The Smart Cube Intern Interview Questions and Answers

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Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - not sure

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I first found out the demand and competition in Nigeria. Also looked at the company’s capacity to meet the price requirements of the customer. Important point was that the twowheelers were used as taxi in Nigeria. This point came out when I got an answer to the amount of usage of the product as 50,000 kms annually which was very high. Price we could offer was higher than competition so I suggested changing the design to have two customers per ride than just one, there by increasing revenue per ride and thus customer’s willingness to pay higher.
Then interviewer asked questions about how to market it. I suggested a few advertising ideas like showing increase in standard of living of taxi driver due to usage of product.
Then question was how to get over the inertia that people felt in buying as no one had used our product. For this my options ranged from approaching taxi driver unions to limited number of product units in market for a free 6 month period for the user to experience the product. I also suggested a more spread out distribution within the country to increase visibility of product
Tips: The first round allowed me to look at a diverse set of options across functions such as marketing, pricing, design, etc. The good point was identifying early in the interview that the two-wheeler
was used as a taxi. Another good thing was that with each question that the interviewer put forward to reject my suggestion, I was able to give another alternative option

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I studied the value chain and understood how product complains were generated and solution provided by company. In this I found that the dealer’s engineer was responsible for checking
validity of complains and it was the dealer who got a commission for every complaint that he managed or solved. This was major point that hinted at possible collusion between customer and dealer. On further probing it was found that there was a fraud happening at the dealer’s end. The dealer was generating false complains to earn more commission. To solve the issue I suggested having a company engineer look into the complaint validity. I also suggested having a remote way of monitoring the product health.
Both these solutions were a bit time taking and costly. So a better solution from me was to monitor each product and number of complains it generated in a given period of time. If the same product generates more than normal number of complains in a period, it can hint at possible collusion and the firm can look into that complain before authorizing the warranty.
Tips: Second round was more about finding the issue rather than ideation. I was able to unearth the issue well and solution suggested was very practical according to the interviewer.


Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I looked at regions where the selling price of product was high and suggested we target these regions. Looked at various costs to the dealer or seller of the cement such as inventory storage costs, etc and how we can give him incentive to store and sell our product. Basically it was about increasing the ROI of the dealer wrt costs he incurs to keep our product and benefits he receives by selling it.
Tips: Third round was more about gelling with the Partner and being calm. At times when he probed me, I was able to maintain composure.

General Tips: It is always good to be prepared with your HR answers. That is not to suggest that you cram them up. They need to be genuine and your preparation should involve having a few pointers for each answer.
Most important thing is staying calm and composed and to enjoy the process. You should come across as someone who is enthusiastic about solving problems. Isolate each interview and don’t let it affect next interviews.
It is good to have frameworks at the back of your mind for each type of case. But in the interview, try to ask good qualifying question before putting a framework on paper.
Think aloud and let the interviewer be involved with you in the process of reaching a solution.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: If you were the Prime Minister of India how would you tackle the persistent problem of anemia.(key pointers- conduct a pilot, rope in the rural local leaders as they are very strong opinion leaders)

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: A well reputed pharma firm wants to enter the indian market.Chart out the structure for the same.Decision on whether to manufacture locally or import from the host nation.Slight costing structure figures were given with basic calculations required.

General Tips: Just be confident.Being yourself is the key.Do not try to lie to impress the panel.Honesty is highly appreciated.Be clear on why consulting.Practice as many cases (in a formal structure and environment).Note the feedback and continuously work on the same.
Skills:
College Name: IIM Lucknow