Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Telangana
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Filter interviews byIndian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad Placement Interview Questions
Updated
22 Sep 2024
228 interviews found
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Are you comfortable working in teams? What kind of team size have you led?
- Q2. Give me a team work example where you faced a problem and how did you resolve it?
- Q3. A discussion regarding corporate social responsibility function in organizations
- Q4. Give me a leadership example?
- Q5. What are the two qualities you value in a leader?
- Q6. Describe a situation of failure in team leadership? What did you learn from it? How would you prevent such a situation from occurring again?
- Q7. Long term goals?
- Q8. A general discussion regarding the placement policy at ISB, changes from previous years and its impact on the School going forward
- Q9. Run me through your resume
- Q10. Why consulting?
- Q11. What are the key things you would look out for while making a decision to choose your employer?
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: How would you evaluate the first year revenue potential for a new investment in the business of leasing cranes for commercial buildings in Beijing? The interviewer gave a background that commercial building activity was coming up at a frantic pace in Beijing.
Clarification questions:
Are there any investment constraints on capital investment?
What is the investment horizon?
Structure:
- Identification of revenue streams
- Estimation of demand for the identified revenue streams
- Determining competitive landscape for similar services being provided by existing competition and potential competitors
- Based on the above analysis and specific competence area of the Company, determine the market share that the new Company
could achieve in one year’s time.
Revenue streams:
- Income from renting/leasing of cranes
- Regular
- Overtime
Income was basically broken up into - Price X Volume. Since the price could vary significantly across the regular and overtime.
Demand estimation (Volume – Number of buildings)
The interviewer asked me to identify three approaches in which demand estimation could be done. This was further broken down into new infrastructure and replacement infrastructure. Again, here the interviewer asked me to concentrate only on new infrastructure.
- Top down approach – Using Macroeconomic factors
Growth rate expected in the region -> Level of infrastructure investment required to sustain expected growth rate -> Number of new investments in building for given investment -> Supply constraints in terms of area available, number of construction companies, manpower required, capital/credit availability etc. to be accounted for -> Determine number of buildings that are expected to be constructed in the next one year.
- Bottom up approach – Using Supply based factors
Determine the real estate space available for development -> Identify area that could be developed in the next one year based on other supply constraints -> determine the number of buildings that would be developed given average building size (based on historical data and regulatory guideline) in the next one year.
- Using analyst data
We then decided to crack the numbers using the second approach:
The buildings have to be developed in a square real estate space measuring 3 sq. km. (assume end to end coverage)
Regulatory requirement – Only 1/3 can be developed
Average building size - 150 x 150 sq. m
Number of buildings that can be developed:
(1000 X 1000)/(150 X 150) = approximately 49 (7 X 7) streams, I identified these discreetly.
- Ancillary services from the business
Interviewer asked me to concentrate only on regular income from leasing of cranes.
Tips: Since PI + Case appears to be a compensatory model, If you haven’t done well in one, try and do well in the other if you have the
chance to.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A small hospital chain is looking to expand geographically. What would be the decision criteria / metrics that you would look at to prioritize the locations?
Few clarification questions:
- What kind of hospital is this? General or specialist? General
- What kind of reach does it currently have? One metro
- Is the amount of investment a constraint? No
I structured the problem essentially in two parts:
1. As a financial problem, trying to derive the maximum net present value from investment in each geography/location.
- Revenue: Market potential which would require demand estimation, existing penetration by existing players and opportunities to take share from existing players based on this hospital chain’s competencies.
- Costs: Cost involved in entering each geography since these are likely to be different.
2. Strategic decision to preempt competition in terms of resources such as location, doctors as well as customers since capacity utilization is one of the major drivers in this business.
- Analysis of competition, both existing and potential(based on competitive intelligence)
There was discussion regarding demand estimation in each location.
Population -> Income classification -> Disease incidence in relevant income bracket (no numbers, just a discussion).
We discussed alternatives if disease incidence data is not available.
I suggested we could draw benchmarks from similar countries where this data was available or data from developed countries
during their developing stage.
Remaining was an open ended discussion. The interviewer then asked me to make an assessment, based on my general knowledge and reading, about the locations I would consider this hospital should foray into.
Tips: Gauge the interviewer’s intent!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Life Insurance Company which has been in India for a few years wants to understand whether there is a real opportunity in this business in India and what are the strategic options available to it.
Structured the problem in the following way:
- Determine the market size.
- Identify the degree of regulation in the industry and its impact.
- Identify the current levels of penetration & therefore the existing potential.
- Determine the level of existing and potential competition.
- Based on own strengths identify the strategic options as below:
- Exit market.
- Stay in market – to determine whether to operate on scale or niche.
We proceeded with market sizing:
No of households -> No of households with required income capacity -> Percentage of income saved -> percentage of saving
used on insurance.
The interviewer then focused on whether the market opportunity was only as much as the current sizing or whether there was
potential to improve the same. We explored this line of thought.
Major reason for life insurance policy in India : Savings
Then we analyzed what uses are the total savings of an Indian household put to:
- Deposits
- Mutual funds
- Real estate
- Insurance (12%)
- Others
Deposits & mutual funds represented a clear opportunity for increasing the market size for insurance. I identified that we could use data from other developing markets to understand the savings behavior and potential for insurance. Interviewer clarified that in similar economies about 30% saving were being spent on insurance.
Calculated the real market opportunity with 30% savings and identified that opportunity exists given the current levels of penetration.
Tips: Persistence!!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case 1
The case was relating to the baby food segment (product like cerelac) market in India for which the potential was visibly huge since 80-90% of the children in the 1-2 years old segment who this segment serves lacked the nutrient requirement and 40-50% the calorie requirement. The interviewer wanted the following things to be done:
- Identify the market potential for this segment
- Delineate the marketing plan for a fast moving consumer goods player (like HLL) to enter this industry
Market sizing:
Population (1 billion) -> Children in the 1-2 years old segment (1.5%) -> Identify daily requirement per child (80 gms per day) -> Determine pack size to calculate market for number of packs (400 gms) -> Requirement came to 1.08 million packs of ₹100 each i.e. ₹108 billion.
I also identified that we would need to identify the future potential
going forward as well through the population growth rate and
more importantly growth rate in the Children in the 1-2 years old
segment due to the favorable demographics in India. A proxy for
that could be taken to be the birth rate. (we did not build this into
the calculation)
The interviewer informed me that the market was served only to the extent of ₹1 billion.
I identified that the reason was that monthly expenditure required was ₹600 (80 gms x 30 days x ₹100 per pack/400 gms per pack) whereas the average spending capacity of the parents of these children on this food was ₹200 per month. Therefore, pricing was a critical barrier.
Marketing plan:
Build the following non compensatory structure for the marketing plan i.e. the final reach of the product would be a function of the following three variables:
% of Aware population X % of population that can afford the product X % of population that is reached by the distribution
channel = Market share
I then explored ideas for improvement of each of these:
Increasing awareness: Through the following three initiatives:
- Tying up with Non governmental organizations involved in reaching this segment.
- Information dissemination by tying up with the extensive Public health infrastructure (since the Government is likely to have an incentive in such an initiative).
- FMCG’s own publicity initiatives such as media, radio etc.
Increasing affordability:
Internal measures: Identified major cost components where cost reduction measures could be taken:
- Raw materials: 30% of cost
Using recipes of local product variants with same nutrient and calorie value which utilize lower cost raw materials.
- Manufacturing : 20% of cost
This cost could be reduced through product innovation.
- Taxes & duties: 15% (refer external measures)
External measures: Seeking relief from the government on various tax components in the cost structure. This could shave costs to the extent of 12-15% (since the Government is likely to have an incentive in such an initiative).
Availability: Being a major FMCG player, it was assumed that the Company has a sufficient and capable distribution network.
Case 2
Market sizing for a drug used during surgeries in ICU
Determine the number of hospitals that would have ICU -> Determine the number of ICUs -> Utilization % of the ICUs (60%)->Proportion of surgeries which require the use of this drug (30%)->Average usage per day ( ₹5000 per day)
Tips: You need to put structure for problem diagnosis as well as case solution. Clearly very helpful and puts across a structured thinking
process all throughout!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The Tatas Rs 100,000 car requires substantial cost reduction measures from the Rs 150,000 Indica materials cost. How will you go about analyzing the cost reduction plan?
Structure:
- Identify the various cost components and proportion of costs they represented.
- Determine cost components which are avoidable due to fewer facilities/accessories that are likely to be provided than in the
Indica. Identify cost reduction from this.
- Explored cost reduction possibilities for all materials components based on 80/20 rule.
We discussed the following options for each component (engine, axle & gear, auto components & plastic body parts) :
- Aggregation benefits due to larger scale at which these cars will be manufactured. The interviewer mentioned these had already
been exhausted to the maximum possible.
- Explored whether each of the components were manufactured internally or externally. Wherever possible, identified cost differentials between internal and external manufacture. The interviewer informed me that there were significant cost differential in in-house and third party manufacture in case of axles & gear, in-house production cost being significantly lower.
I tried to veer the discussion towards possible reasons for cost differential, however, the interviewer asked me to consider corrective action for this problem.
We then discussed following two corrective actions:
- All axle & gear production could be transferred in-house. However, I identified that this was already running to capacity.
Therefore, this was considered as a long term option and identified that significant investment would be required to consider this option.
- Work with the suppliers to transfer best practices from in-house production to the supplier to reduce his cost of production.
Interviewer terminated the case discussion at this point saying that we had figured out the general format in which to proceed which was sufficient.
Tips: Gauge the interviewer’s mood and try to change course/track accordingly.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Cheque processing facility of a bank had the following operation:
Receive cheques at branches, collect all cheques, send then to a processing centre and processing centre would enter all cheque details in the system forward the cheques to RBI clearing house. RBI now requires scanned images of the cheques instead of physical copies. There are two options available to meet this requirement:
- Option A: Receive cheques at branches, scan at branches, send scanned images to the processing centre as and when they were scanned. Processing centre would enter all details as earlier and forward the images to RBI clearing house by 4 p.m.
- Option B: Receive cheques at branches, forward physical cheques to the processing centre by 10 a.m. PC would scan as
well as enter all cheque details and forward the images to RBI clearing house by 4 p.m. How will you evaluate which option to choose from? First up, I clarified cheques from how many locations were being aggregated at the processing center. The interviewer clarified that there were 150 branches.
I discussed with the interviewer that I would like to analyze the problem along two dimensions:
- Time taken under both options
- Incremental cost to be incurred under the two options
After doing a costing analysis under both the options, I concluded that taking only costs into account, Option B would be more cost efficient.
The interviewer asked me to make an assessment of which of the above two options I would take. Here I brought in some operations perspective on aggregation of scanning process at the PC.
Tips: Genuine inclination to want to solve the problem has to come across. Most of the time, number of questions you ask and how persistently you are at it reflects that. So keep at it!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This one really rattled me…especially at that stage of the process.
Very intense case interview.
Client is a Financial planning & management software company with the following revenue streams
Products:
- Large enterprises – highly customized, large business customers, direct sales force used
- SMEs – industry specific package- sold through dealers/ distributors
- Individual customers through regular off the shelf retail channels.
Services: IT consulting – maintenance & support.
Question 1: Declining revenue and profitability. What kind of data analysis would you perform in order to identify the source of
decline?
a. Products vs. Service
b. Along large, SME, Individual customer base under products
c. Geographical segments
d. Sales force effectiveness analysis
e. Industry segment wise analysis
f. Whether we are losing old customers or not getting new customers
Question 2: Assume Enterprise segment is losing revenue. What hypothesis can you generate …Broke these down into two parts:
Internal causes:
Product based + People based (developers,salesmen)
a. Lack of scalability of the product
b. Perceived quality of product/service not optimum
c. Sales force incentives not appropriate
d. Lack of ability to technical staff to understand customer requirements.
External causes: Explored these on the following three lines Competition + Customers + Context
a. Change in requirement of consumers/obsolescence of product
b. Competitor actions on pricing
c. Changes in customer industry regulation
He asked me to come up with atleast 15 reasons, don’t know how many I came up with, but I tried to think along this structured
fashion.
Question 3 : Suppose you find out that the sales force has been spending more time selling simpler product to SME than attend larger customers…enterprise product needs greater effort. what would you do…?
Identified the indifference point for the sales men between the two incentive structures and accordingly change incentive structure… Did the calculation and then he asked me for other ways in which it could be implemented other than through change in incentives.
Tips: Think aloud whenever hypothesis driven interviews are posed at you…and persistence pays!!
General Tips: 1. Keep a strategic perspective.
2. Be persistent while through the whole interview.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: How would you evaluate the first year revenue potential for a new investment in the business of leasing cranes for commercial buildings in Beijing? The interviewer gave a background that commercial building activity was coming up at a frantic pace in Beijing.
Clarification questions:
Are there any investment constraints on capital investment?
What is the investment horizon?
Structure:
- Identification of revenue streams
- Estimation of demand for the identified revenue streams
- Determining competitive landscape for similar services being provided by existing competition and potential competitors
- Based on the above analysis and specific competence area of the Company, determine the market share that the new Company
could achieve in one year’s time.
Revenue streams:
- Income from renting/leasing of cranes
- Regular
- Overtime
Income was basically broken up into - Price X Volume. Since the price could vary significantly across the regular and overtime.
Demand estimation (Volume – Number of buildings)
The interviewer asked me to identify three approaches in which demand estimation could be done. This was further broken down into new infrastructure and replacement infrastructure. Again, here the interviewer asked me to concentrate only on new infrastructure.
- Top down approach – Using Macroeconomic factors
Growth rate expected in the region -> Level of infrastructure investment required to sustain expected growth rate -> Number of new investments in building for given investment -> Supply constraints in terms of area available, number of construction companies, manpower required, capital/credit availability etc. to be accounted for -> Determine number of buildings that are expected to be constructed in the next one year.
- Bottom up approach – Using Supply based factors
Determine the real estate space available for development -> Identify area that could be developed in the next one year based on other supply constraints -> determine the number of buildings that would be developed given average building size (based on historical data and regulatory guideline) in the next one year.
- Using analyst data
We then decided to crack the numbers using the second approach:
The buildings have to be developed in a square real estate space measuring 3 sq. km. (assume end to end coverage)
Regulatory requirement – Only 1/3 can be developed
Average building size - 150 x 150 sq. m
Number of buildings that can be developed:
(1000 X 1000)/(150 X 150) = approximately 49 (7 X 7) streams, I identified these discreetly.
- Ancillary services from the business
Interviewer asked me to concentrate only on regular income from leasing of cranes.
Tips: Since PI + Case appears to be a compensatory model, If you haven’t done well in one, try and do well in the other if you have the
chance to.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A small hospital chain is looking to expand geographically. What would be the decision criteria / metrics that you would look at to prioritize the locations?
Few clarification questions:
- What kind of hospital is this? General or specialist? General
- What kind of reach does it currently have? One metro
- Is the amount of investment a constraint? No
I structured the problem essentially in two parts:
1. As a financial problem, trying to derive the maximum net present value from investment in each geography/location.
- Revenue: Market potential which would require demand estimation, existing penetration by existing players and opportunities to take share from existing players based on this hospital chain’s competencies.
- Costs: Cost involved in entering each geography since these are likely to be different.
2. Strategic decision to preempt competition in terms of resources such as location, doctors as well as customers since capacity utilization is one of the major drivers in this business.
- Analysis of competition, both existing and potential(based on competitive intelligence)
There was discussion regarding demand estimation in each location.
Population -> Income classification -> Disease incidence in relevant income bracket (no numbers, just a discussion).
We discussed alternatives if disease incidence data is not available.
I suggested we could draw benchmarks from similar countries where this data was available or data from developed countries
during their developing stage.
Remaining was an open ended discussion. The interviewer then asked me to make an assessment, based on my general knowledge and reading, about the locations I would consider this hospital should foray into.
Tips: Gauge the interviewer’s intent!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Life Insurance Company which has been in India for a few years wants to understand whether there is a real opportunity in this business in India and what are the strategic options available to it.
Structured the problem in the following way:
- Determine the market size.
- Identify the degree of regulation in the industry and its impact.
- Identify the current levels of penetration & therefore the existing potential.
- Determine the level of existing and potential competition.
- Based on own strengths identify the strategic options as below:
- Exit market.
- Stay in market – to determine whether to operate on scale or niche.
We proceeded with market sizing:
No of households -> No of households with required income capacity -> Percentage of income saved -> percentage of saving
used on insurance.
The interviewer then focused on whether the market opportunity was only as much as the current sizing or whether there was
potential to improve the same. We explored this line of thought.
Major reason for life insurance policy in India : Savings
Then we analyzed what uses are the total savings of an Indian household put to:
- Deposits
- Mutual funds
- Real estate
- Insurance (12%)
- Others
Deposits & mutual funds represented a clear opportunity for increasing the market size for insurance. I identified that we could use data from other developing markets to understand the savings behavior and potential for insurance. Interviewer clarified that in similar economies about 30% saving were being spent on insurance.
Calculated the real market opportunity with 30% savings and identified that opportunity exists given the current levels of penetration.
Tips: Persistence!!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case 1
The case was relating to the baby food segment (product like cerelac) market in India for which the potential was visibly huge since 80-90% of the children in the 1-2 years old segment who this segment serves lacked the nutrient requirement and 40-50% the calorie requirement. The interviewer wanted the following things to be done:
- Identify the market potential for this segment
- Delineate the marketing plan for a fast moving consumer goods player (like HLL) to enter this industry
Market sizing:
Population (1 billion) -> Children in the 1-2 years old segment (1.5%) -> Identify daily requirement per child (80 gms per day) -> Determine pack size to calculate market for number of packs (400 gms) -> Requirement came to 1.08 million packs of ₹100 each i.e. ₹108 billion.
I also identified that we would need to identify the future potential
going forward as well through the population growth rate and
more importantly growth rate in the Children in the 1-2 years old
segment due to the favorable demographics in India. A proxy for
that could be taken to be the birth rate. (we did not build this into
the calculation)
The interviewer informed me that the market was served only to the extent of ₹1 billion.
I identified that the reason was that monthly expenditure required was ₹600 (80 gms x 30 days x ₹100 per pack/400 gms per pack) whereas the average spending capacity of the parents of these children on this food was ₹200 per month. Therefore, pricing was a critical barrier.
Marketing plan:
Build the following non compensatory structure for the marketing plan i.e. the final reach of the product would be a function of the following three variables:
% of Aware population X % of population that can afford the product X % of population that is reached by the distribution
channel = Market share
I then explored ideas for improvement of each of these:
Increasing awareness: Through the following three initiatives:
- Tying up with Non governmental organizations involved in reaching this segment.
- Information dissemination by tying up with the extensive Public health infrastructure (since the Government is likely to have an incentive in such an initiative).
- FMCG’s own publicity initiatives such as media, radio etc.
Increasing affordability:
Internal measures: Identified major cost components where cost reduction measures could be taken:
- Raw materials: 30% of cost
Using recipes of local product variants with same nutrient and calorie value which utilize lower cost raw materials.
- Manufacturing : 20% of cost
This cost could be reduced through product innovation.
- Taxes & duties: 15% (refer external measures)
External measures: Seeking relief from the government on various tax components in the cost structure. This could shave costs to the extent of 12-15% (since the Government is likely to have an incentive in such an initiative).
Availability: Being a major FMCG player, it was assumed that the Company has a sufficient and capable distribution network.
Case 2
Market sizing for a drug used during surgeries in ICU
Determine the number of hospitals that would have ICU -> Determine the number of ICUs -> Utilization % of the ICUs (60%)->Proportion of surgeries which require the use of this drug (30%)->Average usage per day ( ₹5000 per day)
Tips: You need to put structure for problem diagnosis as well as case solution. Clearly very helpful and puts across a structured thinking
process all throughout!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The Tatas Rs 100,000 car requires substantial cost reduction measures from the Rs 150,000 Indica materials cost. How will you go about analyzing the cost reduction plan?
Structure:
- Identify the various cost components and proportion of costs they represented.
- Determine cost components which are avoidable due to fewer facilities/accessories that are likely to be provided than in the
Indica. Identify cost reduction from this.
- Explored cost reduction possibilities for all materials components based on 80/20 rule.
We discussed the following options for each component (engine, axle & gear, auto components & plastic body parts) :
- Aggregation benefits due to larger scale at which these cars will be manufactured. The interviewer mentioned these had already
been exhausted to the maximum possible.
- Explored whether each of the components were manufactured internally or externally. Wherever possible, identified cost differentials between internal and external manufacture. The interviewer informed me that there were significant cost differential in in-house and third party manufacture in case of axles & gear, in-house production cost being significantly lower.
I tried to veer the discussion towards possible reasons for cost differential, however, the interviewer asked me to consider corrective action for this problem.
We then discussed following two corrective actions:
- All axle & gear production could be transferred in-house. However, I identified that this was already running to capacity.
Therefore, this was considered as a long term option and identified that significant investment would be required to consider this option.
- Work with the suppliers to transfer best practices from in-house production to the supplier to reduce his cost of production.
Interviewer terminated the case discussion at this point saying that we had figured out the general format in which to proceed which was sufficient.
Tips: Gauge the interviewer’s mood and try to change course/track accordingly.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Cheque processing facility of a bank had the following operation:
Receive cheques at branches, collect all cheques, send then to a processing centre and processing centre would enter all cheque details in the system forward the cheques to RBI clearing house. RBI now requires scanned images of the cheques instead of physical copies. There are two options available to meet this requirement:
- Option A: Receive cheques at branches, scan at branches, send scanned images to the processing centre as and when they were scanned. Processing centre would enter all details as earlier and forward the images to RBI clearing house by 4 p.m.
- Option B: Receive cheques at branches, forward physical cheques to the processing centre by 10 a.m. PC would scan as
well as enter all cheque details and forward the images to RBI clearing house by 4 p.m. How will you evaluate which option to choose from? First up, I clarified cheques from how many locations were being aggregated at the processing center. The interviewer clarified that there were 150 branches.
I discussed with the interviewer that I would like to analyze the problem along two dimensions:
- Time taken under both options
- Incremental cost to be incurred under the two options
After doing a costing analysis under both the options, I concluded that taking only costs into account, Option B would be more cost efficient.
The interviewer asked me to make an assessment of which of the above two options I would take. Here I brought in some operations perspective on aggregation of scanning process at the PC.
Tips: Genuine inclination to want to solve the problem has to come across. Most of the time, number of questions you ask and how persistently you are at it reflects that. So keep at it!!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This one really rattled me…especially at that stage of the process.
Very intense case interview.
Client is a Financial planning & management software company with the following revenue streams
Products:
- Large enterprises – highly customized, large business customers, direct sales force used
- SMEs – industry specific package- sold through dealers/ distributors
- Individual customers through regular off the shelf retail channels.
Services: IT consulting – maintenance & support.
Question 1: Declining revenue and profitability. What kind of data analysis would you perform in order to identify the source of
decline?
a. Products vs. Service
b. Along large, SME, Individual customer base under products
c. Geographical segments
d. Sales force effectiveness analysis
e. Industry segment wise analysis
f. Whether we are losing old customers or not getting new customers
Question 2: Assume Enterprise segment is losing revenue. What hypothesis can you generate …Broke these down into two parts:
Internal causes:
Product based + People based (developers,salesmen)
a. Lack of scalability of the product
b. Perceived quality of product/service not optimum
c. Sales force incentives not appropriate
d. Lack of ability to technical staff to understand customer requirements.
External causes: Explored these on the following three lines Competition + Customers + Context
a. Change in requirement of consumers/obsolescence of product
b. Competitor actions on pricing
c. Changes in customer industry regulation
He asked me to come up with atleast 15 reasons, don’t know how many I came up with, but I tried to think along this structured
fashion.
Question 3 : Suppose you find out that the sales force has been spending more time selling simpler product to SME than attend larger customers…enterprise product needs greater effort. what would you do…?
Identified the indifference point for the sales men between the two incentive structures and accordingly change incentive structure… Did the calculation and then he asked me for other ways in which it could be implemented other than through change in incentives.
Tips: Think aloud whenever hypothesis driven interviews are posed at you…and persistence pays!!
General Tips: 1. Keep a strategic perspective.
2. Be persistent while through the whole interview.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: We started the interview with a 3-4 minute chat about how painful it can be in the morning to travel and start working right away (He had just arrived).
He then quizzed me about leadership instances at work and in academic career; then I took him into what he believed leadership was. We had a long chat about why leadership was important in consulting. We also spoke about how I was to translate a very explicit form of leadership displayed at work (I was leading operations in a factory) to an implicit environment (like consulting). We talked about what leadership skills are transferable and ones which are not.
The case was about a global heavy vehicle manufacturer. The firm was planning to enter India; my job was to devise a strategy for it. A simple case to begin with I thought, but I knew very well that the challenges are higher in a simple case.
I started off with a simple framework (nothing great, decided the marketing mix and the way to enter – organic was the better route). I also identified the capabilities of the manufacturer that could be transferred to this setting. This went on for about 10 minutes. Here it was important to structure the problem well, following a MECE structure. I also shared some experience of a project with him that we had done in Competitive strategy project that we had done on cars and shared some uniqueness of thenIndian market with him. I am not covering this in detail as it was pretty standard and I just had to do the basics right. Then he told me to size the truck market in India. I told him that I will follow the stock method of analysis, by which I will estimate the number of trucks currently in operation throughout India. Since I was doing a demand side analysis, I divided the trucks into
variable loads (where capacity utilization is less than equal to 100%) or fixed loads (construction equipment carriers, petrol loads, car containers, etc.). He said that they normally don’t do it this way but he wanted me to proceed as he found it interesting.
Then, he told me that he wanted me to do it for the car carriers for paucity of time. I went ahead and assumed a certain number of carriers that are bought every year (the number wasn’t important, I assumed 1000 for ease of analysis). I understood the supply chain from him and he explained the dealer system to me. Then, I told him that I will assume steady state, as in the number of cars sold are the number of cars manufactured and distributed. I then divided it as per the number of manufacturers, number and location of manufacturing locations, distance, speed distribution, capacity of trucks, capacity utilization, number of hours driven in a day, maintenance days and the average number of days that a truck is driven in a year to arrive at the number of trips made and hence, the number of trucks that were plying. It was important to note that the trucks generally came back completely empty. I also told him that the transporters will like to keep some number of trucks on a standby. He asked me to estimate that as well. I gave him a framework to analyze that. I gave him a framework depending on locations, routes, failure time and MTBFs. He was ok with that. The case was extremely quantitative and was very intensive numerically. I also did a sensitivity analysis on one of the
parameters showing him that the whole estimate was sensitive to a few parameters.
Then, I told him that if I link both the cases together, then it gives me an interesting sight into what value proposition the truck
manufacturer can give to the Indian transporters. I told him that let’s look at each of the variables that I had estimated earlier and
see whether we can reduce them. Then, I said that we can try to increase the mileage and increase the size of the truck as well. Then, I told him that both the things might be inversely related. It can also be done that the truck speed can be increased on the back journey. Maintenance days can be decreased. He asked me for a few creative recommendations, which I gave – I don’t really remember them now but the method was as stated above.
Then, he asked me for a feedback about the case and discussion overall. I told him about how different the case would have been
had the case between about variable loads. He was ok with it.
He then told me to ask him a question. I asked him about the project specifically and to what detail McKinsey went. I also asked him how McKinsey keeps a tab on how clients implement suggestions. The overall case lasted about 25 minutes. I then linked it with one of the questions asked in the personal interview. I told him that it is a challenge that line managers like us will face in a
consulting environment, wherein we do not necessarily get to implement. Then, I shared a few jokes that I had played with consultants (mostly technical) and how it might be my turn to be on the receiving end now.
Tips: I think the skill that was being tested here was how comfortable I was with the interviewer in the beginning. It was important to engage him in a fruitful conversation that is argumentative but not confrontational. I think basic presence and communication skills were being tested here. Overall, the whole experience lasted about 10 minutes, and when he was convinced that I was comfortable enough, we went into the case.
It is important to be your natural self in the interview. Comfort with numbers is absolutely crucial. It is also important that when using creativity, structure should not be lost. Never shoot ideas of the hat, always be structured. It is important to see and address the body language of the interviewer. The basic thing that works is that one should focus on bringing out one’s strengths in the interview. My strengths lay in creativity, structuring and quick calculations (which I specifically tried to bring out in the interview). Your strengths (preparation will yield that) could be very different and you should try to bring them out. It is very important to remain cool after the interview since one might get a feeling that he’s not done well but the results could be just the other way round!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: We started the interview with a conversation about my career at IIT and my times in Cuttack (Orissa), my hometown. He was hooked onto my JEE rank and asked me why the number was unique. I don’t think he wanted a particularly great answer but he wanted to check my ability to think on my feet. He asked to give him 5 different uniquenesses.
He also asked me why Cuttack wasn’t doing as well as a Bhubaneswar. To this I replied taking geographic, political, cultural and economic reasons into account. We then discussed about my Summer Project with Reckitt Benckiser (this was an automation project with a FMCG major). He asked me to explain the labor implications of implementing automation. He then went ahead to ask me my experiences in dealing with unionized labor at ITC. He was also interested in one of the papers that I had written about
BOP and presented at XLRI. This was about how to bring your best people to the BOP. He asked me to explain the paper and then told me to explain how useful it can be to the corporate world. My observation had told me that he was very practical and won’t like flowery answers that this is the idea of the millennium! I gave him all the strengths and weaknesses of the idea (and real ground level ones) in implementation.
After that he asked me why I was looking forward to a consulting career. I told him that it links well to my long term goal, which is
leading a NGO. I told him that this is one of the reasons that McKinsey stands out for me as a firm, with all the public policy and
pro-bono work. We discussed a bit about India’s policy change from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. I gave him some funda about what I had
seen in the Commanding Heights video, though he was doing most of the talking.
He was visibly happy with the fact that I said public policy (Later I realized that he specializes in public policy at McK) and told me
that he will give me a case on it. The whole experience lasted 15 minutes.
He started off the case asking me what I knew about the Bharat Nirman Project. I told him that my knowledge is limited to what I have read in the papers over the past few weeks and I do not know in detail about it. He told me that this case will enhance my
learning about the challenges facing somebody working in public policy.
The case was about rural electrification. He said the objective of the central government has now shifted to putting an electric bulb in every Indian home by Feb, 2008. He asked me how the Government should go about it.
I started off telling him that the idea looked unrealistic to me. Assuming that 1 billion is the Indian population and 65% lived in
villages, 650 million is the current rural population. Assuming that there are 5 members per rural household, there are 130 million
households. Then assuming that 30% of rural India is electrified, 91 million households remain. We just have two years, which is
approximately 700 days. Even if we work throughout, 1.3 lakh households have to be electrified every day. This is by no means
easy. Add to this fact that there is huge geographic dispersion and the current state of the SEBs, the plan looks nonviable. I told him that I found it impractical. To this he replied saying that most public policy projects are such. They lack thinking about the design phase itself. He asked me to go ahead with the problem assuming it is doable.
I approached the problem saying that I would see the project from three standpoints – economic, organizational and operational. On the operational point, I would divide the project into generation and T&D phases. On the economic standpoint, I would look at the ways and means to fund this project. On the organizational front, I would like to see who would own this project. Here, he told me that the question should not be treated like any other consulting case and he is looking for completely creative solutions.
I asked him whether I should go ahead with the analysis the way I had structured or he wanted me to do something different. He
replied that he is looking for specifically the Generation area. I told him that when it comes to generation, there are four issues
that need to be looked at – Performance of conventional energy generation units, New conventional energy units, isolated units and non-conventional sources of energy. He said that I should discuss the non-conventional energy sources first.
I told him that I was aware of solar, wind and bagas (sugarcane by product). He asked me to describe the economics of Solar. I showed it to him that at the current rate, it’s unprofitable. Then, we went to Wind energy. I told him that the issues to look for
here are technology, fixed costs and practical viability (availability of areas) where they can be installed. We discussed each one of them in greater detail from then on.
I told him that when it comes to buying technology, it would be very costly and technology transfer has to be on a mutual basis.
Then, we went it to the details of the windmill technology and its advantages in the Indian context. He was doing most of the talking here.
He asked me to do a commercial evaluation of all these technologies. I did the same considering three parameters – speed (because the industry has an external effect), cost and future viability (to incorporate learning curve effects). After shedding some light on each one of them, he asked me to move on to the funding aspect in generation.
I told him that the money here can be drawn from four areas – government, Indian private, Foreign players and debtors. I told him how each one of them was different (most of the logic was thought on the spot). We then discussed about the amount of privatization that should be allowed. I was of the opinion that wherever private participation is allowed, it should be in both R&D and generation. Having only one of them was not of any use. He didn’t agree to it and he was of the opinion that we weren’t ready yet. We closed the interview on an argumentative note.
He asked me to ask a question at the end. I asked him what kind of persuasive powers consultants enjoy when it comes to public policy projects. He smiled and gave me a lot of insight into public policy consulting. He appreciated the fact at the end of the interview that I could make people talk. The whole experience lasted close to 20 mins.
Tips: Keep yourself cool. Show a good understanding of the things happening around you (may not be knowledge, but an opinion usually helps). Do not try to throw facts when they amount to nothing!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: He asked me about the problems that dealing with a union entails. There were a few more specific questions about my resume, in which I had to describe the work I did. I spoke for some time – maybe 2 minutes.
Then he asked me the kind of preparation that our batch had done for consulting. I gave him some feedback about how the interview workshop process done by McKinsey could have been better and how different it was from other colleges (stressing on poor institutional memory and ways to deal with it). He asked me what my last case was about. When I told him that it was about public policy and I had like it. He said that he also wanted me to do a case in that. The whole conversation lasted close to a little over 10 minutes.
An extremely short case. It lasted less than 10 minutes. He asked me what a government could do to improve the banking policy of a third-world country. To begin with, I told him that there is no generic answer and the policy has to be case specific. I also told him that I got a feeling that he was speaking from personal experience.
He said that I was right and asked me to take the case of Bahrain. He asked me what I knew about Bahrain and its banking industry. I told him that I knew it was a Muslim country and was staunch in protecting Muslim values (I used to collect stamps; I knew that they did not have a word of English – I told him that).
Then he gave me a good overview about Bahrain (lot of tangential stuff) and told me that the Finance minister was worried that the industry might lose it. He told me it was majorly into fostering corporate banks.
To begin with I told him that it was a case of B2B marketing and banks would stay if they get a good value proposition in Bahrain.
But then, if they get a better value proposition elsewhere, they’ll shift. He said I was right and asked me to think ahead. I asked him who these banks were. He told me that they were the Middle East bases of MNC banks. I asked him why the banks were there in the first case. He told me that it was centrally located and had liberal laws. I analyzed the geography and told him that what struck me was the fact it was close to Dubai. I asked him why not Dubai?
He told me that there was an announcement by the Dubai officials that they would make their policies freer than Bahrain and would make it a free trading zone.
I inferred from this saying that this might be a symptom of the real issue but wasn’t the actual problem. To this, he agreed. I told him that first of all I need to analyze the Dubai threat more closely. I told him first that we need to establish whether Dubai’s threat is credible or not (look at their history and look at the economic impact). He asked me to assume that they can do it. Then, I told him to look at the value proposition (including the switching cost to Dubai – local knowledge, skill base) that Bahrain provides and compare to the value proposition that Dubai gives. I told him that it is important to keep a futuristic view in mind. Then, I told him that what strikes me about the case is the fact that in this industry, it is very important to build your local clientele and not rely on foreigners. He said fine.
Then, I quizzed him about how developed was Bahrain’s retail and corporate banking was. I told him that it would relate very closely to the economic development was in Bahrain.
I told him that I felt that the real issue with Bahrain was the fact that the industry relied too much on MNCs without first satisfying local demand. I told him that I would like to create a policy keeping this in mind.
He asked me to stop the interview then and there.
Tips: Thinking on your feet is extremely important at the beginning of the case. First think common sensical and then get on to the regular consulting case analysis. One way of dealing with a person you know is to use your previous experience with him (in any which way).
Round: Other Interview
Experience: I was told at the beginning that I won’t have a case. He asked me to ask a few questions that I felt were relevant.
I asked him how McKinsey makes the environment conducive for knowledge sharing. He gave me a few inputs.
I told him what I had read about McKinsey’s knowledge management in a HBS case. He heard it attentively. He then gave me an idea about the state of affairs now and particularly in India. I asked him about how sharing gets linked to performance initiatives. I also asked him how other firms (esp. consulting) do it. He then asked me to narrate a few instances about ISB. I told him that any education program is incomplete without pranks. I told him a few pranks that I had played on a few friends in ISB (and vice versa).
Tips: Be your natural self and try to gauge the interviewer’s body language when telling a story.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: We started the interview with a 3-4 minute chat about how painful it can be in the morning to travel and start working right away (He had just arrived).
He then quizzed me about leadership instances at work and in academic career; then I took him into what he believed leadership was. We had a long chat about why leadership was important in consulting. We also spoke about how I was to translate a very explicit form of leadership displayed at work (I was leading operations in a factory) to an implicit environment (like consulting). We talked about what leadership skills are transferable and ones which are not.
The case was about a global heavy vehicle manufacturer. The firm was planning to enter India; my job was to devise a strategy for it. A simple case to begin with I thought, but I knew very well that the challenges are higher in a simple case.
I started off with a simple framework (nothing great, decided the marketing mix and the way to enter – organic was the better route). I also identified the capabilities of the manufacturer that could be transferred to this setting. This went on for about 10 minutes. Here it was important to structure the problem well, following a MECE structure. I also shared some experience of a project with him that we had done in Competitive strategy project that we had done on cars and shared some uniqueness of thenIndian market with him. I am not covering this in detail as it was pretty standard and I just had to do the basics right. Then he told me to size the truck market in India. I told him that I will follow the stock method of analysis, by which I will estimate the number of trucks currently in operation throughout India. Since I was doing a demand side analysis, I divided the trucks into
variable loads (where capacity utilization is less than equal to 100%) or fixed loads (construction equipment carriers, petrol loads, car containers, etc.). He said that they normally don’t do it this way but he wanted me to proceed as he found it interesting.
Then, he told me that he wanted me to do it for the car carriers for paucity of time. I went ahead and assumed a certain number of carriers that are bought every year (the number wasn’t important, I assumed 1000 for ease of analysis). I understood the supply chain from him and he explained the dealer system to me. Then, I told him that I will assume steady state, as in the number of cars sold are the number of cars manufactured and distributed. I then divided it as per the number of manufacturers, number and location of manufacturing locations, distance, speed distribution, capacity of trucks, capacity utilization, number of hours driven in a day, maintenance days and the average number of days that a truck is driven in a year to arrive at the number of trips made and hence, the number of trucks that were plying. It was important to note that the trucks generally came back completely empty. I also told him that the transporters will like to keep some number of trucks on a standby. He asked me to estimate that as well. I gave him a framework to analyze that. I gave him a framework depending on locations, routes, failure time and MTBFs. He was ok with that. The case was extremely quantitative and was very intensive numerically. I also did a sensitivity analysis on one of the
parameters showing him that the whole estimate was sensitive to a few parameters.
Then, I told him that if I link both the cases together, then it gives me an interesting sight into what value proposition the truck
manufacturer can give to the Indian transporters. I told him that let’s look at each of the variables that I had estimated earlier and
see whether we can reduce them. Then, I said that we can try to increase the mileage and increase the size of the truck as well. Then, I told him that both the things might be inversely related. It can also be done that the truck speed can be increased on the back journey. Maintenance days can be decreased. He asked me for a few creative recommendations, which I gave – I don’t really remember them now but the method was as stated above.
Then, he asked me for a feedback about the case and discussion overall. I told him about how different the case would have been
had the case between about variable loads. He was ok with it.
He then told me to ask him a question. I asked him about the project specifically and to what detail McKinsey went. I also asked him how McKinsey keeps a tab on how clients implement suggestions. The overall case lasted about 25 minutes. I then linked it with one of the questions asked in the personal interview. I told him that it is a challenge that line managers like us will face in a
consulting environment, wherein we do not necessarily get to implement. Then, I shared a few jokes that I had played with consultants (mostly technical) and how it might be my turn to be on the receiving end now.
Tips: I think the skill that was being tested here was how comfortable I was with the interviewer in the beginning. It was important to engage him in a fruitful conversation that is argumentative but not confrontational. I think basic presence and communication skills were being tested here. Overall, the whole experience lasted about 10 minutes, and when he was convinced that I was comfortable enough, we went into the case.
It is important to be your natural self in the interview. Comfort with numbers is absolutely crucial. It is also important that when using creativity, structure should not be lost. Never shoot ideas of the hat, always be structured. It is important to see and address the body language of the interviewer. The basic thing that works is that one should focus on bringing out one’s strengths in the interview. My strengths lay in creativity, structuring and quick calculations (which I specifically tried to bring out in the interview). Your strengths (preparation will yield that) could be very different and you should try to bring them out. It is very important to remain cool after the interview since one might get a feeling that he’s not done well but the results could be just the other way round!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: We started the interview with a conversation about my career at IIT and my times in Cuttack (Orissa), my hometown. He was hooked onto my JEE rank and asked me why the number was unique. I don’t think he wanted a particularly great answer but he wanted to check my ability to think on my feet. He asked to give him 5 different uniquenesses.
He also asked me why Cuttack wasn’t doing as well as a Bhubaneswar. To this I replied taking geographic, political, cultural and economic reasons into account. We then discussed about my Summer Project with Reckitt Benckiser (this was an automation project with a FMCG major). He asked me to explain the labor implications of implementing automation. He then went ahead to ask me my experiences in dealing with unionized labor at ITC. He was also interested in one of the papers that I had written about
BOP and presented at XLRI. This was about how to bring your best people to the BOP. He asked me to explain the paper and then told me to explain how useful it can be to the corporate world. My observation had told me that he was very practical and won’t like flowery answers that this is the idea of the millennium! I gave him all the strengths and weaknesses of the idea (and real ground level ones) in implementation.
After that he asked me why I was looking forward to a consulting career. I told him that it links well to my long term goal, which is
leading a NGO. I told him that this is one of the reasons that McKinsey stands out for me as a firm, with all the public policy and
pro-bono work. We discussed a bit about India’s policy change from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. I gave him some funda about what I had
seen in the Commanding Heights video, though he was doing most of the talking.
He was visibly happy with the fact that I said public policy (Later I realized that he specializes in public policy at McK) and told me
that he will give me a case on it. The whole experience lasted 15 minutes.
He started off the case asking me what I knew about the Bharat Nirman Project. I told him that my knowledge is limited to what I have read in the papers over the past few weeks and I do not know in detail about it. He told me that this case will enhance my
learning about the challenges facing somebody working in public policy.
The case was about rural electrification. He said the objective of the central government has now shifted to putting an electric bulb in every Indian home by Feb, 2008. He asked me how the Government should go about it.
I started off telling him that the idea looked unrealistic to me. Assuming that 1 billion is the Indian population and 65% lived in
villages, 650 million is the current rural population. Assuming that there are 5 members per rural household, there are 130 million
households. Then assuming that 30% of rural India is electrified, 91 million households remain. We just have two years, which is
approximately 700 days. Even if we work throughout, 1.3 lakh households have to be electrified every day. This is by no means
easy. Add to this fact that there is huge geographic dispersion and the current state of the SEBs, the plan looks nonviable. I told him that I found it impractical. To this he replied saying that most public policy projects are such. They lack thinking about the design phase itself. He asked me to go ahead with the problem assuming it is doable.
I approached the problem saying that I would see the project from three standpoints – economic, organizational and operational. On the operational point, I would divide the project into generation and T&D phases. On the economic standpoint, I would look at the ways and means to fund this project. On the organizational front, I would like to see who would own this project. Here, he told me that the question should not be treated like any other consulting case and he is looking for completely creative solutions.
I asked him whether I should go ahead with the analysis the way I had structured or he wanted me to do something different. He
replied that he is looking for specifically the Generation area. I told him that when it comes to generation, there are four issues
that need to be looked at – Performance of conventional energy generation units, New conventional energy units, isolated units and non-conventional sources of energy. He said that I should discuss the non-conventional energy sources first.
I told him that I was aware of solar, wind and bagas (sugarcane by product). He asked me to describe the economics of Solar. I showed it to him that at the current rate, it’s unprofitable. Then, we went to Wind energy. I told him that the issues to look for
here are technology, fixed costs and practical viability (availability of areas) where they can be installed. We discussed each one of them in greater detail from then on.
I told him that when it comes to buying technology, it would be very costly and technology transfer has to be on a mutual basis.
Then, we went it to the details of the windmill technology and its advantages in the Indian context. He was doing most of the talking here.
He asked me to do a commercial evaluation of all these technologies. I did the same considering three parameters – speed (because the industry has an external effect), cost and future viability (to incorporate learning curve effects). After shedding some light on each one of them, he asked me to move on to the funding aspect in generation.
I told him that the money here can be drawn from four areas – government, Indian private, Foreign players and debtors. I told him how each one of them was different (most of the logic was thought on the spot). We then discussed about the amount of privatization that should be allowed. I was of the opinion that wherever private participation is allowed, it should be in both R&D and generation. Having only one of them was not of any use. He didn’t agree to it and he was of the opinion that we weren’t ready yet. We closed the interview on an argumentative note.
He asked me to ask a question at the end. I asked him what kind of persuasive powers consultants enjoy when it comes to public policy projects. He smiled and gave me a lot of insight into public policy consulting. He appreciated the fact at the end of the interview that I could make people talk. The whole experience lasted close to 20 mins.
Tips: Keep yourself cool. Show a good understanding of the things happening around you (may not be knowledge, but an opinion usually helps). Do not try to throw facts when they amount to nothing!
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: He asked me about the problems that dealing with a union entails. There were a few more specific questions about my resume, in which I had to describe the work I did. I spoke for some time – maybe 2 minutes.
Then he asked me the kind of preparation that our batch had done for consulting. I gave him some feedback about how the interview workshop process done by McKinsey could have been better and how different it was from other colleges (stressing on poor institutional memory and ways to deal with it). He asked me what my last case was about. When I told him that it was about public policy and I had like it. He said that he also wanted me to do a case in that. The whole conversation lasted close to a little over 10 minutes.
An extremely short case. It lasted less than 10 minutes. He asked me what a government could do to improve the banking policy of a third-world country. To begin with, I told him that there is no generic answer and the policy has to be case specific. I also told him that I got a feeling that he was speaking from personal experience.
He said that I was right and asked me to take the case of Bahrain. He asked me what I knew about Bahrain and its banking industry. I told him that I knew it was a Muslim country and was staunch in protecting Muslim values (I used to collect stamps; I knew that they did not have a word of English – I told him that).
Then he gave me a good overview about Bahrain (lot of tangential stuff) and told me that the Finance minister was worried that the industry might lose it. He told me it was majorly into fostering corporate banks.
To begin with I told him that it was a case of B2B marketing and banks would stay if they get a good value proposition in Bahrain.
But then, if they get a better value proposition elsewhere, they’ll shift. He said I was right and asked me to think ahead. I asked him who these banks were. He told me that they were the Middle East bases of MNC banks. I asked him why the banks were there in the first case. He told me that it was centrally located and had liberal laws. I analyzed the geography and told him that what struck me was the fact it was close to Dubai. I asked him why not Dubai?
He told me that there was an announcement by the Dubai officials that they would make their policies freer than Bahrain and would make it a free trading zone.
I inferred from this saying that this might be a symptom of the real issue but wasn’t the actual problem. To this, he agreed. I told him that first of all I need to analyze the Dubai threat more closely. I told him first that we need to establish whether Dubai’s threat is credible or not (look at their history and look at the economic impact). He asked me to assume that they can do it. Then, I told him to look at the value proposition (including the switching cost to Dubai – local knowledge, skill base) that Bahrain provides and compare to the value proposition that Dubai gives. I told him that it is important to keep a futuristic view in mind. Then, I told him that what strikes me about the case is the fact that in this industry, it is very important to build your local clientele and not rely on foreigners. He said fine.
Then, I quizzed him about how developed was Bahrain’s retail and corporate banking was. I told him that it would relate very closely to the economic development was in Bahrain.
I told him that I felt that the real issue with Bahrain was the fact that the industry relied too much on MNCs without first satisfying local demand. I told him that I would like to create a policy keeping this in mind.
He asked me to stop the interview then and there.
Tips: Thinking on your feet is extremely important at the beginning of the case. First think common sensical and then get on to the regular consulting case analysis. One way of dealing with a person you know is to use your previous experience with him (in any which way).
Round: Other Interview
Experience: I was told at the beginning that I won’t have a case. He asked me to ask a few questions that I felt were relevant.
I asked him how McKinsey makes the environment conducive for knowledge sharing. He gave me a few inputs.
I told him what I had read about McKinsey’s knowledge management in a HBS case. He heard it attentively. He then gave me an idea about the state of affairs now and particularly in India. I asked him about how sharing gets linked to performance initiatives. I also asked him how other firms (esp. consulting) do it. He then asked me to narrate a few instances about ISB. I told him that any education program is incomplete without pranks. I told him a few pranks that I had played on a few friends in ISB (and vice versa).
Tips: Be your natural self and try to gauge the interviewer’s body language when telling a story.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. A Pharma company is introducing a new drug aimed at certain patients. It needs to work out its sales sand marketing strategy based on the information given. The...read more
- Q2. • A cinema theater chain needs to increase revenue and profits. Lot of information was given such as cost of new theater, expected revenue per theater based on ...read more
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
•Candidate should start with understanding the case completely as a lot of information was given and explained. Any relevant Pharmaceutical words used in the case have to be clarified and no assumptions are to be made.
•As the case had lot of information, it was necessary to isolate useful information from the irrelevant information.
•Since the case included numbers and calculations, the calculations should be done correctly at the first time itself (time can be taken to compute the numbers)
•Interpretation of the graphs is extremely important (and there were only few graphs). Pay close attention to X and Y axes and their units
Tips: Keep calm. Do not make the interviewer think that you are tensed.
heavy importance on numbers and interpretation on numbers
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 40 minutes was given to read the case and make presentation templates in A4 sheets.
Reading the case itself took more than 30 mins.It was such a big case and had humongous data.
Recommended Approach
•Read the case as fast as possible and mark relevant data
•Give importance to data and try to interpret some useful inferences from it
•Making some graphs in the A4 sheet can be helpful
Tips: It is not possible for anyone to understand the case fully in such a short time, Even the interviewer told this. They were more interested in how I presented and communicated. Of course, the interpretation of numbers was important
Skills: 1)communication, Presentation Skills
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
•Candidate should start with understanding the case completely as a lot of information was given and explained. Any relevant Pharmaceutical words used in the case have to be clarified and no assumptions are to be made.
•As the case had lot of information, it was necessary to isolate useful information from the irrelevant information.
•Since the case included numbers and calculations, the calculations should be done correctly at the first time itself (time can be taken to compute the numbers)
•Interpretation of the graphs is extremely important (and there were only few graphs). Pay close attention to X and Y axes and their units
Tips: Keep calm. Do not make the interviewer think that you are tensed.
heavy importance on numbers and interpretation on numbers
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 40 minutes was given to read the case and make presentation templates in A4 sheets.
Reading the case itself took more than 30 mins.It was such a big case and had humongous data.
Recommended Approach
•Read the case as fast as possible and mark relevant data
•Give importance to data and try to interpret some useful inferences from it
•Making some graphs in the A4 sheet can be helpful
Tips: It is not possible for anyone to understand the case fully in such a short time, Even the interviewer told this. They were more interested in how I presented and communicated. Of course, the interpretation of numbers was important
Skills: 1)communication, Presentation Skills
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
2 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There were 2 case rounds:
1) First was the structured case round (Time : 30 mins) : it was a pharma related case where a company was launching a new drug in the market; The problem had various facets of sales and marketing and basically was a New Product Launch/ Market Entry case. All the information was not revealed at once; more data/charts/numbers were shared at every step with a different task to be done each time. So the case had many parts to it – like to start off with one had to define what all had to be done in order to launch the product/marketing campaign, then in the next step I was asked to compute the market size of the product, its price, which segment to target and the amount of salesforce required (salesforce sizing; this was general data interpretation kind of question). All this was done in a phased manner, where at each step more information was given for the specific question. Involved doing some calculations, interpreting graphs and charts. It wasn’t very hard, all that it required was a logical approach and listing out the possibilities/options to be considered
Tips: Recommended Approach
Round 1: Be hands on. Do the calculations as for market sizing they are looking for a number. For other questions also, listing down your ideas would be a good idea. The questions are not very hard. They want you to think clearly and logically, with some data analysis. Practicing a few market sizing/new product launch/market entry/ pricing cases was helpful. Knowing those frameworks comes a little handy. I went wrong with my calculation a bit, but then corrected myself, so it was okay
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 2) Second round was an unstructured case round followed by a presentation:
The case was related to a chain of movie theatres (cineplexes) that wanted to expand or increase its revenue. You are asked to think of yourself to be a consultant who needs to come up with a solution and present to the board of a company. We were given 45 minutes to read all the information and make a presentation (on A4 sheets). There was a lot of information thrown like the financial report of a company, mail from one employee to another, market survey data and so on. It is a little hard to read all the information in the given time so one needs to be really quick. Divide your time in two parts: reading the material and creating the presentation. You are then asked to present your work to a panel. They will ask you several questions related to the case, questioning your recommendations and so on. I missed few important numbers that were provided due to the information overload. They then pointed out that there was related information provided, which I then looked through quickly and did some on the spot analysis. So, basically even if you miss out on some data, but manage to figure out the underlying point (or do the right analysis) after being redirected by them, then that would be okay. You need to provide logical explanation for the points you are making, preferably backed by numbers and data (facts and figures) given in the case.
Tips: Allocate some time to read all the material and the remaining to make the presentation. (It was not like the usual cases we get in class. But a real world scenario with the different reports, survey results and so on.) Create a clear structure for your presentation. During the presentation, defend your point with good logic. I made an incorrect recommendation as I had missed some piece of information, but then corrected myself there. So, I feel its better to course correct rather than sticking to the wrong point
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interviewer had a checklist and was asking regular PI questions, mostly based on prior professional experiences. Was trying to know about my past experience of working in a team – Team player, team leader, any project management experience. Something situation where you did not succeed?
2 rounds of case interviews : Structured approach while solving the cases (if not the exact solution) ; Will make you do the cases then and there ; Also had a case presentation round Final round will be PI and focus on mainly checking your leadership skills
Skills: Leadership Skills
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: There were 2 case rounds:
1) First was the structured case round (Time : 30 mins) : it was a pharma related case where a company was launching a new drug in the market; The problem had various facets of sales and marketing and basically was a New Product Launch/ Market Entry case. All the information was not revealed at once; more data/charts/numbers were shared at every step with a different task to be done each time. So the case had many parts to it – like to start off with one had to define what all had to be done in order to launch the product/marketing campaign, then in the next step I was asked to compute the market size of the product, its price, which segment to target and the amount of salesforce required (salesforce sizing; this was general data interpretation kind of question). All this was done in a phased manner, where at each step more information was given for the specific question. Involved doing some calculations, interpreting graphs and charts. It wasn’t very hard, all that it required was a logical approach and listing out the possibilities/options to be considered
Tips: Recommended Approach
Round 1: Be hands on. Do the calculations as for market sizing they are looking for a number. For other questions also, listing down your ideas would be a good idea. The questions are not very hard. They want you to think clearly and logically, with some data analysis. Practicing a few market sizing/new product launch/market entry/ pricing cases was helpful. Knowing those frameworks comes a little handy. I went wrong with my calculation a bit, but then corrected myself, so it was okay
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 2) Second round was an unstructured case round followed by a presentation:
The case was related to a chain of movie theatres (cineplexes) that wanted to expand or increase its revenue. You are asked to think of yourself to be a consultant who needs to come up with a solution and present to the board of a company. We were given 45 minutes to read all the information and make a presentation (on A4 sheets). There was a lot of information thrown like the financial report of a company, mail from one employee to another, market survey data and so on. It is a little hard to read all the information in the given time so one needs to be really quick. Divide your time in two parts: reading the material and creating the presentation. You are then asked to present your work to a panel. They will ask you several questions related to the case, questioning your recommendations and so on. I missed few important numbers that were provided due to the information overload. They then pointed out that there was related information provided, which I then looked through quickly and did some on the spot analysis. So, basically even if you miss out on some data, but manage to figure out the underlying point (or do the right analysis) after being redirected by them, then that would be okay. You need to provide logical explanation for the points you are making, preferably backed by numbers and data (facts and figures) given in the case.
Tips: Allocate some time to read all the material and the remaining to make the presentation. (It was not like the usual cases we get in class. But a real world scenario with the different reports, survey results and so on.) Create a clear structure for your presentation. During the presentation, defend your point with good logic. I made an incorrect recommendation as I had missed some piece of information, but then corrected myself there. So, I feel its better to course correct rather than sticking to the wrong point
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interviewer had a checklist and was asking regular PI questions, mostly based on prior professional experiences. Was trying to know about my past experience of working in a team – Team player, team leader, any project management experience. Something situation where you did not succeed?
2 rounds of case interviews : Structured approach while solving the cases (if not the exact solution) ; Will make you do the cases then and there ; Also had a case presentation round Final round will be PI and focus on mainly checking your leadership skills
Skills: Leadership Skills
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. A windmill manufacturer in Scandinavia wants to expand but has no labor pool for recruitment and is constrained by it. (Case Type- Expansion / Growth)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Broke it into attracting required labor at the site or outsourcing Within outsourcing talked about factors by which I would identify countries for this task.
In the end was just asked to recommend 2 industries from where I could use skills of existing engineers and I came up with other power generation industries and aerospace for blade design
Tips: What was good: PI, Involving the interviewer in case discussion What could be better: Quicker solution of case, he gave me a lot of hints and nudges for the solution After the final interview, I was also asked to rank each performance to check self-awareness. Overall, SMC checks a lot on cultural awareness, fit in their culture and personality traits.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Broke it into attracting required labor at the site or outsourcing Within outsourcing talked about factors by which I would identify countries for this task.
In the end was just asked to recommend 2 industries from where I could use skills of existing engineers and I came up with other power generation industries and aerospace for blade design
Tips: What was good: PI, Involving the interviewer in case discussion What could be better: Quicker solution of case, he gave me a lot of hints and nudges for the solution After the final interview, I was also asked to rank each performance to check self-awareness. Overall, SMC checks a lot on cultural awareness, fit in their culture and personality traits.
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. What are the factors you would consider when building a plant? (Case Type- General business acumen)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
Broke it into financial and non-financial and said ROI seems to be the best metric in financial. Went ahead after getting her buy-in and looked at various cost components in detail like labor, overheads etc. Throughout the interview, I was asked to go deeper and even when I was asked to move horizontally to other cost components, there was no closure of an issue. In the end, was just asked to summarize whatever we had done so far with 2 concluding statements
PI questions
Totally work and CV related cross questioning Why did you do this ELP and what did you learn Why SMC now This was a kind of stress interview where questions would start before I finished my answer. The same tone carried on in the case where scoping questions were frowned upon
Tips: What was good: Cool under pressure, confident What could be better: Take the hint if the interviewer is not giving data and lay out a structure and then ask questions explaining their relevance
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
Broke it into financial and non-financial and said ROI seems to be the best metric in financial. Went ahead after getting her buy-in and looked at various cost components in detail like labor, overheads etc. Throughout the interview, I was asked to go deeper and even when I was asked to move horizontally to other cost components, there was no closure of an issue. In the end, was just asked to summarize whatever we had done so far with 2 concluding statements
PI questions
Totally work and CV related cross questioning Why did you do this ELP and what did you learn Why SMC now This was a kind of stress interview where questions would start before I finished my answer. The same tone carried on in the case where scoping questions were frowned upon
Tips: What was good: Cool under pressure, confident What could be better: Take the hint if the interviewer is not giving data and lay out a structure and then ask questions explaining their relevance
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. He gave me a slide which had 50 potential projects and asked me how I would choose.(Case Type-Cost-benefit)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
Started with a Cost – Benefit – Risk and was asked to mainly consider capability building under major costs
Was given numbers for 2-3 projects and the case ended after straightforward calculations
PI questions
Talk about a personality trait that has evolved over time
An example of personal and professional success and cross questions on that In hindsight what could you have done better at work
Tips: What was good: PI, Calculations accuracy What could be better: I was given feedback to engage the interviewer more so that I could start with a more refined structure instead of a conventional structure
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
Started with a Cost – Benefit – Risk and was asked to mainly consider capability building under major costs
Was given numbers for 2-3 projects and the case ended after straightforward calculations
PI questions
Talk about a personality trait that has evolved over time
An example of personal and professional success and cross questions on that In hindsight what could you have done better at work
Tips: What was good: PI, Calculations accuracy What could be better: I was given feedback to engage the interviewer more so that I could start with a more refined structure instead of a conventional structure
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. He gave me a slide which had 50 potential projects and asked me how I would choose.(Case Type :-Cost-benefit)
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Started with a Cost – Benefit – Risk and was asked to mainly consider capability building under major costs Was given numbers for 2-3 projects and the case ended after straightforward calculations
Tips: What was good: PI, Calculations accuracy What could be better: I was given feedback to engage the interviewer more so that I could start with a more refined structure instead of a conventional structure
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Started with a Cost – Benefit – Risk and was asked to mainly consider capability building under major costs Was given numbers for 2-3 projects and the case ended after straightforward calculations
Tips: What was good: PI, Calculations accuracy What could be better: I was given feedback to engage the interviewer more so that I could start with a more refined structure instead of a conventional structure
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. You as a consultant have made a mistake and need to go back to your client’s CFO who is not co-operative and the final presentation is due tomorrow to the board
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
Depends on the interviewer and his discussion
PI questions
About yourself
Something that is not on your resume
Example of Learning from an achievement
Example of Learning from your work experience and what could you have don
Tips: What was good: PI, Patience to go on during the role play What could be better: I got caught up in the role play when he gave excuses not to cooperate
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
Depends on the interviewer and his discussion
PI questions
About yourself
Something that is not on your resume
Example of Learning from an achievement
Example of Learning from your work experience and what could you have don
Tips: What was good: PI, Patience to go on during the role play What could be better: I got caught up in the role play when he gave excuses not to cooperate
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
I applied via Referral
1 Interview Round
Interview Questions
- Q1. Siemens has decided to cut a layer of management, for this it is now combining EDCs of 3 units. How would you structure the resulting organization and where
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Recommended Approach
Structured as financial and non-financial benefits.
Approach Identify options as product, functional or matrix and evaluated benefits of each
Finally suggested a matrix structure in Bombay to ensure economies of scale and still ensure SPOC for each unit
PI questions
Tell me about yourself
Biggest achievement
Why leave Mercedes and join TML
Why consulting and what are your other options
Why SMC
If hired what vertical would you want to work in
If hired what training would you want
Tell me a time when you had a conflict with your boss
How has ISB been
Tips: Did not have a proper structure thereafter, but a good discussion with interviewer took me through by just identifying relevant criteria for each decision. What was good: PI What could be better: Initial structure and approach to case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
Experience: Recommended Approach
Structured as financial and non-financial benefits.
Approach Identify options as product, functional or matrix and evaluated benefits of each
Finally suggested a matrix structure in Bombay to ensure economies of scale and still ensure SPOC for each unit
PI questions
Tell me about yourself
Biggest achievement
Why leave Mercedes and join TML
Why consulting and what are your other options
Why SMC
If hired what vertical would you want to work in
If hired what training would you want
Tell me a time when you had a conflict with your boss
How has ISB been
Tips: Did not have a proper structure thereafter, but a good discussion with interviewer took me through by just identifying relevant criteria for each decision. What was good: PI What could be better: Initial structure and approach to case
Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)
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