麦肯锡招聘面试案例分析样题和答案(英文).doc

1st Round:1) We are back in the 80s, and Daewoo wants to enter the I talian market. They approach you and say that they want to sell 100,000 cars after one year. What do you tell them?2) A steel producing company wants to cut costs. It currently operates 2 large mills at 75% capacity and four small ones at 100% capacity. I t is experiencing profitability issues. What action would you recommend it takes?3) Our client is a retail brokerage. We have seen our customer base decline over the past 18 months. Why this happening is and what can we do about i t?4) The client owns mines that produce high and low grade ore and processes it into an alloy that is then sold as an additive to strengthen steel (sold directly to steel manufacturers). A new foreign competitor has shown up in the market and the company is losing profits. A general manager of one of the processing plants asks what he should do to maintain profits.5) The past few years a Health Insurance Company has been growing at a rate of about 15% a year. This past year it only grew by 1%. Costs are rising 12% each year. What is the problem and what should the company do?6) Company X is a chemical manufacturer. They make a product that is very similar to Company Y’s product. Company X and Y are direct competitors in many geographic markets, but each also has unique areas in which the sales forces do not face direct competition. Company X buys Company Y. How do you integrate the sales forces?7) You are working for a Brazilian soda manufacturer that is experiencing declining profits over the last two years. Why is this occurring? [competi t ion from generics] What is the size of the market for canned cola? What are the company's options for improving profitability? What are the possible effects ofa change in the cola's price?8) Our client is a mid-Western HMO. They have 300 doctors and 300,000 subscribers. They handle mostly checkups and routine visits. The HMO outsources specific cases to local specialists. Over the last two years the HMO has seen their profits decrease. They've called us in to find out why.2nd Round1) A European iron mining company bought a piece of land in Australia with a high content of iron. Should they proceed wi t h extraction of the ore or not? /2) A PC manufacturer wants to add a new line of pocket PCs. Should they do it? What do you tell the CEO?3) A health and fitness center, a chain of gyms, like Bally's is considering building more tennis courts. The cost of the land development is 2.5 million for 10 tennis courts per gym. Determine if the gym would break even if they charged an additional fee of $7 per game.4) Our client is Burger King. Their growth has been slower than expected. They want to know why? And estimate for me the size of the hamburger market.5) Tell me the annual revenues of a company you're following?6) The law has recently changed. Consumers can now swi t ch cell companies and keep their phone numbers. What are the effects of this legislation? What is the cost of this legislation? And can you recommend any options for the cell phone companies?7) A healthcare company that sells to individuals and small businesses has seen growth in the last 5 years, but this last year there has been a decline. What is going on? What sort of incentive system do we have and what kind can we create? (There were a number of graphs and charts that the stude nt had to8) You and your colleagues are McKinsey partners trying to decide which nonprofit to help. Your goals are doubling their revenue and improving their management. Each participant has information the others don't have. Which one should you pick? [what criteria to use, etc.9) Our client is a travel agency in NYC which employs 25 people. They have seen their commissions cut from 10% to 8%. They are wondering what strategy they should adopt to increase their profits, and what else they should do to remain profitable and grow their business?10) "First, I would say that globally, the cases had a bi t of a different felt to them than many I had worked on. All three were business cases, however, in two of the three, there was less opportunity to structure the cases——the questioners asked specific questions about data that they presented to me a bit at a time—usually in graphic format. In two out of my three cases, there were mul t iple graphs and charts that built on one another. Conclusions drawn from the first graph were applied to graphs presented later in the same interview. Also, when I analyzed the data, I was usually given a ratio or series of ratios that I needed to calculate. At the beginning of each graph/data series, the interviewer would explain the significance of each of the ratios I was to calculate. When I finished calculating them, he asked me to explain what the results meant. To be honest, the ratios may have been quite common, but they were new to me."3rd Round (Nov. 2003)1) Assuming zero costs. What are the first three industries that will appear in outer space?1) It's October 2001, with the current gloomy economy. One of the most affected industries is the luxury industry: People tend to postpone buying luxury goods, and even if they have the money, after what happened it is not the right time for them to buy something which is unnecessary. A client approaches our firm and asks us to increase his sales. What do we tell him?BCG1st Round (Nov. 2004):1) Our client is a mid-sized manufacturer of industrial batteries for the aerospace and defense industry. For example, the company's batteries can be found in various military missiles as well as in the Hubble Space Telescope. Over the last few years, the defense and aerospace industries have been flat or declining, so the client is looking for high-growth industries that might be able to make use of i t s battery technology. After a review of possible industries, the client wants us to look at whether they can enter the market to provide batteries for implantable cardiac defibrillators. Estimate the size of the market for implantable cardiac defibrillators, and then tell me how you might go about helping the client decide whether or not this is a good market to enter.2) Our clients are a consortium of 10 commercial real estate companies (2-3 big companies, 4-5 mid-sized companies, and 1-2 small companies) that collectively own 350-400 buildings in downtown areas of ci t ies all over the country. Together, they spend $1 billion/year on all of the non-sexy aspects of owning commercial real estate: cleaning and general maintenance, plumbing and electrical repair, etc. They have come together to explore the possibility of setting up a "buying pool" to realize cost reduction by achieving economies of scale in purchasing products and contracting for services to conduct this general maintenance. This "buying pool" will cost $40 million (one-time fixed cost) to set up and will cost $10 million/year to maintain. Is this a good idea? What kind of information do you need to know to help your clients decide if this is a good idea?3) The client is a four-year music university in Boston that specializes in classical music for pre-professional students. The university is under performing in three key areas when compared to itsbiggest competitor. The areas are: applications per seat, high-quality applications, and accepted applicants that enroll. The mission of the university is to increase the number of high-quality students.4) The industry is the Yellow Pages. What is the business? What do they do for money? What is their profit?5) A small agrichemical company wants to triple its revenue by 2005. What are some of i t s options, and how would you evaluate those options?6) A Vietnamese manufacturer of cooking oil wants to improve i t s revenue. How would you figure out how big the domestic market is [not a back of envelope calculation; assume you had a week——whom would you talk to?]?7) Constantly breaking down. The government is fighting over how to fix and fund it. The train drivers’ union says it will go on strike unless the government guarantees that there will be no layoffs. What steps would you take to "fix" the problem?8) How would you increase recruitment and retention in the military?(9) BCG gave me a lot of data to sift through to determine which demographic of cell phone users it should target to increase revenues.2nd Round(Nov 2004)：1) A cleaning product supply company's profits and revenues have been falling, but market share has remained the same. What's going on? (Charts and graphs given)2) Our client owns 120 hotels. He has left the management of the properties to a manage ment company. Since 2001 they haven't broken even even though occupancy rates averaged 80 percent. - Charts given3) A music company is bringing out a CD for a new artist. How would you market and price, knowing that you'd like to charge a premium for the cd?Final Round (Nov. 2002)1) You are consul t ing to the manufacturer of airplane engines (2 main engines: for wide body planes and narrow body planes ——> regional and low cost airlines, which are growing, use the narrow body planes). The client is considering entering the airplane leasing market, because one of its competitors (GE) is already there, and the client hypothesizes that GE's presence in leasing helps its engine sales. What do you tell him?2) Last year, lawsuits cost corporations $200 billion compared with $70 billion in 1990. How would you advise a roundtable of CEOs to attack tort reform?3) The U.S. Post Office lost millions last year. How would you advise the new CEO to turn the Post Office around?4) We have been hired by a Mexican company that has a dominant position in all of i t s markets but one: ketchup. Although its ketchup sales have been increasing, its market share is stagnant (10%) and its profit margin remains below that of i t s competitors. What do you think might be happening? What would you suggest the client do in order to increase market share and profits?A small pharmaceutical research company is about to start clinical trials for a new and promising molecule. The trial process has three phases, with different associated costs and probabilities of success:Costs (million) Pr. Success- Phase 1 $10 .40- Phase 2 $5 .2- Phase 3 $80 .105If the process is successful and the new drug is introduced in the market, i t would generate total incomeflows of $300 million.+ Draw a graph showing the income stream for the next ten years (assume that full adoption is reached in year 7)+ The pharmaceutical company is looking for a buyer. How much should it ask for?Booz1st Round1) Our client is a magazine publisher. They are considering a new pricing program where the price for subscriptions would increase every year. Evaluate how such a decision would impact their business. Would you advise they do it?Bain1st Round (Nov. 2003)1) Our clie nt is Apple Publishing, the largest publisher of children’s fiction in the industry. Seven years ago the CEO became concerned that childhood literacy rates were low and decided to make a difference. He entered the telemetry textbook market. He thinks they are the best now, but hasn’t been rewarded. Seven years later he has 70 million dollars in sales and 20 million dollars in losses. They are less than 5% of the market, but the CEO wants to stay in the market, how can he do it?2) Our client produces 2-inch wrenches. They sell to Home Depot and also to auto-mechanics directly. If you were a store manager at Home Depot, how many varieties of wrenches would you display to sell and at what price points? How are the Home Depot wrench buyers different fro m the auto mechanics? If you wanted to provide discounts to the auto mechanics, which of them would you target and why? What information would you want from them first?3) University town has a population of 40,000 students. Currently there are nine restaurants. You're client is thinking about opening up the tenth. Is this a good idea and should she open up a fast food or a specialty restaurant?4) A major airline is thinking about going head to head with the discount airlines by offering "cheap" fares. Does this make sense? Estimate the size of the European "discount" airline market.5) Your client sells coffee on the five Japanese Bullet trains (high speed trains). Estimate the size of the market. How would you advise them to increase sales?6) Our client, a private equity firm, is considering an investment in a manufacturer of digital inkjet printers (printing large billboards). The manufacturer wants to enter the screen printing market (printing signs and point-of purchase posters, e.g. for supermarket sales). How big is the screen printing market? Which particular segment is the most attractive?7) Estimate the market size of printers in Hong Kong. A U.S.-based PC manufacturer now wants to get into the printer market. Assess the opportunity.8) We have been hired by a global wealth management company that has 2 divisions: asset management and private banking. Our asset management profits have been decreasing, and our private banking profits have been increasing. We need to help our client determine strategy to increase all his profits.9) We have been hired by the Board of a company that is loosing money. The Board has asked us to determine whether any of this loss can be attributed to the Leer jet that the management team uses.10) We have been hired by a company that has just finished making the Millennium Eye, a large Ferris wheel that will be placed in the middle of London. Our client wants to know how big the market is and how much we should charge per ticket.A.T. Kearney1st Round (Oct. 2003)1) The CFO of a top 3 retailer wants you to evaluate the viability of developing exclusive contracts wi t h distributors. The three questions you should address are:1. Pro's and Con's of pursuing exclusive contracts2. Identify the categories that should be explored for exclusive contracts3. How would you operationalize these contracts?2) Case setup (facts offered by interviewer):Your client is a U.S. basedθ oil refinery. The refinery has a single location and is a small to medium-sized refinery. Your client, although profi t able, believes it is lagging behind the competition and could improve. You are brought in as part of a joint consultant-client team that will review overall operations and make recommendations on ways to improve the bottom line. You have been assigned to work with the maintenance division. The maintenance department’s primary objective is to prevent equipment failure and to repair equipment when it does fail. Understanding of its organization is important. It consists of three primary areas: nine assets areas, one central maintenance area and one group of contractors. The first two areas are employees of the client, the third an external source of labor. An asset is a physical area of the plant that contains various pieces of equipment (pumps, heat exchangers, etc.). There are nine assets. Each asset has a Maintenance Supervisor who is responsible for all maintenance to be performed in his/her asset. Working for the Maintenance Supervisor in each asset is, on average, eleven “craftsmen”. The craftsmen are the actual workers that perform the maintenance. The craftsmen are unionized and divide into twelve different craft designations (e.g. electricians, pipefitters, welders, etc.). Each craft designation has a defined set of skills they are qualified to perform. They are not allowed to perform skills outside of their defined craft, or help in the performance of activities involving skills beyond their craft. Collectively the twelve different crafts can perform any maintenance job that might arise at the refinery. The maintenance supervisor and his/her assigned craftsmen are “hardwired” to their asset. That is, they work only on equipment in their given asset.Central maintenance is a centralized pool of Maintenance Supervisors and Craftsmen, who are dispatched to support the different assets during times of high workload. They are employees of your client and fit the description contained in the above Asset explanation. The only difference is that they may work in any of the different assets as determined by workload. There are a total of 11 Maintenance Supervisors and 100 Craftsmen that comprise Central MaintenanceContractors are a group of outside Supervisors and Craftsmen who suppo rt your client during times of high workload. They also are capable of performing any maintenance job that may arise, but differ from your client’s Craftsmen in that they divide the collective skills required into five designations rather than twelve. Thus, the craftsmen of the contractor are capable of performing a broader set of skills. They, like your client’s craftsmen, don’t perform skills outside of their defined craft but do allow different craft designations to help each other. There are an average of 7 contractor Maintenance Supervisors and 140 contractor Craftsmen at the refinery on any given day.Question:Whatθ opportunities exist to increase profits?What recommendations can you make to capture savings related to the identified opportunit ies?What is the cost savings associated with your recommendations?Suggested solutions:The first question involves identifying opportunities to improve profits. The candidate must start wi t h either revenues or costs. Although one could make the argument that maintenance supports revenue by maximizing the operating time of the refinery equipment, maintenance should be seen to be a support function. Thus, it is more appropriate to focus on costs and cost reduction. The following questions will help the candidate gain insight into cost reduction opportunities.How does the maintenance department track its costs?If the candidate phrases the question about material or overhead costs, the interviewer would inform the candidate that detailed reviewed showed no major opportunities. The candidate would be steered toward labor costs and given the following tables regarding maintenance labor costs for the past year.To support understanding of the following tables, Turnaround work is long term preventive maintenance (e.g. complete rebuilding of a boiler) that may be performed once every few years. All other work (short term emergency repairs, small scale preventive maintenance, other routine work, etc.) fi t s into the category of Daily workCraftsmen Daily work Turnaround TotalClient $ 8MM $ 2MM $ 10MMContractor $ 5MM $ 9MM $ 14MMTotal $ 13MM $ 11MM $ 24MMSupervisor TotalClient $ 1MMContractor $ 0.5MMTotal $ 1.5MMSince the Craftsmen table represents a larger dollar amount than the Supervisor table, it is logical to pursue cost savings opportunities in this area first.What is the utilization of Craftsmen in the assets?In central maintenance?And for contractors?Assume each area is utilized 100% of the time, 50 weeks per year, 40 hours per week.How does the labor cost of craftsmen ($24MM) on a refinery-sized basis (i.e., $cost / per barrel of crude oil processed) compare wi t h industry averages?Consulting your industry data base shows that costs appear to be about 20% above the average of peer refineries.This is an important question to determine if there is a problem with costs (don’t assume there is, the client may be performing better than industry average!)Is there any particular reason why turnaround work is so heavily skewed toward contractors? Turnaround work tends to be more cyclical. An external workforce is used to absorb some of this additional work. Keep in mind that both client and contractor Craftsmen are capable of performing any maintenance job at the plant.After further analysis of the tables the key fact that should become appear odd is the large difference in the cost per unit of labor between your client’s Craftsmen and the outside contractor’s Craftsmen. Often candidates will ask for the hourly wage rates of these two groups. There is sufficient data to calculate these numbers. The calculation is:Annual cost of client craftsmen = $10MM/ (11 Craftsmen/asset x 9 assets + 100 Craftsmen in Centralmaintenance) = $50,000 / yearAnnual cost of contractor craftsmen = $ 14 MM/ 140 contractor Craftsmen = $100,000 / year Again, this difference should provoke a series of questions to understand the difference.Is there any difference in the work performed by the client and contractor craftsmen?No, other than the different levels of Turnaround work vs. Daily work performed as noted in the previous table. Both groups are capable of doing any job with roughly equal levels of qualit y.Is there any difference in efficiency between the two groups of Craftsmen?The candidate would at this point be asked how they would measure this.After reaching an understanding of the difficulty involved in measuring the efficiency of a workforce (especially a unionized workforce), the candidate would be told that through a series of interviews wi t h maintenance supervisors, there is a consensus that contractor Craftsmen are roughly twice as productive as client craftsmen.This is a critical point in the case. The candidate must recognize that in the present environment the client is largely indifferent about units of labor. You can have a client worker who is half as efficient or a contractor worker who is twice as expensive. The key now is to determine if there are ways to create an opportunity where the client would no longer be indifferent.What is causing the inefficiencies associated with the client’s labor?Again, the candidate would be encouraged to offer their own ideas.After some discussion the candidate would be told that many of the Maintenance Supervisors complain endlessly about restrictions placed on them by the existing union labor contract and the tightness of craft designations.The interviewer would probe to ensure the candidate understands why the present craft designation creates the inefficiencies. Essentially work is too finely divided. I t makes planning and supervision extremely cumbersome. As an example, if one of six crafts required to perform a job is absent or late, the entire job must shut down, as craft designations are not allowed to support other craft designations.Is it possible to change the existing union contract?The present labor contract is a three year contract that is due to be renegotiated/renewed in six months. Will the union resist changes to the existing contract?Indeed!!At this point, the candidate should recognize a major (albeit difficult) opportunity to reduce labor costs. The client would essentially like to have its own employees look and function like its contractors, but continue to get paid at present rates. In reality, management will need to make wage concessions in order to change present work practices. However, through planned negotiations a scenario can be created which presents a favorable opportunity for your client to begin to replace outside contractors wi t h its own Craftsmen.There are several ways to address the third question of the case, the actual savings that might be achieved. One quick method is to assume that these changes would bring maintenance costs back in line with industry average. Utilizing the cost benchmark mentioned earlier, one could assume costs could be reduced to $24MM/1.20 = $20MM, a $4MM savings.A second, and more detailed, method would be to take the extreme scenario where the client’s Craftsmen is paid its present rate, but is made as efficient as the contractor’s Craftsmen. In this case, you begin wi t h the present level of 200 client craftsmen who are functioning as 100 equivalent contractor Craftsme n (they’re one-half as efficient). By improving their efficiency, you are effectively “creating” 100 equivalent contractors. Thus, you are immediately able to replace 100 contractors and save $10MM. This could betaken one step further by assuming you would want to replace all contractors. This would save an additional $2.5MM ($4MM existing contractor expense - $2MM required to hire addi t ional client craftsmen + $0.5MMin contractor supervisors). As noted earlier, in reality, this approach would require wage concessions to the union, so actual savings may be something significantly less.Key takeaways:This case requires the candidate to quickly digest a large amount of organizational issues and then quickly check some ratios to uncover the basic problem (the client workforce is inefficient). Creativity must then be used to structure a recommendation that would create a more favorable situation for the client. As in other cases, acceptable solutions need not follow the exact method above nor cover all of t he above points.Mercer1st Round1) A New England telephone company is thinking of entering the home security market. What is the potential market size and what would you recommend they do?2) If I gave you $10 million dollars to invest in any one business, which would i t be?3) Should Kraft Foods expand and incorporate ice cream into their product mix? If yes, how should they enter this market?4) You are starting a new business, a gourmet coffee shop. The shop is located next to a train station. You're building the business with the hope of selling it within two years. What is your strategy?5) How big is the market for window display marketing books?2nd Round(Nov 2004)：We have been hired by a client to help her evaluate his product mix and determine the best one going forward. Refer to graphs.。

McKiney On line case studyTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature). In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are eight questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.The caseQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q1: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.Attract more applicants at the same costReview the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocationacross schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potentialcampuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limitedpotential.Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectivenessof messages and approaches at each school).Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality ., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would have performed equally well in the job)Improve acceptance rates among offerees ., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the job relative to alternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q2: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and whyA: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis: Estimate the hiring potential across schoolsAnalyze the number of hires by school over the last several yearsDevelop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements anda minimum set of standards for recruitsSurvey seniors at these schools to determine interest in an entry-levelposition with the clientConsider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine howthat class might be segmented ., each class could be segmented bydiscipline or segmented based on career interests in response to thesurvey), then calculate the size of each segmentEstimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schoolsCompare the current cost-per hire across schoolsIdentify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates ., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q3: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hiresThe number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools ., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to knowA: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)What opportunities exist to reduce costsHow much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at the least efficient schoolsQuestions demonstrating further insight:Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schoolsIf we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings ., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently being spent)Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising ., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campusA: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below: Improve/enhance recruiting messages ., understand target candidate group, refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)Utilize referrals ., faculty, alumni)Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q6: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this informationA: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B ., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to LeadershipA: The answer is 20 candidates ., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question8Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed todayA: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd consider ourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGSThere appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost: Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changingthe advertising message on some campuses could increase applicantssignificantly without increasing costs. At one of the campuses we've looked at, University 4, the number of applicants would go up more than 100 percentThe cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places or reallocate resources more efficientlyNEXT STEPSWe plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schoolsAfter looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate ., ensure we're not turning down quality applicants) and to increase the acceptance rateWe will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses ., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。

McKiney On line case studyTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature). In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are eight questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.The caseQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q1: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.Attract more applicants at the same costReview the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocationacross schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potentialcampuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limitedpotential.Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectivenessof messages and approaches at each school).Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality ., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would have performed equally well in the job)Improve acceptance rates among offerees ., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the jobrelative to alternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q2: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and whyA: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis: Estimate the hiring potential across schoolsAnalyze the number of hires by school over the last several yearsDevelop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements anda minimum set of standards for recruitsSurvey seniors at these schools to determine interest in an entry-levelposition with the clientConsider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine howthat class might be segmented ., each class could be segmented bydiscipline or segmented based on career interests in response to thesurvey), then calculate the size of each segmentEstimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schoolsCompare the current cost-per hire across schoolsIdentify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates ., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q3: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hiresThe number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools ., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to knowA: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)What opportunities exist to reduce costsHow much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have onrecruiting at the least efficient schoolsQuestions demonstrating further insight:Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schoolsIf we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings ., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently being spent)Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising ., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campusA: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below: Improve/enhance recruiting messages ., understand target candidate group,refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)Utilize referrals ., faculty, alumni)Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way toincrease the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q6: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this informationA: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B ., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to LeadershipA: The answer is 20 candidates ., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question8Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed todayA: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd consider ourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGSThere appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost: Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changingthe advertising message on some campuses could increase applicantssignificantly without increasing costs. At one of the campuses we'velooked at, University 4, the number of applicants would go up more than 100 percentThe cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. Thissuggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places or reallocate resources more efficientlyNEXT STEPSWe plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schoolsAfter looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate ., ensure we're not turning down quality applicants) and to increase the acceptance rateWe will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses ., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。

Client Goal: Should Great Burger acquire Heavenly Donuts as part of its growth strategy?Our client is Great Burger (GB) a fast food chain that competes head–to-head with McDonald's,Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, etc.Description of Great BurgerGB is the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide, measured by the number of stores in operation. As most of its competitors do, GB offers food and "combos" for the three largest meal occasions:breakfast, lunch, and dinner.Even though GB owns some of its stores, it operates under the franchising business model with 85 percent of its stores owned by franchisees (individuals own and manage stores, pay franchise fee to GB, but major business decisions (e.g., menu, look of store) controlled by GB).McKinsey studyAs part of its growth strategy GB has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Heavenly Donuts (HD), a growing doughnut producer with both a U.S. and international store presence.HD operates under the franchising business model too, though a little bit differently than GB. While GB franchises restaurants, HD franchises areas or regions in which the franchisee is required to open a certain number of stores.GB's CEO has hired McKinsey to advise him on whether they should acquire HD or not.QUESTION 1What areas would you want to explore to determine whether GB should acquire HD?ANSWER 1Some possible areas are given below. Great job if you identified several of these and perhaps others.•Stand alone value of HDo Growth in market for doughnutso HD's past and projected future sales growth (break down into growth in number of stores, and growth in same store sales)o Competition – are there any other major national chains that are doing better than HD in terms of growth/profit. What does this imply for future growth?o Profitability/profit margino Capital required to fund growth (capital investment to open new stores, working capital)•Synergies/strategic fito Brand quality similar? Would they enhance or detract from each other if marketed side by side?o How much overlap of customer base? (very little overlap might cause concern that brands are not compatible, too much might imply little room to expand sales by cross-marketing)o Synergies (Hint: do not dive deep on this, as it will be covered later) •Management team/cultural fito Capabilities/skills of top, middle managemento Cultural fit, if very different, what percent of key management would likely be able to adjust•Ability to execute merger/combine companieso GB experience with mergers in past/experience in integrating companieso Franchise structure differences. Detail “dive” into franchising structures. Would these different structures affect the deal? Can we manage two different franchising structures at the same time?The team started thinking about potential synergies that could be achieved by acquiring HD. Here are some key facts on GB and HD.Exhibit 1Stores GB HDTotal5,000 1,020North America3,500 1000Europe1,000 20Asia400 0Other100 0Annual growth in stores10% 15%Financials GB HDTotal store sales$5,500m $700mParent company revenue$1,900m $200mKey expenses (% sales)Cost of sales51% 40%Restaurant operating costs24% 26%Restaurant property & equipment costs 4.6% 8.5%Corporate general & administrative costs 8% 15%Profit as % of sales6.3% 4.9%Sales/stores$1.1m $0.7mIndustry average$0.9m $0.8mQUESTION 2What potential synergies can you think of between GB and HD?ANSWER 2We are looking for a few responses similar to the ones below:•Lower costso Biggest opportunity likely in corporate selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) by integrating corporate managemento May be some opportunity to lower food costs with larger purchasing volume on similar food items (e.g., beverages, deep frying oil), however overlaps may be low as ingredients are very differento GB appears to have an advantage in property and equipment costs which might be leveragable to HD (e.g., superior skills in lease negotiation)•Increase revenueso Sell doughnuts in GB stores, or some selected GB products in HD storeso GB has much greater international presence thus likely has knowledge/skills to enable HD to expand outside of North Americao GB may have superior skills in identifying attractive locations for stores as its sales per store are higher than industry average, whereas HD's is lower than industry average; might be able to leverage this when opening new HD stores to increase HD average sales per storeo Expand HD faster than it could do on own–GB, as a larger company with lower debt, may have better access to capitalQUESTION 3The team thinks that with synergies, it should be possible to double HD’s U.S. market share in the next 5 years, and that GB’s access to capital will allow it to expand the number of HD stores by 2.5 times. What sales per store will HD require in 5 years in order for GB to achieve these goals? Use any data from Exhibit 1 you need, additionally, your interviewer would provide the followingassumptions for you:•Doughnut consumption/capita in the U.S. is $10/year today, and is projected to grow to $20/year in 5 years.•For ease of calculation, assume U.S. population is 300m.ANSWER 3You should always feel free to ask your interviewer additional questions to help you with yourresponse.Possible responses might include the following:•Market share today: $700M HD sales (from Exhibit 1) ÷ $3B U.S. market ($10 x 300M people) = 23% (round to 25% for simplicity sake)•U.S. market in 5 years = $20 x 300 = $6B•HD sales if double market share: 50% x $6B = $3B•Per store sales: $3B/2.5 (1000 stores) = $1.2MDoes this seem reasonable?•Yes, given it implies less than double same store sales growth and per capita consumption is predicted to double.QUESTION 4One of the synergies that the team thinks might have a big potential is the idea of increasing the businesses' overall profitability by selling doughnuts in GB stores. How would you assess theprofitability impact of this synergy?ANSWER 4Be sure you can clearly explain how the assessment you are proposing would help to answer the question posed.Some possible answers include:•Calculate incremental revenues by selling doughnuts in GB stores (calculate how many doughnuts per store, times price per doughnut, times number of GB stores)•Calculate incremental costs by selling doughnuts in GB stores (costs of production, incremental number of employees, employee training, software changes, incremental marketing and advertising, incremental cost of distribution if we cannot produce doughnuts in house, etc.) •Calculate incremental investments. Do we need more space in each store if we think we are going to attract new customers? Do we need to invest in store layout to have in-house doughnut production?•If your answer were to take into account cannibalization, what would be the rate of cannibalization with GB offerings? Doughnut cannibalization will be higher with breakfast products than lunch and dinner products, etc.•One way to calculate this cannibalization is to look at historic cannibalization rates with new product/offering launchings within GB stores•Might also cannibalize other HD stores if they are nearby GB store–could estimate this impact by seeing historical change in HD’s sales when competitor doughnut st ore opens nearbyQUESTION 6You run into the CEO of GB in the hall. He asks you to summarize McKinsey’s perspective so far on whether GB should acquire HD. Pretend the interviewer is the CEO–what would you say?ANSWER 6You may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible.Answers may vary, but here is an example of a response:•Early findings lead us to believe acquiring HD would create significant value for GB, and that GB should acquire HDo Believe can add $15 thousand in profit per GB store by selling HD in GB stores. This could mean $50 million in incremental profit for North American stores (where immediate synergies are most likely given HD has little brand presence in rest of world)o We also believe there are other potential revenue and cost synergies that the team still needs to quantify•Once the team has quantified the incremental revenues, cost savings, and investments, we will make a recommendation on the price you should be willing to pay•We will also give you recommendations on what it will take to integrate the two companies in order to capture the potential revenue and cost savings, and also to manage the different franchise structures and potentially different cultures of GB and HD。

Client Goal: Should Great Burger acquire Heavenly Donuts as part of its growth strategy？Our client is Great Burger （GB) a fast food chain that competes head–to-head with McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, etc。

Description of Great BurgerGB is the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide, measured by the number of stores in operation。

As most of its competitors do，GB offers food and "combos” for the three largest meal occasions: breakfast，lunch, and dinner。

Even though GB owns some of its stores, it operates under the franchising business model with 85 percent of its stores owned by franchisees (individuals own and manage stores，pay franchise fee to GB，but major business decisions (e.g。

，menu，look of store) controlled by GB)。

McKinsey studyAs part of its growth strategy GB has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Heavenly Donuts （HD），a growing doughnut producer with both a U。

McKiney On line case studyTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are eight questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.The caseQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q1: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal?A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.•Attract more applicants at the same cost•Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potential campusesand eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality ., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would have performed equally well in the job)Improve acceptance rates among offerees ., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the job relative to alternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.•Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools).The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q2: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted? What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and why?A: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis:•Estimate the hiring potential across schools•Analyze the number of hires by school over the last several years•Develop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements and a minimum set of standards for recruits•Survey seniors at these schools to determine interest in an entry-level position with the client•Consider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine how that class might be segmented ., each class could be segmented by discipline orsegmented based on career interests in response to the survey), thencalculate the size of each segment•Estimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schools•Compare the current cost-per hire across schools•Identify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates ., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q3: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates? Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hiresThe number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools ., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to know?A: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:•What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)?•What opportunities exist to reduce costs?•How much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities?•What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at the least efficient schools?Questions demonstrating further insight:•Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schools?•If we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings ., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently being spent)?Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising ., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campus?A: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below:•Improve/enhance recruiting messages ., understand target candidate group, refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)•Utilize referrals ., faculty, alumni)•Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school•Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q6: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this information?A: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B ., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to Leadership?A: The answer is 20 candidates ., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question8Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed today?A: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd considerourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGS•There appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost:•Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changing the advertising message on some campuses could increase applicantssignificantly without increasing costs. At one of the campuses we've lookedat, University 4, the number of applicants would go up more than 100percent•The cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places orreallocate resources more efficientlyNEXT STEPSWe plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schoolsAfter looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate ., ensure we're not turning down quality applicants) and to increase the acceptance rateWe will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses ., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。

麦肯锡案例面试题：Great Burger 案例分析(英文，有答案)Practice CasesGreat BurgerIntroductionTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to usethis feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or shewants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have theopportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are six questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner.At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.Start Case Study=============================================================================================================Client Goal: Should Great Burger acquire Heavenly Donuts as part of its growthstrategy?Our client is Great Burger (GB) a fast food chain that competes head–to-head with McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, etc.Description of Great BurgerGB is the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide, measured by the number of stores in operation. As most of its competitors do, GB offers food and "combos" for the three largest meal occasions: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.Even though GB owns some of its stores, it operates under the franchising business model with 85 percent of its stores owned by franchisees (individuals own and manage stores, pay franchise fee to GB, but major business decisions (e.g., menu, lookof store) controlled by GB).McKinsey studyAs part of its growth strategy GB has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Heavenly Donuts (HD), a growing doughnut producer with both a U.S. andinternational store presence.HD operates under the franchising business model too, though a little bit differently than GB. While GB franchises restaurants, HD franchises areas or regions in which the franchisee is required to open a certain number of stores.GB's CEO has hired McKinsey to advise him on whether they should acquire HD or not.QUESTION 1What areas would you want to explore to determine whether GB should acquire HD?ANSWER 1Some possible areas are given below. Great job if you identified several of theseand perhaps others.∙Stand alone value of HD∙Growth in market for doughnuts∙HD's past and projected future sales growth (break down intogrowth in number of stores, and growth in same store sales) ∙Competition – are there any other major national chainsthat are doing better than HD in terms of growth/profit. Whatdoes this imply for future growth?∙Profitability/profit margin∙Capital required to fund growth (capital investment to opennew stores, working capital)Synergies/strategic fit∙Brand quality similar? Would they enhance or detract fromeach other if marketed side by side?∙How much overlap of customer base? (very little overlapmight cause concern that brands are not compatible, too muchmight imply little room to expand sales by cross-marketing) ∙Synergies (Hint: do not dive deep on this, as it will becovered later)Management team/cultural fit∙Capabilities/skills of top, middle management∙Cultural fit, if very different, what percent of keymanagement would likely be able to adjustAbility to execute merger/combine companies∙GB experience with mergers in past/experience inintegrating companies∙Franchise structure differences. Detail “dive” intofranchising structures. Would these different structuresaffect the deal? Can we manage two different franchisingstructures at the same time?=============================================================================================================The team started thinking about potential synergies that could be achieved by acquiring HD. Here are some key facts on GB and HD.QUESTION 2What potential synergies can you think of between GB and HD?ANSWER 2We are looking for a few responses similar to the ones below:∙Lower costs∙Biggest opportunity likely in corporate selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) by integrating corporatemanagement∙May be some opportunity to lower food costs with larger purchasing volume on similar food items (e.g., beverages,deep frying oil), however overlaps may be low as ingredientsare very different∙GB appears to have an advantage in property and equipment costs which might be leveragable to HD (e.g., superiorskills in lease negotiation)Increase revenues∙Sell doughnuts in GB stores, or some selected GB productsin HD stores∙GB has much greater international presence thus likely hasknowledge/skills to enable HD to expand outside of NorthAmerica∙GB may have superior skills in identifying attractivelocations for stores as its sales per store are higher thanindustry average, whereas HD's is lower than industryaverage; might be able to leverage this when opening new HDstores to increase HD average sales per store∙Expand HD faster than it could do on own–GB, as a largercompany with lower debt, may have better access to capital=============================================================================================================QUESTION 3The team thinks that with synergies, it should be possible to double HD’s U.S. market share in the next 5 years, and that GB’s access to capital will allow it to expand the number of HD stores by 2.5 times. What sales per store will HD require in 5 years in order for GB to achieve these goals? Use any data from Exhibit 1 you need, additionally, your interviewer would provide the following assumptions foryou:∙Doughnut consumption/capita in the U.S. is $10/year today, and isprojected to grow to $20/year in 5 years.∙For ease of calculation, assume U.S. population is 300m.ANSWER 3You should always feel free to ask your interviewer additional questions to helpyou with your response.Possible responses might include the following:∙Market share today: $700M HD sales (from Exhibit 1) ÷ $3B U.S. market ($10 x 300M people) = 23% (round to 25% for simplicity sake)∙U.S. market in 5 years = $20 x 300 = $6B∙HD sales if double market share: 50% x $6B = $3B∙Per store sales: $3B/2.5 (1000 stores) = $1.2MDoes this seem reasonable?∙Yes, given it implies less than double same store sales growth and percapita consumption is predicted to double.=============================================================================================================QUESTION 4One of the synergies that the team thinks might have a big potential is the idea of increasing the businesses' overall profitability by selling doughnuts in GB stores. How would you assess the profitability impact of this synergy?ANSWER 4Be sure you can clearly explain how the assessment you are proposing would helpto answer the question posed.Some possible answers include:∙Calculate incremental revenues by selling doughnuts in GB stores(calculate how many doughnuts per store, times price per doughnut, timesnumber of GB stores)∙Calculate incremental costs by selling doughnuts in GB stores (costs of production, incremental number of employees, employee training,software changes, incremental marketing and advertising, incrementalcost of distribution if we cannot produce doughnuts in house, etc.) ∙Calculate incremental investments. Do we need more space in each store if we think we are going to attract new customers? Do we need to invest in store layout to have in-house doughnut production?∙If your answer were to take into account cannibalization, what would be the rate of cannibalization with GB offerings? Doughnut cannibalization will be higher with breakfast products than lunch anddinner products, etc.∙One way to calculate this cannibalization is to look at historiccannibalization rates with new product/offering launchings within GBstores∙Might also cannibalize other HD stores if they are nearby GB store–could estimate this impact by seeing historical change in HD’s sales whencompetitor doughnut store opens nearby=============================================================================================================QUESTION 5What would be the incremental profit per store if we think we are going to sell 50,000 doughnuts per store at a price of $2 per doughnut at a 60 percent margin with a cannibalization rate of 10 percent of GB's sales?ANSWER 5While you may find that doing straightforward math problems in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking at both your ability to set the analysis up properlyand then do the math in real time.Based on correct calculations, your response should be as follows: Incremental profit = contribution from HD sales less contribution lost due tocannibalized GB sales= 50K units x $2/unit x 60% margin – 300K units x 10% cannibalization x $3/unitx 50% margin= $60K – 45K = 15K incremental profit/store=============================================================================================================QUESTION 6You run into the CEO of GB in the hall. He asks you to summarize McKinsey’s perspective so far on whether GB should acquire HD. Pretend the interviewer is theCEO–what would you say?ANSWER 6You may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue asdirectly and practically as possible.Answers may vary, but here is an example of a response:∙Early findings lead us to believe acquiring HD would create significantvalue for GB, and that GB should acquire HD∙Believe can add $15 thousand in profit per GB store byselling HD in GB stores. This could mean $50 million inincremental profit for North American stores (whereimmediate synergies are most likely given HD has littlebrand presence in rest of world)∙We also believe there are other potential revenue and costsynergies that the team still needs to quantify Once the team has quantified the incremental revenues, cost savings,and investments, we will make a recommendation on the price you shouldbe willing to payWe will also give you recommendations on what it will take to integratethe two companies in order to capture the potential revenue and cost savings, and also to manage the different franchise structures and potentially different cultures of GB and HD。

McKiney On line case studyTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are eight questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.The caseQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q1: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal?A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.•Attract more applicants at the same cost•Review the list of campuses targeted (e.g., optimize resourceallocation across schools). The review may result in adding certainhigher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear tohave more limited potential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus (e.g., optimizecost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).•Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality(e.g., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would haveperformed equally well in the job)•Improve acceptance rates among offerees (e.g., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the job relative to alternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.•Review the list of campuses targeted (e.g., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potentialcampuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limitedpotential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus (e.g., optimizecost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q2: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted? What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and why?A: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis:•Estimate the hiring potential across schools•Analyze the number of hires by school over the last several years•Develop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements and a minimum set of standards for recruits•Survey seniors at these schools to determine interest in anentry-level position with the client•Consider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine how that class might be segmented (e.g., each class could besegmented by discipline or segmented based on career interests inresponse to the survey), then calculate the size of each segment •Estimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schools•Compare the current cost-per hire across schools•Identify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue asdirectly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates (i.e., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q3: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates? Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hires The number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools (i.e., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to know?A: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:•What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)?•What opportunities exist to reduce costs?•How much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities?•What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at the least efficient schools?Questions demonstrating further insight:•Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schools?•If we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings (i.e., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs.where it is currently being spent)?Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising (e.g., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs,what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campus?A: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below:•Improve/enhance recruiting messages (e.g., understand target candidate group, refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)•Utilize referrals (e.g., faculty, alumni)•Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school•Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q6: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this information?A: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. TypeB (e.g., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to Leadership?A: The answer is 20 candidates (i.e., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question8Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed today?A: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd consider ourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGS•There appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost:•Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changing the advertising message on some campuses could increaseapplicants significantly without increasing costs. At one of thecampuses we've looked at, University 4, the number of applicantswould go up more than 100 percent•The cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certainplaces or reallocate resources more efficientlyNEXT STEPS•We plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schools•After looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate (i.e., ensure we're not turning down quality applicants) and to increase the acceptance rate•We will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses (e.g., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。

McKinsey1st Round:1) We are back in the 80s, and Daewoo wants to enter the Italian market. They approachyou and say that they want to sell 100,000 cars after one year. What do you tell them?Its own productivity and the Capacity of the local market2) A steel producing company wants to cut costs. It currently operates 2 large mills at 75% capacity and four small ones at 100% capacity. It is experiencing profitability issues. What action would you recommend it takes?Compare the Cost/Profit index---Fixed Cost---Operating Cost---3) Our client is a retail brokerage. We have seen our customer base decline over the past 18 months. Why this happening is and what can we do about it?Why--- Market Change(New Suppliers, New Policies, New Products immerge)Competitors(New One/ Old one grew fast)Inside Operation(Strategy/Process/structure/system/人员流失……)4) The client owns mines that produce high and low grade ore and processes it into an alloy that is then sold as an additive to strengthen steel (sold directly to steel manufacturers). A new foreign competitor has shown up in the market and the company is losing profits. A general manager of one of the processing plants asks what he should do to maintain profits.Find our characters and position5) The past few years a Health Insurance Company has been growing at a rate of about 15%a year. This past year it only grew by 1%. Costs are rising 12% each year. What is the problem and what should the company do?6) Company X is a chemical manufacturer. They make a product that is very similar to Company Y’s product. Company X and Y are direct competitors in many geographic markets, but each also has unique areas in which the sales forces do not face direct competition. Company X buys Company Y. How do you integrate the sales forces?7) You are working for a Brazilian soda manufacturer that is experiencing declining profits over the last two years. Why is this occurring? [competition from generics] What is the size of the market for canned cola? What are the company's options for improving profitability? What are the possible effects of a change in the cola's price?8) Our client is a mid-Western HMO. They have 300 doctors and 300,000 subscribers. They handle mostly checkups and routine visits. The HMO outsources specific cases to local specialists. Over the last two years the HMO has seen their profits decrease. They've called us in to find out why.2nd Round1) A European iron mining company bought a piece of land in ffice:smarttags" />Australia with a high content of iron. Should they proceed with extraction of the ore or not? /2) A PC manufacturer wants to add a new line of pocket PCs. Should they do it? What doyou tell the CEO?3) A health and fitness center, a chain of gyms, like Bally's is considering building more tennis courts. The cost of the land development isgh occupancy rates averaged 80 percent. - charts given3) a music company is bringing out a cd for a new artist. how would you market and price, knowing that you''d like to charge a premium for the cd?final round (nov. 2002)1) you are consulting to the manufacturer of airplane engines (2 main engines: for wide body planes and narrow body planes ——> regional and low cost airlines, which are growing, use the narrow body planes). the client is considering entering the airplane leasing market, because one of its competitors (ge) is already there, and the client hypothesizes that ge''s presence in leasing helps its engine sales. what do you tell him?2) last year, lawsuits cost corporations $200 billion compared with $70 billion in 1990. how would you advise a roundtable of ceos to attack tort reform?3) the u.s. post office lost millions last year. how would you advise the new ceo to turn the post office around?4) we have been hired by a mexican company that has a dominant position in all of its markets but one: ketchup. although its ketchup sales have been increasing, its market share is stagnant (10%) and its profit margin remains below that of its competitors. what do you think might be happening? what would you suggest the client do in order to increase market share and profits?a small pharmaceutical research company is about to start clinical trials for a new and promising molecule. the trial process has three phases, with different associated costs and probabilities of success:costs (million) pr. success- phase 1 $10 .40- phase 2 $5 .2- phase 3 $80 .105if the process is successful and the new drug is introduced in the market, it would generate total income flows of $300 million.+ draw a graph showing the income stream for the next ten years (assume that full adoption is reached in year 7)+ the pharmaceutical company is looking for a buyer. how much should it ask for?booz1st round1) our client is a magazine publisher. they are considering a new pricing program where the price for subscriptions would increase every year. evaluate how such a decision would impact their business. would you advise they do it?bain1st round (nov. 2003)1) our client is apple publishing, the largest publisher of children’s fiction in the industry. seven years ago the ceo became concerned that childhood literacy rates were low and decided to make a difference. he entered the telemetry textbook market. he thinks they are the best now, but hasn’t been rewarded. seven years later he has 70 million dollars in sales and 20 million dollars inlosses. they are less than 5% of the market, but the ceo wants to stay in the market, how can he do it?2) our client produces 2-inch wrenches. they sell to home depot and also toauto-mechanics directly. if you were a store manager at home depot, how many varieties of wrenches would you display to sell and at what price points? how are the home depot wrench buyers different from the auto mechanics? if you wanted to provide discounts to the auto mechanics, which of them would you target and why? what information would you want from them first?3) university town has a population of 40,000 students. currently there are nine restaurants. you''re client is thinking about opening up the tenth. is this a good idea and should she open up a fast food or a specialty restaurant?4) a major airline is thinking about going head to head with the discount airlines by offering "cheap" fares. does this make sense? estimate the size of the european "discount" airline market.5) your client sells coffee on the five japanese bullet trains (high speed trains). estimate the size of the market. how would you advise them to increase sales?6) our client, a private equity firm, is considering an investment in a manufacturer of digital inkjet printers (printing large billboards). the manufacturer wants to enter the screen printing market (printing signs and point-of purchase posters, e.g. for supermarket sales). how big is the screen printing market? which particular segment is the most attractive?7) estimate the market size of printers in hong kong. a u.s.-based pc manufacturer now wants to get into the printer market. assess the opportunity.8) we have been hired by a global wealth management company that has 2 divisions: asset management and private banking. our asset management profits have been decreasing, and our private banking profits have been increasing. we need to help our client determine strategy to increase all his profits.9) we have been hired by the board of a company that is loosing money. the board has asked us to determine whether any of this loss can be attributed to the leer jet that the management team uses.10) we have been hired by a company that has just finished making the millennium eye,a large ferris wheel that will be placed in the middle of london. our client wants to know how big the market is and how much we should charge per ticket.a.t. kearney1st round (oct. 2003)1) the cfo of a top 3 retailer wants you to evaluate the viability of developing exclusive contracts with distributors. the three questions you should address are:1. pro''s and con''s of pursuing exclusive contracts2. identify the categories that should be explored for exclusive contracts3. how would you operationalize these contracts?2) case setup (facts offered by interviewer):your client is a u.s. basedq oil refinery. the refinery has a single location and is a small to medium-sized refinery. your client, although profitable, believes it is lagging behind the competition and could improve. you are brought in as part of a joint consultant-client team that will review overall operations and make recommendations on ways to improve the bottom line.you have been assigned to work with the maintenance division. the maintenance depa rtment’s primary objective is to prevent equipment failure and to repair equipment when it does fail. understanding of its organization is important. it consists of three primary areas: nine assets areas, one central maintenance area and one group of contractors. the first two areas are employees of the client, the third an external source of labor. an asset is a physical area of the plant that contains various pieces of equipment (pumps, heat exchangers, etc.). there are nine assets. each asset has a maintenance supervisor who is responsible for all maintenance to be performed in his/her asset. working for the maintenance supervisor in each asset is, on average, eleven “craftsmen”. the craftsmen are the actual workers that perform the maintenance. the craftsmen are unionized and divide into twelve different craft designations (e.g. electricians, pipefitters, welders, etc.). each craft designation has a defined set of skills they are qualified to perform. they are not allowed to perform skills outside of their defined craft, or help in the performance of activities involving skills beyond their craft. collectively the twelve different crafts can perform any maintenance job that might arise at the refinery. the maintenance supervisor and his/her assigned craftsmen are “hardwired” to their asset. that is, they work only on equipment in their given asset.central maintenance is a centralized pool of maintenance supervisors and craftsmen, who are dispatched to support the different assets during times of high workload. they are employees of your client and fit the description contained in the above asset explanation. the only difference is that they may work in any of the different assets as determined by workload. there are a total of 11 maintenance supervisors and 100 craftsmen that comprise central maintenancecontractors are a group of outside supervisors and craftsmen who support your client during times of high workload. they also are capable of performing any maintenance job that may arise, but differ f rom your client’s craftsmen in that they divide the collective skills required into five designations rather than twelve. thus, the craftsmen of the contractor are capable of performing a broader set of skills. they, like your client’s craftsmen, don’t per form skills outside of their defined craft but do allow different craft designations to help each other. there are an average of 7 contractor maintenance supervisors and 140 contractor craftsmen at the refinery on any given day.question:whatq opportunities exist to increase profits?what recommendations can you make to capture savings related to the identified opportunities? what is the cost savings associated with your recommendations?suggested solutions:the first question involves identifying opportunities to improve profits. the candidate must start with either revenues or costs. although one could make the argument that maintenance supports revenue by maximizing the operating time of the refinery equipment, maintenance should be seen to be a support function. thus, it is more appropriate to focus on costs and cost reduction. the following questions will help the candidate gain insight into cost reduction opportunities.how does the maintenance department track its costs?if the candidate phrases the question about material or overhead costs, the interviewer would inform the candidate that detailed reviewed showed no major opportunities. the candidate would be steered toward labor costs and given the following tables regarding maintenance labor costs forthe past year.to support understanding of the following tables, turnaround work is long term preventive maintenance (e.g. complete rebuilding of a boiler) that may be performed once every few years. all other work (short term emergency repairs, small scale preventive maintenance, other routine work, etc.) fits into the category of daily workcraftsmen daily work turnaround totalclient $ 8mm $ 2mm $ 10mmcontractor $ 5mm $ 9mm $ 14mmtotal $ 13mm $ 11mm $ 24mmsupervisor totalclient $ 1mmcontractor $ 0.5mmtotal $ 1.5mmsince the craftsmen table represents a larger dollar amount than the supervisor table, it is logical to pursue cost savings opportunities in this area first.what is the utilization of craftsmen in the assets?in central maintenance?and for contractors?assume each area is utilized 100% of the time, 50 weeks per year, 40 hours per week.how does the labor cost of craftsmen ($24mm) on a refinery-sized basis (i.e., $cost / per barrel of crude oil processed) compare with industry averages?consulting your industry data base shows that costs appear to be about 20% above the average of peer refineries.this is an important question to determine if there is a problem with costs (don’t assume there is, the client may be performing better than industry average!)is there any particular reason why turnaround work is so heavily skewed toward contractors? turnaround work tends to be more cyclical. an external workforce is used to absorb some of this additional work. keep in mind that both client and contractor craftsmen are capable of performing any maintenance job at the plant.after further analysis of the tables the key fact that should become appear odd is the large difference in the cost per unit of labor between your client’s craftsmen and the outside contractor’s craftsmen. often candidates will ask for the hourly wage rates of these two groups. there is sufficient data to calculate these numbers. the calculation is:annual cost of client craftsmen = $10mm/ (11 craftsmen/asset x 9 assets + 100 craftsmen in central maintenance) = $50,000 / yearannual cost of contractor craftsmen = $ 14 mm/ 140 contractor craftsmen = $100,000 / year again, this difference should provoke a series of questions to understand the difference.is there any difference in the work performed by the client and contractor craftsmen?no, other than the different levels of turnaround work vs. daily work performed as noted in the previous table. both groups are capable of doing any job with roughly equal levels of quality.is there any difference in efficiency between the two groups of craftsmen?the candidate would at this point be asked how they would measure this.after reaching an understanding of the difficulty involved in measuring the efficiency of aworkforce (especially a unionized workforce), the candidate would be told that through a series of interviews with maintenance supervisors, there is a consensus that contractor craftsmen are roughly twice as productive as client craftsmen.this is a critical point in the case. the candidate must recognize that in the present environment the client is largely indifferent about units of labor. you can have a client worker who is half as efficient or a contractor worker who is twice as expensive. the key now is to determine if there are ways to create an opportunity where the client would no longer be indifferent.what is cau sing the inefficiencies associated with the client’s labor?again, the candidate would be encouraged to offer their own ideas.after some discussion the candidate would be told that many of the maintenance supervisors complain endlessly about restrictions placed on them by the existing union labor contract and the tightness of craft designations.the interviewer would probe to ensure the candidate understands why the present craft designation creates the inefficiencies. essentially work is too finely divided. it makes planning and supervision extremely cumbersome. as an example, if one of six crafts required to perform a job is absent or late, the entire job must shut down, as craft designations are not allowed to support other craft designations.is it possible to change the existing union contract?the present labor contract is a three year contract that is due to be renegotiated/renewed in six months.will the union resist changes to the existing contract?indeed!!at this point, the candidate should recognize a major (albeit difficult) opportunity to reduce labor costs. the client would essentially like to have its own employees look and function like its contractors, but continue to get paid at present rates. in reality, management will need to make wage concessions in order to change present work practices. however, through planned negotiations a scenario can be created which presents a favorable opportunity for your client to begin to replace outside contractors with its own craftsmen.there are several ways to address the third question of the case, the actual savings that might be achieved. one quick method is to assume that these changes would bring maintenance costs back in line with industry average. utilizing the cost benchmark mentioned earlier, one could assume costs could be reduced to $24mm/1.20 = $20mm, a $4mm savings.a second, and more detailed, method would be to take the extreme scenario where the client’s craftsmen is paid its present rate, but is made as efficient as the contr actor’s craftsmen. in this case, you begin with the present level of 200 client craftsmen who are functioning as 100 equivalent contractor craftsmen (they’re one-half as efficient). by improving their efficiency, you are effectively “creating” 100 equivale nt contractors. thus, you are immediately able to replace 100 contractors and save $10mm. this could be taken one step further by assuming you would want to replace all contractors. this would save an additional $2.5mm ($4mm existing contractor expense - $2mm required to hire additional client craftsmen + $0.5mm in contractor supervisors). as noted earlier, in reality, this approach would require wage concessions to the union, so actual savings may be something significantly less.key takeaways:this case requires the candidate to quickly digest a large amount of organizational issues and then quickly check some ratios to uncover the basic problem (the client workforce is inefficient). creativity must then be used to structure a recommendation that would create a more favorable situation for the client. as in other cases, acceptable solutions need not follow the exact method above nor cover all of the above points.mercer1st round1) a new england telephone company is thinking of entering the home security market. what is the potential market size and what would you recommend they do?2) if i gave you $10 million dollars to invest in any one business, which would it be?3) should kraft foods expand and incorporate ice cream into their product mix? if yes, how should they enter this market?4) you are starting a new business, a gourmet coffee shop. the shop is located next to a train station. you''re building the business with the hope of selling it within two years. what is your strategy?5) how big is the market for window display marketing books?2nd round(nov 2004)：we have been hired by a client to help her evaluate his product mix and determine the best one going forward. refer to graphs.。

麦肯锡案例面试题：Great Burger 案例分析(英文，有答案)Practice CasesGreat BurgerIntroductionTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to usethis feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or shewants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have theopportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are six questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner.At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.Start Case Study=============================================================================================================Client Goal: Should Great Burger acquire Heavenly Donuts as part of its growthstrategy?Our client is Great Burger (GB) a fast food chain that competes head–to-head with McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, etc.Description of Great BurgerGB is the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide, measured by the number of stores in operation. As most of its competitors do, GB offers food and "combos" for the three largest meal occasions: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.Even though GB owns some of its stores, it operates under the franchising business model with 85 percent of its stores owned by franchisees (individuals own and manage stores, pay franchise fee to GB, but major business decisions (e.g., menu, lookof store) controlled by GB).McKinsey studyAs part of its growth strategy GB has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Heavenly Donuts (HD), a growing doughnut producer with both a U.S. andinternational store presence.HD operates under the franchising business model too, though a little bit differently than GB. While GB franchises restaurants, HD franchises areas or regions in which the franchisee is required to open a certain number of stores.GB's CEO has hired McKinsey to advise him on whether they should acquire HD or not.QUESTION 1What areas would you want to explore to determine whether GB should acquire HD?ANSWER 1Some possible areas are given below. Great job if you identified several of theseand perhaps others.•Stand alone value of HD•Growth in market for doughnuts•HD's past and projected future sales growth (break down intogrowth in number of stores, and growth in same store sales) •Competition – are there any other major national chainsthat are doing better than HD in terms of growth/profit. Whatdoes this imply for future growth?•Profitability/profit margin•Capital required to fund growth (capital investment to opennew stores, working capital)•Synergies/strategic fit•Brand quality similar? Would they enhance or detract fromeach other if marketed side by side?•How much overlap of customer base? (very little overlapmight cause concern that brands are not compatible, too muchmight imply little room to expand sales by cross-marketing) •Synergies (Hint: do not dive deep on this, as it will becovered later)•Management team/cultural fit•Capabilities/skills of top, middle management•Cultural fit, if very different, what percent of keymanagement would likely be able to adjust•Ability to execute merger/combine companies•GB experience with mergers in past/experience inintegrating companies•Franchise structure differences. Detail “dive” intofranchising structures. Would these different structuresaffect the deal? Can we manage two different franchisingstructures at the same time?=============================================================================================================The team started thinking about potential synergies that could be achieved by acquiring HD. Here are some key facts on GB and HD.QUESTION 2What potential synergies can you think of between GB and HD?ANSWER 2We are looking for a few responses similar to the ones below:•Lower costs•Biggest opportunity likely in corporate selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) by integrating corporatemanagement•May be some opportunity to lower food costs with larger purchasing volume on similar food items (e.g., beverages,deep frying oil), however overlaps may be low as ingredientsare very different•GB appears to have an advantage in property and equipment costs which might be leveragable to HD (e.g., superiorskills in lease negotiation)•Increase revenues•Sell doughnuts in GB stores, or some selected GB productsin HD stores•GB has much greater international presence thus likely hasknowledge/skills to enable HD to expand outside of NorthAmerica•GB may have superior skills in identifying attractivelocations for stores as its sales per store are higher thanindustry average, whereas HD's is lower than industryaverage; might be able to leverage this when opening new HDstores to increase HD average sales per store•Expand HD faster than it could do on own–GB, as a largercompany with lower debt, may have better access to capital=============================================================================================================QUESTION 3The team thinks that with synergies, it should be possible to double HD’s U.S. market share in the next 5 years, and that GB’s access to capital will allow it to expand the number of HD stores by 2.5 times. What sales per store will HD require in 5 years in order for GB to achieve these goals? Use any data from Exhibit 1 you need, additionally, your interviewer would provide the following assumptions foryou:•Doughnut consumption/capita in the U.S. is $10/year today, and isprojected to grow to $20/year in 5 years.•For ease of calculation, assume U.S. population is 300m.ANSWER 3You should always feel free to ask your interviewer additional questions to helpyou with your response.Possible responses might include the following:•Market share today: $700M HD sales (from Exhibit 1) ÷ $3B U.S. market ($10 x 300M people) = 23% (round to 25% for simplicity sake)•U.S. market in 5 years = $20 x 300 = $6B•HD sales if double market share: 50% x $6B = $3B•Per store sales: $3B/2.5 (1000 stores) = $1.2MDoes this seem reasonable?•Yes, given it implies less than double same store sales growth and percapita consumption is predicted to double.=============================================================================================================QUESTION 4One of the synergies that the team thinks might have a big potential is the idea of increasing the businesses' overall profitability by selling doughnuts in GB stores. How would you assess the profitability impact of this synergy?ANSWER 4Be sure you can clearly explain how the assessment you are proposing would helpto answer the question posed.Some possible answers include:•Calculate incremental revenues by selling doughnuts in GB stores(calculate how many doughnuts per store, times price per doughnut, timesnumber of GB stores)•Calculate incremental costs by selling doughnuts in GB stores (costs of production, incremental number of employees, employee training,software changes, incremental marketing and advertising, incrementalcost of distribution if we cannot produce doughnuts in house, etc.) •Calculate incremental investments. Do we need more space in each store if we think we are going to attract new customers? Do we need to invest in store layout to have in-house doughnut production?•If your answer were to take into account cannibalization, what would be the rate of cannibalization with GB offerings? Doughnut cannibalization will be higher with breakfast products than lunch anddinner products, etc.•One way to calculate this cannibalization is to look at historiccannibalization rates with new product/offering launchings within GBstores•Might also cannibalize other HD stores if they are nearby GB store–could estimate this impact by seeing historical change in HD’s sales whencompetitor doughnut store opens nearby=============================================================================================================QUESTION 5What would be the incremental profit per store if we think we are going to sell 50,000 doughnuts per store at a price of $2 per doughnut at a 60 percent margin with a cannibalization rate of 10 percent of GB's sales?ANSWER 5While you may find that doing straightforward math problems in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking at both your ability to set the analysis up properlyand then do the math in real time.Based on correct calculations, your response should be as follows: Incremental profit = contribution from HD sales less contribution lost due tocannibalized GB sales= 50K units x $2/unit x 60% margin – 300K units x 10% cannibalization x $3/unitx 50% margin= $60K – 45K = 15K incremental profit/store=============================================================================================================QUESTION 6You run into the CEO of GB in the hall. He asks you to summarize McKinsey’s perspective so far on whether GB should acquire HD. Pretend the interviewer is theCEO–what would you say?ANSWER 6You may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue asdirectly and practically as possible.Answers may vary, but here is an example of a response:•Early findings lead us to believe acquiring HD would create significantvalue for GB, and that GB should acquire HD•Believe can add $15 thousand in profit per GB store byselling HD in GB stores. This could mean $50 million inincremental profit for North American stores (whereimmediate synergies are most likely given HD has littlebrand presence in rest of world)•We also believe there are other potential revenue and costsynergies that the team still needs to quantify •Once the team has quantified the incremental revenues, cost savings, and investments, we will make a recommendation on the price you shouldbe willing to pay•We will also give you recommendations on what it will take to integratethe two companies in order to capture the potential revenue and cost savings, and also to manage the different franchise structures and potentially different cultures of GB and HD。

Client Goal: Should Great Burger acquire Heavenly Donuts as part of its growth strategy?Our client is Great Burger (GB) a fast food chain that competes head–to-head with McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, etc.Description of Great BurgerGB is the fourth largest fast food chain worldwide, measured by the number of stores in operation. As most of its competitors do, GB offers food and "combos" for the three largest meal occasions: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.Even though GB owns some of its stores, it operates under the franchising business model with 85 percent of its stores owned by franchisees (individuals own and manage stores, pay franchise fee to GB, but major business decisions (e.g., menu, look of store) controlled by GB).McKinsey studyAs part of its growth strategy GB has analyzed some potential acquisition targets including Heavenly Donuts (HD), a growing doughnut producer with both a U.S. and international store presence.HD operates under the franchising business model too, though a little bit differently than GB. While GB franchises restaurants, HD franchises areas or regions in which the franchisee is required to open a certain number of stores.GB's CEO has hired McKinsey to advise him on whether they should acquire HD or not.QUESTION 1What areas would you want to explore to determine whether GB should acquire HD?ANSWER 1Some possible areas are given below. Great job if you identified several of these and perhaps others.∙Stand alone value of HDo Growth in market for doughnutso HD's past and projected future sales growth (break down into growth in number of stores, and growth in same store sales)o Competition – are there any other major national chains that are doing better than HD in terms of growth/profit. What does this imply for future growth?o Profitability/profit margino Capital required to fund growth (capital investment to open new stores, working capital)∙Synergies/strategic fito Brand quality similar? Would they enhance or detract from each other if marketed side by side?o How much overlap of customer base? (very little overlap might cause concern that brands are not compatible, too much might imply little room to expand sales by cross-marketing)o Synergies (Hint: do not dive deep on this, as it will be covered later) ∙Management team/cultural fito Capabilities/skills of top, middle managemento Cultural fit, if very different, what percent of key management would likely be able to adjust∙Ability to execute merger/combine companieso GB experience with mergers in past/experience in integrating companies o Franchise structure differences. Detail “dive” into franchising structures. Would these different structures affect the deal? Can we manage two different franchising structures at the same time?The team started thinking about potential synergies that could be achieved by acquiring HD. Here are some key facts on GB and HD.Exhibit 1Stores GB HDTotal5,000 1,020North America3,500 1000Europe1,000 20Asia400 0Other100 0Annual growth in stores10% 15%Financials GB HDTotal store sales$5,500m $700mParent company revenue$1,900m $200mKey expenses (% sales)Cost of sales51% 40%Restaurant operatingcosts 24% 26%Restaurant property & equipment costs 4.6% 8.5%Corporate general & administrative costs 8% 15%Profit as % of sales6.3% 4.9%Sales/stores$1.1m $0.7mIndustry average$0.9m $0.8mQUESTION 2What potential synergies can you think of between GB and HD?ANSWER 2We are looking for a few responses similar to the ones below:∙Lower costso Biggest opportunity likely in corporate selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) by integrating corporate managemento May be some opportunity to lower food costs with larger purchasing volume on similar food items (e.g., beverages, deep frying oil), however overlaps may be low as ingredients are very differento GB appears to have an advantage in property and equipment costs which might be leveragable to HD (e.g., superior skills in lease negotiation)∙Increase revenueso Sell doughnuts in GB stores, or some selected GB products in HD stores o GB has much greater international presence thus likely has knowledge/skills to enable HD to expand outside of North Americao GB may have superior skills in identifying attractive locations for stores as its sales per store are higher than industry average, whereas HD's is lower than industry average; might be able to leverage this when opening new HD stores to increase HD average sales per storeo Expand HD faster than it could do on own–GB, as a larger company with lower debt, may have better access to capitalQUESTION 3The team thinks that with synergies, it should be possible to double HD’s U.S. market share in the next 5 years, and that GB’s access to capital will allow it to expand the number of HD stores by 2.5 times. What sales per store will HD require in 5 years in order for GB to achieve these goals? Use any data from Exhibit 1 you need, additionally, your interviewer would provide the following assumptions for you:∙Doughnut consumption/capita in the U.S. is $10/year today, and is projected to grow to $20/year in 5 years.∙For ease of calculation, assume U.S. population is 300m.ANSWER 3You should always feel free to ask your interviewer additional questions to help you with your response.Possible responses might include the following:∙Market share today: $700M HD sales (from Exhibit 1) ÷ $3B U.S. market ($10 x 300M people) = 23% (round to 25% for simplicity sake)∙U.S. market in 5 years = $20 x 300 = $6B∙HD sales if double market share: 50% x $6B = $3B∙Per store sales: $3B/2.5 (1000 stores) = $1.2MDoes this seem reasonable?∙Yes, given it implies less than double same store sales growth and per capita consumption is predicted to double.QUESTION 4One of the synergies that the team thinks might have a big potential is the idea of increasing the businesses' overall profitability by selling doughnuts in GB stores.How would you assess the profitability impact of this synergy?ANSWER 4Be sure you can clearly explain how the assessment you are proposing would help to answer the question posed.Some possible answers include:∙Calculate incremental revenues by selling doughnuts in GB stores (calculate how many doughnuts per store, times price per doughnut, times number of GB stores)∙Calculate incremental costs by selling doughnuts in GB stores (costs of production, incremental number of employees, employee training, software changes, incremental marketing and advertising, incremental cost of distribution if we cannot produce doughnuts in house, etc.)∙Calculate incremental investments. Do we need more space in each store if we think we are going to attract new customers? Do we need to invest in store layout to have in-house doughnut production?∙If your answer were to take into account cannibalization, what would be the rate of cannibalization with GB offerings? Doughnut cannibalization will be higher with breakfast products than lunch and dinner products, etc.∙One way to calculate this cannibalization is to look at historic cannibalization rates with new product/offering launchings within GB stores∙Might also cannibalize other HD stores if they are nearby GB store–could estimate this impact by seeing historical change in HD’s sales when competitor doughnut store opens nearbyQUESTION 6You run into the CEO of GB in the hall. He asks you to summarize McKinsey’s perspective so far on whether GB should acquire HD. Pretend the interviewer is the CEO–what would you say?ANSWER 6You may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible.Answers may vary, but here is an example of a response:∙Early findings lead us to believe acquiring HD would create significant value for GB, and that GB should acquire HDo Believe can add $15 thousand in profit per GB store by selling HD in GB stores. This could mean $50 million in incremental profit for North American stores (where immediate synergies are most likely given HD has little brand presence in rest of world)o We also believe there are other potential revenue and cost synergies that the team still needs to quantify∙Once the team has quantified the incremental revenues, cost savings, and investments, we will make a recommendation on the price you should be willing to pay ∙We will also give you recommendations on what it will take to integrate the two companies in order to capture the potential revenue and cost savings, and also to manage the different franchise structures and potentially different cultures of GB and HD谢谢观看! 欢迎您的下载，资料仅供参考,如有雷同纯属意外。

麦肯锡案例面试题：Magna Health案例分析(英文，有答案)面试, 案例分析Practice CasesMagna HealthIntroductionTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are ten questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.Start Case Study====================================================================== =======================================Client Goal: To determine how to improve its financial situation.Our client is Magna Health, a health care company in the Midwest. It both insures patients and provides health care services. Employers pay a fixed premium to Magna for each of their employees in return for which Magna covers all necessary health services of the employee(ranging from physician care and medications to hospitalization).Magna currently has 300,000 patients enrolled in its plan. It has 300 salaried physician employees who provide a broad range of services to patients in six centers. These physicians represent a wide range of specialty areas, but not all areas. When a patient needs medical treatment in a specialty area not covered by a Magna physician, they are referred outside of the Magna network for care, and Magna pays all referral costs on a fee-for-service basis. Magna does not own any hospitals itself, instead contracting services from several local hospitals.Magna's CEO has retained McKinsey to help determine what is causing the declining profitability and how Magna might fix it.QUESTION 1What key areas would you want to explore in order to understand Magna's decline in profitability? ANSWER 1Some possible areas are given below. Great job if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.Magna's revenuesPrice paid by employer for employee health coverage.Number of employees covered by Magna.Magna's costs (or fixed and variable costs)Magna's main cost components consist of administrative (non-medical) and medical costs (e.g., hospital, drugs, outpatient care)Outpatient costs can be split into internal physician costs versus external referral costsMagna's patient base demographics/overall risk pro may affect medical costs====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 2The team discovers that the demographics of Magna's subscribers have changed significantly in the past 5 years, from majority industrial workers/laborers to majority office employees. Knowing this, are there any specific areas you would investigate first?ANSWER 2We are looking for a few responses, similar to the ones below:Claim costs, as the change in the subscriber base will change the pro diseases (e.g., more heart disease/stress and less work related injury)External referral costs, due to the change in the disease pro which they have in-house competency =============================================================================================================QUESTION 3After reviewing the basics of Magna's business, your team believes that one of the root causes of Magna's financial problems is how it manages medical costs, particularly the cost of referrals to specialists outside of its physician network. Your team has gathered the following information on Magna and its primary competitor, Sunshine HMO:Number of patientsAverage cost of referral(per member per month)Magna Health300,000$20Sunshine HMO500,000$15What are the most likely reasons that the average cost of referral at Magna is higher than at Sunshine? (At this point you should feel free to offer hypotheses, and you could ask your interviewer questions to clarify the information)ANSWER 3Although there are a number of possible responses, you might have the following suggestions:Referral pricing: Magna might be paying more than Sunshine for specialist services (e.g., its outside contracts with oncologists might be at higher rates than Sunshine's contracts).Number of referrals: Magna's physicians might have different practice patterns than Sunshine physicians, i.e., they may be less comfortable treating heart disease patients or have different training/protocols.Mix of specialties: Magna's mix of specialties that requires referrals (cardiology and neurosurgery) are probably more expensive specialties (than cardiology and psychiatry, Sunshine's referral specialties).Mix of patients: Magna has sicker or older (>65) patients (individuals over 65 are more likely to need medical care in the specialty areas outside of Magna's network, particularly cardiology).====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 4What analyses would you do if the things you suggest were contributing to this problem? ANSWER 4In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the analysis you are proposing would help to answer the question posed.You might take the following approach, where we’ve outlined different areas of analysis:Referral pricing:Gain data on prices currently being paid by Magna for a sample of common specialtiesGain similar data for a competitor if possible for an industry average (perhaps through interviews with non-Magna specialists)Number of referrals:Interview Magna physicians and non-Magna physicians to see if any obvious behavioral differences existConsult industry publications on this issueMix of specialties:Check number of referrals by specialty for Magna and estimate similar for SunshineInterviews with external specialties used by Sunshine may help again hereMix of patients:Compare demographic data for Magna and Sunshine: should be easy to obtain from Magna; a scan of the employee schemes covered by Sunshine should give a good general picture of their demographic profileSee if Magna's referral cost has increased in line with the change in demographics of the subscribers====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 5Magna's CEO has a hypothesis that Magna is paying too much in cardiology referral costs for its patient population. He asks the McKinsey team to look at Magna's cardiac patient population more closely and tell him how many referrals he should expect on an annual basis. Assume the following:Magna has 300,000 patients in any one year20 percent of its patients are age 65 or olderIn the U.S., patients with serious heart disease visit specialists (cardiologists) on average of five times per yearYou should always feel free to ask your interviewer additional questions to help you with your response. In this case, you should recognize the need to know the prevalence rate of serious heart disease to complete this calculation. Once asked, your interviewer would provide you with the following information:The prevalence rate of serious heart disease in the 65+ population is 30 percentThe prevalence rate of serious heart disease in the under age 65 population is 10 percentANSWER 5While you may find that doing straightforward math problems in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Based on the correct calculations, your response should be as follows: Magna should expect210,000 cardiac referrals annually based on its patient population. You should have approached the calculations as follows to arrive at that answer:300,000 total patients20 percent x 300,000 = 60,000 patients age 65+18,000 x 5 = 90,000 referrals per year240,000 Magna patients under the age of 65240,000 patients x 10 percent = 24,000 patients under age 65 with serious heart disease and 24,000 x 5 visits peryear = 120,000 visits per year total90,000 + 120,000 visits per year = 210,000 total Magna patient external cardiology visits====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 6When the team tells Magna's CEO that based on Magna's patient population he should expect about 210,000 cardiology referrals a year he exclaims, "We currently pay for 300,000 annual cardiology referrals for our patient population!"Why might Magna's annual cardiology referrals be significantly higher than U.S. averages?What would you do to try to verify if any of these were a key cause of this problem?ANSWER 6We would not expect you to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your reasons will bring you closer to why the referrals might be higher.There are a number of answers to these questions, and you are on the right track if your responses included some of the ones below:The prevalence rate of heart disease in Magna's patient population is higher than average. To see if this was a cause of the problem, McKinsey should audit the internal data on heart disease prevalence and compare it to US National data.Magna's primary care physicians are referring patients who do not have serious heart disease to specialists. The team should interview specialists to get their opinion, or follow through a sample of patients who were referred.Primary care physicians are not comfortable (e.g., they are poorly trained or inexperienced) treating cardiac patients, even those with minor problems; they want to avoid malpractice suits. McKinsey should interview Magna physicians and institute an external review.Magna doesn't have clear guidelines on when physicians should be referring patients to specialists (or if guidelines exist, physicians are not complying with them). The team should gain an expertopinion on the current guidelines to see if this was a key cause of the problem.There are no incentives or penalties to prevent physicians from referring patients with less serious problems to specialists. In order to verify this is a key cause of the problem, the team should review incentive schemes if they exist. They should also compare similar companies/situations (e.g., prescription control mechanisms, etc.).====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 7At this point in the study, you bump into Magna's Head of Health Services in the corridor. He is responsible for all matters related to the provision of services to subscribers, both inside and outside the Magna Network. He asks you if you have made any progress. How would you respond?ANSWER 7Think about the person you are talking with, and how best to communicate the findings you have come up with so far.The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd consider ourselves to be early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. One ideal answer would include the following points:FindingsWe have investigated all the drivers of profit for Magna. Although there is likely to be room for improvement in a lot of areas, it seems the claims cost is a big area for improvement.Relative to the market and to competitors, Magna seems to have high claims cost per patient. Our initial indication is that there may be highest room for improvements in the cost of referrals outside the network.There are a number of reasons as to why this may be happening (list as in previous question). Next StepsWe are working to pin down the most significant reasons why Magna has high claims cost per patient.We are going to be looking into other areas such as reduction potential in other costs, as well as improvement potential in terms of premiums or other sources of revenue.====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 8After some additional investigation, your team thinks that changing the behavior of Magna'sprimary care physicians has potential to reduce cardiac referral costs while maintaining high-quality care. The team believes that introducing some sort of incentive plan for physicians might help reduce the referral rate.The team's idea for a pilot plan is to increase overall fees that Magna pays to primary care physicians to handle more of their patients' basic cardiology needs. Overall fee increases would total $1 million.In addition to the team's proposal, Magna's medical director wants to pilot the following idea: Magna pays bonuses of $100,000 per year to each of the 10 primary care physicians with the lowest cardiac referral rates consistent with good patient outcomes.Although the team mentions to the medical director that there are other issues to consider relating to the pilot that are not financial, such as the ethical impact of incentivizing physicians not to refer patients to specialist treatment, he wants the team to do the first calculation including both ideas. How many fewer cardiology referrals will Magna need to have in order to recoup the cost of the pilot incentive plan (including the team's and the medical director's idea)? For simplicity’s sake assume:The cost of a cardiology referral is $200.Magna currently has 300,000 cardiology referrals per year.ANSWER 8If the incentive plan reduces cardiology referrals by 3.3 percent or 10,000 referrals, Magna will recoup the cost of the incentive plan. One potential approach to the calculation:$1 million + (10 * $100,000) = $2 million for incentive plan$2 million/$200 =10,000 referrals10,000 referrals/300,000 total referrals = 3.3 percent reduction would pay for incentive program====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 9Your team projects that the incentive plan has the potential to reduce referrals by 5 percent in its first year, and an additional 2 percent in its second year. If these projections are correct, how much referral cost could Magna save in total over the first two years of the incentive plan?ANSWER 9Referral costs would be $4.14 million lower in the second year. Over the two years Magna would save $7.14 million. One potential approach to the calculation:Year 1 Savings with Program300,000 total referrals5 percent reduction in referrals = 15,000 referrals15,000 x $200 = $3.0 million in savings in year 1Year 2 Savings with Program285,000 total referrals2 percent reduction in referrals = 5,700 referrals5,700 x $200 = $1.14 million in savings$3 + $1.14 = $4.14 million in savingsTherefore, total cumulative savings over the 2 years = Year 1 savings + Year 2 savings = $3.0m + $4.14m = $7.14m.====================================================================== =======================================QUESTION 10Your team presents its physician incentive proposal to Magna’s CEO. The CEO, in consultation with his medical director, agrees that this is feasible and says that they will definitely pilot the overall higher fees to primary care physicians to handle more of the basic cardiology needs and they will think about the idea with the bonuses again due to the ethical concerns the team raised.At the end of the meeting the CEO says, "I like the work you’ve done, but even if we did implement the bonus payment it's not enough to address our current financial situation. Physicians are professionals who care deeply about patient care and I think there's a limit to how much cost we can expect to reduce utilizing financial incentives exclusively. Besides cardiac financial incentive programs, what other ideas should we consider to reduce the cost of Magna's specialist referrals?"Based on what we have discussed today, and any other ideas you might have, how would you respond to the CEO?ANSWER 10You may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. This question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. You might give the following response:Pursue additional ways to change physician behaviorProvide training on how to treat patients with minor or stable medical problemsDefine and clarify medical guidelines for referrals (e.g., establish a medical committee to define the difference between “serious” and "minor" heart disease)Institute peer review committee charged with approving a subset of referrals (e.g., those that are considered "high cost")Spend time investigating "outlier" physicians (i.e., those who seem to refer patients to specialists at much higher rates than others) to determine how widespread the referral problem is and whether simply focusing on a few physicians will dramatically reduce referral costsDetermine whether Magna can reduce referral costs in the other medical areas where it does not have specialists (i.e., neurosurgery)Look at the contracts Magna has for specialist services to determine if it is paying too much relative to competitorsConsider whether bringing cardiology, neurosurgery, and oncology specialists in-house (i.e., within Magna) might reduce cost转载请注明出自应届生求职招聘论坛,本贴地址:6794-1-1.html。

McKiney On line case studyTo step through this case example, we will give you some information, ask a question, and then, when you are ready, give you a sample answer. We hope that the exercise will give you a sense of the flow of a case interview. (Please note, you can stop this exercise and pick up where you left off later. Your cookies must be on to use this feature).In this exercise, you will answer a series of questions as the case unfolds. We provide our recommended answers after each question, with which you can compare your own answers. We want to emphasize that most questions in a case study do not have a single right answer. In a live case interview, we are more interested in your explanation of how you arrived at your answer, not just the answer itself. An interviewer can always assess different but equally valid ways of approaching an issue, and then bring you back to the particular line of inquiry that he or she wants to pursue.You should also keep in mind that in a live case, there will be far more interaction with the interviewer than this exercise allows. For example, you will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions.Finally, a live case interview would typically be completed in 30 - 45 minutes, depending on how the case evolves. In this on-line exercise, there is no time limit.There are eight questions in this on-line case study. This case study is designed to roughly simulate one during your interview, so you will not be able to skip ahead to the next question until you have answered the one you are on. You can refresh your memory of previous answers by clicking the highlighted Q&A links to the left. To print the answer, click on the print icon that appears in the TOP RIGHT corner. At the end, you can print the entire on-line case study at once.The caseQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q1: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal?A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.•Attract more applicants at the same cost•Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potential campusesand eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).•Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality ., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would have performedequally well in the job)•Improve acceptance rates among offerees ., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the job relative toalternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.•Review the list of campuses targeted ., optimize resource allocation across schools).The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.•Review recruiting approach at each campus ., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q2: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted? What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and why?A: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis:•Estimate the hiring potential across schools•Analyze the number of hires by school over the last several years•Develop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements and a minimum set of standards for recruits•Survey seniors at these schools to determine interest in an entry-level position with the client•Consider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine how that class might be segmented ., each class could be segmented by discipline orsegmented based on career interests in response to the survey), thencalculate the size of each segment•Estimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schools•Compare the current cost-per hire across schools•Identify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates ., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q3: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates? Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hiresThe number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools ., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to know?A: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:•What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)?•What opportunities exist to reduce costs?•How much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities?•What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at the least efficient schools?Questions demonstrating further insight:•Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schools?•If we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings ., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently being spent)?Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising ., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campus?A: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below:•Improve/enhance recruiting messages ., understand target candidate group, refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)•Utilize referrals ., faculty, alumni)•Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school•Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q6: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this information?A: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B ., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to Leadership?A: The answer is 20 candidates ., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question8Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed today?A: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd considerourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGS•There appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost:•Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changing the advertising message on some campuses could increase applicantssignificantly without increasing costs. At one of the campuses we've lookedat, University 4, the number of applicants would go up more than 100percent•The cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places orreallocate resources more efficientlyNEXT STEPS•We plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schools•After looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate ., ensure we're not turning down qualityapplicants) and to increase the acceptance rate•We will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses ., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。

Thank you for taking part in the On-Line Case Study. You will note that this exercise does not have the kind of latitude necessary to develop findings. Rather, we chose to focus on next steps in response to question eight. In a live case interview, however, you will be expected to derive specific findings based on your analysis. Interviewing techniques may vary depending on the office or practice you are applying to, but we hope this exercise has been useful in helping you prepare.To get a full copy of all the questions and answers (including yours) from the case study, click on the print icon.You can learn more about the possible exercises you may be asked to perform at your McKinsey interview by clicking on the Case Study Tips item in the navigation to the left.Good luck.On-Line Case Study Questions and AnswersQuestion 1Client Goal: Double the number of recruits while maintaining their quality with minimal increase in resources expendedOur client recruits graduating college seniors for entry-level positions in locations around the world. It currently hires and places 500 graduates per year but would like to triple in size over the next ten years while maintaining quality. Assume that the increase must all come from hiring graduating seniors. (In an actual case, you may not be given this and other assumptions unless you ask.)The client's current recruiting budget is $2 million annually, and while it is in a strong financial position, it would like to spend as few additional resources as possible on recruiting. McKinsey is advising the client on what steps it will need to take in order to meet its growth targets, while staying within its budget constraints.Q: What levers does the organization have at its disposal to achieve its growth goal?A: Some possible levers are given below. It's terrific if you identified several of these and perhaps some others.∙Attract more applicants at the same cost∙Review the list of campuses targeted (e.g., optimize resource allocation across schools). The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses andeliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.∙Review recruiting approach at each campus (e.g., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).∙Extend offers to a higher percentage of applicants while maintaining quality (e.g., reduce the number of people who are turned down who would have performed equally well in the job)∙Improve acceptance rates among offerees (e.g., better communicate the benefits of the job relative to alternatives or improve the attractiveness of the job relative to alternatives)Question 2For the remainder of the discussion we'd like to focus on the two specific levers involving attracting more applicants at the same cost.∙Review the list of campuses targeted (e.g., optimize resource allocation across schools).The review may result in adding certain higher potential campuses and eliminating other ones that appear to have more limited potential.∙Review recruiting approach at each campus (e.g., optimize cost-effectiveness of messages and approaches at each school).Please note that if you identified different but equally valid levers, the interviewer would be able to assess them. But for the purpose of this case study, we are going to focus on these two levers.Q: How would you initially approach determining whether the client can increase hiring by adjusting the list of campuses targeted? What sort of analysis would you want to conduct and why?A: You might take the following approach, where we've outlined two avenues of analysis:∙Estimate the hiring potential across schools∙Analyze the number of hires by school over the last several years∙Develop a comprehensive list of schools that meet our requirements and a minimum set of standards for recruits∙Survey seniors at these schools to determine interest in an entry-level position with the client∙Consider the size of the graduating class at each school, determine how that class might be segmented (e.g., each class could be segmented by discipline orsegmented based on career interests in response to the survey), then calculatethe size of each segment∙Estimate the optimal cost-per-hire across schools∙Compare the current cost-per hire across schools∙Identify opportunities to decrease the cost-per-hire at each schoolHelpful TipYou may have a slightly different list. Whatever your approach, we love to see candidates come at a problem in more than one way, but still address the issue as directly and practically as possible. In giving the answer, it's useful if you are clear about how the results of the analysis would help to answer the original question posed.Question 3Twenty-five percent of the annual recruiting budget is spent on candidates (i.e., attracting, assessing, and getting them to accept). Twenty percent of hires are categorized as "most expensive" and have an average cost-per-hire of $2,000.Q: What is the average cost-per-hire of all other candidates? Remember that the client hires 500 students per year and its annual recruiting budget is $2 million (information that we hope you noted earlier).A: The answer is $750 per hire (or less than half the cost-per-hire of the "most expensive" candidates).Amount spent on the less expensive candidates:25% of $2 million budget = $500,000 spent on candidates20% of 500 student = 100 students categorized as "most expensive"100 x $2,000 cost-per-hire = $200,000 spent on "most expensive" hires$500,000 recruiting budget - $200,000 = $300,000 remaining for all other hiresThe number of less expensive candidates:500 hires - 100 = 400 "other hires"Cost-per-hire of the less expensive candidates:$300,000/400 =$750 per hireHelpful TipWhile you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real time.Question 4Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools (i.e., those with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to know?A: Some of the possible answers are given below.Basic questions:∙What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)?∙What opportunities exist to reduce costs?∙How much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities?∙What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at the least efficient schools?Questions demonstrating further insight:∙Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schools?∙If we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings (i.e., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently being spent)?Helpful TipWe would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the right decision.Question 5The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket advertising (e.g., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in hires.Q: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective, and the client doesn't want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for increasing the candidate pool on a specific campus?A: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below:∙Improve/enhance recruiting messages (e.g., understand target candidate group, refocus message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus) ∙Utilize referrals (e.g., faculty, alumni)∙Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school∙Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn't seem to work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted wayHelpful TipThis question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there's a long list of possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it would cost are helpful.Question 6For simplicity's sake, let's say we've conducted market research and found that there are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one percent of type A studentsto apply, but three percent of type B students. The second, called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two percent of type B students.The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.Q: Assuming there's no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me from this information?A: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80% of the students at a given university are of type B.Helpful TipAn even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus, and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B (e.g., will one type be more likely than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in hires.Question 7University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.Q: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at University 4 to Pathway to Leadership?A: The answer is 20 candidates (i.e., an increase of over 100%).Number of each type of student at University 4:1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B studentsCandidates attracted be See the World message:(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidatesCandidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidatesIncrease in candidates resulting from change in message:38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)Question 8Q: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we'd like to take based on what we have discussed today?A: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we'd consider ourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following points:FINDINGS∙There appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost:∙Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changing the advertising message on some campuses could increase applicants significantlywithout increasing costs. At one of the campuses we've looked at, University 4,the number of applicants would go up more than 100 percent∙The cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places or reallocateresources more efficientlyNEXT STEPS∙We plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schools∙After looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities to improve the offer rate (i.e., ensure we're not turning down quality applicants) and to increase the acceptance rate∙We will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current campuses (e.g., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on campus。