Frost & Sullivan Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

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• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
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• Q2. Tell me something that is not on your CV.
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• Q3. How has the virtual MBA experience been thus far?
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Client is a ropes and nets manufacturer. Their growth has slowed down while their margins are improving. They want to achieve full potential. Help them.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: What is the current growth level?

I: Single digit.

C: What is the KRA for achieving full potential?

I: Sales acceleration- double business in 5 years.

C: Who are primary clients and what is our product mix?

I: Primary industries are fishing, construction and agriculture. Let us restrict our analysis to nets.

C: Is it correct to assume our products include safety nets, fishing nets and shade nets predominantly across the three industries?

I: Yes

C: Is it safe to assume that we operate across the value chain and the distribution network is dealership module with region wise traders in place?

I: Yes, distribution module is the most critical and works in the dealership mechanism.

C: How much market share is captured by us and how is the competitive landscape?

I: We are a dominant player.

C: Shall I analyze all the 3 industries and layout their sales acceleration strategy or focus on any particular industry?

I: Let us start with fishing industry.

C: How many types of fishing net do we have? What is the quality, material, and life of these nets?

I: Nylon and rayon nets. Average life 7 years

C: I would like to analyze the product mix, pricing, and distribution aspects across the existing and new potential markets.

I: That is good. Asked follow up questions on what in each bucket would you analyze. Asked to guesstimate the size of the fisherman market.

C: Discussed broad approach. Extrapolated Bengal population to average out the population of coastal states. Divided population by income levels and assumed proportion of population in the segment involved in fishing industry. Estimated overall market demand considering initial and replacement demand based on average years mentioned. Considered market growth @ 5% lower than GDP owing to nature of product. Selling Price of net given by interviewer.

I: Summarize the case and give key next steps to achieve full potential.

C: Checked for any time or spending limit. Suggested recommendations across product, contract-strategy, and distribution network. Product diversification into relatively lower grade and life of net. Increase variants other than rayon and nylon and other use cases for the product. Recommended long-term contracts with fisherman and rental option. Streamline Distribution network across operations. With dealership restricted to one player across prominent regions. Reduce overheads and increases sales.

Your client is an OTA aggregator. It is growing really well at 20-30% over the last 5-6 years. It wants to be IPO ready in 5 years but has negative EBITDA. Chart out the strategy.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Since when is the client operating?

I: 10 years.

C: What is its current market share and how many competitors exist?

I: 30% share and it is the 3rd largest player among the few competitors.

C: What are key services. Are we like MMT with flights and hotels as are key product offerings? Do we offer any other product?

I: Yes, while flights and hotels capture 80% and 15% of revenue mix. We also offer train/bus booking and experiences with experiences captures less than 1%.

C: Are we facing negative EBITDA across all segments?

I: Yes.

C: Primary revenue sources would be commissions. Is my understanding correct?

I: Yes.

C: Is it safe to assume we are primarily catering to the upper middle class and the rich?

I: Yes.

C: Since a path to EBITDA positive is key consideration. I would like to divide my analysis into understanding revenue growth opportunities and secondly look at areas of cost minimization. Is that ok and would you like me to focus on any of the above analysis?

I: Yes, let us focus on revenue.

C: As our revenue model is commission based, I would like to confirm if it is safe to assume that the commission is based on both value and volume of transactions?

I: No, it is based only on value.

C: Since this is a B2B2C operations, I would like to analyze revenue growth opportunities through 2 key stakeholders the customers and the retailers.

I: Let us start with retailers.

C: Shall I focus on flight and hotel segment as they comprise 95% of our revenue?

I: Yes, can you give me suggestions on revenue improvement for these two segments.

C: Laid out my analysis across 3 segments: existing revenue model and scope, and contract strategy, promotions. Suggested enhancing existing revenue model by transition to commission model based on value and volume to benefit from both open and click rates. Suggested push marketing for low ticket purchases increase experience segment contribution. Revamp contract strategy to ensure increase product placement and bundled offers for improving commission paid by retailers.

Focus on revenue from advertisements on desktop, mobile website, and mobile application. Enter new segment and deprioritize segments with low revenue potential. Discussed on bus and train segment. Increase experience offerings to include products offered by likes of Thrillophilia.

I: We are planning on entering car rental. Should we do that?

C: Broke down the cab rental space talked about existing players like Zoomcar predominantly which has captured the market. Discussed about time and resource constraint given negative EBITDA of existing operations.

I: Agreed and asked if we should acquire something like Zoomcar?

C: Suggested no and substantiated based on disadvantages despite the benefits of the strategy keeping in mind the objective of IPO in 5 years.

I: Agreed with recommendation. Please summarize the case.