BCG Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
Add your answer
Q2. (Among other points, mentioned travelling as a hobby) Any particular place/incident that is your favorite?
Add your answer
Q3. (Mentioned Sweden) Do you know how Sweden has handled the pandemic situation?
Add your answer

Client is an IT major in India. They are doing well but have sub optimal top line growth compared to their peers. The sales force productivity is declining. Help them increase the same.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I wanted to ask some questions to get a better understanding. When you mention IT major, can I assume a company like TCS? What exactly do you mean by top line growth?

I: Yes, assume a company like TCS or Infosys. Top line is revenue growth.

C: What are the revenue streams for the company? What is the role of the sales force?

I: The company provides IT services to other firms (B2B). The salespeople are linked to accounts verticals. For large accounts, there is one person who acts as the single point of contact. The more junior salespeople are mapped to verticals like banking etc. The sales force is divided into hunters and farmers. Hunters are responsible for bringing in new clients while farmers are responsible for handling existing clients. They manage to bring in a revenue of 8-10 million a year. Productivity is measured as the amount of revenue per salesperson.

C: Thank you. Now that I have a fair understanding of the situation I would like to jump into the case. Since the revenue per salesperson is decreasing, this could be due to 2 reasons: we are not getting new clients (hunters), or we are not engaging well with or enough with our existing clients due to which they are leaving us.

I: The hunters are producing okay but there are too many hunters which is leading to lesser revenue per person (1-2 million per year). Farmers have low productivity.

C: If we were to focus on farmers, there could be two reasons why their productivity is low. Either the existing clients are leaving us (account churn rate is high) or they are unable to expand the existing accounts.

I: Right, they are unable to expand existing accounts. Why do you think this is happening and what can be done?

C: They can keep track of any new opportunities within their existing clients, expanding into other areas not already covered by the firm. The SPOC must keep track of any such opportunities that might come up.

I: Anything else?

C: The salespeople must pitch the value proposition of the firm and their USP in order to encourage the clients to give more business to the firm. They can give incentives to the clients in terms of monetary or other means as well. They should reach out to the right people within their client firms in order to land the message well.

The client is a petrochemicals company. The promoter is involved in the exploration and production of oil and produces around 200,000 barrels of oil a day (a sizeable amount - about 25% of India's production). The oil he produces is significantly discounted. Help him add value to his oil.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Let us do a case. The client is a petrochemicals company. The promoter is involved in the exploration and production of oil and produces around 200,000 barrels of oil a day (a sizeable amount - about 25% of India's production). The oil he produces is significantly discounted. Help him add value to his oil.

C: Sure. I wanted to ask a few questions to understand this better. Where is our client based out of? What does the value chain of his business look like?

I: The client is India based. He is involved in the production of crude oil in India and transferring it to 4-5 refineries. His production facility is present in Rajasthan and he delivers oil to one refinery in Mathura, two in Gujarat, and one in the coastal area in Mumbai.

C: In this case, is there a way to set up a production facility closer to these refineries?

I: This process has a long lifecycle wherein it takes 3-4 years to find the oil and then a few more years to start the drilling process. Hence, this is a process of 3-7 years and not very feasible.

C: Alright understood. Next, I want to understand, when you mentioned that the is oil is discounted, how much is it discounted?

I: The known price of Brent crude is $55 per barrel and producers can sell their oil at either a premium or discount to Brent. Our client sells at a discount of $10 a barrel. This is not acceptable to him and he wants to know how to monetize his oil better.

C: Is there a particular reason for why his oil is being discounted?

I: The oil that our client transports are heavy or medium oil. It is a waxy oil which makes the transportation and receiving process cumbersome. There is also a high presence of Sulphur content.

C: Thank you. I think I have a broad understanding now and would like to dive into the case. In this situation, I think there are two areas we can broadly focus on: looking at the current refineries that the client is delivering to and how the transportation process can be improved or looking at identifying and delivering to newer refineries.

I: Identifying new refineries will be tough to make practical. Is there anything else he can focus on?

C: He can expand his business into setting up his own refinery.

I: Yes, that is an option he can explore. In terms of the yield of the crude slate, 45% is petrol and 20% is diesel. There is an additional realization of $20 for petrol and $30 for diesel. For example, for a crack of $20 he will realize $75. What is the return per year the client can hope to get? Assume the plant is closed for 15 days a year.

C: Performed calculations. Total amount = $1.05 billion/year.

I: Great. What are some other options the client can explore in his existing setup?

C: There are two issues with the transportation as you mentioned. The first one was excess wax. Can we somehow modify the way we transport the oil to fix this?

I: We deliver the oil through pipelines. What can we do to reduce the wax?

C: We can maintain the oil at a certain temperature so as to prevent wax from forming.

I: Right, so we can have heated or insulated pipes. What else?

C: Can we use the sulfur content in the oil?

I: We can also create naphtha from the crude. We will get 10% yield regularly. This can increase to 20% but will reduce the yield of petrol and diesel by 5%. Each ton would cost $145. Would this be a feasible option? I started calculating but the interviewer stopped me in between.

Q1. Basics of Python, Flask, ReactJs, RestApi Development
Add your answer
Q2. Python - Difference between is and ==
Ans. 
The 'is' operator checks if two variables point to the same object in memory, while '==' checks if the values of the two variables are equal.
• Use 'is' to check if two variables reference the same object in memory

• Use '==' to check if the values of two variables are equal

• Example: a = [1, 2, 3]; b = a; a is b will return True, a == b will also return True
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q3. React - useEffect vs useState
Ans. 
useEffect is used for side effects in functional components, while useState is used for managing state.
• useEffect is used to perform side effects in functional components, like data fetching, subscriptions, or manually changing the DOM

• useState is used to manage state in functional components, allowing the component to re-render when the state changes

• Example: useEffect can be used to fetch data from an API when the compo...read more
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q4. Authentication in RestApi
Ans. 
Authentication in RestApi involves verifying the identity of users before granting access to resources.
• Use tokens (JWT) for authentication

• Implement OAuth for secure authentication

• Utilize session management for user authentication

• Implement two-factor authentication for added security
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q5. React - Pure Component and Higher order components
Add your answer

Asked coding questions on Python and SQL
Python - find longest non repeating substring
SQL - join and window function

Develop a production-grade application in Python that analyzes data and provides answers to questions based on the dataset.

Q1. System design and project based questions
Add your answer
Q2. Scenario-based questions that can help assess how you handle various situations
Add your answer

Q1. How does Django apply migrations to the database?
Ans. 
Django applies migrations to the database using the 'manage.py migrate' command.
• Django tracks changes to models and generates migration files accordingly.

• The 'manage.py makemigrations' command creates migration files based on model changes.

• The 'manage.py migrate' command applies the generated migration files to the database.

• Migrations help keep the database schema in sync with the changes in Django models.
Answered by AI
Add your answer
Q2. What is hoisting in javascript?
Ans. 
Hoisting in JavaScript is the behavior where variable and function declarations are moved to the top of their containing scope during the compilation phase.
• Variable declarations are hoisted to the top of their scope, but not their assignments.

• Function declarations are fully hoisted, meaning they can be called before they are declared.

• Hoisting can lead to unexpected behavior if not understood properly.
Answered by AI
Add your answer

Create a full stack application in 3 days.