PLACEMENT PREPARATION KIT-

Consulting

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 Definition of Consulting
Consulting means “engaged in the business of giving expert advice to
people working in a specific field.” In other words, a consultant is somebody
who gives advice to a specific group of people.

Types of Consulting
•Strategy Consultant.
•Management Consultant.
•Operations Consultant.
•Financial Advisory Consultant
•Human Resource Consultant
•IT Consultant.

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 5 P’s of Strategy
In 1987, the Canadian management scientist Henry Mintzberg distinguished five
visions for strategy for organisations. He calls them the 5 P’s of Strategy. They
stand for Plan, Pattern, Position, Perspective and Ploy. These five
components allow an organisation to implement a more effective strategy.
Plan - A strategy is a plan for dealing with
situations. A plan has to be made before possible
actions are taken and it’s also important that the
plan is followed consciously and effectively.
Pattern - Where making a plan is about the
intended strategy, patterns are about strategies that
have been implemented before.
Position - This is about the
organisation’s position in the market, the interaction
between the internal and external context.
Perspective - Strategy is about more than the
chosen position; it’s also about the larger
perspective. Ploy - It’s also a strategic choice to use
a ploy. For instance one that competitors don’t
expect.

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 Porter’s 5 Forces Framework
The industry level analysis is usually done through Porter’s 5 forces framework
It helps a firm to decide whether to enter an industry or not.
For an industry to be attractive for entry, all the 5 aspects to be categorized as
low.

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 PESTEL Analysis
A PESTEL analysis is an acronym for a tool used to identify the macro (external)
forces facing an organisation. The letters stand for Political, Economic, Social,
Technological, Environmental and Legal. Depending on the organisation, it can be reduced
to PEST or some areas can be added (e.g. Ethical)

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 BCG Matrix
BCG matrix (or growth-share matrix) is a corporate planning tool, which is used
to portray firm’s brand portfolio or SBUs on a quadrant along relative market
share axis (horizontal axis) and speed of market growth (vertical axis) axis.
Dogs - Dogs hold low market share
compared to competitors and operate in a
slowly growing market. In general, they are
not worth investing in because they
generate low or negative cash returns.
Cash Cows - Cash cows are the most
profitable brands and should be “milked” to
provide as much cash as possible.
Stars - Stars operate in high growth
industries and maintain high market share.
Stars are both cash generators and cash
users.
Question Marks - Question marks are the
brands that require much closer
consideration. They hold low market share
in fast growing markets consuming large
amount of cash and incurring losses.
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 SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique used to help a person or
organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related
to business competition or project planning

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 McKinsey 7S Framework
McKinsey 7s model is a tool that analyses firm’s organizational design by looking at 7 key
internal elements: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills, in
order to identify if they are effectively aligned and allow organization to achieve its
objectives.
In McKinsey model, the seven
areas of organization are
divided into the ‘soft’ and ‘hard’
areas.
• Strategy, structure and
systems are hard elements
that are much easier to
identify and manage when
compared to soft elements.
• On the other hand, soft
areas, although harder to
manage, are the foundation
of the organization and are
more likely to create the
sustained competitive
advantage.
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 Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix, also called the Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a tool used
by firms to analyse and plan their strategies for growth. The matrix shows four
strategies that can be used to help a firm grow and also analyses the risk
associated with each strategy. Learn more about business strategy in CFI’s
Business Strategy Course.

1.Market Penetration: This focuses

on increasing sales of existing
products to an existing market.
2.Product Development: Focuses on
introducing new products to an
existing market.
3.Market Development: This strategy
focuses on entering a new market
using existing products.
4.Diversification: Focuses on
entering a new market with the
introduction of new products.

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 Value Chain Analysis
It is used to identify the value adding activities for a given firm and then changing
them to achieve the required differentiation or to reduce cost as per strategy.

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 4Ps Framework
The 4 Ps are used by companies to identify some key factors for their business,
including what consumers want from them, how their product or service meets or
fails to meet those needs, how their product or service is perceived in the world,
how they stand out from their competitors, and how they interact with their
customers.

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 5C’s Framework
CUSTOMER
COMPETITORS
Market size & growth
Actual/Potential
Market segments
Direct/Indirect
Benefits sought by customers
Market shares
Motivation behind purchase- Value, Cost benefit
Products
Decision maker
Positioning
Retail chain
Strengths & Weaknesses
Buying process- Impulse, Careful comparison
Frequency of purchase COMPANY
Quantity purchased Product line
Market image
COLLABORATORS Technology & experience
CLIMATE
- Outside source that can help Goals
Political
the company Culture Economic
- Distributors Social
- Suppliers Technological
- Alliances

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 Strategy Diamond
The strategy diamond model was developed by strategy researchers Don
Hambrick and Jim Fredrickson as a framework for checking and communicating
a strategy. The strategy diamond framework can be used systematically to
examine a venture’s strategy logic and its strategy execution.

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 Porter’s Generic Strategy
Porter's generic strategies describe how a company pursues competitive advantage across
its chosen market scope.
• There are three/four generic strategies, either lower cost, differentiated, or focus.
• A company chooses to pursue one of two types of competitive advantage, either via
lower costs than its competition or by differentiating itself along dimensions valued by
customers to command a higher price.
• A company also chooses one of two types of scope, either focus (offering its products to
selected segments of the market) or industry-wide, offering its product across many
market segments.
• The generic strategy reflects the choices made regarding both the type of competitive
advantage and the scope.

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 Guesstimates
A ‘guesstimate’ requires a candidate to arrive at a quantitative estimate for a variable based on
sound assumptions and logical reasoning.

• The interviewer is looking out for four key traits in this interview.
1. How structured is your approach?
2. How comfortable are you with numbers?
3. Are you able to make quick checks on the efficiency of different methods?
4. Can you do back of the mind calculations and validate the magnitude of numbers?

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Solving A Guesstimates

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Solving A Guesstimates

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 Business Case Interview
A Case interview is a job interview with business contents. You will interact with
an interviewer to analyse and solve case studies of business problems. That’s
why it’s called “case interview”.
How to Proceed a Case Interview

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 Sample Guesstimate Questions
1. How Many Penguins Can Live in Antarctica?
2. What is Market Size of Acoustic Guitar in New Delhi?
3. How Many People Are in the Air of India Right Now?
4. How many lightbulbs are there in Mumbai?
5. What is Indigo’s weekly revenue for the Mumbai to New Delhi route?
6. What is no. of cricket balls required to manufacture per year in India?
7. What is the monthly revenue of your hair salon?
8. How many school teachers are there in Kolkata?
9. What is the monthly profit of your favourite restaurant?
10. How many flat screen televisions have been sold in India in the past 12
months?
11. How many iPhones are currently being used in India?
12. Are there more iPhones in operation in the U.S. or in China?
13. How many trees are there in Bangalore?
14. How many trees are used to manufacture A4 sheet papers?
15. What is the Revenue for the smartphone market in India?

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 Sample Case Interview Questions
1. How much time does it take to relocated an average size mountain 10 miles using an
average size dump truck?
2. Your client is a $300 million a year copper mining company. This year it has lost $50
million. How do you turn it around?
3. How many gallons of gasoline does an average gas station in America sell on an
average day?
4. Your client is a ski resort. Global warming has made it such that natural snowfall has
been reduced by 50%. They client is concerned. What should they do and why?
5. Your client is a gas station and the market is so competitive that they make no
money on gasoline sales. All the profit is in convenience store sales. What is the
profit maximizing way to layout the convenience store and why?
6. Your client is Motorola. The year is 1980. They just invented the cellular phone 3
years ago. They want you to estimate the market demand for cell phones over the
next 30 years and tell them if there is a market for this invention (and prove it)
7. Volvo claims it is the safest car in the world because fewer people die in a Volvo than
in a car made by any other manufacturer in the world. What's wrong with this
conclusion?
8. Your nephew runs a lemonade stand. Yesterday was Monday and he was open from
2pm - 5pm, and sold 2 cups. What should he do differently tomorrow?
9. Client X is deciding how best to enter a new market. They have a choice of buying
an existing company, or developing the technology in-house. How would you think
about advising them to make the best decision
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 Sample Interview Questions

1. Why consulting?
2. Why do you want to work for this company?
3. Why should you be selected or rejected?
4. Tell us about your skills.
5. Tell us about your short term and long term goals.
6. What are you biggest achievement and failure?
7. Tell us about your strength & weaknesses.
8. What do you think makes a good management consultant?
9. Tell us about your previous work experience & 3 key takeaways.
10. Describe a problem you encountered in a work environment and how you
handled it/solved the issue.
11. If you do not get into consulting what will you do?
12. Please describe your most important leadership experience and the impact
that you had as a leader.
13. Give me an example of where you did something unpopular and had to
stand up for yourself at work.
14. Where do you see yourself in five years down the line?

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