Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
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McKinsey & CompanyIndian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow Placement Interview Questions
Updated
10 Jan 2025
57 interviews found
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Why consulting?
- Q2. Tell me about yourself
- Q3. Tell me something which is not on your resume
- Q4. Tell about the subjects which you are studying here
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case was about a private equity firm which had to take a decision to buy a wine company. If you are the firm how would you proceed? The interviewer wanted to see the approach and he was willing to give data as required to make a decision.
Tips: Be ready to explain each of your assumption.
Practise few calculations as it is also important while solving case.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: He told me to select one area and the case will be on that. I told him whatever he likes. He then said that there is a company in Africa which manufactures papers. From past three years its profit has been declining. Suggest ways to improve it.
Tips: Relax draw structures which helps him understand how you are working.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: The case was about a private equity firm which had to take a decision to buy a wine company. If you are the firm how would you proceed? The interviewer wanted to see the approach and he was willing to give data as required to make a decision.
Tips: Be ready to explain each of your assumption.
Practise few calculations as it is also important while solving case.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: He told me to select one area and the case will be on that. I told him whatever he likes. He then said that there is a company in Africa which manufactures papers. From past three years its profit has been declining. Suggest ways to improve it.
Tips: Relax draw structures which helps him understand how you are working.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Most significant acheivement in life
- Q2. Why consulting?
- Q3. One point that I would want to point out as my biggest highlight from my CV
- Q4. Couple of other CV related questions
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A successful man wants to open a restaurant in a downtown of a metro. What should be his strategy and how should he estimate his resources?
I started by clarifying the successful part and what does the interviewer mean by resources, I was told that the successful part was to block my analysis along cost part and the resources was limited to number of chairs and tables. After I told about how he might choose the demographics of the downtown area and how he should choose the type of restaurant, the interviewer said to take the restaurant to cater lunch to office goers and is of Italian type.
My numeric analyses started with a clarified assumption that Italian restaurants are expensive and are visited by rich executives on an occasional lunch basis. Then came the assumption to numbers and division to to age group., income group, gender etc and arrived at a decent number which was ok to the interviewer.
Tips: The interviewer wants to look at how we were choosing each step. So think aloud and take it slow because they never urge you to take it fast and you don't have to either.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Estimate the number of treadmills in Delhi.
I started along the traditional path of diving the population into families and families into rich and poor. And then rich families with health conscious people.
2nd part was about number of gyms and other health centres where treadmill might be there. Here the analysis was in terms of number of gyms and avg number of treadmills in each gym.
An analytical question: A person loses his purse with 1000 bucks in it and there is a second person who also loses his purse with unknown amount in it. A third person finds the purses and asks both of them to bid alternately and whoever bids the highest wins both the purses. If you are that first person who lost purse with 1000 bucks in it, how much would be your highest bid?
I was confused with the question because I thought it was a onetime bid and told him that we cannot find the answer. He found out why I was saying that and told that the bid continues till one of them stops. From here on I took some time to arrive at the solution but it needed decent bit of help. The answer is 2000 because that will take the first person to at least the same state as he was without his pursei.e 1000
Tips: There is nothing wrong in asking for help and in fact it is very well appreciated in most of the cases. But avoid overdoing it.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: A successful man wants to open a restaurant in a downtown of a metro. What should be his strategy and how should he estimate his resources?
I started by clarifying the successful part and what does the interviewer mean by resources, I was told that the successful part was to block my analysis along cost part and the resources was limited to number of chairs and tables. After I told about how he might choose the demographics of the downtown area and how he should choose the type of restaurant, the interviewer said to take the restaurant to cater lunch to office goers and is of Italian type.
My numeric analyses started with a clarified assumption that Italian restaurants are expensive and are visited by rich executives on an occasional lunch basis. Then came the assumption to numbers and division to to age group., income group, gender etc and arrived at a decent number which was ok to the interviewer.
Tips: The interviewer wants to look at how we were choosing each step. So think aloud and take it slow because they never urge you to take it fast and you don't have to either.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Estimate the number of treadmills in Delhi.
I started along the traditional path of diving the population into families and families into rich and poor. And then rich families with health conscious people.
2nd part was about number of gyms and other health centres where treadmill might be there. Here the analysis was in terms of number of gyms and avg number of treadmills in each gym.
An analytical question: A person loses his purse with 1000 bucks in it and there is a second person who also loses his purse with unknown amount in it. A third person finds the purses and asks both of them to bid alternately and whoever bids the highest wins both the purses. If you are that first person who lost purse with 1000 bucks in it, how much would be your highest bid?
I was confused with the question because I thought it was a onetime bid and told him that we cannot find the answer. He found out why I was saying that and told that the bid continues till one of them stops. From here on I took some time to arrive at the solution but it needed decent bit of help. The answer is 2000 because that will take the first person to at least the same state as he was without his pursei.e 1000
Tips: There is nothing wrong in asking for help and in fact it is very well appreciated in most of the cases. But avoid overdoing it.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Why consultant?
- Q2. Why MBA?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case was about declining profitability of an Italian restaurant in New Delhi. Looked like a plain vanilla profitability case to me. I did the clarification part and gave him the standard cost vs revenue profit model as my structure. He said the structure was ok and asked me to continue, I launched into the analysis only to be stumped just 2 minutes later.
The restaurant was not losing revenue and costs were the same. I asked him three times to confirm this. I took time out and decided this structure would get me nowhere. Flipped a page and started on 4Ps ... Product being first. Asked him about the items sold and then the price of these items. He went one step ahead and gave me profitability figures. Apparently alcohol had more profitability than pasta and meats.
I asked if the product mix had changed over the last 2 years when profits had declined. The look on his face told me the case was over. However, he followed it up with an interesting question about why this may have happened/ I gave him two good reasons that were to do with outside environment, regulation of alcohol and some such thing.
He asked me to take some time to think that the owner of the restaurant may have done which made this happen. I took the customary one-minute and came up with the idea that probably the owner had tried to increase turnover, By improving service time and that the consumers all consumed alcohol while they waited for the main course.
Tips: practise hard. Also make sure you are thinking about the case in the interview and are not thinking about how the interview is proceeding.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Investment decision with limited budget about the creche business in chennai. Guesstimate about numbers of creches that can be opened in Chennai.
Tips: When faced with friendly interviewer you can afford to relax a bit but do not let your guard down quickly.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case was about a bank.. big bank in India. Wanted to tap rural market. After initial clarification and structure building I identified correctly the areas where the bankk had to apply effort to gain market share. Was stopped before getting in depth.
General Tips: Structure your cases properly.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: The case was about declining profitability of an Italian restaurant in New Delhi. Looked like a plain vanilla profitability case to me. I did the clarification part and gave him the standard cost vs revenue profit model as my structure. He said the structure was ok and asked me to continue, I launched into the analysis only to be stumped just 2 minutes later.
The restaurant was not losing revenue and costs were the same. I asked him three times to confirm this. I took time out and decided this structure would get me nowhere. Flipped a page and started on 4Ps ... Product being first. Asked him about the items sold and then the price of these items. He went one step ahead and gave me profitability figures. Apparently alcohol had more profitability than pasta and meats.
I asked if the product mix had changed over the last 2 years when profits had declined. The look on his face told me the case was over. However, he followed it up with an interesting question about why this may have happened/ I gave him two good reasons that were to do with outside environment, regulation of alcohol and some such thing.
He asked me to take some time to think that the owner of the restaurant may have done which made this happen. I took the customary one-minute and came up with the idea that probably the owner had tried to increase turnover, By improving service time and that the consumers all consumed alcohol while they waited for the main course.
Tips: practise hard. Also make sure you are thinking about the case in the interview and are not thinking about how the interview is proceeding.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Investment decision with limited budget about the creche business in chennai. Guesstimate about numbers of creches that can be opened in Chennai.
Tips: When faced with friendly interviewer you can afford to relax a bit but do not let your guard down quickly.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case was about a bank.. big bank in India. Wanted to tap rural market. After initial clarification and structure building I identified correctly the areas where the bankk had to apply effort to gain market share. Was stopped before getting in depth.
General Tips: Structure your cases properly.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. How is life at IIM ?
- Q2. About job profile and work experience
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Sabre has to invest in a logistics company in India. Tell the approach which it would take before making the decision whether to invest in it or not, from a PE perspective.
Tips: Change your perspective according to the purpose for which the analysis is to be carried out. For example: PE firm looks at growth potential with long term perspective. Communicate to them that you have understood this, and then proceed further.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: Sabre has to invest in a logistics company in India. Tell the approach which it would take before making the decision whether to invest in it or not, from a PE perspective.
Tips: Change your perspective according to the purpose for which the analysis is to be carried out. For example: PE firm looks at growth potential with long term perspective. Communicate to them that you have understood this, and then proceed further.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Asked about job profile
- Q2. How was your day?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There was a painting on the wall. You have to bid for it in an auction on behalf of your client. How will you do its valuation? How will you justify to your client in case you are bidding for it in excess of Rs. 1 crore?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: An FMCG company wants to enter into packaged fruit juice segment in India. What all aspects should it take into account?
Value proposition of fruit juices w.r.t to its substitutes? Why different packaging, pricing strategy?
Tips: Try to cover as many aspects as possible.
Skills:
Duration: 2
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: There was a painting on the wall. You have to bid for it in an auction on behalf of your client. How will you do its valuation? How will you justify to your client in case you are bidding for it in excess of Rs. 1 crore?
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: An FMCG company wants to enter into packaged fruit juice segment in India. What all aspects should it take into account?
Value proposition of fruit juices w.r.t to its substitutes? Why different packaging, pricing strategy?
Tips: Try to cover as many aspects as possible.
Skills:
Duration: 2
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. What did you do in your internship?
- Q2. How will you do valuation for a bank? What ratios will you use and why?
- Q3. Puzzle: You have lost your wallet containing 500 rupees. There is a similar wallet with an unknown amount of money. You have to bid highest amongst many bidders...read more
- Q4. Tell me something about your work experience
- Q5. Why did you leave IIM offer for work 2 years back
- Q6. Anything you would like to ask us
- Q7. How has been the day?
- Q8. Anything you would like to ask us?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case: Estimate the demand for treadmills in India. You can assume that there is only one variety of treadmill costing 20k.
Tips: guestimates have some standard ways to proceed and are easily crackable.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: -A PE firm wants to evaluate an opportunity for online DVD rental market in India. Advise them. I looked at all possible dimensions, took care of issues like privacy, demand drivers, possible business model, segmented the customers, estimated annual sales and costs. Told that returns would be much lesser than what a PE firm demands on an investment.
- The sales cost/ acquisition of a certain credit card sales company has suddenly increased. The number of conversations per employee though remains the same. What can be the possible reasons. Gave a broad set of possibilities like inflation, market saturation, new product arrival, competition etc. Divided into fixed and variable costs and indicated that employee cost would have increased in variable cost.
Tips: Be confident, take your time and try to gauge the problem correctly before giving answers.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: SBI has 150 branches and ICICI has 50 in Mumbai. The home loan sales for the two are though 50 cr and 150 cr respectively. What are the possible reasons.
Initially checked whether there was a real problem for SBI by identifying no. of employees in the home loan department for both, company focus and years since in the market.
Identified the following reasons:
1. Marketing effort by ICICI
2. Word of mouth approach to home loans
3. Tie ups with Real estate guys
4. Lower home loan rates; less diligence
5. Customer friendly staff; Possible use of technology
6. Consumer profile incline towards private banking
7. Other VAS provided by ICICI.
Skills:
Duration: 3 months
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: Case: Estimate the demand for treadmills in India. You can assume that there is only one variety of treadmill costing 20k.
Tips: guestimates have some standard ways to proceed and are easily crackable.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: -A PE firm wants to evaluate an opportunity for online DVD rental market in India. Advise them. I looked at all possible dimensions, took care of issues like privacy, demand drivers, possible business model, segmented the customers, estimated annual sales and costs. Told that returns would be much lesser than what a PE firm demands on an investment.
- The sales cost/ acquisition of a certain credit card sales company has suddenly increased. The number of conversations per employee though remains the same. What can be the possible reasons. Gave a broad set of possibilities like inflation, market saturation, new product arrival, competition etc. Divided into fixed and variable costs and indicated that employee cost would have increased in variable cost.
Tips: Be confident, take your time and try to gauge the problem correctly before giving answers.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: SBI has 150 branches and ICICI has 50 in Mumbai. The home loan sales for the two are though 50 cr and 150 cr respectively. What are the possible reasons.
Initially checked whether there was a real problem for SBI by identifying no. of employees in the home loan department for both, company focus and years since in the market.
Identified the following reasons:
1. Marketing effort by ICICI
2. Word of mouth approach to home loans
3. Tie ups with Real estate guys
4. Lower home loan rates; less diligence
5. Customer friendly staff; Possible use of technology
6. Consumer profile incline towards private banking
7. Other VAS provided by ICICI.
Skills:
Duration: 3 months
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Campus Placement
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Why MBA after MBBS?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case I got was about an International brokerage firm trying to enter India. It had three options to do so, acquiring an Indian firm, JV, and entering alone. Case involved a lot of data. I took a good 2-3 minutes initially to come up with a good MECE(mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) structure to work with, which was appreciated by the interviewer. Finally, he asked me to value a firm based on some data that he had given me, as I was going along the acquisition route.
Tips: It is essential to go about getting the structure right. think aloud, ask the interviewer at every point as to whether you are going on the right path, look for subtle hints from the interviewer.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A lot of questions related to my CV were asked from positions of responsibility to my social work initiatives. He also clarified a lot of my doubts about the PMP practise at McKinsey, which I intended to work for.
The case was about a tractor firm, which was the market leader till about six months back, but has lost market steadily since then. I used the Porter's value chain framework, which he was very impressed with, He straightaway told me to skip quite a few analyses areas and I quickly came with problem as the company was offering less margin to its non-exclusive retailers, as compared to the competition. I triangulated my conclusion by asking as to what were the margins offered before the firm started losing market share and the interviewer was very happy about this.
Tips: Thinking aloud is something I cannot stress upon enough. Use MECE approach to make your framework waterproof. Try triangulating the conclusions drawn if any.
General Tips: Ask for clarification if you get stuck in-between.
Maintain your calm.
Skills:
Duration: 2 months
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: The case I got was about an International brokerage firm trying to enter India. It had three options to do so, acquiring an Indian firm, JV, and entering alone. Case involved a lot of data. I took a good 2-3 minutes initially to come up with a good MECE(mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) structure to work with, which was appreciated by the interviewer. Finally, he asked me to value a firm based on some data that he had given me, as I was going along the acquisition route.
Tips: It is essential to go about getting the structure right. think aloud, ask the interviewer at every point as to whether you are going on the right path, look for subtle hints from the interviewer.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A lot of questions related to my CV were asked from positions of responsibility to my social work initiatives. He also clarified a lot of my doubts about the PMP practise at McKinsey, which I intended to work for.
The case was about a tractor firm, which was the market leader till about six months back, but has lost market steadily since then. I used the Porter's value chain framework, which he was very impressed with, He straightaway told me to skip quite a few analyses areas and I quickly came with problem as the company was offering less margin to its non-exclusive retailers, as compared to the competition. I triangulated my conclusion by asking as to what were the margins offered before the firm started losing market share and the interviewer was very happy about this.
Tips: Thinking aloud is something I cannot stress upon enough. Use MECE approach to make your framework waterproof. Try triangulating the conclusions drawn if any.
General Tips: Ask for clarification if you get stuck in-between.
Maintain your calm.
Skills:
Duration: 2 months
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Tell me what you did in CRISIL
- Q2. Tell me about yourself
- Q3. You have mentioned that you sing on a Band in Bangalore, what do you do here exactly?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interview started with a 'tell me about yourself' for which i had prepared a 1 minute intro highlighting specific aspects about myself that I wanted to bring to his notice . Then he asked me about what i did in CRISIL (my prior workplace) . I explained that I was engaged in assigning Credit Ratings to Corporates under Basel II Regulations.
How would you go about Rating a Company, lets say Bharti Airtel.
Because it was Bharti Airtel I had to give an answer tailored to what the approach would be for a Telecom company would be. While answering I was conscious of 2 things – One, that I have a clear structure to my answers and Two, tried to keep it as simple and jargon free as possible.
(An Offshoot from something I had mentioned in the earlier answer) What are the ratios that you would look at?Here I mentioned the financial ratios that I would look at stating specifically why I would look at each ratio. He probed me on a few ratios here and there. The intention appeared to be more to check my articulation of a financial concept.
Eg: What is a Current Ratio?
I explained the formula. However I did not stop there. I went on to explain that it was used to assess the liquidity position of the company.
Then I went on to explain to the logic behind the usage of the ratio – Simply put, it tells us if there is likely to be sufficient inflows of funds over the next one year to meet the maturing payment obligations. So a current ratio of less than one means the company has more to pay than what is coming in, a liquidity problem. (Based on the approving nods that I was getting, I felt he liked those portions of my answer where I endeavored to de-jargonize or simplify complex concepts)
So Tell me, how would you increase the revenues of Bharti Airtel.
That was my case, it had begun. However, at that point I thought it was just an extension of my previous discussion and I started rambling.
Analysis:
Preliminary questions - We all know Bharti Airtel and the services it offered quite well – So there was no need to ask preliminary questions. Also, since I wasn't aware that I was doing a case I did not have the opportunity to ask preliminary questions.
Structure: The Structure that I used was fairly simple – Increase in Revenues can in Existing markets or through expansion in new markets.
I explored the existing markets first. Here increase in revenues could occur through increased market penetration, increased usage of basic services among current users or increased usage of Value added services among existing customers. He asked me a couple of questions on how these things can be done and I gave him some off the cuff answers.
For the New markets, I suggested that the company could look at inorganic expansion through acquisitions or through establishment of Greenfield operations in new markets with high market potential.
The entire case was more like an informal chat. There were a few follow up questions on some of the options I had generated. The case did not last very long – about 10 minutes at the max.
Tips: Know your Resume well. At no point in the interview should you ramble on. All answers must be natural (ie, must not appear rehearsed), brief, structured and to the point.
Retaining composure through the interview is critical. Mistakes may happen during the interview, but it is important to pick you up and keep at it. People rarely have perfect interviews where everything has gone right and interviewers don‟t expect it either.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case: I am the manufacturer of Tata Nano. While setting up the plant I expected to have sales of around 5 lac Nanos per annum, but now the number is way below that. Can you help me find out why.
Analysis: Preliminary questions – Since it was Tata Nano, lot of the background questions were not required. I clarified whether the problem was a lack of bookings that they received. He agreed.
Structure: The Structure that I used was not the best but it did get me to the problem. I started off by saying the lack of bookings could be on account of 3 reasons – One, a lack of awareness of the product among the target customers (Marketing problem), Two, Being aware of the product but not being able to place a booking (Distribution problem) or a Three, being aware of the product yet not interested in the product(i called this the product problem). He asked me to ignore the first 2 (he did not seem highly impressed) and explore the 3 rd the product problem.
Here I again broke it up in to 2 further branches – Problems that the Car has by itself (Internal factors) and problems in the external environment mainly competition, etc. I deep delved in to the Internal factors.
Of the internal problems I mentioned, he agreed that the negative publicity from the steering wheel catching fire was an issue and comfort factor was another issue. As and when he acknowledged a problem, I made a separate note of it. Eventually when he asked me to explore the external factors, I used these points to do a quick summary of the key takeaways up to that point.
In the external problem, I divided it into competition from other cars and two wheeler. I asked a few questions here trying to pick up a clue or 2 of how to proceed from there but he just refused to shell out any information. At this point he also took out his Blackberry and acted uncooperative. I went on to analyze for myself that given that the price of the next cheapest car was over a lakh higher than this car the issue lay more with the 2 wheeler. I went on to list factors why people would prefer 2 wheeler to a Tata Nano. Of the factors I listed, he acknowledged that the high running costs and availability of easy financing options seemed like the distinguishing factors. He said I seemed to have arrived at the problem.
He now asked me to tell me how he could provide
financing options for the Nano. This I felt was like a
guess estimate problem. I said I would work backward
to solve the problem. This is how I solved it – I said the average Nano target customer would earn Rs 10000 per month (he had given me that number in an earlier discussion, he liked the fact that I had noted it down and was using it again) I said, given the average savings rate of the country is at 35%-40% (this is from the RBI website I think). That meant a saving of about Rs 4,000 per month. No one would be comfortable giving up their
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: The interview started with a 'tell me about yourself' for which i had prepared a 1 minute intro highlighting specific aspects about myself that I wanted to bring to his notice . Then he asked me about what i did in CRISIL (my prior workplace) . I explained that I was engaged in assigning Credit Ratings to Corporates under Basel II Regulations.
How would you go about Rating a Company, lets say Bharti Airtel.
Because it was Bharti Airtel I had to give an answer tailored to what the approach would be for a Telecom company would be. While answering I was conscious of 2 things – One, that I have a clear structure to my answers and Two, tried to keep it as simple and jargon free as possible.
(An Offshoot from something I had mentioned in the earlier answer) What are the ratios that you would look at?Here I mentioned the financial ratios that I would look at stating specifically why I would look at each ratio. He probed me on a few ratios here and there. The intention appeared to be more to check my articulation of a financial concept.
Eg: What is a Current Ratio?
I explained the formula. However I did not stop there. I went on to explain that it was used to assess the liquidity position of the company.
Then I went on to explain to the logic behind the usage of the ratio – Simply put, it tells us if there is likely to be sufficient inflows of funds over the next one year to meet the maturing payment obligations. So a current ratio of less than one means the company has more to pay than what is coming in, a liquidity problem. (Based on the approving nods that I was getting, I felt he liked those portions of my answer where I endeavored to de-jargonize or simplify complex concepts)
So Tell me, how would you increase the revenues of Bharti Airtel.
That was my case, it had begun. However, at that point I thought it was just an extension of my previous discussion and I started rambling.
Analysis:
Preliminary questions - We all know Bharti Airtel and the services it offered quite well – So there was no need to ask preliminary questions. Also, since I wasn't aware that I was doing a case I did not have the opportunity to ask preliminary questions.
Structure: The Structure that I used was fairly simple – Increase in Revenues can in Existing markets or through expansion in new markets.
I explored the existing markets first. Here increase in revenues could occur through increased market penetration, increased usage of basic services among current users or increased usage of Value added services among existing customers. He asked me a couple of questions on how these things can be done and I gave him some off the cuff answers.
For the New markets, I suggested that the company could look at inorganic expansion through acquisitions or through establishment of Greenfield operations in new markets with high market potential.
The entire case was more like an informal chat. There were a few follow up questions on some of the options I had generated. The case did not last very long – about 10 minutes at the max.
Tips: Know your Resume well. At no point in the interview should you ramble on. All answers must be natural (ie, must not appear rehearsed), brief, structured and to the point.
Retaining composure through the interview is critical. Mistakes may happen during the interview, but it is important to pick you up and keep at it. People rarely have perfect interviews where everything has gone right and interviewers don‟t expect it either.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case: I am the manufacturer of Tata Nano. While setting up the plant I expected to have sales of around 5 lac Nanos per annum, but now the number is way below that. Can you help me find out why.
Analysis: Preliminary questions – Since it was Tata Nano, lot of the background questions were not required. I clarified whether the problem was a lack of bookings that they received. He agreed.
Structure: The Structure that I used was not the best but it did get me to the problem. I started off by saying the lack of bookings could be on account of 3 reasons – One, a lack of awareness of the product among the target customers (Marketing problem), Two, Being aware of the product but not being able to place a booking (Distribution problem) or a Three, being aware of the product yet not interested in the product(i called this the product problem). He asked me to ignore the first 2 (he did not seem highly impressed) and explore the 3 rd the product problem.
Here I again broke it up in to 2 further branches – Problems that the Car has by itself (Internal factors) and problems in the external environment mainly competition, etc. I deep delved in to the Internal factors.
Of the internal problems I mentioned, he agreed that the negative publicity from the steering wheel catching fire was an issue and comfort factor was another issue. As and when he acknowledged a problem, I made a separate note of it. Eventually when he asked me to explore the external factors, I used these points to do a quick summary of the key takeaways up to that point.
In the external problem, I divided it into competition from other cars and two wheeler. I asked a few questions here trying to pick up a clue or 2 of how to proceed from there but he just refused to shell out any information. At this point he also took out his Blackberry and acted uncooperative. I went on to analyze for myself that given that the price of the next cheapest car was over a lakh higher than this car the issue lay more with the 2 wheeler. I went on to list factors why people would prefer 2 wheeler to a Tata Nano. Of the factors I listed, he acknowledged that the high running costs and availability of easy financing options seemed like the distinguishing factors. He said I seemed to have arrived at the problem.
He now asked me to tell me how he could provide
financing options for the Nano. This I felt was like a
guess estimate problem. I said I would work backward
to solve the problem. This is how I solved it – I said the average Nano target customer would earn Rs 10000 per month (he had given me that number in an earlier discussion, he liked the fact that I had noted it down and was using it again) I said, given the average savings rate of the country is at 35%-40% (this is from the RBI website I think). That meant a saving of about Rs 4,000 per month. No one would be comfortable giving up their
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: We started the interview by talking about the video conferencing facilities in IIM L, since there was a VC setup in the interview room. We talked about it for a while and then we started the interview. He asked the most standard question: tell me something about yourself. I gave him a long and descriptive answer since he wasn't engaging me much. We ended up talking about badminton since both of us were badminton players.
Since I am passionate about badminton, he asked me to estimate the no. of badminton courts in India. I started off by dividing India into rural and urban areas, and confirmed with him that I can ignore the rural areas for this guesstimation. I divided the urban areas further into tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and started with Mumbai as an average for tier 1 cities. The rest of the case was pretty straightforward, since I took an average number of people per badminton court and multiplied it by the population. I took a percentage of the number in case of tier 2 cities to arrive at the total number.
Tips: Draw out an MECE structure before starting analysis of the case. Reality checks are essential.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer was extremely informal. He was talking how weird the interview process is these days, as compared to the process in his days. We talked about how big the interview room was and how difficult it is to focus while sitting in a comfy couch! He didn't ask me any personal questions since he said he had already been through my CV a million times. The case was about a fertilizer manufacturing company based out of the US which was receiving complaints regarding its poor customer service. I started by asking details about the company, its operations, its customers, the competitors and the market in general (barriers, trends etc.). After the initial questions, I realized that the problem was in the supply of fertilizers to the customers (which were 5 major distributors across the US). So, I broke down the case into the supply value chain, i.e., raw materials (procurement and transportation), manufacturing process and inventory handling. This led me to the problem which was their inventory handling methods. Specifically, the demand estimation was way off; they estimated demand on an annual basis and it was a word of-mouth contract with the customers. Besides, despite geographical variations within the US, the demand was estimated by one sales team centrally. This was the key issue and I got to it pretty quickly.
The pace of the interview was very fast and the interviewer did not let me talk for long periods of time; basically he was testing me on my speed of option generation. I thought I did pretty well and suggested seasonal demand estimation based on geography and that the contracts with customers should be on paper.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Very serious interview. He was completely straight faced right from the word goes. Immediately asked me to tell him something about myself. After hearing me
out, he asked me to tell him something about my work experience at the Bain Capability Centre. This part went pretty well.
He didn‟t really give me a case. He asked me which sector I followed in India, to which I replied the retail sector. We then entered into a discussion into the retail sector in India. I had very little sector knowledge and retail was my best bet. SO after giving him some facts that I had read, , he asked me what a retail company think should about while entering the Indian market, i.e., the key success factors. . I told him that we should consider the target customer segment, the product offerings, the retail format and the locations. The interview was pretty OK till this point. . However, then he started getting into details. He asked me what a company should do to compete with the huge unorganized sector, and wasn't convinced with my answer. I knew that I‟d blown it.
Finally he ended the case and asked me if I had any other shortlists before I left.
Tips: Please prepare one sector thoroughly, not just facts, but to have a business opinion about it.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: We started the interview by talking about the video conferencing facilities in IIM L, since there was a VC setup in the interview room. We talked about it for a while and then we started the interview. He asked the most standard question: tell me something about yourself. I gave him a long and descriptive answer since he wasn't engaging me much. We ended up talking about badminton since both of us were badminton players.
Since I am passionate about badminton, he asked me to estimate the no. of badminton courts in India. I started off by dividing India into rural and urban areas, and confirmed with him that I can ignore the rural areas for this guesstimation. I divided the urban areas further into tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and started with Mumbai as an average for tier 1 cities. The rest of the case was pretty straightforward, since I took an average number of people per badminton court and multiplied it by the population. I took a percentage of the number in case of tier 2 cities to arrive at the total number.
Tips: Draw out an MECE structure before starting analysis of the case. Reality checks are essential.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer was extremely informal. He was talking how weird the interview process is these days, as compared to the process in his days. We talked about how big the interview room was and how difficult it is to focus while sitting in a comfy couch! He didn't ask me any personal questions since he said he had already been through my CV a million times. The case was about a fertilizer manufacturing company based out of the US which was receiving complaints regarding its poor customer service. I started by asking details about the company, its operations, its customers, the competitors and the market in general (barriers, trends etc.). After the initial questions, I realized that the problem was in the supply of fertilizers to the customers (which were 5 major distributors across the US). So, I broke down the case into the supply value chain, i.e., raw materials (procurement and transportation), manufacturing process and inventory handling. This led me to the problem which was their inventory handling methods. Specifically, the demand estimation was way off; they estimated demand on an annual basis and it was a word of-mouth contract with the customers. Besides, despite geographical variations within the US, the demand was estimated by one sales team centrally. This was the key issue and I got to it pretty quickly.
The pace of the interview was very fast and the interviewer did not let me talk for long periods of time; basically he was testing me on my speed of option generation. I thought I did pretty well and suggested seasonal demand estimation based on geography and that the contracts with customers should be on paper.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Very serious interview. He was completely straight faced right from the word goes. Immediately asked me to tell him something about myself. After hearing me
out, he asked me to tell him something about my work experience at the Bain Capability Centre. This part went pretty well.
He didn‟t really give me a case. He asked me which sector I followed in India, to which I replied the retail sector. We then entered into a discussion into the retail sector in India. I had very little sector knowledge and retail was my best bet. SO after giving him some facts that I had read, , he asked me what a retail company think should about while entering the Indian market, i.e., the key success factors. . I told him that we should consider the target customer segment, the product offerings, the retail format and the locations. The interview was pretty OK till this point. . However, then he started getting into details. He asked me what a company should do to compete with the huge unorganized sector, and wasn't convinced with my answer. I knew that I‟d blown it.
Finally he ended the case and asked me if I had any other shortlists before I left.
Tips: Please prepare one sector thoroughly, not just facts, but to have a business opinion about it.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Tell me about yourself
- Q2. What was my role in my entrepreneurial venture?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case: how we could estimate cricket ball sales in the country for one year. ( this question popped out from something we were previously talking about. I was telling him about cricket and he put up this guesstimate question for me).
Analysis:First, I confirmed whether he was talking about leather cricket ball. Thereafter, I started talking about where a cricket ball will be used and who will buy a cricket ball. At each juncture, I kept on checking with Mr. Sikka so as I'm not deviating from the solution. Then I told him that I would estimate sales of cricket balls for Mumbai and then extrapolate it to the whole country.
I calculated number of matches played in one day by estimating number of grounds in Mumbai (having played on most of the grounds, it was easy for me). Then I separated one day matches and 20-20 matches as one day match requires 2 balls and 20-20 requires 4 balls(As two 20-20 matches are possible on a single pitch in one day).
Also, considering that each ground hosts practice session 2 times a day and this will also contribute towards the sales. Then he stopped me and said fine. He did not go into depth of the guesstimate as it could have got complicated with other parts of the country to be considered for contribution towards the sales of cricket balls.
Tips: Please practice your cases as well as guesstimates. Also, know your CV in and out. Always connect with the interviewer.
General Tips: Try to connect with the interviewer.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
Experience: Case: how we could estimate cricket ball sales in the country for one year. ( this question popped out from something we were previously talking about. I was telling him about cricket and he put up this guesstimate question for me).
Analysis:First, I confirmed whether he was talking about leather cricket ball. Thereafter, I started talking about where a cricket ball will be used and who will buy a cricket ball. At each juncture, I kept on checking with Mr. Sikka so as I'm not deviating from the solution. Then I told him that I would estimate sales of cricket balls for Mumbai and then extrapolate it to the whole country.
I calculated number of matches played in one day by estimating number of grounds in Mumbai (having played on most of the grounds, it was easy for me). Then I separated one day matches and 20-20 matches as one day match requires 2 balls and 20-20 requires 4 balls(As two 20-20 matches are possible on a single pitch in one day).
Also, considering that each ground hosts practice session 2 times a day and this will also contribute towards the sales. Then he stopped me and said fine. He did not go into depth of the guesstimate as it could have got complicated with other parts of the country to be considered for contribution towards the sales of cricket balls.
Tips: Please practice your cases as well as guesstimates. Also, know your CV in and out. Always connect with the interviewer.
General Tips: Try to connect with the interviewer.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow
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