Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow Placement Interview Questions

• Q1. Why McKinsey?
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• Q2. Why Consulting?
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• Q3. Think of a failure in life and how it changed you?
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• Q4. Situational questions on teamwork & how to deal with team members?
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• Q5. Finance as a specialization: what are your key learnings?
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• Q6. Social projects done at Miranda House & difficulties and uncertainty faced in those: how did I overcome them?
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• Q7. Experience at Citi: what was your project, key learnings, first corporate experience?
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McKinsey is working with an auto components supplier for automotive vehicles. Design a strategy to increase its revenues in the next 3-5 years.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Is there a target revenue increase?

I: Doubling in next 3 years.

C: Which geography is our client located in?

I: India

C: Who are the takers of these auto components and where are they based?

I: Indian companies: likes of say Maruti (for 4 wheelers) and Honda (for 2 wheelers).

C: What parts/components of the automobile exactly do they manufacture?

I: Exteriors (steel fabricated parts visible externally: say doors of the car, roof).

C: Should I focus on OEMs for 4 wheelers & if yes, which specific types of 4 wheelers (say passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles)?

I: Yes, both are serviced by the client. Focus on them.

C: I'd like to understand the industry landscape: growth rate of the company vis-a-vis industry.

I: Industry has been growing steadily. Our client is present & it's not losing market share.

C: What are the distribution channels: any direct-to-consumer touchpoint?

I: They supply to OEMs and also sell replacement parts via client --> distributors --> retailers -> car owners who need replacement.

At this point, I thought I fairly understood the case-at-hand and took a couple of minutes to think.

My structure was as follows:

Step 1: Identify the different sources of revenue existing and potential: Sales to car manufacturers & replacement market (existing), new product lines (car interiors like seats/steering): potential lines.

Step 2: For each revenue line, demarcated the markets (existing geographies v/s new ones)

C: What are the KPIs in this industry for the current geographies?

I: What do you think? Focus on existing product & market.

C:
1) Interoperability among different models/carmakers

2) Quality & longevity of product

3) Service guarantee

4) Price point

I: Point 1 & 4 were the key to success in this space.

C: Could you tell me about the players in the current space & if there are any foreign forces?

I: Mentioned Chinese players and how they were flooding the market with cheaper components to which the current costs stood no competition. Please recommend both short term & long-term solutions to combat this.

C: Mentioned few points like their source of low costs was cheap steel which was 80% of the auto-body. Short Term Solution: Demand exclusivity from OEMs to sign long term contracts.

Long Term Solution: Procurement Lever, Rationalizing steel usage, alternative material R&D, brand name development.

I: Thanks, that'll be all. Please synthesize the case for me.

Guesstimate the market for niche home products for smart personal devices for households.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

It was more conversational. I did not realize when the case started.

Laid out the structure: number of HHs in India --> Urban/Rural Split --> Income split.

I: Please do the entire calculation and give me the numbers.

C: Started calculating & speaking the figures aloud.

I: Tell me the specific customer segments to target at the outset.

Identified the following target segments:

1) Rich & affluent urban nuclear families

2) Double Income No Kids segment

3) Tech-inclined singles

4) Old aged rich grandparents looking for convenience.

• Q1. Why Consulting?
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• Q2. Why Kearney?
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• Q3. Some questions about where I stay, background (schooling, college, and internships) and quizzing achievements.
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Your client is a global company looking to acquire an Indian publisher of legal books used by lawyers, students, professionals like CA, CS etc. Help us estimate the market size and key risks for the business.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Asked some clarifying questions with respect to the problem statement.

I: Estimate market size for all kinds of legal books in India (Company Law, criminal law etc.)

C: Can I take a minute to think about the problem?

I: Sure.

C: We can estimate the market size on the basis of three factors, namely- the no. of people buying legal books * Frequency of purchase i.e., No. of books bought by a person* Average price of a book. Should I proceed ahead?

I: Yes.

C: The main customers for our products would be students, Practicing lawyers/legal departments and CAs, CS. Is there any customer segment I should think of?

I: No, you can proceed ahead with estimating the no. of students.

C: The students that would be interested in buying legal books would mainly be students with a background in law, commerce, or management. I would like to estimate the no. of students undergoing a law degree since they would be forming the bulk of the legal books demand in India.

I: Why estimate only the no. of law students?

C: Students with a background in commerce, management or otherwise might require these books for the purpose of 1-2 subjects as part of their course, however law students will be studying more extensively from these books. Hence, I believe that a good amount of the legal books would be demanded by law students in India.

I: Okay, go ahead.

C: As per my knowledge, law is usually a five-year course. So, we can assume that law students would mainly be in the age group of 18-25 years. India has a population of 1.3 B with a median age of 25. Hence, we can assume that 20% of the population i.e., 260 Mn would be in this age group.

I: Fair assumption, go ahead.

C: Mentioned other reduction factors like higher education enrolment in India (30%), different streams of education like arts, commerce, engineering etc. (low enrolment in arts), students who would be going for law within the arts stream etc.

I: Okay, how would you approach estimating the no. of practicing lawyers and CAs?

C: Told.

I: Understood, why do not you tell me the key risks for the business.

C: Increasing digitization can affect the business prospects. Legal books can be used for learning and for the purpose of legal precedents. Some people especially the younger generation may be more comfortable with a digital mode of learning. In addition, digital books may have a search option which will make it easy to find legal references. Plus, it is possible that e-books would be cheaper. In addition, information is getting widely and easily available on the internet so we will have to provide more insightful information in the books we publish.

I: Okay thank you for your time, I would like to close the case in the interest of time. Do you have any questions for me?

C: No Sir. Thank you!

You are a management consultant and you have been appointed by the Ministry of Sports to formulate a strategy to improve the international competitiveness of the Indian Football team within the next 10 years.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Asked some clarifying questions with respect to the problem statement and scope.

C: To improve the international competitiveness of the Indian Football team within the next 10 years, we will have to look at the different stakeholders like the Sports Ministry, student base, families and parents, football associations in India at the national and state level, Sports leagues like ISl, domestic clubs and some foreign leagues and clubs that would be interested in setting up base in India to expand their international base considering the growing market. We can break down the 10-year period into two 5-year plans to improve Indian Football Team's international competitiveness. We can have a broad review of the goals achieved at the end of the first five-year plan so that necessary actions can be taken to achieve our goal. Should I proceed ahead?

I: Can you mention some other stakeholders that would be important in achieving this process?

C: We can also look at the coaching and teaching staff that would be involved in developing talent in the next 10 years. This could be through better training or collaboration with international leagues and clubs. Infrastructure and necessary sports facilities are also important factors to improve Indian Football Team's international competitiveness.

We can look at football schools where children are trained from an early age and their education is taken care of by the clubs that finance these schools Football players, celebrities and other influencers would also be important in improving the football awareness in India. We can also look at providing support/incentives to people whose career involve around football so that they do not have to look at other avenues of employment to support themselves/their families.

I: Okay, in the interest of time let us end the case here. A couple of factors that you mentioned in bits and pieces but missed out on were the corporates that would be sponsoring the football activities and International associations like FIFA, AFC etc.

Your client is a global PE Firm that is looking at investing in a bus operator based out of Australia. You have been hired to look at ways through which the main operating costs can be decreased and come up with recommendations for the same (data-heavy case with an excel screen shared as well).
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Asked about the case, PE Firm, bus operator, area of operations, business model etc.

I: So, what do you think are the main cost heads for this business.

C: The main costs can be:
1. Fuel
2. Maintenance
3. Employee Costs (Drivers, other employees etc.)
4. Parking Fees/ Insurance / Tolls etc.

I: Okay you are broadly correct. There might be other costs as well as registration fees, highway access, etc. (An excel tab was screen shared with major cost heads) So as you can see the fuel cost is 12% of the total costs. Can you help us take care of the fuel costs?

C: So, the main determinants of the fuel cost would be Fuel efficiency*distance travelled*Fuel Costs.

I: (shows an excel table showing fuel efficiency according to the place of operation, bus model used, and some other headers like the month of recording, min. and max. fuel efficiency, fleet size etc.) So, can you tell us why is there a difference in the fuel efficiency for different places like Perth, Melbourne etc.?

C: It could be due to the place-specific factors like weather conditions, road conditions, maintenance crew and processes etc.

I: Okay look at the model XYZ used in place A & B (do not remember the exact model or place). Even after taking into consideration the factors you mentioned there is a difference in the fuel efficiency of the same bus model in these two places. Can you tell me the reason for the same?

C: So, before I proceed ahead can you tell me the significance of the month mentioned for these data points?

I: This is the time period during which the fuel efficiency was recorded.

C: So, the difference could be due to the weather conditions in Australia, the early parts of the year will generally be warmer since Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere. Because of that there might be differences in the fuel efficiency in different months. In case it snows in the reason, the bus might need more fuel to cover the same distance. Another reason could be the way drivers are driving. More braking and constant gear changes might result in decreased fuel efficiency for the buses in questions.

I: So, fuel efficiency is low in January due to the use of AC during the summer season in Australia. And as you had mentioned, the other reason is due to the driver behavior. Can you come up with recommendation to optimize our costs?

C: We can use the bus model with the best fuel efficiency to standardize our fuel efficiency. We can also look at using modern technology to come up with the best path to reach our location in the lowest possible time and distance. In case we have different vendors for our fuel requirements, we can enter into a long-term contract with a national vendor to negotiate lower costs and better terms. We can also undertake training for our employees like drivers and maintenance crew to improve their performance and improve fuel efficiency across the board.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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• Q2. Why consulting? Why do you think you will be good at consulting?
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• Q3. Explain your contribution to the work done by you in your internships?
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Jio-Mart is looking forward to launch a payments card. What would be its target market/customer? What scheme do you suggest-cashbacks or points?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Could you tell me more about the features of the payment card. Is it like a debit/credit card or does it work on points and cashbacks?

I: You can consider it to be similar to the Amazon pay card that is in tie up with ICICI Bank.

C: I would like to divide the market into urban and rural. I will further divide rural areas into places with and without internet penetration. Can I proceed with this approach?

I: Yes, you can go ahead.

C: Since, Jio has a mass appeal image the target customers could be very large, we can target the existing Jio customers which provide higher ARPU. To calculate the final market size, we will need to consider the behavioral and demographic elements of the target population.

I: Very well, do you think launching the card is feasible?

C: (I did a PESTEL and Porter analysis to ensure that launching the card is feasible.) I recommend you should go ahead with cashbacks in the short term to attract the customers away from other competitors like Amazon. But since cashbacks are really expensive, in the longer term, we can shift to a points system.

(I also did a customer and competitor analysis. The interviewer asked me a few follow up questions post that, majorly to explain the answer in more detail.)

• Q1. Guesstimate the number of characters on your CV.
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• Q2. I am a bank and I send reward points for redemption to my customers. The site is 5-year-old, and we are planning to revamp it now. Lately, we have noticed that ...read more
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• Q1. Tell me about yourself?
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• Q2. Why Consulting? Why Accenture?
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• Q3. Why do you want to pursue consulting after Deloitte USI?
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• Q4. How do you define success in consulting?
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• Q5. Have you faced a conflict at work? How did you resolve it?
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• Q6. Explain more about the work you did and how will you train yourself for Consulting? Do you think you are already there or is there something to learn? If yes, w...read more
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• Q7. How will you convince someone to use technology for cost optimization? What are the few suggestions that you might give the person specially in Covid-19? Give m...read more
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• Q8. MD Round: How is your day till now? What are your hobbies? How do you manage stress? What do you plant a tree? Why IB?
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Estimate the demand for Oxygen cylinders for the next 6 months for COVID-19 situation in a city or country of your choice?

(The question was triggered because I had covid-19 response written on my CV)
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Since I live in Bangalore, can I estimate the demand for Bangalore city for 6 months?

I: Yes, go ahead.

C: Explained the pros of using Demand approach in this case as opposed to Supply approach.

I: Yes, makes sense.

C: I started giving the current cases in Bangalore and expected % increase and then % decrease in coming months. Then I divided the cases into Intensive Care and non-intensive care. Further, I divided the Intensive care also into those requiring extreme oxygen, some requiring medium oxygen, and some requiring less oxygen and assumed it to be 10, 5 and 2 cylinders per day.

Further I calculated the value by assuming cases to go down in 6 months and keeping a safe stock of Oxygen cylinders.

The interviewer expected me to talk the whole time and asked me to summarize. He also asked a few cross questions on my assumption.

I: I think it is a fair estimate. Good job on choosing the demand approach.

• Q1. Case: Client is Automotive Industry with both commercial and passenger vehicles. Their commercial sales are 65%. Their market share has been decreasing every ye...read more
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• Q1. Could you tell us something about yourself?
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• Q2. What are the subjects that you have studied in trimester 1?
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• Q3. What was your most favorite and least favorite subject? Why do you feel so?
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• Q4. How has your experience been at IIM Lucknow? What do you feel about virtual setup?
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• Q5. What drives you as a professional?
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• Q6. Any questions for us?
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• Q7. Tell us more about the work that you did at KPMG.
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• Q8. Tell us about the most influential deal you worked upon there, what was your role and responsibility? What are your expectations from the internship and what do...read more
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Your client wants to perform a corporate restructuring and operates in the automotive sector, how do you go about it? Focus more on valuation aspects.

(was a long interview of around 55 mins)
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Clarified about what he exactly meant by corporate restructuring, what was the type of restructuring, what were the types of transactions involved, what part of the value chain was the client operating in, why did the client want to restructure (these were some of the preliminary questions asked one by one).

I: The client was operating in auto-component manufacturing, the deal involved two transactions related to a de-merger and a merger (also discussed the potential reasons which could be there behind a restructuring).

C: Structured my approach in three parts starting from the preliminary company & industry analysis and benchmarking to business valuations to swap valuation & implementing the deal (information about financial metrics, financial statements, valuation model to choose from, swap ratio target, etc. were provided).

(While solving the case, also had a discussion side by side on every technical aspect, was asked about the types of techniques to value a business, discussed in detail about DCF analysis, swap ratio valuation, etc. and general awareness about auto-component
sector.)

I: (after the case) what are the different types of charging depreciation?

C: told (was grilled on the units of production method in detail) (then there was another small case on financial linkages connecting all three financial statements in which some transactions were given, and I had to prepare the three statements intertemporally.)

I: What is bottom-up beta? How do we calculate bottom-up beta for a monopoly firm having no comparable?

C: Talked about the historical trend method, future projection method, and business fundamentals method.

I: What is NPV, IRR, XIRR, MIRR? Could you give me the excel syntax?

C: Provided a detailed explanation of each.

• Q1. Why Accenture?
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• Q2. Why not finance?
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• Q3. What was your McKinsey internship about?
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• Q4. What did you do in your 2 years at McKinsey?
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How would you increase ROE for an FMCG company?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

I: Do you understand DuPont formula?

C: Yes. (Explained the same)

I: Which industry are you interested in?

C: FMCG.

I: Which aspect of the formula would you focus the most on to increase ROE for an FMCG company?

C: Utilization/Efficiency, given FMCG works on volumes.

I: Okay. How would you increase the sales volume for a soap manufacturer?

C: I would want to look at every point from the concept of the soap till the point it is finally used by the consumer. There can be improvements in design, more fragrances, increase in the life of the soap, or there could be better incentives for retailers to stock our product or have more shelf visibility.

I: Would an increase in life of the soap help increase the sales or reduce it?

C: It depends on the consumer research we've done before working on this feature. If the feature enhances the utility to the customer and consequently the price point at which you can sell the soap, then from a numerical standpoint, you can achieve higher sales even with lower volumes. So, despite lower repeat purchases in, say, a year, you'll make more money.

How would you increase sales for a CCD outlet located in CP, New Delhi?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: You can look at its sales as a function of number of customers and average order value per customer, if the time horizon we're looking at is a day.

To increase the number of customers, we need to either find people who'd come to CP and currently not use any food outlets, or we can look at customers who come to CP and use competitors' products.

Within the first bucket, we can play with our pricing, our in-store marketing, what other needs does our store help with (Wi-Fi, seating space for meetings etc.).

In the second bucket, we can try to penetrate deeper into the following customer segments (given I was based out of Delhi, I knew CP in a bit more detail)- CAT coaching students (weekend), businessmen, families, student groups that visit CP for meetings (given it's a central spot in Delhi).

If we want to enhance the average order value per customer, we can work primarily with our product mix- this could be basis benchmarking with our competitors' highest selling products, consumer surveys, finding patterns of food item + day + time of the day.

Once the customer is in the store, their order value is also driven by what else makes them stay in the store-charging ports, Wi-Fi (in case it's a student group took the example of CCD Square on Janpath in CP).

How was my experience in McKinsey?

What was my McKinsey internship about?

What are some of the most prominent problems with Indian banking?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Quality of assets and lack of digitization.

I: Let's talk about digitization.

C: (Built this extensively from my internship, addressing pre-credit disbursal analytics, absence
of predictive capabilities for delinquencies/NPAs, sector level trend identification, SOPs for dealing with loans in 0-90 DPD (when the loan is classified as a delinquency), lack of integration between in-house databases and software, paper-based approvals, and filings.

Calculate the income given to housemaids in India in a month.
I took the household approach and considered tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 cities. I incorporatedthe income of households and number of maids required.

For each tier, I used my personal experience of living at different places (which seemed to work in my favor)

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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• Q2. Give a brief description of your work-ex.
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• Q3. Why consulting? Why PwC IT?
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• Q4. What is your opinion on the impact of US Presidential election results in India?
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• Q5. What do you know about the possible acquisition of IndusInd Bank by Kotak Mahindra?
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How would you go about integrating the IT divisions of two firms looking to go through a merger? What are the different components you would take into consideration?
Talked about the different buckets that should be considered. Applications, Infrastructure, Organization, Suppliers/Vendor Management, IT Culture, and IT Operations.

Faced further cross questioning on the applications bucket, in particular ERPs. Was asked how I would go about deciding between two different ERPs that were in use in the client and the target. Answered by mentioning points of difference between the two in terms of capabilities, pricing, etc.

A swimming pool manufacturer in the US is looking to acquire another pool manufacturer. The combined entity is also looking to launch an IPO in the future. Objectives are to assess risks, evaluate steps for IPO readiness, look at how to integrate, and to implement an overall IT transformation. Also tell me how you would order the three major tasks: IT Transformation, IPO, and IT Integration.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

Initially started with CPCC questions to get background on the two companies, the areas in which they operate, an idea of what their value chains look like, etc. This was similar for both companies.

C: What kind of products does the target manufacture? Does the target have any specific offerings that the client does not have currently?

I: The target makes vinyl-liner pools which the client does not. They also have a method of manufacturing these which are much faster than the manufacturing process of the client.

C: Right, so this is the reason the client is considering the acquisition. Would you like for me to dive deeper into the different synergies that can be achieved?

I: Yes, therefore the acquisition is being considered. Before moving further, tell me how you would order the three major tasks mentioned before.

C: Alright. Before I can decide can you tell me what is the timeline being considered for the IPO?

I: The client wants to launch the IPO in the next 5 years.

C: And what is the reason the client wants to perform this IT transformation? Do they have outdated systems or is it to streamline the IT division?

I: The client wants to perform the IT transformation because of a lack of uniformity in the applications it uses in its two divisions.

C: Then, I would put the IT transformation first to streamline the client's IT processes and make them more efficient and coherent before moving onto the acquisition and going forward with the IT integration, and then finally the IPO.

I: Alright great. How would you go forward with the IT integration? Look at this from a due-diligence perspective. What are the various considerations you would consider while merging the IT functions?

C: I would look at the following broad buckets when considering an IT integration: Applications (like ERP, CRM, etc.), Infrastructure (Hardware infra like servers, Infrastructure software like OS etc.), Organization (it is size and structure, capabilities, location, etc.), Suppliers/Vendor Management, IT Culture, and IT Operations.

There was slight deep diving into the Applications, Infrastructure and Organization buckets. Questions were around how the integration would happen.

There was also a question on IPO readiness from an IT perspective. What kind of IT requirements would be most important for making the client IPO ready? I had given an answer with mentions of financial and accounting software, and specialized software to prepare and publish financial reports, before time ran out.

Following on from the Kotak IndusInd discussion (in HR questions), how would you go about integrating the IT functions of both banks?
Started with a standard M&A IT checklist. Listed out the different components of the IT divisions that need to be looked at before a merger - Applications, Infrastructure, Organization, Suppliers/Vendor Management, IT Culture, and IT Operations.

I was asked about the Applications and Infrastructure buckets - the various components that would come under these, and the criteria I would use to evaluate how integration was to happen.

I was also asked about cloud transformation - What IT components of a bank could be moved to the cloud, and what could not? Why?

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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• Q2. What are your 3 weaknesses?
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• Q3. Why Consulting? And why Operations consulting particularly?
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• Q4. Why PwC?
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• Q5. Tell me more about your primary project. What was the problem statement and how did you approach it?
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• Q6. Describe a project apart from your main project that you believe was impactful.
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• Q7. Explain the end-to-end operations of your plant.
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• Q8. Describe an incident where you were under a lot of pressure but had to deliver results.
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• Q9. Describe an incident where you were required to adapt to changes very quickly. How did you accept those changes?
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What is the total area impacted by PepsiCo in India?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Categorized it into PepsiCo owned operations & Franchises. Within each category further classified into agricultural area, cold storages, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, distribution centers and PepsiCo's offices.

I: Focus on the agricultural activities.

C: Categorized it into land under Potato cultivation (Contract Farming & Independent sources), rice, corn & gram cultivation for other food products and water from areas around beverage plants.

You are a company that provides warehousing services in North & Central America. But you want to expand your operations in Southern regions as well, so you decide on merging with another similar company that is a major player in the market, second only to you. How would you go about the whole merger? Cover all aspects - Legal, Operational etc.
Followed the basic M&A framework. Dived deep into operational issues that could arise (the Interviewer wanted to check my understanding of warehousing & logistics). Was asked to discuss inventory management too.

Part 1: A state in Southern India is facing the issue of drying up of its lakes at a very high rate. An MP suggests that they should cover the lakes with giant sheets of thermocol since it is an insulator it would prevent evaporation of water. They implement this at a particular lake, where they find that the sheets keep getting blown away by the wind and the thermocol is unable to serve its purpose. How should the MP proceed if he wants to use these sheets? Devise a business plan for him to present at the budget meeting.

Part 2: Guesstimate the total budget needed for implementing this across 10 lakes each being 200m wide and 1km long?
Started with the harmful impact of thermocol on aquatic life. Suggested that we could use some spacing between the sheets for sufficient oxygen supply.

Asked questions around wind speed and general weather conditions.

Found out that it is a windy area. Therefore, suggested that we use floats or anchors to keep the sheets in place.

For budget, assumed the sheets to be as big as the ones available in the market. Found out the number of sheets required. Assumed a price for each sheet and then found out the total budget for sheets. Further, found the cost of the floats/ anchors based on the cost of per unit material they are made up of.

• Q1. What do you know about consulting & why do you want to join PwC?
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• Q2. What is your understanding about the role?
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• Q3. Explain the audience & customer strategies you used in your work ex.
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• Q4. Tell me something about yourself apart from CV.
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• Q5. What skills have you learned in your work-ex & how will you apply them at PwC?
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• Q6. Have you ever managed a team/people?
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• Q7. How do you manage conflict in a team?
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• Q8. How do you make sure your point is heard across in a discussion?
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• Q9. Have you ever faced a challenging situation?
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• Q10. List out some points of learning from the two companies you have worked with. How different was the experience, what did you notice about the two industries?
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An AI Solutions Provider is facing profitability issues. Help!
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Our client who is an AI solutions provider is recently facing profitability issues.

C: Clarified the problem statement and asked since when the client was facing profit issue & by how much.

I: Profits have fallen by approx. 20% in the last 1 year.

C: When we say the profits are declining, is it revenue which is getting impacted or the costs are rising for the firm.

I: Primarily, it is a revenue side problem.

C: Where is the client based out of, how long has it been in the market?

I: Client is based out of the US, is an established player in the AI industry with a good client base.

C: How is the industry trend? Since it is an AI solutions provider, I believe the industry would be growing – has there been a new competitor which has entered?

I: Great, as you rightly pointed out, the industry is growing but we are facing issues.

C: When we say AI solutions provider, what does the company essentially do & who are the customers & where are they located?

I: It caters to AI technology requirements of industries, they serve a wide range of businesses mainly in the US - Retail, Manufacturing, Logistics, IT.

C: What are the different product offerings & revenue streams of the company?

I: There are a wide range of products which the company offers, major revenue streams of the company come from a) Selling hardware b) Contract or subscription basis c) Services.

C: Is the drop across all these buckets or should we focus on a particular segment first?

I: Focus on the services side.

C: Revenue from services only comes from customers having a contract or subscription or there are also companies with which we have a service only relationship?

I: We only offer services to companies with which we have a contract.

C: Within services these can be the possible segments where the company needs to look at in terms of improvement: - Maintenance - Data & Insights - Complaint Resolutions - Technology Upgrade. Have I missed anything?

I: These are all valid in the given context, you have rightly pointed out some of the possible reasons which are leading to a downfall in services revenue. Technology upgrade & complaint resolutions are something which the firm is struggling with. Can you frame some solutions to the problem statement?

C: As far as our discussion goes, the client is primarily facing problems in the services domain and needs to retain services from its existing partners. I suggest below pointers as solutions:

- Strengthen feedback mechanism for queries & complaint resolution.
- Make a separate department to identify current advancement in technology & incorporate those suggestions in current service offerings.
- Establish a ticketing system to see what the possible queries in different industries are (manufacturing, retail, IT etc.), automate some processes to improve the resolution efficiency.
- Speak to BD team & identify partner issues in real time so that there is no lag in information flow across product & market.

Market Estimation & Pricing of a Food Delivery Service in Pune.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: The food delivery service is a personal venture (from home) or we are looking at an established restaurant entering food delivery?

I: It is a personal venture, to be carried out specifically from home & to serve the local population (typical dabbawalla or tiffin system).

C: First, I would like to estimate the market size for the service & then would move to the pricing part.

I: Please go ahead.

C: Assuming the owner is living in a 5000 (population) strong locality, we will segment the population basis demographic factors: Occupation. Divided the locality into 4 parts - a) Family b) Students (age>15 yrs.) c) Working people living alone d) Others.

Since Pune is a Corporate hub & also has many colleges and institutes, I took an appropriate % for each of the mentioned buckets.

Family - 40%
Students - 20%
Working People living alone - 20%
Others - 20%

Primarily, our target market is students & working people living alone, which constitutes 40% of the locality = 40% (5000) = 2000 Total potential consumers for our business = 2000.

Now, I followed the awareness - consideration - conversion framework.

Owner, through his own contacts & referrals, can reach out to roughly 200 people without any promotion activities (banners, paid posts etc.)

Through promotion he can further reach out to 400 more.

Hence total size with awareness about the service = 600.

Further, segmented the awareness pool into people who are a) satisfied with their food service, b) not satisfied & c) do not have any regular system & rely on office & online orders. For the sake of simplicity, assumed this to be equal % i.e., 1/3 (600) = 200 for each segment. Only people who are not satisfied would be willing to try our offering, hence Consideration = 200.

Finally, they would evaluate multiple alternatives. Asked a question about the no of competitors to which the interviewer asked me to use my knowledge about the area.

As Pune has multiple food delivery alternatives, I assumed it to be a competitive market & only 25% of the consideration pool would finally convert as customers. Hence, 50 people per day would be our customers initially.

Pricing: Did a cost based & substitute-based pricing here. Calculated price per meal breaking down into segments:

1. Raw material/ Material 2. Labor 3. Logistics 4. Promotion Cost per standard meal (regular ingredients) came out to be around Rs 80, adding a profit % of 20, gave the final price ~ Rs 100.

I: Okay, now that you have the no of consumers you would have for the service can u think of increasing customers for this business?

C: Gave ideas around menu diversification as we were primarily focused on students & working population gave ideas which would suit their requirements.

- For working people: Fresh menu kind of service where they would get healthy food.
- Students - Protein rich diet (nonveg).
- Promotions: Leverage Social Media, ask customers to post positive reviews, have a good feedback mechanism & focus on quality packaging as its important for people who travel for work.

Calculate the volume of paint needed to pain a Boeing 747.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Asked whether we must paint the jet only on the outside or completely.

I: Only on the outside.

C: Approach - We will calculate the total surface area of the jet, dividing it into constituent parts - (Cabin - Cylinder, Cockpit - Hemisphere, Wings - Triangle, Stabilizers (for brand logo) – Triangle).

Used my height as reference to calculate the radius of the cabin (3 meters), length of the cabin = 70 meters, assumed wings to be equilateral with 30 meters side, stabilizers ~ 1/4th size of wings, cockpit - hemisphere with radius 2 meters).

Used formula is for Surface area (Hemisphere, Cylinder, Triangle).

Assumed 1 sq meter of area to consume 200 ml of paint & multiplied the total surface are by 200 to get volume of paint in ml.