GT US Shared Services Center Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

Design a pms model for startup

• Q1. No. Of credit cards used
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• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
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• Q2. What motivates you in life?
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• Q3. What is one quality that you feel has helped you in the past with your work?
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• Q4. Asked about work experience in BFSI.
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Your client is a Brick Manufacturer. A new player has entered the market and slashed the price by 10%. The client is asking us what they should do.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: To understand our client better, can you tell me how old is the company?

I: The client is an old company in this line.

C: Does the client also have other lines of business?

I: No. The client only manufactures bricks and sells it directly to customers.

C: As we are selling directly to customers, can I assume that most of our customer base is builders?

I: Yes. Most of our customers are small builders.

C: Okay. Where is the Client located? Also, what is our scale of operation?

I: The Client is located in East India. It has a single plant in a catchment. It is one of the biggest players in East India.

C: Who are our competitors? Also, is it a fragmented industry?

I: Yes. It is a fragmented market with 30 odd players in the market. There are 2-3 big players in the market and our client is one of them.

C: Okay. What is the price that we are currently charging for the brick? Is that the price that our competitors are charging as well?

I: We are currently charging Rs. 10 per brick. Yes, the price throughout the market currently is more or less similar. However, the new player has entered and cut price by 10%.

C: As we have to decide if we should cut the price by 10% or not, we can consider the following before taking a decision. Our Market Share in the current market, the current pricing of the product, the process of manufacturing, our customer base and their perception of a price cut, the quality of our product vis a vis our competitors.

I: This sounds good. Let us look at the market share but I want you do a few calculations for me first.

C: Sure.

I: Let us say we are selling 100 thousand bricks. Should we reduce our price? Is it feasible?

C: I would like to decide the feasibility of price reduction on the basis of our profitability. To understand more about it, do we have any information about the costs incurred for production as well as the fixed costs?

I: Yes. The variable costs are around Rs. 3 per brick and the fixed cost is Rs. 20000 currently.

C: (Asked for some time for calculating profit) Currently, we are selling a 100 thousand bricks at Rs. 10 per brick. Thus, our sales are Rs. 10 Lakhs. The variable cost of producing 100 thousand bricks is Rs. 3L. Contribution is 10L minus 3L i.e., 7L. The fixed costs are 2L thus our profit is Rs. 5 Lakh. We have a profit margin of 50% currently. If we reduce the price 10% per brick for the same sale quantity, the sales would be 9L and the profit would be 4L. Although our profit margin would reduce from 50% currently to around 45%, it still seems a feasible option.

I: Sounds Fair. How many bricks will I have to produce and sell if I still want to earn a profit of Rs. 4L without reducing the price by 10%.

C: In this scenario, the price of the brick is Rs. 10. We need to earn a profit of Rs. 4L. The fixed costs will not change due to change in quantity of sales and production. Thus, the contribution will be 6L. Per brick contribution is Rs. 7, thus, I will have to produce and sell around 85,000 bricks.

I: Yes, that makes sense. What does the contribution signify?

C: The contribution is that portion of revenue which is not used up by variable costs and used to cover the fixed costs. Contribution is also considered while calculating the break-even quantity essential to keep the business running in the short term.

I: Good. All the factors you listed while considering a price cut make sense. However, as we are short of time, can you tell me why would you consider customers while deciding a price cut?

C: As we are an established player manufacturing since many years and amongst the Top 3 players, can I assume we would be having a specific loyal customer base since many years?

I: Yes, we do have some loyal customers who value our quality.

C: Customers might perceive price cut as reduction in our quality of bricks. It can create a lower perceived value for the product and buyers might consider our product less valuable.

I: That sounds fair. So, what do you think should we do?

C: As currently the pricing in the market is more or less similar, 10% reduction by one player will affect the pricing of other competitors as well. Based on the calculations, a 10% price reduction will affect our profitability by 5%. We are a big player in the market, and we have the capacity to reduce our prices and focus on increasing our volume to compensate for the reduction in profit. Also, since most of our customers are small builders, a 10% saving in brick cost might also be an attractive opportunity for them to shift to another manufacturer since the product offered by all players is similar. Thus, we can also go ahead with reducing our price by 10%.

I: Correct. Seems good. That will be all.

Your Client is the manufacturer of fishing nets. These nets are used in agriculture, fishing, and construction. The growth has slowed down. It wants to grow at 15%.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: (Clarified the problem statement). What is the current growth rate of our client? Has there been a fall in our growth rate?

I: The client is currently growing at 5%. It is a well-established player and was growing at 10% earlier but the growth has gradually reduced to 5% over the last few years.

C: What is time period within which we need to achieve this target of 15% growth?

I: We need to achieve this target in the next 3 years. Let us only consider the fishing industry for this problem.

C: Okay. I would like to understand at what rate is the fishing industry growing.

I: The industry is also growing at 4-5% and our growth currently is in line with the growth of the industry.

C: Okay. Where is the client located? Also, what is the distribution channel that the client uses?

I: The client is located in India. It operates through dealerships and has a distribution network all over India.

C: I would like to understand a little more about our competitors and their share in the market.

I: We are one of the major players in the market. Our market share is about 70%. We have not been able to grow much as the market has now stagnated.

C: Okay. In order to grow at 15%, I would like to explore the existing market and also explore new geography or businesses.

I: Let us consider the existing market for now.

C: While exploring the existing market, I would look at increasing the volume of sales or increasing the price of our nets.

I: I would like you to look at increasing the volume of sales first.

C: The volume of sales can be increased by increasing our customer base or increasing the quantity sold to a particular customer.

I: Can you help me estimate the size of the market for fishing net?

C: Sure. Fishing net can be used for sea water as well as freshwater fishing. I would divide the population of the country on the basis of access to coast or river and those with no water body around for fishing.

I: Let us consider only seawater fishing here. Since we are short of time, tell me the approach first and then you can calculate.

C: Sure. I would divide population of India who live along the coast and those who live in landlocked areas. Out of the people living along the coast, I would divide them into those living in rural areas and those in urban. The population practicing fishing as a profession in urban areas would not be much thus, I would first look at the professions practiced in rural areas along the coast. On the basis of their professions, I would divide the population majorly between agriculture/farming, poultry/animal husbandry, fishing and other. Out of the population that practices fishing, I would consider the number of households here and divide the population assuming 5 people per household. This would give me a number of fisherman and assuming every fisherman buys his own net, that would be the number of nets required. However, the fishermen would not buy a new net every year so we also need to factor in the number of years after which they would buy a new net.

I: This is a good approach. Can you also tell me what other strategies can we look at to grow in the existing market?

C: Firstly, we can increase the overall distribution network that we have. Currently, we are only selling through dealership. We can increase our distribution channels and also venture into setting up our own retail stores. Or we can also increase the number of dealerships we have within the same channel.

Second, we can analyze the current market and try to onboard more customers.

Third, we can diversify our product. We can introduce different sizes for the fishing net. We can also introduce a variety in the shapes of the mesh.

Fourth, we can market our product better. As most of the customers we are targeting are from rural areas, we can market our product through radio or local bazaars and trade fairs.

Fifth, we can also consider acquiring other players in the market. However, that depends on two factors – their willingness to sell and our capacity to buy.

Sixth, we can look at the pricing of the product.

I: This sounds good. I think you have covered all. We can stop here. Do you have any questions for me?

Data interpretation and business problem solving

• Q1. People management questions and detailed discussion of one of the project done recently
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• Q1. This round was with the principal mostly team management and crisis handling skills based question
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• Q1. Years of experience? Salary Expectations?
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• Q1. Discussion about my role?
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