Citizens Alliance Junior Associate Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Interview
Experience: The interviewer also said: "It seems like you are more interested in finance and BCG is only the second option. We don’t like being the second option." All these questions required some delicate handling.

Round: Interview
Experience: This was a sort of stress interview because the interviewer seemed disinterested and dissatisfied with everything i said and kept on demanding for more while impressing that whatever I am coming up with was really of no significance.
Tips: What worked in my favor was I dint get flustered by his attitude, kept smiling and working at the problem objectively. When I would come to the end of one line of thinking and would have no more answers to his “What next” I would frankly tell him that and ask him in return for more suggestions. It resulted in him complimenting my way of thinking at the end and saying that I was one of the best and most practical candidates that he had interviewed that day.

Round: Interview
Experience: 1. Both the above questions were the part of one interview.
2. The interviewer didn't want me to solve the case fully in either instance. He just wanted to see my structure and evaluate my thinking process.

Round: Interview
Experience: Almost all my interviews went well with BCG except the last VC one, because by then I was complete drained out and could hardly think. I also did some minor silly mistakes in a couple of the smaller cases while dealing with numbers, but otherwise everyone seemed to appreciate my structuring of the cases. Some of the interviewers also delved into the HR side frequently.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I took a complete background check with regard to the motivation behind diversifying into IT sector. Also, what kind of IT businesses it wanted to diversify. The interviewer suggested that they want to achieve revenue of USD 5Bn from current USD 4Bn. Also, they want a margin of 12-15% from this new business. Also, the major consumer of IT services are Europe and US.So, I divided the problem into two parts –1. Whether IT business would serve them the purpose for achieving desired revenue. 2. If yes, then what would be the strategy for entering into IT services?I started off with the projected revenue estimates for all types of IT services. However, the interviewer changed the problem statement (due to paucity of time I suppose). He asked what would be the basis for selecting companies from an acquisition standpoint from an initial pool of companies across the globe. I came up with two matrix table wherein I stated what the Indian conglomerate wants from the acquisition (ie Need) and what it can offer to the target company (ie want of target) and tried to match it.The interviewer informed that the Indian conglomerate was cash rich company, stands on its values and has strong client relationship with manufacturing sectors / vendors. So I started linking all of them –
•funding –requirement for cash strapped companies
•Reputation –It can offer brand value to companies not well known
•Client relation to leverage –Companies not present in manufacturing IT services.Also, during discussion, I linked the problem practically to how Mahindra went on to acquire Satyam and what factors it looked before bidding. I think the interviewer was impressed with the linking to case to practical situation.

Round: Problem Statement
Experience: Me: Define market share?
Interviewer: Market share is defined by quantity and sales value.
Me: There could be 3 possible scenarios: Market stagnant, we are losing out to competitors; Market growing but we are not growing as fast as market; market shrinking but we are losing more than our competitors.
Interviewer: Second scenario
Me: Major customers
Interviewer: Real estate companies.
After a brief background question, I started off with the problem analysis.
I broke the problem into Demand and Supply side. Under demand side, I mapped the consumer behaviour analysis of buyer and brought out several points. However, the interviewer was interested in delving into supply side. Anyway, he told me to analyse demand side.Based on our discussion, we realized that pricing and timely delivery was an issue. Pricing is based on cost plus pricing. Cost includes transportation cost which was significantly higher than industry standards. High transportation cost stems from the fact that the factory was located far away from the market. Also, acquisition of lime stone has been a challenge for the company. I think the interviewer was impressed from the fact that the problem was solved from the demand side. Also, I quickly suggested 2 solutions to the problem:
•Short term –Reduce prices and take a hit on profit to regain market share
•Medium term –Follow hub and spoke model to reduce delay in delivery time
•Long term –Acquire a source (may be mine or long term supplier) for lime stone.

Round: Problem Statement
Experience: I took background questions regarding in which circle it operates and its vision in India. I suggested that I would do a Net Present Value analysis and would bench mark against return expected by Norway Head Office. We went into revenue stream like voice and data. Cost included operating, spectrum, license fee etc. He seemed to be satisfied with the response. Also, he asked me why AT&T is not bidding for the spectrum. I explained that Uninor has invested time, effort in understanding Indian market which AT&T has not. I drew learning curve of both Uninor and AT&T. He seemed impressed.
Tips: 1.Be calm and composed. Even if one interview does not go well, one would have another chance to perform.
2.Take good background questions to understand the problem. Dissect the problem and then approach.
3.Structured thinking is very important. Also, explain briefly the broad bucket in the structure.
4.All suggestions should have some basis based on the inputs taken during the interview.
5.Thorough CV and HR preparation are hygiene factors.
6.Always smile!

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

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: When I outlined that he could opt for a JV, an acquisition or an own set-up, he asked me to probe further into the JV idea. From there on, the case was about identifying specific metrics to ascertain the best JV route. It was a very spontaneous case discussion, and we covered a variety of opportunities, problems and solutions in and around the original problem statement.
Tips: Keep high energy through the interview. Feel confident and remember that, at the end of the day, an interview should most importantly be a good conversation.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I structured the problem in a very detailed manner. I asked relevant questions and took my time. I also got lucky that intuitively I managed to find the root cause of the problem, though it wasn’t expected out of the case. The rapport with the interviewer was good during and after the case.

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

Round: nETWORKING session
Experience: In the activity, we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical–analytical scientific approach.
Tips: Be good at your logical skills and communication skills.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: In the second round I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall first two rounds are almost similar.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: In the 3rd round there was nothing asked about cases. I was asked questions like Why was I interested in joining this company, What are my long term goals and what are my short term goals. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.

General Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
4. Good communication skills.
Skill Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
Skills: Logical Skills, Communications skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: First 5 minutes is taken to analyse your resume and get a feel of you as a person.The problem will be given for you to analyse and it is very important that you style what you speak to carry forward a constructive discussion with the interviewers. They will look at how you apply your knowledge to build a solution.
Tips: The 2 important things that you need to keep in mind are as follows ï Breaking the problem down to the absolute basicï Following a systematic and structured way of solving the problems.It is important to get feedback post-interview and they (the interviewers) would be willing to let you know as well.Important to defend your resume well. Have bullet points ready to speak for 30-45 seconds on them. It should differentiate you from other candidates.

General Tips: Resume should have a narrative of life in insti. Listing your passions and skills. Lookout for spikes in resume. Distinguish your work from other people in institute. Attend resume making sessions to understand how to reflect them in resume. Contact seniors who have joined the company to go through resume and suggest changes. Good Leadership PoRs will be appreciated. Important to quantify achievements in resume as companies like to see spike/impact that you have created. November – Prep for Case interview in a rigorous manner
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Group Activity
Experience: I had an activity (networking session) before interview. However it was nothing related to selection process. we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical analytical scientific approach.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall fist two rounds are almost similar.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There was nothing asked about cases. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.

Skill Tips: I practiced a lot of cases. I had a partner with me, and we used to sit together and practice cases. I spoke to some of the pass-out seniors. Even that helped me a lot. If you ask what helped me more while preparing for interview, having a partner and practicing cases with him helped me and him a lot. You can literally know many things when you speak to someone rather talking to a book. I had no prior intentions for core. I wrote all key points on paper, sticked them to my cupboard and used to go through them. I didn't refer any books or any material or anything. Anyway I had this non-core stuff already in my mind. I choose my minors and electives in the interest of the management side. I started practicing cases very early. I also watched many videos about the cases.
Skills: Logic, Communication
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interview started with a detailed discussion on various fascets of points on my CV. Neeraj wanted to know about my thought process as I went through the various phases of my life and how I took decisions that I actually took. For example, he was very interested in knowing as to why I chose IIT Bombay for my B.Tech when I could have gone to join IIT-Delhi which was nearer home. The idea was to develop a rapport with the interviewer by being clear, insightful and interesting in your answers. Be very nicely prepared with your CV and think through the various decisions you have taken in life, keep smiling throughout the interview, present a firm hand shake, think before you speak and engage the interviewer in a discussion.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I started off by trying to understand the situation as clearly as possible. The one dictum I stuck to in this and other case interviews was to really get to the crux of the matter and scope down the problem relentlessly to what the top of the line issues were for the client. So trying to be MECE, I told Neeraj that I would look at the following three alternatives: - Not do any thing about the excess capacity and wait for the good times to come back- - Downgrade the capacity by eliminating excess - Find better uses of capacity or sell more to existing customers A free flowing discussion followed on each of the points above and Neeraj very quickly refuted the first two suggestions. We then dived headlong into the third suggestion and it quickly appeared clear that fiber optic cables were commoditized products to a large extent. I asked Neeraj about the specific ways in which we were better than the competition and got to know that our client had better product quality at the same price. I drew a perceptual map of our Vs. the competitors’ positions on these maps and argued that we may want to play upon our better product quality to induce the customers to buy more from us. When prodded further by Neeraj, I used the tried and tested Raju formula: Market Share = (Share of Voice)X(%of acceptability)X(%of availability) Since availability was not an issue and since advertising was not a main concern, he asked me to dive into ways of improving our Client’s share of acceptability. I proposed pricing as a way of doing so. I postulated that we needed to study our client’s fixed costs and those of our competitors’. Based on the fact that our fixed costs were lower than those of our competitors, I argued that we could play the pricing game by bringing our prices down and cornering a bigger share of the market. I further argued that if our competitors tried to imitate us in this price war, they may end up chasing us to the bottom of the barrel and get killed in the process. This would only be good for the industry which badly needs consolidation given the excess capacity. I think Neeraj was visibly impressed by this time by the depth of analysis I had presented and the diverse ideas from marketing, managerial accounting etc that I was able to bring to the table.
Tips: Be yourself.
Be confident.

Skills: Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: HR Interview
Experience: These were typical ice breaking questions. She didn’t dwell into too many details of any of my responses. We immediately started discussing my ELP on increasing internet penetration in India.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I: As I am aware the value chain of providing the broadband service includes a. IXP b. Backbone rings and bandwidth c. Backbone routers/equipments d. Last mile connections Is this understanding correct? Seema: Yes I: And is our client present in all the bits of these value chain? Seema: Currently they are present in all the parts of the value chain. I: However you mentioned that they are serving corporate clients alone, so I assume their backbone might not be spread a lot? Can you give me some more details on what is their current spread at two levels? a. In what cities are they currently present? b. In each of the cities how is their backbone scaled up? Seema: They are present in 12 cities. (tier-1 cities). They have several backbone rings present in each of these cities to serve the corporate clients. (She scribbles and explains a bit more about the clients backbone) I: Ok. Are we looking for any time frame in mind or any financial constraints? Also, is client a conglomerate – I am trying to figure out the capabilities of the client. Also does the client have any minimum required rate of return from the project? Seema: No for all the questions. Lets not get into details of the numbers of required rate etc. Let us just discuss on what are things you are going to consider in helping the client. I: Because we are talking about broadband connections, we must focus on the number of internet connection market in India. There are 150 internet users in India. However there are only 50million PCs in India. Now because each PC will have only one connection 50 million is true market size. 30-70 rural-urban (tier-1) spit and 60-40 corporate-retail split leaves about 14mn as a potential retail market. The will like to consider the following: Customer Reach Company - PC Users -> Laying backbone -> Financing, structuring,etc Awareness -> Last mile -> Operations -- Content Language -> Pockets with in city -> capabilities -- Availability of content -- Ease of use Willingness --Price --Use/Need --Perception External factors included: Regulations: Getting licenses Competition: Internet penetration in the 14mn is presently low. I used some pointers from my ELP findings like Chinese perceive that using computer is very easy vs Indian perception that only skilled ones can use the computers. Some major points of discussion were: a innovative revenue model which we recommended as part of our ELP, and option of bundling services, expanding market by creating a resale market of 2nd hand PCs. After a discussion on the customer part, we talked about how to reach customers. There are two broad ways of doing the network bit. Organic and inorganic. Issues like network sharing, BVNO, cable TV like models for last mile connections were discussed but it was arrived at that scope of doing these was either limited or not possible. Organic was the only possibility of doing this. The retail market is sparse, requires lot of investment, especially in last mile connections. Also some profitable pockets are already occupied by the competition like BSNL, Bharti etc. Given the sparse market, high setup costs and unpredictable returns it doesn’t make sense in entering the market.
Tips: Connect your thoughts with the interviewer.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I:Why profitability per ton? Why would CEO bother about profitability per ton. Shouldn’t he be focusing on total profits or share price? R: We are talking about making changes in a year and therefore only profitability per ton can be changed. We cannot do much with quantity itself. I: Right. Could you please tell me where does client manufacture and where does it sell? R: It is a pan India producer with 14-15 plants and sells through out India. I: So how are the customers classified. I would divide them into Retail and Industrial customers. Is that how company does it? R: Yes. Let us focus only on retail clients. Bulk of the business happens through them. I: ok. How do we reach our customers? R: There are distributors who sell it to the customers. I: In terms of geography, are the profits homogenous? R: No. South there is excess supply and up north there is excess deman. I: Ok. Competition? R: 3-4 regional players around every plant and 3-4 other large national players I: How are we doing visavis industry in terms of profits? Any targets in mind? R: We are on par with the industry. Lets aim for 5-10% increase in 1 year. I: Profitability per ton = Unit price – Variable cost – unitized Fixed cost Increasing profitability will mean increasing prices or reducing costs. At this time he led the conversation into increasing price part, although I had written appropriate drivers for cost like DM, DL, Transportation, IM, IL, etc) I: To increase the price: I guess cement is a undifferentiated product and therefore commodity. R: Right. So how can you increase prices? Prices are different in each region. I: Can we look at differentiating the cement (on product dimension) or on relationship dimension and therefore command high prices? R: No. Cannot do that, its commodity. I: I draw 1 plant, some distributors around it and large circles around each distributor. These circles are their markets and each market has different prices) Price is decided by D-S curves. We need to maximize the profit/ton for each region or the following: Max(ΣPi-VCi) (i for all markets) R: Ok so what are the constraints? I: Plant capacity (cannot change this in 1 year), competition, market demand (cannot change that) R: Ok. I: @ Each plant to maximize the profit/ton, I will just sell it to the market with the highest profit. But this will reduce total profits ☺R: Smiles....right! I: So instead of maximizing profit/ton, we must look at cutting out non-profitable markets. That is instead of absolute maximum, just eliminate markets where profits are below acceptable levels. R: Ok. But do we not want to look at what can be done here in low profit markets? I: Right. Take some time Ultimately prices must increase. We cannot change demand. But we can play with our mix in the supply (which is also constant for the next 1 year). I: Draw a 2x2 matrix: Us (strong, weak) vs Competition(Strong, weak) Where we are strong and the competition is weak, we can drive them out easily and play with prices Where we are weak and competition is strong, we either exit or consolidate with other players to drive 3rd player out. Where both are weak, we need to send credible signal to competition to drive them away or collude with them,Then I blabber some stuff on what kind of credible signals can be given to the competition When both are strong, it is pretty straight forward anyways. Then I make a few recommendations on preventing volume/price fluctuation by long term contracts, on vertical integration etc.
Tips: Know the interviewer well and connect with the interviewer well. Ask him about what he did in the case, how he did, etc.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I am not describing this case in detail because we simply did some value chain analysis. Nothing right/wrong happened during the interview, barring her 6-8 calls and emails After the interview I was thinking that BCG is a history for me, given the level of disinterest she showed throughout the interview.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This was a very opened case. Also I don’t think I really had any idea of what he wanted me to discuss/solve. I tried to scope down the problem.> I: So tata has come up with this 1L car, and as the CEO of ReVA (I was thinking about the battery operated car, popular in Del/Bangalore) what should I do??? (I was like ok....a game theory case!)A: Nope, we are talking about Renault – the European car manufacture. I: Ok. Could you give me a little head’s up on Renault and its operations ? A: It is a Global player, has presence in all the parts of the value chain, makes cars in various segments. (I have just summarized his description) I: Have we started working towards a similar 1L Car? A: Reva has announced working on a $250 car. It has done little R&D and will take 5 years to launch. I: Alright. Tata has created a new market for cars. The CEO of Renault must be thinking about this in two ways – opportunity and threat. And what CEO must act taking in mind short term and long term. Do we consider all the four possibilities? A: Right way of looking at it. Lets look at all the four options. My structure: (I took like a minute for this as I wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted) Customer Distribution Company Segments -> Distribution capabilities -> Financing, structuring,etc Needs -> Last mile -> R&D Perception -> Suppliers Preferences Capabilities Price Product External factors included: Regulations: Getting licenses, Pollution aspects Competition: A: Jitesh, why don’t you discuss as you come up with your structure. I: A: That’s alright. But this is gonna happen one the R&D of the car is over. Let us say this is long term. Now what can Renault do? I: Ok we can look at ways of speeding up R&D or pairing with others in the market to co-R&D? A: R&D will take 5 years...cannt play with that. I: Tata has created a new market. Let us treat this thing an opportunity first. Now because we can come into the market only after 5 years, we must look at ways of slowing down the growth of the market so that we can tap into this opportunity at the right time. (I drew 2 S curves with different kurtosis.) We can slow the growth by providing them alternate modes of conveyance @ same or less price! A: That’s good. Alright lets see how can we do that! I: .o0(Finally the first step in right direction ☺ ) Ppl generally use the cars to commute. 1L car users are likely to use it for local commuting. If we can provide substitutes to them, it will be good to slow down the market. The modes of public transportation are Buses, Cars, Trains, 2W (in the same price range) A: Good. So? A: Reva is also into 4W (high end buses). I: Right so, if Reva can help local tier 1/2 municipalities/govt. by establishing the public bus transport system, it will do the trick. I am not sure if we can play any role in Rail transports. We can rope in other players too (who are looking to play role in this market, but have capabilities in this area – Rail and 2W). A: What else can be done here? : 2nd hand market? A: Right! I: Some thing along the lines of true value of maruti. We must ease creation of resale markets for cars. A: Why do you think if may work? I: This business is largely unorganized. Price and credibility will come with Renault brand. But Renault is a small player in the Indian market. (Presence wise) so it must rope in other global players along with it. Also, it must look at getting 2nd hand cars from international markets, if the cost works out, coz I am aware that most of the used cars are dumped in the likes of USA. A: The import duties are likely to be very high. I: But as a lobby of the MNCs, both in India and outside, we can influence Govt Decisions. A: Thik hai. What else? I: We have looked at how do we impact their timing. However these kind of steps might be irreversible and therefore CEO must carefully weigh options. The market may permanently shrink by providing them a substitute where in getting out is not possible. (Like public transport service) One needs to be at the right time at right place with right product. We need to look at how can we block their distribution. They already have a right product (given that their production is underway) A: Right. I: I assume that in India they have their own outlets (single brand). Yes. So I am not sure if much can be done on the distribution front. However in the global markets, we need to erect barriers for Tata’s entry. This can be done at two levels. a. Get higher tarrifs/taxes by lobbying in the government. b. We are already large players globally. We need to prevent Tata from entering the market by blocking the distribution networks (They don’t have their own shops, and we can get others to block their alliances) A: Ok. Good so far, what else? I: We checked the time, distribution?...We need to see if we can control their volumes! (Right product to right customers @ right place in right quantity) A: Good...how will you do it? I: They are sourcing their raw materials from some global vendor. Renault is a large player and will have larger partners eyeing similar opportunity. We can get together and erect barriers for souring of components/raw materials to Tata. A: Ok. This was the opportunity part, how do we analyze this as threat? I : So Tata has created a new market. The threat are as follows: a. Tata dominates new market 5 years down the line b. Customer from our segment moves into tata’s segment A: What else? I: c. Tata can protect the technology with patents, which hampers our R&D d. Uses its technology to launch high end low cost products in our segments and erode our profits!! (d. was the biggest threat and the answer that he was looking for) .

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)