of $1.0B
Children’s: Has increa sed at 3% growth rate per year to its present size of $400MM。