Oliver Wyman Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I had prepared a structured answer for each of the above questions. We had a very long discussion on internet services and mobile services. The interview lasted close to an hour and a half.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Asked for more information on the company like- Is it a manufacturing co., or an IT co.? What do you mean when you say Operations and Roadmap? Any financial restrictions? What is the final objective of the co.? She said the company was a mobile operator like Bharti and that I should concentrate on the co.’s IT department (I knew nothing of IT and thought everything was over. I told her upfront that I do not have an IT background but I would try my best.). She asked me to ask her relevant questions. When I asked her about what she meant by roadmap, she probably missed it. Twice she asked me the first question that I should be asking. I didn’t ask the meaning of roadmap again thinking it might work against me. Then she finally said that I should ask what she meant by ‘roadmap’. She said the company wants to move from point A to point B and asked me how the company should go ahead. She also said that the company wants to complete 100 projects to reach point B in 3 yrs. I then tried to structure the problem. “On one side, we have the current capabilities/resources of the company and on the other, capabilities/resources required to successfully execute the 100 projects. We basically have to fill in this gap to achieve our objective.” She was pretty happy with this simple structure. Then I listed the areas that we should look into like- Financial resources and Human Resources. Under fin. resources, I talked about the funding part and under HR, I talked about hiring, firing and training of employees. Then I talked about increasing the effectiveness of the execution- through performance-based pay and several reviews of the projects to modify the strategy if required. Then she told me that there are several departments in a co. like Bharti, such as IT, Marketing, Operations etc. She asked me to list 5 different profiles of employees in IT and marketing separately. These types had to be unique (specialist positions). For example, when I said CMO under the marketing department, she disagreed. Under IT, I came up with Software developer, Hardware ppl, IT maintenance, Architect, Analyst. I took some time to come up with ‘Architect’. Used 4 Ps for coming up with the types under Marketing (Product Manager, Pricing Manager, Segment manager, Advertising people, Market researcher). She seemed satisfied with the solution.
I was quick to figure out what she did not like in people (she hates it when people use words they do not know the meaning of). From then on, I started asking her everything I didn’t understand fully and she appreciated it. Though I did not have an IT/telecom background, I answered all her questions and could engage her in a conversation on her fields of interest (telecom/internet). I asked her a lot of questions that she said were good :).
Tips: Ask a lot of RELEVANT questions. The interviewers like it. Be confident.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I started by saying that we could measure success of the service by estimating the profits or the revenues. He asked me to go ahead with the revenues. I asked the population of Kuwait, mkt penetration, % handsets that are 3G enabled. I assumed the population and mkt penetration to be const. throughout the year. He was ok with the assumptions. From the above data, I calculated the number (say x) of potential users (of the new service) among the co. B customers. I asked him the current ARPU. I then asked what % of it was voice usage and what % was data related. I asked him the average minutes of usage/month/user. From the data, I could calculate the $ value of voice usage charge/minute. For the video calls, I said we can charge 50% premium over the voice usage charges. I divided the users into 2 segments- business and residential. I asked what % of ‘x’ were business users and what % were residential users. I also asked their minutes of usage per day or week. It was simple Math after that. He asked me about the assumptions that were made in the case. I listed 3 of them (like no switching of customers from A to B etc). He also discussed about how the pricing should be done. I gave him 2 answers- one as a CFO of the co. and the other as a CMO of the co. A CMO would use unmetered pricing to facilitate higher penetration of the new service whereas a CFO would use metered pricing to get back his investments.
Tips: Do not ignore PI. Have good reasons to work for the co.

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

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Your client is the COO of a regional telecom player in the Middle East. The COO has asked you to prepare an operations roadmap for the next 2-3 years. These are the steps that I took:
• Clarify what is meant by operations roadmap: Was told it includes marketing, sales, retail stores operations, IT, Network and Customer Care
• Asked a few more questions and found out that the main problem was prioritization of projects that COO had in front of him with limited resources.
• Focused on how to setup a portfolio structure to allow the COO to staff and execute projects.
Couldn’t get the particular insights that the interviewer was looking for. She wanted me to use certain words! So even though I was saying the same thing, she wanted it to be said in a particular way. Got lost half-way through the case where I just kept fishing for words to meet her expectations.
Tips: Think simply and take a step back when stuck or ask for help from interviewer. You have to get used to the interviewer style very quickly in an interview.

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

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I started with understanding the problem completely, and asked many questions because this business model was new to me. So this was not like artificial Car rally kind of setup, which we have in some places in India. It was more like a thrill ride one car at a time in a track. After understanding the problem, took 30-40 seconds to frame my response and told him three four levers I would like to explore, to advise the friend whether to go for business or not. Explored/mined for Cost side, then Revenue side and then viability. Towards the end, on being asked that though the business is profitable as per our analysis, would I recommend to go and If yes what else will I tell the friend, I came up with non existent competitive advantage and suggested strategic tie up/contingent contract with track owner to gain one.
Tips: Understand problem well before deep diving into the case, “NO particular framework can be all encompassing, try to apply some key concepts learned in courses like pricing, marketing strategy to make your solution interesting.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Tried to understand the context and market, as I did not had any background of communication industry. Was able to relate the industry with Indian Telecom industry to draw parallels. After understanding the problem, took 30-40 seconds to frame my response and started asking him relevant questions about data/percentages which he readily provided me one by one. Fitted the data into a table and deduced various numbers from some quick calculations (which he liked!). Explored/mined for Cost side, then Revenue side and then other factors, like political, legal, competitive readiness and customer readiness. Made some graphs to explain proliferation of new technology, and hence how the revenue should be pro rated across year. Towards the end, on being asked that though the business is profitable as per our analysis, what more things we should consider, I mentioned “Cannibalization”, since many new customer subscriptions would come from already existing customers, which I believe is what he was looking at.
Was able to strike a good rapport with the Interviewer early in the interview. Maintained my cool even though he tried to put stress by mentioning “we are running out of time” and was able to think on my feet during various micro details which he checked me on.
Initially goofed up the data a bit, but the interviewer was very nice to help initially, though corrected the mistake by drawing/mapping lot of data thrown at me rationally.
Tips: Typically interviewers wants you to help, Establish a positive environment by some short talk which should not look like planned. Understand problem well, keep a cool head.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: After understanding the problem, took 30-40 seconds to frame my response and started asking him relevant questions about company, competition and customer in target market. Why that particular country, what is competitive scenario like, what entry route company wish to take Greenfield/alliance? I believe that this was a real life problem, interviewer was facing, and he was improvising the problem based on our discussion. It was a very friendly discussion, wherein he was providing some cues in between about the direction I should take, and I was able to lead the discussion in the direction which he wanted. In between time and again, he was checking my analytical and mathematical abilities by leaving some data to be calculated, which fortunately I was able to calculate with ease. He checked me on various pricing strategy issues, marketing mix issues and segmentation/target market/positioning issues. Towards the end, following the trend of earlier interviews after being satisfied with case analysis, he threw some open ended quick questions, (which I am not able to recollect now) related/peripheral to discussion.
Was able to strike a good rapport with the Interviewer early in the interview. Repeatedly came ‘Out’ and went ‘In’ to the case as per interviewer’s discretion without loosing the sight on real problem.
Tips: Establish a positive environment by some short talk which should not look like planned. Understand problem well, keep a cool head. Do not put anything in your CV on which you cannot elaborate or are not comfortable. All the best!

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