剑桥商学院管理咨询集团案例补编(编辑修改稿)

剑桥商学院管理咨询集团案例补编(编辑修改稿)内容摘要：

rch? 3. Ask Questions… Concise amp。 Logical 4. Remember to listen to the answers you get 5. Maintain eye contact 6. Take your time 7. Lay out a road may for the interviewer 8. Think out loud. Drawing out the problem also helps as consultants are often very visually based. 9. Present thinking in a clear, logical manner. Where useful use frameworks and business concepts to anize your answer. 10. Quickly summarize your conclusions at the end CASE FRAMEWORKS As you approach Case Interviews you will hear a great deal about frameworks. So what is a framework? These are methods that have been found to be useful in Practicing Cases Management Consulting Group Casebook 20xx20xx 6 structuring your thought process. Many of these are models and concepts are right out of classes such as marketing and economics. The benefit to following a framework is that it provides a logical flow to your story when analyzing the problem. DO NOT fall into the trap that there is a framework that will solve every type of case or that you need to follow a framework to be successful in ―cracking‖ the case. Many cases you will encounter are specifically scripted to tempt you to try and follow one of the standard frameworks and draw you into a lengthy discussion that will waste valuable time. A mon method of effectively using frameworks is to understand and integrate them into your personal methodology of approaching the case. The MCG will be sponsoring several events this fall that will focus on providing you with more indepth discussion on the basic frameworks. Basic Frameworks The following are methods that will work with most any case:  Costbenefit analysis Basic microeconomics and strategy concepts  Internal vs. external market factors Strategy and marketing concepts  Fixed vs. variable costs – Microeconomics concept  Opportunity Costs Microeconomics concept Porter’s Five Forces (Strategy)  Before any pany expands into new markets, divests product lines, acquires new businesses, or sells divisions it should view the 5 forces. 1. Potential entrants – What is the threat of new entrants into the market? 2. Suppliers – How much bargaining power do suppliers bear? 3. Competition – What rivalry exists among present petitors? 4. Buyers – How much bargaining power do buyers have? 5. Substitutes – What is the threat of substitute products amp。 services? Product Life Cycle (Marketing)  Maturity of the product or service 1. Emerging – Sales gaining, negative profits. Concentrate on Ramp。 D and engineering, define product and generate need with little or no petition 2. Growth – Sales increasing, profits being positive. Emphasize marketing, manage rapid growth, focus on quality, and expect new entrants. 3. Maturity – Sales starting to plateau, profits plateau. Focus on manufacturing costs, Prices fall and petition increases. 4. Declining – Decrease across sales amp。 profits. Highcost and lowshare petitors exist, focus on being lowcost or niche strategy The Four Ps (Marketing) 1. Price: Predatory or Premium effect. 2. Product: Product meets a particular customer need. Or extension of existing products, thus less benefit. 3. Position / Place: Physical location is an advantage if superior to petition. Easier to consume for buyers. 4. Promotion: What can it do to stand out in category? The Four Cs (Marketing) Especially useful for analyzing new product intros and industry analysis  Customers Management Consulting Group Casebook 20xx20xx 7  How is the market segmented  What are the purchase criteria customers use  Competition  What is the market share of the client  What is the market position  What is the strategy  What is their cost position  Do they have market advantages  Cost  What kind of economies of scale does the client have  What is the client’s experience curve  Will increase production lower costs  Capabilities  What resource can the client draw from  How is the client anized  What is the production system BCG Matrix Market Share vs. Growth Rate (Marketing) High Growth Low High Low Relative Market Share (RMS) A CASE INTERVIEW EXAMPLE Case Title: Jams amp。 Jelly Company Background: Our client is a jam amp。 jelly manufacturer in the New England area. They have experienced a drop in profitability over the past few years. Question: Why has profitability fallen? Available Information:  Profitability decreased 2 years ago.  Firm is a single store operation. Niche player so no major petitors.  Product is a premium jam / jelly product line.  Small operation, with no new capital, labor, operations investment expenditures in the past few years.  Revenues have increased  Volume has gone up Dog Cash Cow Question Mark Star Management Consulting Group Casebook 20xx20xx 8  Prices have stayed the same  Product mix has stayed the same  No changes in direct material, labor, overhead. But transportation costs have risen.  Transportation change was instituted a little over 2 years ago (26 months ago).  Shipping was done to allow for sales in New York and Boston.  The distribution is done by another local firm. They are charging us at the rate of transportation, no profit for them. We pass these costs on to our customers.  Bad products are returned with a full refund. Jellies and jams go bad with low temperatures. Approaches: Interviewee 1 Interviewee 2  This sounds like a profitability case. I’d like to break this initially into revenue and cost issues. I would guess jams amp。 jellies have a relatively stable cost structure. So I’d like to start with revenues.  When did profitability drop?  Starting with revenues. What’s。