How many preliminary questions should one ask at the beginning of a case interview?
We were asked this question by a candidate at IIM-Bangalore. His dilemma was about how many questions should one ask when the interviewer gives the initial case problem. The candidate was worried, that if he asked too many questions he may lose out on time during the rest of the case and if he asked too few then he may miss out on important questions.
A good rule of thumb is to cover all possible questions you may have, but keep an upper cap of 3 mins of time you want to spend doing this. So how do you ask all the questions in a short period of time?
The way you can do this, is by knowing what are the important questions to ask without having to spend too much time thinking about what to ask during the interview.
Let’s look at the main types of preliminary questions followed by a few exercises. The purpose of asking these questions is for —
- Understanding the objectives — You should ask questions to eliminate any ambiguity regarding the goal or objective of the case
- Understanding the client’s company — Good questions to ask here are those related to the product/service the client offers, geography of its operations and where it lies in the value chain
- Spidey Sense Info — Ask any question related to a technical term or situation in the case problem which tingles your “spidey sense” or that makes you immediately curious. For example if the term ‘delinquency rate’ is used in the problem statement, how it is mathematically broken down till you understand it fully
Additionally, you may choose to ask questions related to how is the client performing on different high level metrics (like market share, profits, revenues) currently, in the past or with respect to competition. However, these questions can be asked later in the interview as well.
A good thumb rule is ask as many questions as you feel the need to but keep an upper cap of 2–3 minutes so as to not lose too much time for rest of the case.
Let’s take two examples, to see what are good preliminary questions to ask. We will only look at preliminary questions here and not go into the rest of the case. As practice for yourself, just read the question and think of all the questions you would like to ask.
Example 1|Case 36: Mango Fruit Drink | Case Interviews Cracked
We’ve been hired by a large FMCG client. One of their product lines is a famous mango drink. They have observed that they are losing their market share to competition as well their profitability is lower compared to them. We have been asked to help them turnaround the situation.
Preliminary Questions
So the objective of the case would be to find out why is our market share and profitability lower compared to competition and how we can turnaround the situation? [Understanding the objectives]
Yes.
What part of the value chain do we lie in? [Understanding the client]
We manufacture the product and have third party distributors and retailers.
What is the geography of our sales? [Understanding the client]
All over India.
By profitability we mean our annual profits divided by our annual revenues? [Understanding the objectives] Yes.
Do we know what is our current market share and profitability vs our competition? [Understanding the client / Spidey Sense Info]
Our current market share is 25% vs 35% for the client and our profitability is -14% vs 10% for the competition.
How long has our profitability been in the negative? [Spidey Sense Info — How long have we been in negative profits!]
This has been since the last two years. We’ve tried to turnaround the situation ourselves, but haven’t been able to so far.
And there other players in the market as well, since the combined share is only 60%? Who are they?[Spidey Sense Info — Where is the rest of the 40%!]
Yes, there are other smaller players on whom we don’t really have much data on.
Example 2|Case 2: Chicken Nutrients| Case Interviews Cracked
Your client ABC Co. is a vertically integrated manufacturer, marketer and retailer of vitamins for chicken in the US. Now to pursue growth overseas in emerging markets, the management of ABC is thinking of entering the rapidly growing Chinese market. You have been hired as a consultant to evaluate the feasibility of their market expansion plan. Should the client ABC enter the chicken market in China or not? Why? Preliminary questions
Preliminary Questions
What metric should we use to decide whether we should enter the market or not? Else I would look at potential revenues, profit margins and investment costs.[Understanding the objectives]The management wants you to estimate potential profits and would take a call there- after.
Is there any particular reason why the client has chosen the Chinese market for pursuing expansion? [Spidey Sense Info — Why China and not someplace else!]The Chinese market is twice the size of the American market in terms of volumes and is rapidly growing.
We are vertically integrated along the value chain in the US. Do we expect the same in China as well?[Understanding the client]
Not necessarily, we will definitely be manufacturing the vitamin though.
How is our product, the chicken vitamins useful to our customers?[Understanding the client — in this case the product better] The vitamin products produced by the client help increase the size of chicken breast and reduce fat content.
What geography within China are we looking at for expansion?[Understanding the client]
No geographic specification, wherever the business can be profitable.
As you practice more, you would be ready with a mental list of questions even before the case problem has been given to you, along with knowing what are additional good questions to ask after the problem is given.
~Saransh Garg
