BCG Summer Intern Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Do thorough case prep and more and more types of cases

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Structure:I asked him about the dynamics of the industry. He explained that there is not much difference between the products as well as the cost structures of the company. This meant that even the competitor is losing money by the price war.I suggested 2 alternatives to solve this: firstinvolved analysing the cost structure and trying to reduce costs. But the interviewer told me that the client has used all the cost efficiencies possible (this indicates that the interviewer does not want me to go deeper). Second option that I suggested involved was the Game Theory approach. This involves indicating to the competitor that we will not reduce our prices even if he does so. This I suggested could be done by issuing some way of communication to the competitor. But he said that the competitor is not willing to talk. I could not think of what could be done so he suggested that the client should increase the prices. This will show to the competitor that the client is serious.Then the interviewer said that after one week, the sales of the client had declined drastically and the competitor had not reduced its prices. This created a problem of inventory. To solve this data was collected geographically and analysed. It was found that some dealers had reduced the stocks of the clients cement. The clients did this as they expected the price increase to be temporary and thus wanted to postpone the purchase. I suggested increasing the prices again. This will signal to the dealers that the price increase is not temporary.Finally he asked me to give some suggestions about the same. I suggested that the dealers should be given discounts based on the average volumes they generate every week and month. This will help in inventory planning. Secondly whenever the price is increased they should be increased all at once and any decrease should be spread over a larger period. This will not allow competitors and dealers to pre-empt the client.
Tips: Even though the ideas might sound outlandish, get them across, they will give you the benefit of thinking out of the box. Try to involve the interviewer in the case as much as possible, if he is interested he will point you out more and more in the right direction.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Structure:I said that we will compare the profits of the two methods and make our decisions based on that. I asked about the revenue and costs of the two and calculated the profit. I proved that joining the radio cab was better. But the interviewer told me that was the wrong answer. He asked me to go back.I took the current taxi and approached the different line items one by one. I suggested that if the driver installed an AC he will be able to charge more. But the interviewer asked me to suggest something else.If the engine of the cab (which was currently diesel) could be replaced by CNG (the radio cab used CNG) the fuel cost reduced drastically making the current cab more profitable. I showed him the calculations.
Tips: Try to be receptive to the hints given by the interviewer in the process. They are extremely important to get to the solution quickly.

Skills: Problem Solving Abilties, Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Structure:First asked about the industry. The industry was growing but the company was losing share. This meant that the problem was with the company. Structured to find about the revenue and cost structures of the industry and the firm in particular. Tried to gather as much background information on this as possible. Talked about training the employees, any new adverse regulations, competitor offerings, etc. In short covered a lot of different angles. Finally he asked me to give 10 recommendations to solve the problem. This was difficult as we had barely discussed the case for 10 minutes. Took 5 minutes to write down my suggestions.Structured my answer in three areas: Customers, employees and business improvement. Gave 3-4 suggestions in each bucket.
Tips: Idea generation requires a lot of practice. Make sure you do abstract cases which involve idea generation.Also have questions for the interviewer ready for at least 3 rounds of the process.

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case analysis:
Market leader, no.2 and no. 3 growing in dominance, Market growing, they didn't release a particular policy, don’t give enough incentives to their agents which other firms are capitalizing on,
Structure:
Broke it down into their business structure, understood how they operate, tried to find loopholes in each step
Summary:
Was asked to stop after explaining the approach and asking two or three questions, BCG vs McKinsey took over, spirited discussion regarding pros, cons and discussion I had with Gautam Kumra at McK, after debates and stressing the people point, we called it a day.
Tips: Take hints, explain approach.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case analysis:
Spoke about the business, market, the competition and how everyone else was coping. Talked about how the business worked; distribution and sales network, retailers and incentives and breakup in terms of branded, unbranded cement. Twist in the case, BCG says increase prices; profits fall by 12% more and take a hit. Now what?
Structure:
Value chain + market scenario, focused on issues like rising costs, raw material sourcing, manufacturing difficulties, expansion possibilities but were discounted. Went on to retailers and distribution and his eyes lit up, literally. Focused on region wise distribution, why there were discrepancies in individual dealers selling different quantities given same consumption patterns, focused on price prediction patterns and inventory holding practices by different retailers
Summary:
Was stopped after this, talked about BCG, consulting as a career and how the partner found his calling, how BCG contributes in making realchange in the world.

Skills: Ability To Cope Up With Stress, Case Analysis
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case analysis:
This was a very complex case with multiple problems and solutions with each having a different set of pros and cons. He wanted me to see the case from a simple demand and supply point of view.
Structure:
The supply was overshooting demand in the market as a result of the actions of competitors. So the issue was also to do with the distributors in the middle and how brand consciousness would come into the scene. The structure could be simplified to a 2*2 matrix with price elasticity of demand and brand consciousness on the axes. The issue could be then simplified on the basis of the quadrant in focus.
Summary:
Overall, the issue was embedded in being able to use game theory with the distributor and play prices up and down at regular intervals. Another strategy was to enter into forward contracts.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case was a test of structure to see if you could create one with all the levers enlisted.
Structure:
The market share could be seen as a function of number of policies sold and the revenue per policy. The discussion would then carry on the aspect of number of policies. The number of policies itself would be a function of a number of factors, out of which one of them was creating an issue.
Summary:
The toxic area was something to do with the insurance policy salesman and the entire structure had to be panned out so as to get to that
Tips: Be calm, logical and energetic. That is all you need to impress the interviewer.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case analysis:
This was a case that really tested your ability to think far and wide because the math was simple but the underlying logic could have been missed very easily.
Structure:
Used a simple revenue-cost structure for the pre and post radio taxi phase. Then tried to see if any of the key variables could be modified to come up with a different result.
Summary:
The case had two parts-one was the initial decision and the decision after changing a key variable.

Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I first tried to understand the product properly.
Q. Does the company make any other products?Ans: No
Q. What is this particular product used for majorly? To teach what?
Ans: English language
I was trying to build a structure at this point when he interrupted me by asking me if I had understood the question. I felt he was trying to put a bit of stress. He then asked me to explore what all are the options that an educational tech company in Indiacould explore. Q. Are we looking at only classroom services or onlineas well?Ans: Upto you what you want to look atI built a structure which split into Classroom learning and online learning. Then further split classroom learning into providing education material and products (like the one the client makes). In online I split it into videos and material. He was happy with this basic structure. He then asked me that the client was focusing on language needs of people. So he asked me to estimate the demand of the English language learners. He then asked me to estimate how many such are those who already have a source to learn and how many are wanting to but do not have a source and what should I target?I started with the metro population in India. Roughly 14mX4 = 56m. Then divided it by the age group. I dint plug in any figures. I just made the initial tree. I told him that I would plug in the figures later. Age group of 16 and less who are going to schools. He then asked me why I have not considered adults who want to learn English. Then I considered that as well. He then asked me why I have not taken into consideration those who do not know that they want to learn English. I didn't understand what he meant, so I asked him to explain. He told me that a domestic maid is latent demand because she doesn't know that she want to learn English (got kind of philosophical at this point)So he asked me to factor that in as well. He asked me how we can make them use an on-line medium when they do not have basic education in the first place.
Tips: Please make sure of what you say in the initial HR questions. I had mentioned that I liked teaching. That was the reason why picked out this case for me. So please make sure you can show the passion for a particular interest that you have mentioned. Be calm during the case. He will help you out for sure. It is important to be persistent and keep going at the problem.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Q. I asked him the relative position of the business viz-a-viz its peers.
Ans: It is not very high. Somewhere around 6th.
Q. What are the different businesses?Ans: Mutual funds –debt and equity, Asset management, etc.Equity fund is not performing as well as its competitors. Debt is on par
Q. What is its target market?
Ans: HNIs with income of INR 5Cr +I had made a brief structure earlier in which I had said that I would like to explore 3 things. The historical performance of the fund, Its competition, and the third thing was future growth in India.He gave me some details on the historic performance and all. He also told me about the competition. I was then asked to make a decision of whether to continue in India.I told him based on the future growth story they should remain in India. He wanted me to ask the growth rate of HNIs in India. He then gave me those figures.
Q: Hethen asked me what all problems they could face.
Ans: Very volatile equity markets, major source of HNI money is black so we can’t capture the entire growth in HNI. Competition could outdo us. If interest rates fall, investors would want to invest abroad. I gave a few more options that I can’t recall right now.
Tips: Prepare HR answers really well. My case was something which anybody would have cracked but the differentiating part was the HR answers.

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 1.Estimate the size of the coaching industry in India. This was directly related to my work experience.

2.A company wants to venture into selling used cars. Describe the market entry.
(Talk about the constraints and services you would provide)

3.Estimate the size of auto repair market in India.
Tips: -Take sometime to think before you start approaching the solution.
-Practise quick calculations. Lot of us get used to the calculator.

Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A company situated in North India sources its raw material from the western part. It is concerned with the high transport costs it is incurring as compared to its competitors.
Tips: Listen to the interviewer carefully and try to latch on the hints.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A company wants to enter into the market of second hand cars. Estimate the size of the market and advise the company about the decision (to enter or to not)
Tips: Don't talk unstructured.

General Tips: Listen carefully to the interviewer for hints.
Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There is a finance department with a car dealer. The other executives in the office question the use of finance department. Discuss.
Me: What are the current functions of finance department?
Interviewer: Normal operations of finance desks at a care dealer.
Me: So, they provide loan to customers
Interviewer: yes.
Me:Does other banks also have desks at the car dealer's showroom.
Interviewer: Yes, 5-6 other banks also sit there.
Interviewer: Around 10% or less than that.
Me: What are our loan rates like?
Interviewer: They are a little higher than other banks.
ME: Summarized the findings till now and stated the question that we need to explore.

Me: I would like to explore the fact that why would even 10% of people get their loans from the fin.Dept.
Interviewer: Ya, what can be the possible reasons?
Me: Maybe, they are not getting loans from other banks i.e. they are not that creditworthy.
Interviewer: yes, but why in that case a finance dept. bear the risk that a bank doesn't want to.
Me: Because, the finance dept. is internal to the car dealer, so they can charge higher rates and higher down payments. this can help finance dept. in reducing the risk of non-payment.
Interviewer: Ok, and what can be the other way in which an internal finance dept help the car dealer.
Me: The finance dept. can offer the customers to sell back their old car and buy new car again after 2-3 years and the finance dept will renew the loan.
Interviewer:Ok, why wouldn't a bank do that?
Me:Because banks lose their interest on the remaining loan. But an internal finance dept. can afford to lose some interest on the context of selling a new car and making profit on it.
interviewer: Fine.
Me: I would like to summarize the case once.

Tips: 1. Listening is very important component of the case interview. Listen to clues well.
2. Summarizing the case, and data once or twice in between the case at times help, when you have lots of data and you feel that you may have lost your focus.
3. Summarizing at the end of case interview in very important.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A car service company is planning to open a huge service station which will service cars from all/major car companies.
Discuss the aspects that he should consider before opening such a station.
I started with one or two enquiries about the service station to gauge the scope of the case.
I came to know that we need to find out what cars will the station service, what are the services that we will offer etc.
I suggested that i will focus on one particular city and then start with the discussion. Interviewer was fine with it.
Key aspects that came out of the case:
1. Station should focus on few brands only which could help the station capture a hogh percentage of market
2.Station can offer three kind of services:
- Regular repair services: High volume, low profit
-Periodic car service : Mid volume, mid profit, regular customers
-Accidental services: low volume, high profit
I offered to provide last two services and forgo the first service.
Few more points were discussed related to a station in Delhi, where I talked about purchasing and driving patterns particular to Delhi and how few specialized services can help in generating more profit there.

Tips: Take some time and explore all possible options. A free and open mind is very important in a case interview.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A manufacturer produces 3 products A,B and C. He currently concentrates more on A. But, his financial manager says that he should concentrate on C. The revenue, profit, units sold, time taken to produce a unit A, B and C
Tips: Do not get bogged down by too much data. See what is important for you.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A telecom service operator incurs huge cost in communicating one-2-one with its customers. Help the firm in reducing its cost.
The firm may be communicating with its customers using three possible mediums:
-postal
-SMS
-Service calls


Focusing on Postal:
Postal billing is affected by few factors, such as:
-Distance of communication
-Frequency of communication
-Number of customers to communicate with
Distance of communication
After few questions, we came to know that the company sends all letters from a central hub. So distance can be reduced by sending the bills from each city office. A printing setup can be established in each city office and bills can be dispatched locally.
Frequency of communication
We can explore the option of not sending the bills each month. But, in that case customers won't be paying their bills also each month.
Suppose cost of a post in Rs 10.
@12% annual interest rate, for a bill of amount less than 500 Rs, interest lost for two months will be less than rs 10.
Therefore, for bills less than 500 amount, bills can be sent once in two months.
Number of customers
Customers can be asked for an option if they actually want paper bill or not.
But this option was rejected by interviewer on account that ideally all customers will want a paper bill.
The interviewer also agreed about the assumption that cost of sms or calls won't be that significant.

Tips: I didn't come up with interest rate and loss of interest rate and loss of interest concept on my own.
I thought about it but rejected it thinking that it may be out of scope of the case. But then the interviewer had to give me direct hints about this. Do not reject any idea on your own. Discuss it with interviewer and give him the option of rejecting or exploring it further. They would like to see the breadth of your thinking. So, any 'out of the box' idea can actually help during the interview.

Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Estimate the sales of old television sets after 5 years. Nothing else was given. However relevant data was being provided when I asked for it.

A company wants to enter into the business of buying and selling old cars. Estimate the market potential in terms of the total sales of old cars in India.

A company produces 3 products. The cost and the profits per unit were given for individual products. The accountant offers a proposal to produce only the product that gives the highest profile per unit. Evaluate the proposal.

Skills:
Duration: 3
College Name: IIM Lucknow