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

• Q1. Give me a quick introduction about yourself.
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• Q2. Tell me about major accomplishments in your work experience.
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• Q3. Tell me about yourself.
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• Q4. Briefly explain your role/day to day working in both corporate roles in the work experience.
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• Q5. Briefly explain my project with a PE Fund. This was followed by a discussion around recent developments in the healthcare industry (as based on my work experien...read more
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Your client is Sigma Automotive. They have $10bn revenue and are the current industry leaders. They have been facing growth challenges since the past couple of years. The slowdown is industry wide. The industry is moving towards a consolidation landscape and smart vehicles. The growth beyond core offering is the company’s current target.

A. Growth Objects: Historically, the company had 8 - 10 % growth. New target is 5%.
B. Geographical Split of Revenues: USA - 80%, Canada - 25%, Mexico - 5%.
C. Margin - 10% ($1bn).
D. Revenue split by Products: Heavy Vehicle sales - 70%, Light Vehicle sales - 30%.
E. Revenue by channels: Automotive sales - 75%, Services - 25%.

Sigma lags in EV innovation and advanced driving systems. Sigma is open to expand to new markets. The competition is following cross border M&A and the norm is traditional auto companies looking to acquire tech startups in other countries.
I used the Ansoff matrix to deploy growth opportunities as organic and inorganic opportunities. This was followed by a discussion where the interviewer presented a document to analyze 3 options.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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An airline company came to master card to launch a co-branded card in India. The airlines have seen revenues pick up again in the covid year and we need to formulate a GTM Strategy for the same.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

I: Let us formulate a GTM Strategy.

C: (Started with clarifying the problem statement & then moved to asking preliminary questions)

I: (Interviewer gave more context) As travel picked post COVID, ticket prized have gone up and people have resumed traveling, in fact they are keen.

C: Okay. Is our client a low-cost carrier? Also, asked a brand image related question.

I: Yes, client is a low-cost carrier, with a young vibe.

C: (Kept it conversational, took a minute, the interviewer was supportive & sweet) Before we deep dive into the GTM strategy, I would like to understand a few things:

1. Current scenario/Gap

2. Competitor

3. Who can we target?

Does that sound fair?

Mentioned that the customer base should mainly consist of GenY (Business class & travelers of the right age who use air travel often so millennials).

I: Agreed.

C: Asked questions related to current scenarios, like: what loyalty programs, website or app that is operational, how we give discounts?

I: Yes, for the customers. Clients currently don’t have a loyalty program in place, they work through already existing aggregators to give discounts. And they don’t have an app or website (Interviewer liked one of these questions)

C: What is our competition doing? Do they offer loyalty programs? What do we know about what competition is doing differently? (The latter most question can be framed in many ways)

I: They do offer loyalty programs and hence we have been told they have higher retention. Now, Anushruti, I want you to think on “How can they go to market?”, assume we have the product or card ready we don’t need to design the specifics of the product. Take a minute if you like.

C: (Took a minute) I went back saying I would broadly divide the decisions in two parts:

1. Identifying the TAM (STP)

2. Marketing (Awareness & demand gen) and walked her through my thought process briefly.

I: (She gave direction to the conversation, I was confident so the conversation wasn’t dropping low at any point neither was she being difficult, so relax and stay at it: focus on building the conversation)

Wanted me to think on GTM more, how will I plan?

C: Took a minute before responding and went back with the What/When/How/Who structure (it was a two-level structure). Walked her through it and checked with her before I walked her through all my ideas.

(It was conversational, she was satisfied and asked another question)

I: Now, assess if it is feasible for Mastercard to launch such a card, what parameters to consider seeing its validity.

C: In our target demographic, check for patterns based on the data Mastercard has:

i) Spend using credit v/s debit (especially in this industry)

ii) Check with airlines to see what data they have on bookings made in the region (different channels, traffic)

iii) Cobranded card performance, etc. (elaborated on these lines)

Metro stations have huge real estate to offer for brands to market themselves and recently they had started capitalizing on the same by offering the space outside of metro stations as well as inside, capturing larger audience on the road and inside the metros. Now imagine you are an edible oil company, say Saffola and estimate how much you should pay for advertising on this large scale at Gurugram metro station (the last metro station)
I had questions but even before I started thinking about how to solve it, I repeated the guesstimate and my understanding of it.

In the process, we discussed how the impact for Saffola will be based on the footfall and the brand visibility created which the interviewer called ‘pay per eyeball’ (like pay per click): so, we basically want to estimate the number of eyeballs this investment can fetch Saffola.

(Guesstimate was fairly simple from here but the application was new with some slight nuances added to it).

Now I started thinking about how to solve it.

Approach: (Clarified some preliminary questions to understand typical customer base and who are we targeting so that I can create target segments). I had established that there can be three types of customers we would have:

1. Homemakers

2. Gen Y: Young professionals (who want to have home-cooked meal, develop healthy habits)

3. Chefs/Tiffin-services/maids: basically, others who influence the decision of buying edible oil at homes

Now thinking about who all from our above segments maybe using the metro station or get exposed to the ads, the 2nd type took the highest priority. Solved the guesstimate using four main levels (starting from taking Delhi’s entire population):

1. Age: 20-45 which was 35% of the population (shared the breakup and how I came to 35%)

2. Income level: 70% of the population is either mid or low middle income which I wanted to consider

3. Working in Gurugram: Assuming 3 main work-centers in Delhi i.e., Noida, Gurugram and central or rest of Delhi: took 1/3rd of the population from 2

4. Gender: Split them between men and women + assumed half the men are now actively engaged in cooking or being the direct audience, calculated a number.

Here the customer type 1 & 2 were minority, so we didn’t consider incorporating them.

Though, the interviewer did ask what is missing here?

The people who never used the metros but saw the add on the road crossing the metro is a segment we left out but again a small segment and can be estimated using a logical %. I decided not to (80-20). Now instead of taking a number for how much to pay per eyeball to get a final estimate the interviewer closed the case. I checked to calculate but it wasn’t required.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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An airline company came to master card to launch a co-branded card in India. The airlines have seen revenues pick up again in the covid year and we need to formulate a GTM Strategy for the same.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

I: Let us formulate a GTM Strategy.

C: (Started with clarifying the problem statement & then moved to asking preliminary questions)

I: (Interviewer gave more context) As travel picked post COVID, ticket prized have gone up and people have resumed traveling, in fact they are keen.

C: Okay. Is our client a low-cost carrier? Also, asked a brand image related question.

I: Yes, client is a low-cost carrier, with a young vibe.

C: (Kept it conversational, took a minute, the interviewer was supportive & sweet) Before we deep dive into the GTM strategy, I would like to understand a few things:

1. Current scenario/Gap

2. Competitor

3. Who can we target?

Does that sound fair?

I: Yes, please go ahead.

C: Mentioned that the customer base should mainly consist of GenY (Business class & travelers of the right age who use air travel often so millennials).

I: Agreed.

C: Asked questions related to current scenarios, like: what loyalty programs, website or app that is operational, how we give discounts?

I: Yes, for the customers. Clients currently don’t have a loyalty program in place, they work through already existing aggregators to give discounts. And they don’t have an app or website (Interviewer liked one of these questions)

C: What is our competition doing? Do they offer loyalty programs? What do we know about what competition is doing differently? (The latter most question can be framed in many ways)

I: They do offer loyalty programs and hence we have been told they have higher retention. Now, Anushruti, I want you to think on “How can they go to market?”, assume we have the product or card ready we don’t need to design the specifics of the product. Take a minute if you like.

C: (Took a minute) I went back saying I would broadly divide the decisions in two parts:

1. Identifying the TAM (STP)

2. Marketing (Awareness & demand gen) and walked her through my thought process briefly.

I: (She gave direction to the conversation, I was confident so the conversation wasn’t dropping low at any point neither was she being difficult, so relax and stay at it: focus on building the conversation) Wanted me to think on GTM more, how will I plan?

C: Took a minute before responding and went back with the What/When/How/Who structure (it was a two-level structure). Walked her through it and checked with her before I walked her through all my ideas. (It was conversational, she was satisfied and asked another question)

I: Now, assess if it is feasible for Mastercard to launch such a card, what parameters to consider seeing its validity.

C: In our target demographic, check for patterns based on the data Mastercard has:

i) Spend using credit v/s debit (especially in this industry)

ii) Check with airlines to see what data they have on bookings made in the region (different channels, traffic)

iii) Cobranded card performance, etc. (elaborated on these lines)

Metro stations have huge real estate to offer for brands to market themselves and recently they had started capitalizing on the same by offering the space outside of metro stations as well as inside, capturing larger audience on the road and inside the metros.

Now imagine you are an edible oil company, say Saffola and estimate how much you should pay for
advertising on this large scale at Gurugram metro station (the last metro station).
I had questions but even before I started thinking about how to solve it, I repeated the guesstimate and my understanding of it.

In the process, we discussed how the impact for Saffola will be based on the footfall and the brand visibility created which the interviewer called ‘pay per eyeball’ (like pay per click): so, we basically want to estimate the number of eyeballs this investment can fetch Saffola.

(Guesstimate was fairly simple from here but the application was new with some slight nuances added to it).

Now I started thinking about how to solve it. Approach: (Clarified some preliminary questions to understand typical customer base and who are we targeting so that I can create target segments). I had established that there can be three types of customers we would have:

1. Homemakers

2. Gen Y: Young professionals (who want to have home-cooked meal, develop healthy habits)

3. Chefs/Tiffin-services/maids: basically, others who influence the decision of buying edible oil at homes

Now thinking about who all from our above segments maybe using the metro station or get exposed to the ads, the 2nd type took the highest priority. Solved the guesstimate using four main levels (starting from taking Delhi’s entire population):

1. Age: 20-45 which was 35% of the population (shared the breakup and how I came to 35%)

2. Income level: 70% of the population is either mid or low middle income which I wanted to consider

3. Working in Gurugram: Assuming 3 main work-centers in Delhi i.e., Noida, Gurugram and central or rest of Delhi: took 1/3rd of the population from 2.

4. Gender: Split them between men and women + assumed half the men are now actively engaged in cooking or being the direct audience, calculated a number.

Here the customer type 1 & 2 were minority, so we didn’t consider incorporating them. Though, the interviewer did ask what is missing here?

The people who never used the metros but saw the add on the road crossing the metro is a segment we left out but again a small segment and can be estimated using a logical %.

I decided not to (80-20). Now instead of taking a number for how much to pay per eyeball to get a final estimate the interviewer closed the case. I checked to calculate but it wasn’t required.

• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
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• Q2. Tell me something that is not on your CV.
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• Q3. How has the virtual MBA experience been thus far?
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Client is a ropes and nets manufacturer. Their growth has slowed down while their margins are improving. They want to achieve full potential. Help them.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: What is the current growth level?

I: Single digit.

C: What is the KRA for achieving full potential?

I: Sales acceleration- double business in 5 years.

C: Who are primary clients and what is our product mix?

I: Primary industries are fishing, construction and agriculture. Let us restrict our analysis to nets.

C: Is it correct to assume our products include safety nets, fishing nets and shade nets predominantly across the three industries?

I: Yes

C: Is it safe to assume that we operate across the value chain and the distribution network is dealership module with region wise traders in place?

I: Yes, distribution module is the most critical and works in the dealership mechanism.

C: How much market share is captured by us and how is the competitive landscape?

I: We are a dominant player.

C: Shall I analyze all the 3 industries and layout their sales acceleration strategy or focus on any particular industry?

I: Let us start with fishing industry.

C: How many types of fishing net do we have? What is the quality, material, and life of these nets?

I: Nylon and rayon nets. Average life 7 years

C: I would like to analyze the product mix, pricing, and distribution aspects across the existing and new potential markets.

I: That is good. Asked follow up questions on what in each bucket would you analyze. Asked to guesstimate the size of the fisherman market.

C: Discussed broad approach. Extrapolated Bengal population to average out the population of coastal states. Divided population by income levels and assumed proportion of population in the segment involved in fishing industry. Estimated overall market demand considering initial and replacement demand based on average years mentioned. Considered market growth @ 5% lower than GDP owing to nature of product. Selling Price of net given by interviewer.

I: Summarize the case and give key next steps to achieve full potential.

C: Checked for any time or spending limit. Suggested recommendations across product, contract-strategy, and distribution network. Product diversification into relatively lower grade and life of net. Increase variants other than rayon and nylon and other use cases for the product. Recommended long-term contracts with fisherman and rental option. Streamline Distribution network across operations. With dealership restricted to one player across prominent regions. Reduce overheads and increases sales.

Your client is an OTA aggregator. It is growing really well at 20-30% over the last 5-6 years. It wants to be IPO ready in 5 years but has negative EBITDA. Chart out the strategy.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Since when is the client operating?

I: 10 years.

C: What is its current market share and how many competitors exist?

I: 30% share and it is the 3rd largest player among the few competitors.

C: What are key services. Are we like MMT with flights and hotels as are key product offerings? Do we offer any other product?

I: Yes, while flights and hotels capture 80% and 15% of revenue mix. We also offer train/bus booking and experiences with experiences captures less than 1%.

C: Are we facing negative EBITDA across all segments?

I: Yes.

C: Primary revenue sources would be commissions. Is my understanding correct?

I: Yes.

C: Is it safe to assume we are primarily catering to the upper middle class and the rich?

I: Yes.

C: Since a path to EBITDA positive is key consideration. I would like to divide my analysis into understanding revenue growth opportunities and secondly look at areas of cost minimization. Is that ok and would you like me to focus on any of the above analysis?

I: Yes, let us focus on revenue.

C: As our revenue model is commission based, I would like to confirm if it is safe to assume that the commission is based on both value and volume of transactions?

I: No, it is based only on value.

C: Since this is a B2B2C operations, I would like to analyze revenue growth opportunities through 2 key stakeholders the customers and the retailers.

I: Let us start with retailers.

C: Shall I focus on flight and hotel segment as they comprise 95% of our revenue?

I: Yes, can you give me suggestions on revenue improvement for these two segments.

C: Laid out my analysis across 3 segments: existing revenue model and scope, and contract strategy, promotions. Suggested enhancing existing revenue model by transition to commission model based on value and volume to benefit from both open and click rates. Suggested push marketing for low ticket purchases increase experience segment contribution. Revamp contract strategy to ensure increase product placement and bundled offers for improving commission paid by retailers.

Focus on revenue from advertisements on desktop, mobile website, and mobile application. Enter new segment and deprioritize segments with low revenue potential. Discussed on bus and train segment. Increase experience offerings to include products offered by likes of Thrillophilia.

I: We are planning on entering car rental. Should we do that?

C: Broke down the cab rental space talked about existing players like Zoomcar predominantly which has captured the market. Discussed about time and resource constraint given negative EBITDA of existing operations.

I: Agreed and asked if we should acquire something like Zoomcar?

C: Suggested no and substantiated based on disadvantages despite the benefits of the strategy keeping in mind the objective of IPO in 5 years.

I: Agreed with recommendation. Please summarize the case.

• Q1. Tell me about yourself and your family.
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• Q2. Tell me about your work experience.
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What factors will you consider while planning the yearly budget preparation for buying rice for home?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: What factors will you consider while buying rice?

C: My budget, seasonality, last year price trends, prices of alternative brands, storage period.

I: How will you apply data analytics to decide buying strategy?

C: So, we have the factors/variables involved in the problem. We need to find which variables will give the most information.

For example, if we have graphs describing past year trends and comparison with other brands, we can come up with the most efficient solution.

Then we make the purchase as allowed by our budget. Since rice has a long storage life, we can buy in large amounts for around up to 6 months.

I: So how will you summarize the case?

C: First comes the data collection phase where we decide the factors involved, which in our case are the budget, last year trends, competitor pricing, etc.

Then comes the data analysis phase where we look at the available data and use it to make decisions.

Then we do the purchasing and post that comes the post-purchasing process which involves documenting this year’s numbers and comparing with previous years investments.

There is a premium beauty services/salon company based in Dubai. They are looking for expanding. Discuss how they should proceed.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: (Scoping questions) How old is the company and what kind of services do they offer? Do they sell their own line of products as well?

I: It is a well-established company almost 25 years old. Yes, they have their own line of products as well. They have all basic beauty parlor services.

C: What locations do they serve currently? And how is the market? Are there any competitors?

I: Currently they serve Dubai and Tier 1 Indian cities. There are some popular competitors like Lakme, etc.

C: Okay. So, do we have any constraints with respect to geography, labor or budget?

I: No constraints.

C: And how much time do we have to plan the expansion?

I: Around 2-3 years.

C: Okay, so we have the following options -

Since we have sufficient time, we can look for geographical expansion and expand to Tier-2 Indian cities as well. Also, we can look for expanding to other south Asian countries.

Another option can be to launch economy range of products and also sell them on e-commerce platform for worldwide sales.

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
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• Q2. Walk me through your work experience.
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• Q3. Couple of questions related to GST policy as they were relevant to work experience.
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Your client is a large retailer based in a Tier 1 city that sells multiple fashion related accessories. They want to sell a new brand of premium perfumes but are unsure of the demand of these products. Help them forecast the right amount of inventory they should buy?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Could you please help me understand the retailer a bit better, when we are talking about a multiple brand retailer, can I think of something like a Shopper's Stop based in Delhi?

I: Yes, Shopper's Stop would be very similar to what the client does. However, our client only has one store in a premium mall in Delhi.

C: Thank you, understanding the perfume the client wants to sell, is it a known premium brand or a completely new one? Also, what is the price range of the perfume, and does it make products for a single gender?

I: It is a famous existing brand, and the perfumes range from INR 15000. They make perfumes exclusively for women.

C: So, can I assume that the consumer of these perfumes will be high income females above a certain age.

I: Yes, that would be right.

C: So, demand of the perfume would be a function of number of people visiting the shop on average, number of them making high value purchases, popularity of the brand, advertisement push and external economic factors.

Do we have any numbers on any of these metrics?

I: Our team has already done the data crunching and have suggested 3 alternatives along with the requisite probabilities of the stock getting sold off.

20000 units: 100% sales, 30000 units: 80% sales, 40000 units: 65% sales.

The store will have to dispose of any units not sold and best the loss of their cost.

The rest of the case was calculating the cost and benefits of each decision alternative and calculating the expected profit to give the right answer.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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• Q2. Why have you done CFA after CA and why MBA now?
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• Q3. Tell me something about your articleship experience.
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• Q4. Difference between a bank and NBFC?
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• Q5. Who regulates banks, who regulates NBFCs?
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• Q6. How do they source funds? Who has cheaper funds?
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• Q7. How is the current scenario for NBFCs and banks?
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I am a UAE based bank. I want to enter the Indian market. Help me in taking this decision.

(This case was completed in <5-7 minutes)
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Surely, as your consultant you want me to assist you in deciding whether the Indian market is good for your business, right?

I: Yes.

C: I would first like to gain a deeper understanding of the business. Since how many years are, we in operation and which geographies do we cater to?

I: We are in business for more than 20 years and are the in the top 5 banks in UAE. We operate in the GCC countries.

C: Is GCC is an alliance of some countries in the Gulf Region?

I: Yes, GCC stands for Gulf cooperation council and has 6 members.

C: What kind of banking services do we offer? How is our portfolio, in terms of book size in retail, corporate, real estate and others? Also, since we are a global bank, we might be having many international transactions, am I right?

I: We provide all sorts of banking services, but we specialize in Transaction banking. Yes, we do have multiple international transactions.

C: What exactly do you mean by transaction banking?

I: We are into trading, exports, imports, and forex. Could you move on to how we will make the decision.

C: Absolutely, give me a few seconds to structure my thoughts.

I: Definitely.

C: I would begin by analyzing the qualitative country and industry level factors, then I would see whether the market size is lucrative…

I: Kushal, let me interrupt you. I do not want you to use this framework. Tell me how we enter the market.

C: Alright, so we could enter the market organically by taking a license from RBI, or maybe look at inorganic modes subject to regulations of RBI.

I: Let us cut to the chase, do you think we can compete with the likes of HDFC.

C: HDFC has a very diversified business all over the country with an exceptionally clean loan book with strict control on bad debts and this enables it to have cheap cost of funds. For a new entrant, competing with HDFC will be exceedingly difficult.

I: So, what do you suggest? Should we not enter.

C: We need to find a niche segment we can cater to.

I: Like?

C: India and UAE have good import export volumes. So, we can start by entering into a state where there are extremely high exports and imports like Gujarat. We can begin our operations there and slowly scale up.

I: Good approach, but why will people come to my bank and not HDFC.

C: We can try to create tech-based solutions to improve the banking experience.

I: Do you think HDFC will not be able to replicate that?

C: Yes, they will be able to replicate it.

I: What do you think our real advantage is?

C: We have a customer in UAE who are interacting with counterparties in India, we can explore to leverage these relations.

I: Correct, go on.

C: We can target the counterparties to our customers and give them a holistic banking experience with priority banking and services related to forex, futures, and forwards.

I: Right, this is the only advantage we have over Indian banks, we can leverage this to enter the Indian market. Thanks a lot, all the best!

We are a tyre manufacturer in Mid-west US. The market for automobiles is growing and we to expand our capacity. Two options are available with the client, either expand in the US or tie up with a Chinese manufacturer. Analyze the options and recommend the solution.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Surely, I would like to gain a deeper understanding of the company first, where does it sell tyres and how many different SKUs does it sell?

I: Our market is in US only and we have only one variant of our tyre.

C: Could you give me some details about the competitive landscape?

I: Yes, it is the leading player across US.

C: At what percentage of our capacity we operating at?

I: We are operating at 100% capacity.

C: Do we foresee that there is enough demand to have a good capacity utilization after increasing the capacity? Also, is there any constraint on the capacity with either of the options?

I: Yes, our calculations say that even after increasing the capacity, we will operate at 100% capacity because of the demand. No constraints on capacity, we can cater to the increased demand with either of them.

C: Do we have, or did we have any existing tie-up similar to the one we are evaluating?

I: Yes, in the past we had a tie up with the same Chinese manufacturer for 10 years.

C: What is the size and scale of this manufacturer? What was the reason for discontinuance of the same?

I: The Chinese manufacturer is a market leader in China. There were not enough growth opportunities.

C: Give me a few moments to structure my thoughts.

I: Sure.

C: We can do a qualitative and quantitative analysis to decide which option is better in the long run. Do you want me to proceed with this approach?

I: Yes

C: In qualitative analysis I would like to compare the two options based on certain company level metrics like quality of tyres, speed of the process, nature of contract, chances of shortages, degree of control and then we can evaluate industry and country level factors. I would evaluate the costs in the quantitative analysis. Do you think I am missing anything, or can I proceed?

I: Yes, you can proceed.

C: Will the quality of tyres be same?

I: Yes.

C: If we expect timing of orders to be uncertain then relying on 3rd party would be slightly difficult because time between ordering and receiving the tyres would be long and we might lose out on customers. In our own system we can change production levels as and when required. Also, we might have contracts with tyre manufacturers with terms and conditions w.r.t minimum quantity. These contracts could be detrimental if quantities are uncertain and speed required is high. There could be demand & supply mismatch which could lead to shortages. Another key thing that we should consider is whether this frees up the management bandwidth and management can channelize their energy and efforts to something else.

I: Very good, go ahead.

C: Now looking at the bigger picture, US- china relations are especially important, the tax regulations and tariff barriers should be considered. Considering the current situation where elections are happening there is a lot of political uncertainty. Also, US has imposed multiple tariffs and custom duties on Chinese products. I would also like to know if there are any subsidies, tax advantages for own production.

I: Yes, there is 50% subsidy for which we will be eligible if we do domestic production without China.

C: Hence, looking qualitatively it makes more sense to produce on our own. Just one thing we should consider is what if our competitors tie up with the Chinese manufacturer.

I: Wonderful, move on to the quantitative analysis.

C: We will have to incur fixed cost to either own or lease machinery to increase our capacity. Apart from that we will have to incur Raw material cost on items like rubber. We will consider other elements of the cost sheet like Direct labor, direct expenses, Factory over heads, admin overheads, Selling and Distribution overheads to reach cost of goods sold, to this we will add the duties we have to pay and deduct the benefits of the subsidies. Whichever option has a lower cost will be chosen.

I: Great analysis. Assume that cost of making it ourselves is cheaper and qualitatively also it is a bad decision to tie-up, but the CEO still chose to go ahead with the tie up. Why would he have done so?

C: Could it be because they wanted to outsource this task as far as possible and focus their efforts somewhere else.

I: That is a good reason but that was not the case here.

C: The Chinese manufacturer is the largest player in China, could it be possible that we could leverage this relation to enter into the Chinese market?

I: Yes, that is what the CEO planned. Thanks, Kushal, all the best

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself and a follow up question on hobbies.
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A tyre manufacturing company is seeing a decline in sales. Investigate.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Clarifying questions on size of the firm, presence of other competitors, product portfolio local brands, etc.

I: Among the top brands nationally but the company is facing competition from local players.

C: Since when have the sales been in decline?

I: Since the past 1 month.

C: Was there a price change?

I: No.

C: Relative to our competitors, has the prices suddenly become more expensive?

I: Maybe, explore what could be the reasons not limited to price change.

C: Explored the entire journey right from supply chain to distributors to warehouses, to retailers and finally the customers. I put forward possible causes such as:

a) under-stocking at stores because of loss of inventory in the supply chain,
b) Possible changes in quality that is making our product less attractive.

I: Up to the point of distribution in stores, there is not any problem. Think of any possible causes beyond that.

C: There can be two possible causes:

a) Changes in product placement in stores,
b) change in promotion policies of our company vs the competitor company.

I: Yes, that is right there has been a change in promotional strategy of competitors. They have started sending goodies like pen stand, wall clock etc. with their logo to the retailers. And that is increasing top of mind awareness both in the minds of retailers and customers who visit their shops.

There are two types of corporate cards: Travel card and Payments card where the latter is used by companies to make payments to their vendors/suppliers. You are the credit card company, and you see that certain clients are not using these credit cards up-to the designated limit. So, for e.g., if the limit is 10000, the client is only utilizing 1000 of it. What kind of data (primary and secondary) can you use to nudge these kinds of companies to utilize their credit card limits and make more payments?
The discussion was for about 40 minutes where I first understood the working of these two credit cards, what kind of information the credit card company tracks about payments made etc.

The interview was more of a discussion and the crux of the solution is that we shall categorize our customers (companies) based on their utilization levels - high, medium, low. Then, we shall compare two or more companies belonging to the same industry but with different utilization levels based on the following parameters:

1) Size of payments made,
2) Number and types of suppliers/vendors to whom the payments are being made,
3) Frequency of payments etc.

Based on mismatch of above parameters (high vs low), we shall nudge the low utilization companies by running targeted advertisements.

• Q1. NA
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Client is a hospitality chain with properties in Chennai and Kolkata. The chain has been operational for the past 40 years. Due to Covid-19, the chain has witnessed a drop in number of hotel bookings leading to a capacity utilization of 50- 55% which is below the normal level of 60-70% that the chain expects. Keeping in mind the effect of the pandemic, help them in formulating a strategy to improve their capacity utilization.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Does the client have any operational or budgetary constraints? Do we have any specific timeline or metrics in place to evaluate any strategic option?

I: The client does not have any operational and budget constraints. However, the client would like to see improvement in utilization to the normal levels of around 60-70%.

C: Okay. Can you tell me a bit about the hotels that the client operates, how many hotels the client has in each city, what kind of services are offered?

I: Sure, the client has 2-3 hotels in Chennai and 2 in Kolkata. All the client properties are 5-star hotels under the same brand. The hotels offer a full range of services that would be expected in a normal premium hotel.

C: Can you tell me about the kind of customers who visit the hotel?

I: 70% of the customers for the hotel are business travelers, rest of 30% are primarily foreign tourists.

C: I am assuming that the decrease in the number of customers would be across the two major customer segments. Business travel might have decreased due to increased prevalence of virtual ways of working. Tourism sector has taken a hit which might have resulted in a reduction in the number of visitors coming to the hotel.

I: That is correct. The decline has been across both the customer segments.

C: The utilization of rooms in a hotel is dependent on price. In order to increase utilization, we can look at decreasing the prices. However, such an option can led to dilution of premium image of the hotel. Also, the price elasticity might be very low considering the kind of customers that the hotel caters to.

I: Yes, lowering the prices is not an option.

C: Is the hotel following dynamic pricing?

I: Okay, this can be one option that can be looked at. What else can the client do?

I would like to look at the issue of increasing utilization from two perspectives, one would be to look at ways to increase the hotel bookings by the current Target Group and the second would be to look at ways to attract different set of consumers to the hotel.

I: Let us look at different customer segments that can be attracted by the hotel.

C: We can divide customers into two groups primarily: Business Customers and Non-Business Customers.

I: Let us look at the business customers.

C: For the business customers we can further divide these according to the needs that the hotel can serve. Historically, majority of the business customers would be those staying at the hotel for 2-3 days while being on a corporate visit. Apart from this, the hotel can be used to organize corporate events or industry conferences, conventions etc.

I: Okay, let us look at the non-business customer segment.

C: The non-business customers can be divided into three major buckets: First, tourists or travelers which will include both domestic and foreign. Second, people who come for weddings, art exhibitions or other cultural events and third, people who come to the hotel for dining or entertainment purposes.

I: Okay, now that we have identified different kinds of customers: can you tell me which of these customer segments should be targeted?

C: The number of business customers will remain low as a lot of companies are starting to adapt to a virtual workplace setup. The hotel premises can be optimized for hosting weddings and other cultural events, but this segment will not really grow significantly in size in the future. I would focus on tourist segment of customers which would be expected to increase once the effects of Covid-19 subside.

I: Fine. How would you go about ensuring that this new segment of customers goes for our client’s hotels?

C: We can break down the issue into 4 aspects: Customer Need, Promotion, Accessibility and Service Experience.

I: Can you elaborate on these?

C: Sure, starting with the customer's need. Over the world, tourists seem to be attracted by the value proposition of hotels that give them a flavor of the local culture and lifestyles.

Kolkata and Chennai are two cities that are rich in their heritage and the hotels that our clients have can be shaped to reflect the cultural heritage of these cities. On top of this, tourists prefer authentic experiences and hotels which are technologically advanced.

We can have a different sub-brand for properties offering this new value proposition.

I: This seems fair. What about the other aspects?

C: Under promotion, we need to ensure that our advertising is consistent with the new proposition in terms of the message and the media on which we promote the client’s hotel brands.

Digital presence can be optimized using SEO and digital analytics can be used to target high propensity customers. Under accessibility, we need to ensure that our hotel is listed on all the major OTAs such as Expedia along with optimizing our own website.

The service experience needs to reflect the new value proposition and changes would be required in terms of tangibles, employees, and the ambience.

Our client is a 2-wheeler manufacturer based out of India for the past 35 years. In the past 3 years, it has witnessed a drop in market share from 20% to 15% and drop in EBITDA from 18% to 13%. Help the client.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Can you tell me about the scale of operations of the client in terms of geography and the distribution channels of the client? What is the current capacity under which it is operating?

I: The client is a Pan-India player operating at 85% capacity. It has a 3rd party distribution and dealer network.

C: Can you talk about the kind of vehicles that the client manufactures? How many different SKUs does the client have?

I: The client manufactures motorcycles in the mid-price segment and has 5 different SKUs.

C: I am assuming the client would be catering to the middle–income segment.

I: Yes, that is a fair assumption.

C: Can you tell me about the competition faced by our client? Are they facing a similar issue in terms of the drop in EBITDA?

I: There are 4 major competitors including 2 emerging players who have taken the bulk of the market share that we have lost. The competitors have not seen a drop in their EBITDA margins.

C: I would like to focus upon the market share issue first. Is the market share in terms of volume or value?

I: It is in terms of value.

C: The market share decline in this can be due to two factors: First, the market share of the higher-priced segments in which our client does not operate has increased at the expense of mid-price segment. Second, our own share within the mid-price segment has decreased.

I: It is a case of both. Let me give you some data:

Segment: Premium
Share: 10
Price Range: >95000
Growth Rate: 30%

Segment: High
Share: 20
Price Range: 65000: 95000
Growth Rate: 25%

Segment: Mid
Share: 35
Price Range: 40000: 65000
Growth Rate:12%

Segment: Low
Share: 35
Price Range: <40000
Growth Rate:15%

C: The mid-price segment has grown at a below average rate of 12% which is one of the reasons for the falling market share of our client.

I: Can we do something about this?

C: Probably enter a new segment.

I: Let us say the client is confused between low and high segment, which one should he choose?

C: It will depend on 4 factors: Size and growth of the segments, profit margin in each segment, level of competition within each segment, client’s expected segment share in each segment.

I: Looking at the numbers that I provided, where do you see greater potential?

C: The high-priced segment is more attractive due to its superior growth rate. Keeping the macro-economic trends in mind, this segment will remain highly lucrative for the future. Also, it might be possible for us to upsell the existing customer base.

I: Seems right, the client has also faced declining share within the mid-priced segment. Can we explore what could be the possibilities in this case?

C: Sure, it can be a function of prices and volume of motorcycles sold. Do you want me to look at any one issue in particular?

I: Let us focus on quantity.

C: The quantity can be constrained at either the supply side, at the dealer stage or at the customer end. I am assuming that since we are running at below capacity at 85%, supply side is not an issue.

I: Yes, leave the supply side. Let us look at the dealers first. What could be the possible issues?

C: There could be two levels of issues: The first could be that the number of customers visiting the dealers themselves has decreased due to some factors such as alternate D2C channels or other dealers in the area. The second could be that the dealer is not pushing our product due to a lack of monetary or non-monetary incentives.

I: What can be done about incentives assuming we cannot increase prices or reduce the client margins?

C: Increase the margins for our dealers. We can use our excess capacity to reduce fixed cost per unit leading to a lower overall cost which can result in higher margins for the dealers assuming we do not pass the benefit to the consumers. The other option could be to offer attractive credit support to the dealers.

I: Okay, let us move on to the issue of customer demand. What could be the possible issues here?

C: We can look at 4 things here: Customer Need, Promotion, Purchase and Post-Purchase. For the first issue, Customer Need, do we have some data on how the client products fare against our competitors in terms of Performance, Features and Durability?

I: The product is competitive in these aspects. Do you think the client can introduce a greater number of SKUs?

C: It depends on how heterogeneous the customer segment is. If it is not heterogeneous, an increase in the number of SKUs will lead to an increase in operational costs with no substantial increase in revenues resulting in lower profits.

I: Seems fair. Let us look at the other issues.

C: Yes, assuming that the product is suited to the customer needs, we can look at Promotion which includes both Push-based and Pull-based promotion. Pull-based promotion will consist of advertising and use of digital marketing to ensure that the client product is within the Initial Consideration Set for the customer. The Purchase experience needs to be seamless and the availability of affordable payment options such as EMIs is extremely important. The Post-Purchase aspect consists of servicing/maintenance, warranties and response to customer feedback.

Devise a Go-To-Market Strategy for a smart watch manufacturer.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: What is the objective behind this move? Does Titan have any budgetary or operational constraints?

I: The share of conventional watches is stagnating, and the client expects huge potential for the smartwatch as an upcoming segment. The objective is to increase market share. There are no budgetary or operational constraints.

C: What is the price range in which its Titan is planning to launch the product.

I: There are two segments that we are looking at: Rs 5K-10K and Rs 10K-20K.

C: Who are the current major players in the smart watch market? What are their current shares?

I: The major players are Apple, Xiaomi and Samsung. The smart watch segment is still in the growth phase.

C: Sure, we can look at any GTM strategy in terms of 4 aspects: Customer TG, Product, Promotions and Distribution/Retail Channels.

I: Let us look at customers. How do we define them?

C: We can define the customers by looking at the needs that a smartwatch can cater to. These needs can be divided into two broad aspects: Functional and Psychological.

I: What will come under each of those broad aspects?

C: Functional needs would include Fitness tracking and Health monitoring, Environment Sensing, Sync capabilities with other devices and Smart Home applications. Psychological needs would include aspects such as Social Status, desire to be seen as cool for having a high-tech product of a brand such as Apple.

I: How do we go forward from here?

C: We need to decide which one of these different needs is going to lead to a significant customer segment. Do we have any data on this?

I: No.

C: I feel that among the functional needs, fitness is going to be a major driver. We can target this segment.

I: How do we define and target such a segment?

C: The customer segment can be largely described in terms of demographics and geography as most technologically oriented fitness-conscious people would be of a younger age group. Use of online channels for promotion and use of e-commerce platforms as well as D2C channels for distribution would be critical to reaching this customer segment. One way to increase the penetration would be to have tie-ups with certain fitness-based apps such as CultFit.

I: How can we ensure that our client gets a decent market share in this segment?

C: One major aspect in this segment would be the ecosystem effect: the greater the number of smart devices that can be connected to the watch, the greater would be its utility. The second major aspect would be the brand image, and this is where competitors such as Apple have an edge over our client due to their technological prowess.

I: But our client also has some complementary assets such as its retail stores like Croma and appliance brands like Voltas.

C: Yes, and it can also leverage some expertise in software from TCS. In addition, the Titan might be the only Indian brand in the segment giving it a unique advantage over others in this regard.

I: How should our client compete against its competitors, on what basis: Brand or Product?

C: The brand of competitors like Apple, Xiaomi and Samsung is too strong to be countered by Titan which is new in this segment. In such a situation, it is always better to compete for product superiority.

I: Interesting. If I were to estimate the size of the smart watches market, how would I do?

C: I would like to use a top-down approach. We can start with India’s population. (I proceeded to use factors in the order: Rural/Urban -> Economic Classification -> Age profile -> Propensity to purchase smart watch. I also mentioned the replacement period).

I: What are the factors that can affect the replacement period?

C: Economic prosperity leading to an upgrade in model, Technological Obsolescence, Desire to own new features and aspiration to own a smart watch from a well-known brand.