Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Telangana
Your seniors at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad helped you with their notes. Now they're helping you with their placement interview questions. 🙏
Filter interviews byIndian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad Placement Interview Questions
Updated
22 Sep 2024
11 interviews found
Sort by:
Popular
I applied via Campus Placement
2 Interview Rounds
1
HR Round (4 Questions)
- Q1. Introduction- Things about me which are not on my resume
- Q2. Walk me through your resume
- Q3. Questions about my work in the companies I have worked
- Q4. Questions on Agile (since I mentioned agile expertise and scrum master role in my resume, but anyways since its a big practice now, its good to learn about it b...read more
2
Case Study Round
Basic introduction, things which makes me unique
After this, there was a case given to me on Mergers and acquisitions
Situation: You work at PE firm and you want to acquire a vet clinic chain which works in a franchise model with 20 clinics currently operating. Questions asked were:
Q1: Before acquisitions what kind of information you would want from them?
Answer could range from their business model, capex, opex, IT systems maturity, data governance model and many more things (I was asked to keep it limited to tech side only
Q2: What would be your acquisition strategy? Things you would consider while acquisition
Again keep it related to tech only
Q3: Cost modelling pillars
Q4: If you need to scale up, from 20 franchise clinics to 40, what things you will look at?
Q5: Vendor selection criteria
Q6: Few questions on fixed and variable costs (Along the lines of cost modelling only)
I applied via Campus Placement
3 Interview Rounds
1
HR Round (2 Questions)
- Q1. Questions on past work experience
- Q2. Why Deloitte?
2
Case Study Round
Company A wants to divest from B division - 500 systems, 200 used by only A, 200 used by B and 100 used by A&B. How will you go about it. The interviewer added few more constraints as the case progressed
There are about 10 most popular cases in tech consulting, approach for most of them remains same
3
HR Round (3 Questions)
- Q1. Why M&A?
- Q2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- Q3. . Do you plan to go to any other interview if I give you a FIF?
I applied via Campus Placement
2 Interview Rounds
1
HR Round (3 Questions)
- Q1. Tell me about yourself.
- Q2. Why Deloitte? Why Tech consulting?
- Q3. Are you okay with traveling?
2
Case Study Round
During migration from one system to another what are the various IT costs that need to be considered.
What are the firm level decisions that need to be considered in these decisions?
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Case Questions:The case was about a pharmaceutical company in Europe. The Partner gave me a lot of data upfront which I noted down. It was as follows (Case type...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: personal interview
Experience: The first round was a very amicable interview where we had a general chat about multiple things. The positive thing was that I had already met interviewer and most of the other Deloitte folks at a dinner hosted a couple of days before the interview and they recognized me from there. Interviewer asked me about my background and the usual PI questions like why consulting, why
Deloitte, why I moved back from the US. We also spoke about travelling being an integral part of the job and whether I wanted to
change industries or remain in the same. We happened to live in the same places and we spoke about that. All in all it was a casual
talk where he just wanted to gauge my communication skills and readiness for a career in consulting. I asked him about the
healthcare practice and how it was in India and also how the US- Hyderabad business model of Deloitte worked.
One major thing that went right was that the rapport between me and the interviewer. He had a good sense of humor and I could
gauge his personality and talk accordingly. Also the fact that I hadspoken to him and asked questions during the dinner session
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The pharma industry is fragmented and this company is one of the larger players with sales of $5 billion a year. They have a very good brand and sell mainly branded drugs in addition into a few generics. Their end customers are mainly hospitals and distributors. They now want to double their turnover in 5 years and have decided to enter the space of medicinal cosmetics.
From here, interviewer took over from the other partner. First I summarized the case facts and clarified the objective. I asked
them what sort of turnover they were looking at and he said it was their sales. I used the 3 C’s structure and examined the Company, Customers and Competition. I went over the state of the industry (current and future) and whether it made business sense to enter the new market. . Then I went to how we would go about entering the new market. I drew the 2 by 2 – current market, new market, current product , new product and questioned whether they could exercise all the 4 options or not. Interviewer said it was a good approach but we would come to it later. He showed me a sheet of paper with some data and charts on it and asked me to interpret it and then proceed towards the analysis This is some of the data I can recall (numbers might not be accurate): Size of world market in billions. They asked me which region they should focus on
Japan: eliminated Japan due to small market size and negative growth.
Europe: Definitely enter. Have the local knowledge, established customer base and distribution networks
US: I said US is seems like good opportunity but there might already be strong competitors in this developed market and it might lead to price wars.
Rest of the world: I was leaning towards this since it was a growing market but decided against it since it had multiple challenges. Rest of the world included many countries and would be difficult to set up operations in multiple companies. In addition, regulations were not strong and piracy was high, would take time to customize to the local markets. Growth rate by Drug type and distribution channel. They asked me which drug type and channel should they focus on and I said that branded was their competency so they should go for that. The channel should be prescription and even though they don’t have experience in OTC they should, try that channel as well since it had significant growth rate Next he asked me to calculate how much their turnover would increase in 5 years through the choices I had made. Given the market sizes and growth rates, I calculated the sales and found it to be about half of what was required. So then he asked me what should be the next step now. The current solution doesn’t seem to work
I went back to the 2 by 2 of market entry matrix and said they could try to expand the current product in new markets rather than
focus on a new market. He was happy and said that it’s always better to first expand in an area which you have expertise in
provided it is profitable. Then he asked me what I would do differently to expand the current market.
I went over the value chain analysis and gave various possible options like increasing marketing spend, Joint ventures etc. I
finally zeroed in on the distribution network and he asked me to probe that further. The current issue turned out to be that they
were dealing with hospitals and were too localized. They needed to expand their network in Europe and this would give them the
turnover needed. He said that you have cracked the case and was satisfied.
I remained calm even though the interviewer was putting a lot of stress and trying to hurry me up. I came up with innovative
solutions and made sure I listened to the hints given by the interviewer about whether the direction I was proceeding on was
ok or not. Practice done on cases helped.
While practicing cases, I had not done timed practices. So when I was subjected to this in the interview, I had to make a big effort to
not let it get to me. The interviewer was very aggressive and wanted quick answers. Also, don’t get bogged down by structures,
I was letting structures determine my thinking initially but later customized by analysis as per the case.
I had a Small PI, where they asked questions related to TMAY, reasons for NOT joining deloitte if any, etc. Then the offer was made.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: The first round was a very amicable interview where we had a general chat about multiple things. The positive thing was that I had already met interviewer and most of the other Deloitte folks at a dinner hosted a couple of days before the interview and they recognized me from there. Interviewer asked me about my background and the usual PI questions like why consulting, why
Deloitte, why I moved back from the US. We also spoke about travelling being an integral part of the job and whether I wanted to
change industries or remain in the same. We happened to live in the same places and we spoke about that. All in all it was a casual
talk where he just wanted to gauge my communication skills and readiness for a career in consulting. I asked him about the
healthcare practice and how it was in India and also how the US- Hyderabad business model of Deloitte worked.
One major thing that went right was that the rapport between me and the interviewer. He had a good sense of humor and I could
gauge his personality and talk accordingly. Also the fact that I hadspoken to him and asked questions during the dinner session
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The pharma industry is fragmented and this company is one of the larger players with sales of $5 billion a year. They have a very good brand and sell mainly branded drugs in addition into a few generics. Their end customers are mainly hospitals and distributors. They now want to double their turnover in 5 years and have decided to enter the space of medicinal cosmetics.
From here, interviewer took over from the other partner. First I summarized the case facts and clarified the objective. I asked
them what sort of turnover they were looking at and he said it was their sales. I used the 3 C’s structure and examined the Company, Customers and Competition. I went over the state of the industry (current and future) and whether it made business sense to enter the new market. . Then I went to how we would go about entering the new market. I drew the 2 by 2 – current market, new market, current product , new product and questioned whether they could exercise all the 4 options or not. Interviewer said it was a good approach but we would come to it later. He showed me a sheet of paper with some data and charts on it and asked me to interpret it and then proceed towards the analysis This is some of the data I can recall (numbers might not be accurate): Size of world market in billions. They asked me which region they should focus on
Japan: eliminated Japan due to small market size and negative growth.
Europe: Definitely enter. Have the local knowledge, established customer base and distribution networks
US: I said US is seems like good opportunity but there might already be strong competitors in this developed market and it might lead to price wars.
Rest of the world: I was leaning towards this since it was a growing market but decided against it since it had multiple challenges. Rest of the world included many countries and would be difficult to set up operations in multiple companies. In addition, regulations were not strong and piracy was high, would take time to customize to the local markets. Growth rate by Drug type and distribution channel. They asked me which drug type and channel should they focus on and I said that branded was their competency so they should go for that. The channel should be prescription and even though they don’t have experience in OTC they should, try that channel as well since it had significant growth rate Next he asked me to calculate how much their turnover would increase in 5 years through the choices I had made. Given the market sizes and growth rates, I calculated the sales and found it to be about half of what was required. So then he asked me what should be the next step now. The current solution doesn’t seem to work
I went back to the 2 by 2 of market entry matrix and said they could try to expand the current product in new markets rather than
focus on a new market. He was happy and said that it’s always better to first expand in an area which you have expertise in
provided it is profitable. Then he asked me what I would do differently to expand the current market.
I went over the value chain analysis and gave various possible options like increasing marketing spend, Joint ventures etc. I
finally zeroed in on the distribution network and he asked me to probe that further. The current issue turned out to be that they
were dealing with hospitals and were too localized. They needed to expand their network in Europe and this would give them the
turnover needed. He said that you have cracked the case and was satisfied.
I remained calm even though the interviewer was putting a lot of stress and trying to hurry me up. I came up with innovative
solutions and made sure I listened to the hints given by the interviewer about whether the direction I was proceeding on was
ok or not. Practice done on cases helped.
While practicing cases, I had not done timed practices. So when I was subjected to this in the interview, I had to make a big effort to
not let it get to me. The interviewer was very aggressive and wanted quick answers. Also, don’t get bogged down by structures,
I was letting structures determine my thinking initially but later customized by analysis as per the case.
I had a Small PI, where they asked questions related to TMAY, reasons for NOT joining deloitte if any, etc. Then the offer was made.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. PI questions: Why MBA?
- Q2. Why come back from US?
- Q3. If offered Booz and Deloitte, what would you prefer?
- Q4. Case Questions: What is the difference between ‘risk’ and ‘flexibility’?
- Q5. If 4 warehouses were combined how would the inventory levels change?
- Q6. PI questions: Questions on past experience
- Q7. Case Questions: A pharma company wants to expand its business. How? (Case type:Market entry strategy. I was provided slides of case on request.)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Thinking aloud for the questions.
Tips: It’s ok not to give precise answers, just think aloud and you should be ok.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Pharma company currently in Generics. Want to explore other options. Details of Market size, share, competition given. Draw inferences and support your logic.
Kept cool head. Supported by inferences well with numbers. Talked loudly and kept focus on the problem at hand.
Missed out on some information I was given earlier.
Tips: A) Keep track of all the information you have.
B) It is ok to change your recommendation, in light of new information.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Thinking aloud for the questions.
Tips: It’s ok not to give precise answers, just think aloud and you should be ok.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Pharma company currently in Generics. Want to explore other options. Details of Market size, share, competition given. Draw inferences and support your logic.
Kept cool head. Supported by inferences well with numbers. Talked loudly and kept focus on the problem at hand.
Missed out on some information I was given earlier.
Tips: A) Keep track of all the information you have.
B) It is ok to change your recommendation, in light of new information.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. PI questions: Briefly go through my resume
- Q2. Why I chose Marketing and Finance specialization?
- Q3. Questions related to my past work experience
- Q4. What I think of issues related to formation of new states such as Telangana
- Q5. Case Questions: Estimate the number of shoes sold in Hyderabad in a year(Case type:Guesstimate)
- Q6. Case Questions: To figure out the market entry strategy of a pharmaceutical company (Case type:Marketing and Strategy)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had met interviewer on the night before during the company dinner organized by Deloitte. That helped to start the conversation. First he asked me to briefly go through my resume. I also mentioned about things which were not mentioned in the resume. It really helped that I prepared in advance and listed down a few things which needed to be mentioned during the interview. Interviewer picked upfrom there and asked me why I chose Marketing and Finance specialization. He also asked some questions related to my past work experience. All in all nothing surprising then he asked me question which
I did not prepare for. He asked me what I think of issues related to formation of new states such as Telangana. I quickly gathered my thoughts and gave my rationale. Overall I was satisfied with my answer but in the hindsight I should have prepared for this question as this was one of the most talked about issues in the media. And when I thought interview was almost over interviewer asked me to solve a small guesstimate which was to calculate the number of shoes sold in Hyderabad in a year. I gave him couple of methods to approach the problem. He suggested using either one of them and coming up with the final number. I chose one of the methods and told him the final answers. All this while I have been talking with him about my assumptions and why I was solving problem in that particular way. Interviewer questioned one of my assumptions and helped me in making corrections. In the end, he
seemed to be satisfied with the approach and I was relieved that firstinterview of my day went fine.
I was prepared for most of the questions. All these were mentioned in the interview guides distributed by Consulting club and other alums.
I should have been more prepared about popular media issues.
Tips: Always attend networking events. I am sure everyone would say this but importance of such events can’t be emphasized enough. Practice PI questions by writing them; it worked for me at least. It helped me be clearer about the answer which is important when you are cross-questioned in the interview.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to figure out how a European pharmaceutical company should go about launching beauty products. This company may launch new beauty products by making small changes in existing health products. New management wanted to double the revenue in 5 years. I was given a lot of matrices and charts, showing market sizes and growth rates of various markets such as North America, Europe and emerging markets. Based on data and other qualitative judgments, I suggested going to European markets. I used hybrid of multiple frameworks such as new product introduction, market entry etc. to come up with a framework for solving the case. After number crunching we reached to the conclusion that this new beauty product market won’t be sufficient for
the firm to double its revenue. Hence firm must increase market share inits existing pharmaceutical market. I used 2X2 matrix with new products, old products on Y axis and new customers, old customers on X axis. After probing, I realized that bottleneck in firm’s business was their business model. Firm used to buy patents from other small firms and use its manufacturing capabilities and extensive distribution network to sell the product. After number crunching I suggested the approach involving developing its own R&D capabilities and better incentivizing the distribution network. Also used share of voice*share of mind*share of
distribution framework to give my recommendations. At this stage interviewer asked me if I had solved the case before because I had touched upon all the aspects of the case I was pleased to see that case round went well and I came out relieved. Later one of the alums asked me to wait. He went inside and discussed with my interview panel. He came out in 10 mins and asked me if I had
other offers. I was damn pleased to hear that and got the sense that my interview went really well.
Framework which I came up with was exhaustive, kept communicating while solving the case. Even when I was stuck, I re-iterated my approach and showed the logical progression. Sometime, we get so involved in thinking especially when too much data is thrown at us that we do not communicate our approach. It is very important even to justify why you are asking any particular question. If you have shared your approach with the interviewer then it becomes easier. See the whole case interview as a mutual problem solving exercise where interviewer is also part of it.
Could have done calculation little faster. Small tricks of multiplications would have certainly helped.
Be flexible in using frameworks. Sometimes you may need to use multiple of them in the same case so one needs to internalize them. Importance of solving sufficient number of cases cannot be emphasized enough.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: I had met interviewer on the night before during the company dinner organized by Deloitte. That helped to start the conversation. First he asked me to briefly go through my resume. I also mentioned about things which were not mentioned in the resume. It really helped that I prepared in advance and listed down a few things which needed to be mentioned during the interview. Interviewer picked upfrom there and asked me why I chose Marketing and Finance specialization. He also asked some questions related to my past work experience. All in all nothing surprising then he asked me question which
I did not prepare for. He asked me what I think of issues related to formation of new states such as Telangana. I quickly gathered my thoughts and gave my rationale. Overall I was satisfied with my answer but in the hindsight I should have prepared for this question as this was one of the most talked about issues in the media. And when I thought interview was almost over interviewer asked me to solve a small guesstimate which was to calculate the number of shoes sold in Hyderabad in a year. I gave him couple of methods to approach the problem. He suggested using either one of them and coming up with the final number. I chose one of the methods and told him the final answers. All this while I have been talking with him about my assumptions and why I was solving problem in that particular way. Interviewer questioned one of my assumptions and helped me in making corrections. In the end, he
seemed to be satisfied with the approach and I was relieved that firstinterview of my day went fine.
I was prepared for most of the questions. All these were mentioned in the interview guides distributed by Consulting club and other alums.
I should have been more prepared about popular media issues.
Tips: Always attend networking events. I am sure everyone would say this but importance of such events can’t be emphasized enough. Practice PI questions by writing them; it worked for me at least. It helped me be clearer about the answer which is important when you are cross-questioned in the interview.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to figure out how a European pharmaceutical company should go about launching beauty products. This company may launch new beauty products by making small changes in existing health products. New management wanted to double the revenue in 5 years. I was given a lot of matrices and charts, showing market sizes and growth rates of various markets such as North America, Europe and emerging markets. Based on data and other qualitative judgments, I suggested going to European markets. I used hybrid of multiple frameworks such as new product introduction, market entry etc. to come up with a framework for solving the case. After number crunching we reached to the conclusion that this new beauty product market won’t be sufficient for
the firm to double its revenue. Hence firm must increase market share inits existing pharmaceutical market. I used 2X2 matrix with new products, old products on Y axis and new customers, old customers on X axis. After probing, I realized that bottleneck in firm’s business was their business model. Firm used to buy patents from other small firms and use its manufacturing capabilities and extensive distribution network to sell the product. After number crunching I suggested the approach involving developing its own R&D capabilities and better incentivizing the distribution network. Also used share of voice*share of mind*share of
distribution framework to give my recommendations. At this stage interviewer asked me if I had solved the case before because I had touched upon all the aspects of the case I was pleased to see that case round went well and I came out relieved. Later one of the alums asked me to wait. He went inside and discussed with my interview panel. He came out in 10 mins and asked me if I had
other offers. I was damn pleased to hear that and got the sense that my interview went really well.
Framework which I came up with was exhaustive, kept communicating while solving the case. Even when I was stuck, I re-iterated my approach and showed the logical progression. Sometime, we get so involved in thinking especially when too much data is thrown at us that we do not communicate our approach. It is very important even to justify why you are asking any particular question. If you have shared your approach with the interviewer then it becomes easier. See the whole case interview as a mutual problem solving exercise where interviewer is also part of it.
Could have done calculation little faster. Small tricks of multiplications would have certainly helped.
Be flexible in using frameworks. Sometimes you may need to use multiple of them in the same case so one needs to internalize them. Importance of solving sufficient number of cases cannot be emphasized enough.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Case Questions: A long case was given. Lots of data and whenever I asked questions, a few set of slides were passed onto me. It looked like that the case was an...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: personal interview
Experience: To start with, we connected really well, while we were walking down the corridor to the interview room. Interviewerstarted off by asking “You all seem to have strong extra-curriculars” (I had done put classic music
performances in my resume) I mentioned that it is also a factor that is seen during admissions, and
that’s why the observation.
Interviewer: Take me through your resume.
I: Let me take you through the things that I did apart from the expected duties at each level/stage.
Interviewer: That’s great; go on
I: Went on to mention what initiatives I took at undergrad, work, ISB etc..
Interviewer: Your CGPA takes you to which percentile in your batch.
I: Top 20%
Interviewer: Do you think this is low? Why do you seem to have a comparatively lower CGPA?
I: (I had strong acads in undergrad) Answered appropriately on how I focused on lot of other things, ELP, PaEV etc..
Interviewer: That’s nice to hear. You also seem to have done an ELP on a FMCG product launch in India. Can you elaborate?
I: Explained everything in detail including the focus on distribution etc..
Interviewer: What is your view on the implementation of GST (Goods and services tax) in India? How do you think it might change the dynamics ofdistribution?
I: I do not have a lot of knowledge on this, but I can talk about the impact on FMCG goods. (Went on to describe how under the current structure double taxation happens and how that is limiting supply chain
optimization etc). Also mentioned that it might have an impact on businesses and consulting in supply chain.
Interviewer: That’s what I wanted to hear. Which other companies are you interviewing with?
I: Diamond
Interviewer: What if Diamond and Deloitte both make you an offer?
I: Answered appropriately. Mentioned that it is responsibility and work that I am looking for and hence my decision would be based on that.
Interviewer: What if Deloitte and McKinsey both give you an offer?
I: Answered appropriately.
The connect! We soon established a strong rapport and were conversing like colleagues. I also mentioned that I didn’t know a lot about GST etc, but still made a good attempt at deconstructing the problem. When asked to take through the resume, I went ahead to mention all initiatives and other responsibilities that I undertook at each level rather than a routine account of the work.
Tips: Read the body language of the interviewer. If he is relaxed, smiling etc, try to be in the same disposition.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Laid out a small structure for the problem. There are primarily three ways in which the company can achieve the revenue growth:
1) Natural growth of the Industry
2) Organic Growth
3) In organic Growth – a) Acquire companies to expand product portfolio
b) Acquire companies to improve market power in existing segments
The interviewers were fine with the structure. Then I went ahead to discuss each of the points in slight detail.
Me: What is the expected growth of the branded cardio drugs (the market in which the company was operating) industry in the next five years?
Interviewers: Assume 8% per year.
Me: This means that if they are able to maintain their market share (value wise) over the next 5 years, their revenues will be approx = 5*(1.08)^5
Interviewer: I want you to show the calculations as well
Me: Sure, it will be approximately 1.4*5 = 7 bn + .15*5 = 7.75 bn
Interviewer: Ok. Can you please explain why you used such figures.
Me: Explained. So, the problem now seems to be divided into mainly two parts:
a) How to maintain/improve market share in current operating segments
b) How to achieve another 2.5 bn of revenue growth.
Let me first explore the inorganic growth opportunities for our client. Let us first try and understand market consolidation and cash position of our client. We will also try and evaluate any target that might …
Interviewer: (Interrupting in between) We are not interested in any acquisitions.
Me: Ok. That leaves us with organic growth opportunities. I would first want to explore what are the expansion opportunities in the existing market segments and then venture into new products/segments/geographies.
Interviewer: Can you prioritize your action right now; we are running out of time.
Me: Sure. My first action would be to explore if we can grow with our existing products segment itself. Moreover, with our client being a top 3 player, it might be easier to grow with existing products than explore new products.
Interviewer: Ok. So what do you suggest?
Me: I can think of three opportunities here:
a)Exercise market power to alter prices, if possible or
b) alter distribution channel to improve revenues that reach us or
c)cross-sell existing products to existing customers and increase value derived from a single customer.
Interviewer: Ok. That sounds fine. Now let us try to understand how we can expand into new geographies/new product segments.
Me: (Smiled! Realised that he was just trying to stress me out when he said that we don’t have much time) Ok. Can you share market size and growth by geography and segments information with me?
Interviewer: Gave a slide with lots of tables and charts (can’t recall, we were not allowed to carry notes outside)
Me: To frame my analysis, let me create a simple matrix. (Created the GE portfolio matrix). Went ahead to evaluate opportunities and suggested new segments.
Interviewer: Do you think it makes sense to introduce Generics?
Me: Given the existing market size of Generics and margins in the operating market segments it does not make much sense. However, to protect market share, the company should evaluate options of introducing fighter brands like generics.
Interview got over at this.
Did lots of quick calculations and did not get stressed out. Maintained my composure and adjusted speed when required.
I felt that sometimes my structure was too elaborate and tended to put off the interviewer.
Tips: Read the body language of the interviewer. Don’t get annoyed if interviewer interrupts in between. Before going into an elaborate discussion ask interviewer if he wants you to prioritize options before explaining each one of them in detail.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: To start with, we connected really well, while we were walking down the corridor to the interview room. Interviewerstarted off by asking “You all seem to have strong extra-curriculars” (I had done put classic music
performances in my resume) I mentioned that it is also a factor that is seen during admissions, and
that’s why the observation.
Interviewer: Take me through your resume.
I: Let me take you through the things that I did apart from the expected duties at each level/stage.
Interviewer: That’s great; go on
I: Went on to mention what initiatives I took at undergrad, work, ISB etc..
Interviewer: Your CGPA takes you to which percentile in your batch.
I: Top 20%
Interviewer: Do you think this is low? Why do you seem to have a comparatively lower CGPA?
I: (I had strong acads in undergrad) Answered appropriately on how I focused on lot of other things, ELP, PaEV etc..
Interviewer: That’s nice to hear. You also seem to have done an ELP on a FMCG product launch in India. Can you elaborate?
I: Explained everything in detail including the focus on distribution etc..
Interviewer: What is your view on the implementation of GST (Goods and services tax) in India? How do you think it might change the dynamics ofdistribution?
I: I do not have a lot of knowledge on this, but I can talk about the impact on FMCG goods. (Went on to describe how under the current structure double taxation happens and how that is limiting supply chain
optimization etc). Also mentioned that it might have an impact on businesses and consulting in supply chain.
Interviewer: That’s what I wanted to hear. Which other companies are you interviewing with?
I: Diamond
Interviewer: What if Diamond and Deloitte both make you an offer?
I: Answered appropriately. Mentioned that it is responsibility and work that I am looking for and hence my decision would be based on that.
Interviewer: What if Deloitte and McKinsey both give you an offer?
I: Answered appropriately.
The connect! We soon established a strong rapport and were conversing like colleagues. I also mentioned that I didn’t know a lot about GST etc, but still made a good attempt at deconstructing the problem. When asked to take through the resume, I went ahead to mention all initiatives and other responsibilities that I undertook at each level rather than a routine account of the work.
Tips: Read the body language of the interviewer. If he is relaxed, smiling etc, try to be in the same disposition.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Laid out a small structure for the problem. There are primarily three ways in which the company can achieve the revenue growth:
1) Natural growth of the Industry
2) Organic Growth
3) In organic Growth – a) Acquire companies to expand product portfolio
b) Acquire companies to improve market power in existing segments
The interviewers were fine with the structure. Then I went ahead to discuss each of the points in slight detail.
Me: What is the expected growth of the branded cardio drugs (the market in which the company was operating) industry in the next five years?
Interviewers: Assume 8% per year.
Me: This means that if they are able to maintain their market share (value wise) over the next 5 years, their revenues will be approx = 5*(1.08)^5
Interviewer: I want you to show the calculations as well
Me: Sure, it will be approximately 1.4*5 = 7 bn + .15*5 = 7.75 bn
Interviewer: Ok. Can you please explain why you used such figures.
Me: Explained. So, the problem now seems to be divided into mainly two parts:
a) How to maintain/improve market share in current operating segments
b) How to achieve another 2.5 bn of revenue growth.
Let me first explore the inorganic growth opportunities for our client. Let us first try and understand market consolidation and cash position of our client. We will also try and evaluate any target that might …
Interviewer: (Interrupting in between) We are not interested in any acquisitions.
Me: Ok. That leaves us with organic growth opportunities. I would first want to explore what are the expansion opportunities in the existing market segments and then venture into new products/segments/geographies.
Interviewer: Can you prioritize your action right now; we are running out of time.
Me: Sure. My first action would be to explore if we can grow with our existing products segment itself. Moreover, with our client being a top 3 player, it might be easier to grow with existing products than explore new products.
Interviewer: Ok. So what do you suggest?
Me: I can think of three opportunities here:
a)Exercise market power to alter prices, if possible or
b) alter distribution channel to improve revenues that reach us or
c)cross-sell existing products to existing customers and increase value derived from a single customer.
Interviewer: Ok. That sounds fine. Now let us try to understand how we can expand into new geographies/new product segments.
Me: (Smiled! Realised that he was just trying to stress me out when he said that we don’t have much time) Ok. Can you share market size and growth by geography and segments information with me?
Interviewer: Gave a slide with lots of tables and charts (can’t recall, we were not allowed to carry notes outside)
Me: To frame my analysis, let me create a simple matrix. (Created the GE portfolio matrix). Went ahead to evaluate opportunities and suggested new segments.
Interviewer: Do you think it makes sense to introduce Generics?
Me: Given the existing market size of Generics and margins in the operating market segments it does not make much sense. However, to protect market share, the company should evaluate options of introducing fighter brands like generics.
Interview got over at this.
Did lots of quick calculations and did not get stressed out. Maintained my composure and adjusted speed when required.
I felt that sometimes my structure was too elaborate and tended to put off the interviewer.
Tips: Read the body language of the interviewer. Don’t get annoyed if interviewer interrupts in between. Before going into an elaborate discussion ask interviewer if he wants you to prioritize options before explaining each one of them in detail.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Why not investment banking?
- Q2. Tell me about yourself
- Q3. Why consulting?
- Q4. Estimate the number of garbage trucks in Hyderabad
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I started with the area of Hyderabad ~600km2. I made assumptions with respect to the area an average garbage truck could cover. Normally garbage trucks collect garbage from across the place and then go to the dumping ground and dump the garbage and then they may make another trip. Let’s say an average garbage truck works for about 8-9 hours and makes 2 trips in a day. And in one trip it can cover 2 km2, and then based on 2 trips a day, it should cover 4 km2. So approximately 150 trucks for households.The interviewer hinted to me that the number seems to be quite less and asked me to try again with some other approach. This time I started with the number of households. So Hyderabad has a population of 4mn and with 4 people per households, we have ~1mn households. Now these households are mostly spread in the form of apartments/ localities, comprising of ~100 Households per locality, giving me 10000 localities. It would take ~1 hour per locality, so an average truck considering it has to dump the garbage as well, should cover maximum 6/7 localities in a day. So there should be ~1500 garbage trucks serving Hyderabad households.The interviewer then questioned me about other factors which would determine the number of trucks. I listed down a few factors like: concentration of households in different areas, location of corporates especially hotels and restaurants, festive or marriage seasons, and distance or proximity to the dumping grounds. Distance was the factor he was mainly looking for.
Tips: The interviewer was concentrating more on the approach I was using, rather than the exact numbers. Also, he was looking at how I can think about other factors which could alter the result of guesstimate
Skills: Case Analysis, Dynamic Personality
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: I started with the area of Hyderabad ~600km2. I made assumptions with respect to the area an average garbage truck could cover. Normally garbage trucks collect garbage from across the place and then go to the dumping ground and dump the garbage and then they may make another trip. Let’s say an average garbage truck works for about 8-9 hours and makes 2 trips in a day. And in one trip it can cover 2 km2, and then based on 2 trips a day, it should cover 4 km2. So approximately 150 trucks for households.The interviewer hinted to me that the number seems to be quite less and asked me to try again with some other approach. This time I started with the number of households. So Hyderabad has a population of 4mn and with 4 people per households, we have ~1mn households. Now these households are mostly spread in the form of apartments/ localities, comprising of ~100 Households per locality, giving me 10000 localities. It would take ~1 hour per locality, so an average truck considering it has to dump the garbage as well, should cover maximum 6/7 localities in a day. So there should be ~1500 garbage trucks serving Hyderabad households.The interviewer then questioned me about other factors which would determine the number of trucks. I listed down a few factors like: concentration of households in different areas, location of corporates especially hotels and restaurants, festive or marriage seasons, and distance or proximity to the dumping grounds. Distance was the factor he was mainly looking for.
Tips: The interviewer was concentrating more on the approach I was using, rather than the exact numbers. Also, he was looking at how I can think about other factors which could alter the result of guesstimate
Skills: Case Analysis, Dynamic Personality
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Anop Yogesh Valimbe
posted on 11 Dec 2015
I applied via Referral
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Questions
- Q1. Which part of TS&A would you like to join? -(IT Strategy, Cloud Advisory etc)
- Q2. Tell me about a new technology you are fascinated with and how will the new technology can be used by the Insurance Industry? (Insurance being my domain of expe...read more
- Q3. You are an Accenture person, why do you think you will be a good fit into the Deloitte culture? (I had worked only with Accenture for 6 years)
- Q4. Why do you think you will be a great consultant?
- Q5. A big multinational computer($8 billion)hardware and software services company is planning to de-merge its business into two units -hardware business and softwa...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Know everything about your work experience. In depth knowledge of the domain will be central to the discussion, as the questions would be framed for that particular industry and the interviewer will be an expert on the industry. Read and understand the business implications of a new upcoming technology to give you an edge over other applicants. For me it was Big Data Solution -Hadoop. In all my interviews I explained the interviewer about howHadoop can save costs for Insurance clients and bring in more business
Tips: clarity of thought and expressing it are very important Your ability to handle difficult questions was being tested
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Repeat and verify all the details given by the interviewer before asking any question.All the data was written on the white board and the interviewer asked me to focus only on the three questions mentioned above. It was a discussion about a problem rather than a typical case per se. The interviewer also asked me not write anything down and think about all the possible issues that had to be taken into account while coming up with a strategy
n my experience, focus on what role you really want and in which company, definitely pays off. Before joining ISB I was sure I wanted to work in Tech Consulting and Deloitte is the gold standard for Tech Consulting so I applied to very few companies and to roles which I really wanted to work in. Do not apply to all the companies who will posts jobs. Apply to few companies but prepare well for them. Few of my friends had 6-7 shortlists on Day1 and still could not get a single offer whereas I had only 1 shortlist of Deloitte on Day 1 and I got the offer. The point being, do not count how many shortlists you have, as in the end you'll only need one offer and one shortlist is enough to get you an offer.Do read all the past experiences of alums present in the previous year's case books -specially the one written by Sawan Kumar in Class of 2013 Consulting Case Book. It's very well written.At last, play to your strengths and apply to roles which genuinely interest you and not because everyone else is applying. Many folks from Deloitte take out time to visit ISB to take sessions and interact with students, do attend all the sessions and also the ppt and the party Deloitte throws after the ppt. These are the moments when you can interact freely with very senior people from Deloitte and it definitely helps during the interview as they are the ones who visit campus later on Day 1
Tips: Do not prepare too much for the case interview. Over preparation does not help instead confuses you. The case would be related to some kind of technology strategy for a firm. It is totally different than the management consulting cases which Deloitte S&O, McKinsey and BCG will ask students but yes practicing a few management consulting cases would definitely help.The preparation for TS&A tech case interview is very different. Deloitte's website is the best source of preparation as there are 4-5 sample cases there. In addition, Deloitte conducteda case interview workshop for TS&A shortlists, which was very good so do not miss the workshop. Structured approach to solving the case would help but do prepare a lot for the PI also. My 1st interview was heavy on PI and also very heavy on my work experience.
Skill Tips: Have an ace up your sleeve by knowing something about a new technology about which you can talk at length and actually end up having a great conversation with the interviewers. Focus on the people, process and technology framework for the case. Write down all the possible technology factors which affect companies and/or are expensive to the companies and then put them into one of the three buckets of people, process and technology.
Skills: Personality, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Know everything about your work experience. In depth knowledge of the domain will be central to the discussion, as the questions would be framed for that particular industry and the interviewer will be an expert on the industry. Read and understand the business implications of a new upcoming technology to give you an edge over other applicants. For me it was Big Data Solution -Hadoop. In all my interviews I explained the interviewer about howHadoop can save costs for Insurance clients and bring in more business
Tips: clarity of thought and expressing it are very important Your ability to handle difficult questions was being tested
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Repeat and verify all the details given by the interviewer before asking any question.All the data was written on the white board and the interviewer asked me to focus only on the three questions mentioned above. It was a discussion about a problem rather than a typical case per se. The interviewer also asked me not write anything down and think about all the possible issues that had to be taken into account while coming up with a strategy
n my experience, focus on what role you really want and in which company, definitely pays off. Before joining ISB I was sure I wanted to work in Tech Consulting and Deloitte is the gold standard for Tech Consulting so I applied to very few companies and to roles which I really wanted to work in. Do not apply to all the companies who will posts jobs. Apply to few companies but prepare well for them. Few of my friends had 6-7 shortlists on Day1 and still could not get a single offer whereas I had only 1 shortlist of Deloitte on Day 1 and I got the offer. The point being, do not count how many shortlists you have, as in the end you'll only need one offer and one shortlist is enough to get you an offer.Do read all the past experiences of alums present in the previous year's case books -specially the one written by Sawan Kumar in Class of 2013 Consulting Case Book. It's very well written.At last, play to your strengths and apply to roles which genuinely interest you and not because everyone else is applying. Many folks from Deloitte take out time to visit ISB to take sessions and interact with students, do attend all the sessions and also the ppt and the party Deloitte throws after the ppt. These are the moments when you can interact freely with very senior people from Deloitte and it definitely helps during the interview as they are the ones who visit campus later on Day 1
Tips: Do not prepare too much for the case interview. Over preparation does not help instead confuses you. The case would be related to some kind of technology strategy for a firm. It is totally different than the management consulting cases which Deloitte S&O, McKinsey and BCG will ask students but yes practicing a few management consulting cases would definitely help.The preparation for TS&A tech case interview is very different. Deloitte's website is the best source of preparation as there are 4-5 sample cases there. In addition, Deloitte conducteda case interview workshop for TS&A shortlists, which was very good so do not miss the workshop. Structured approach to solving the case would help but do prepare a lot for the PI also. My 1st interview was heavy on PI and also very heavy on my work experience.
Skill Tips: Have an ace up your sleeve by knowing something about a new technology about which you can talk at length and actually end up having a great conversation with the interviewers. Focus on the people, process and technology framework for the case. Write down all the possible technology factors which affect companies and/or are expensive to the companies and then put them into one of the three buckets of people, process and technology.
Skills: Personality, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Rameshwar Sreenivasan
posted on 11 Dec 2015
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. An auto after sales company is not doing well. It has been found that their supply chain solution might not be very effective. They are considering 2 more optio...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer gave me the question and asked me to take a couple of minutes and asked me to write down the various factors that I should consider. I broadly asked about the existing supply chain details, various cost details, customer details.I made 3columns in the sheet of paper that was given to me . I wrote down the 3 categories and started listing down factors. After I asked him about the cost details and questions about the existing supply chain (How many distribution centers, distance to dealersfrom DC/facility etc. etc.), I was handed a sheet with all the information.
Tips: The ultimate game was to figure out which supply chain option led to the highest profits. The way to go was to figure out costs and revenues for each optionand recommend one. 1. Be very structured. I was informed that what you write on the paper, how you write are looked at by the recruiter.2. Don't ask all the questions at a stretch. Give the big picture of what you are trying to do and then list down howyou plan to do and then start asking questions.3. Be prepared for some number crunching. Nothing tough but basic quantitative analysis will be needed. You will be expected to be good with arithmetic
Skills: Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: The interviewer gave me the question and asked me to take a couple of minutes and asked me to write down the various factors that I should consider. I broadly asked about the existing supply chain details, various cost details, customer details.I made 3columns in the sheet of paper that was given to me . I wrote down the 3 categories and started listing down factors. After I asked him about the cost details and questions about the existing supply chain (How many distribution centers, distance to dealersfrom DC/facility etc. etc.), I was handed a sheet with all the information.
Tips: The ultimate game was to figure out which supply chain option led to the highest profits. The way to go was to figure out costs and revenues for each optionand recommend one. 1. Be very structured. I was informed that what you write on the paper, how you write are looked at by the recruiter.2. Don't ask all the questions at a stretch. Give the big picture of what you are trying to do and then list down howyou plan to do and then start asking questions.3. Be prepared for some number crunching. Nothing tough but basic quantitative analysis will be needed. You will be expected to be good with arithmetic
Skills: Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
DELOITTE Interview Questions by Designation
- DELOITTE Consultant Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Analyst Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Senior Consultant Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Associate Analyst Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Assistant Manager Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Tax Consultant Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Business Analyst Interview Questions
- DELOITTE Business Technology Analyst Interview Questions
- Show more
Campus Placement Interview Questions at Top Colleges
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai Placement Interview Questions
- Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi Placement Interview Questions
- National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal Placement Interview Questions
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow Placement Interview Questions
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur Placement Interview Questions
- Show more
- Home >
- colleges >
- indian school of business isb hyderabad placement interview questions