Case Almanac

Case Almanac
by
IIT Kanpur Consulting Group

Copyright © 2023
F IRST AUTHOR : Advait Vashi

S ECOND AUTHORS : Akshat Goyal, Keshav Agrawal, Mohika Agarwal, Shivangi Yadav
S PECIAL THANKS TO : Team ICG 2022-23, Tushar Goswamy, Vatsalya Tandon
iitkconsult.org
First Edition, August 2023
For feedback, kindly mail us at: iitkconsult@gmail.com

Contents
I Theory Section
1 Management Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1 How to use this Casebook? 7
1.2 What is Management Consulting? 8
1.3 What is expected of a Management Consultant? 8
1.4 What are Case Interviews? 8
1.5 Frameworks and Resources 9
2 Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Interview Tips from Seniors 11
2.2 Suggestive Timeline for Internships 13
2.3 Suggestive Timeline for Placements 14
2.4 D-day 14
II Cases Section
3 Cases: Guesstimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Case 1 (Cricket Countdown, A&M) 17
3.2 Case 2 (Pharmacy Potential, Bain) 18
3.3 Case 3 (Soda Summation, ICG*) 20
3.4 Case 4 (Tea Tally, ICG*) 21
4
3.5 Case 5 (Energy Estimate, Dalberg) 22

3.6 Case 6 (Newspaper Network, ICG*) 23
3.7 Case 7 (Cash Capital, McKinsey) 25
4 Cases: Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 Case 1 (Cattle Cravings, A&M) 27
4.2 Case 2 (Restaurant Rundown, Bain) 30
4.3 Case 3 (Medicine Mayhem, Bain) 34
4.4 Case 4 (Fishy Fishes, Bain) 36
4.5 Case 5 (Flower Fiasco, ADL) 39
4.6 Case 6 (Rattled Ratatouille, BCG) 42
5 Cases: Unconventional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.1 Case 1 (Attendance Apathy, Bain) 47
5.2 Case 2 (Attendance Apathy 2, BCG) 49
5.3 Case 3 (Attrition Avalanche, A&M) 50
5.4 Case 4 (Partner Predicament, BCG) 52
5.5 Case 5 (Pocket-Money Problems, ICG*) 54
I
Theory Section
1 Management Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1 How to use this Casebook?
1.2 What is Management Consulting?
1.3 What is expected of a Management Consultant?
1.4 What are Case Interviews?
1.5 Frameworks and Resources
2 Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Interview Tips from Seniors
2.2 Suggestive Timeline for Internships
2.3 Suggestive Timeline for Placements
2.4 D-day
1. Management Consulting
1.1 How to use this Casebook?

This casebook is an elementary introduction to management consulting and has 18 cases
that can be used for practice. It also contains a few tips collected from our seniors (make
sure to put them to use). It is not exhaustive, and we recommend you refer to other
resources that you may find on YouTube or any other reading material. It might also
be a great idea to speak to your seniors, who may guide you, and keep you motivated
throughout the process.
’Statements in italics’ are from the interviewee, and ’Statements in regular font’ are from
the interviewer’s end. To all the first-time interviewers, it is recommended you read the
complete case and make a mental story that you follow throughout the case. If you want to
make the case difficult for your friend, do not reveal information until specific questions
are asked. But keep in mind, it is not wrong to give the interviewee a little nudge in the
right direction if they seem stuck.
To practice cases, it is best to form a group of 3 and practice cases in a cyclic format, with
one interviewer, one interviewee, and one observer. The role of the observer is to try to
solve the case independently and learn all the good habits of the interviewee. At the end of
the case, there is a round of feedback for the interviewee and interviewer.
What matters more than solving a case is learning from the cases you have done that day.
So it is recommended you start early and do fewer cases a day. We recommend that one
round of cases a day is the right amount. At the end of the round, keep building on your
toolkit by taking notes and incorporating them the next time a similar situation shows up.
Also, note that the approach to the cases in this book is one of many. It is acceptable if the
interviewee uses a different approach but is structured and intuitively makes sense. It is
8 Chapter 1. Management Consulting
not necessary to follow the same structure rigidly.
1.2 What is Management Consulting?

Management Consulting is a field in which consultants help organizations be more efficient
by analyzing business problems and developing improvement plans. In today’s world,
businesses have become so complex that identifying internal problems and strategizing
solutions has become difficult. Management consulting bridges this gap and helps provide
a third-person perspective with potential solutions and their implementation strategies.
1.3 What is expected of a Management Consultant?

Management consultants are expected to be analytical, strategic thinkers with excellent
problem-solving skills. They should be able to work well with others and have strong
communication and interpersonal skills. They should also be able to adapt quickly to
changing situations and have a strong work ethic.
In addition to the mentioned skills, management consultants should be able to manage

their time effectively and prioritize tasks. They should also be able to think creatively
and outside the box to find innovative solutions to complex problems. Strong business
acumen and knowledge of different industries can also be beneficial. Finally, management
consultants should always strive to learn and improve their skills and knowledge to provide
the best possible service to their clients, while being friendly and approachable.
1.4 What are Case Interviews?

Case interviews are commonly used in the consulting industry to assess a candidate’s
problem-solving ability. In a case interview, the interviewer presents the candidate with a
business problem or scenario and asks them to analyze the situation, identify the key issues,
and develop solutions or recommendations. The interviewer is looking for the candidate’s
ability to approach a problem logically, in a structured manner, and communicate their
thought process effectively. The aim of the interview for the interviewee is to let the
interviewer know that they can solve any problem thrown at them. So, jumping to solutions
and any other activity which might seem like a lucky guess should be avoided. Case
interviews can be challenging, but candidates can improve their performance with practice
and preparation.
Your interaction will be with a buddy, manager, or partner-level employee at the firm. It
should include two broad sections, a personal experience section, and a case section. The
personal experience section is for the employer to reasonably understand your motivation
and goals and run a culture fit check. Doing well in both sections is essential to make it
across to an offer.
Here are some tips to help you prepare for a case interview:
Practice, practice, practice: As you practice cases, you will become more comfort-
able with the format and be better prepared.
1.5 Frameworks and Resources 9
Understand the business problem: Take the time to read and understand the prob-
lem presented to you. Make sure you ask clarifying questions if you need to.
Use a structured approach: Use a framework or a structured approach to analyze

the situation. This will help you stay organized and focused.
Communicate clearly: Make sure you communicate your thought process clearly
and effectively. Speak in a structured and organized way. This helps the interviewer
stay on track with you throughout.
Be creative: Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and come up with innovative
solutions.
Practice mental math: Case interviews often involve calculations, so brushing up

on your mental math skills is advised.
Manage your time: Ensure you are aware of the time constraints and effectively
manage your time. Case interviews usually take around 30-35 minutes. Taking extra
time unnecessarily might count towards a bad rating.
1.5 Frameworks and Resources

This casebook does not delve deep into case interview theory, different ways to make
case groups and the best practice strategies. You can refer to the vast sea of resources in
the form of YouTube Videos, casebooks of other institutions and authors, and, of course,
the resources mentioned on management consulting firms’ websites. These are some
frameworks that will help you get started, but we highly recommend you research the use
cases of these frameworks and also ask your seniors for other preparation resources.
ADL Matrix: Analyzes a company’s strategic options based on market growth rate
and relative market share.
Ansoff Matrix: Analyzes a company’s strategic options for growth in terms of

market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
Balanced Scorecard: Measures a company’s performance using financial and non-

financial metrics to ensure that strategy execution is aligned with organizational goals.
BCG Matrix: Analyzes a company’s product portfolio to determine which products

are generating high profits and which are not.
GE Matrix: Analyzes a company’s business units based on their market attractive-

ness and business strength.
Lean Six Sigma: Combines lean manufacturing principles and Six Sigma methods
to improve efficiency and reduce defects in processes.
McKinsey 7-S Framework: Focuses on seven elements that are essential for organi-
10 Chapter 1. Management Consulting
zational success, including strategy, structure, systems, staff, skills, style, and shared
values.
Porter’s Five Forces: Analyzes an industry’s competitive forces, including the threat
of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat of substitutes, and
rivalry among existing competitors.
SWOT Analysis: Evaluates an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,

and threats to develop a strategic plan for improvement.
Value Chain Analysis: Analyzes the activities involved in creating a product or

service to identify ways to create more value for customers.
2. Pointers
2.1 Interview Tips from Seniors

As mentioned earlier, there are two sections to a case interview: a Personal Experience
Section and a Case Interview Section.
The Personal Experience section aims to provide a platform for the employer to delve
deeper into your interests and engagements that you may have shared with them through
your resume. Much like a normal conversation, this section of the interview is your chance
to showcase your experiences and motivation that has led you to apply and why you feel
you should be considered.
1. In a resume full of varied activities you may have participated in, know every bit
of detail and your most impactful contributions to these activities. Interviewers are
keen to know how you were indispensable in a specific activity.
2. Strong presence of mind is a fundamental expectation. Be ready to talk about and

around the fields/domains of activities mentioned on your resume. Be structured in
your conversation.
3. Do not be limited to just your resume. Your resume is a compilation of most of your
accomplishments, but do not shy away from talking beyond it if it helps.
4. Expect to be asked questions you may have heard before. Do not deliver answers
you have mugged up or would be unable to defend if followed up. An interviewer is
trying to understand you better, and leading to panicking ‘Ums’ and ‘Ahs’ will only
put you in a more challenging situation to get out of.
5. Treat the interview as a two-way conversation. Knowing better about the interviewer
12 Chapter 2. Pointers
will only help you lead a better, more fruitful discussion with them and connect better.
The Case Interviews are aimed at testing skill sets you would be expected to use daily at
work. Through this section, expect to be placed in tricky situations where prompt thinking
and efficient communication should help you figure out how to reach the end.
1. You will be provided with some information about the case at the start. Take some
time to think about the information you would require to devise a strategy to begin
the case.
2. Think of appropriate preliminary questions to finalize a strategy. Do not jump to

conclusions based on any new information you receive. If the given information does
not fit into your current structure, note it down on the side, as it might be useful later
in the case.
3. Be structured in all communication you do through the case. Following the MECE
(Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive) rule will help you break the problem
down into multiple smaller problems and work them discretely.
4. Continuously communicate with the interviewer to engage them in your problem-

solving process and mutually discuss and work towards the solution. Do not sit
quietly while formulating the structure. Rather, talk the interviewer through your
thought process. It is not wrong to take a brief 20-second pause while formulating
the optimal strategy, but always think aloud while illustrating the structure. Your
questions however structured may seem like random guesses unless you convey your
approach clearly.
Taking some confident steps to reduce the time taken to get to the solution would be
appreciated. Choosing to run down a specific stream of problems with a hypothesis in
consensus with the interviewer will help you drill down the problem quicker and more
efficiently. Also, involving excerpts from the personal experience section to lead to mean-
ingful discussion is highly appreciated.
Upon identifying a root cause in your case, do not skip the rest of the solution. En-
sure to have exhausted all analysis entirely. Reach the end of the case with all possible
causes of the problem.
While providing corrective recommendations and their backing, do not leave being struc-
tured. Addressing a comprehensive list of recommendations at the end places the cherry
on the cake.
While solving cases, you are free to use the theory of case frameworks and popular
practices used to analyze a case. These frameworks are widespread and are hence con-
sidered positive to employ in your problem-solving. But, do not get robotic with your
approach, i.e., identify and use the contextually appropriate case frameworks and theory
to proceed in your interview. Another approach would be to come up with your own
structures during practice, which can be derived from the popular ones. Although, do
not do this until you are confident about correctly using the popular frameworks as they
2.2 Suggestive Timeline for Internships 13
are. An interviewer would be quick to notice this. Pay attention to the human touch of
problem-solving and not just fitting everything into a framework.
Here are a few tips to keep your nerve:
1. Practice is the key. Knowing the breadth of cases that you have practiced before an
actual interview should keep you calm and less likely to face a surprise.
2. Treat the whole interview as a conversation. Using the first couple of minutes in the
interview to get to know the interviewer and understand their expectations will help
you curate better conversations and discussions.
3. Do not forget to communicate when you feel stuck. It is only natural to feel over-
whelmed with all the information you may have been bombarded with. Communi-
cating continuously with the interviewer will allow them to keep pace with you and
provide assistance wherever they feel it is required. Similarly, asking for help where
you are stuck will reflect your ability to identify your situation and make amends as
needed.
2.2 Suggestive Timeline for Internships

14 Chapter 2. Pointers
2.3 Suggestive Timeline for Placements
2.4 D-day
To give you some perspective and help you plan better, knowing what to expect on the
day of the interview is essential. The final test, although daunting, only feels so before the
interviews start. Having a shortlist at multiple firms makes it hard to keep track of time as
you run in and out of interviews. It is an actual test of your patience, grit and resilience. It
is vital to remain calm and understand that freaking out over not being called for round X
of firm Y as your friends share their advancements should not shake you to the extent that
you underperform in your subsequent rounds. Always stay positive and know that you will
be fine no matter what, "Sometimes we are just too close to the puzzle to see the picture
that is forming.” ∼ Ted Mosby. All The Best!
II
Cases Section
3 Cases: Guesstimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Case 1 (Cricket Countdown, A&M)
3.2 Case 2 (Pharmacy Potential, Bain)
3.3 Case 3 (Soda Summation, ICG*)
3.4 Case 4 (Tea Tally, ICG*)
3.5 Case 5 (Energy Estimate, Dalberg)
3.6 Case 6 (Newspaper Network, ICG*)
3.7 Case 7 (Cash Capital, McKinsey)
4 Cases: Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 Case 1 (Cattle Cravings, A&M)
4.2 Case 2 (Restaurant Rundown, Bain)
4.3 Case 3 (Medicine Mayhem, Bain)
4.4 Case 4 (Fishy Fishes, Bain)
4.5 Case 5 (Flower Fiasco, ADL)
4.6 Case 6 (Rattled Ratatouille, BCG)
5 Cases: Unconventional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.1 Case 1 (Attendance Apathy, Bain)
5.2 Case 2 (Attendance Apathy 2, BCG)
5.3 Case 3 (Attrition Avalanche, A&M)
5.4 Case 4 (Partner Predicament, BCG)
5.5 Case 5 (Pocket-Money Problems, ICG*)
3. Cases: Guesstimates
Vashi’s Note: Guesstimates teach you the basics of structuring mathematically, finding
the correct bottlenecks, and are the stepping stone to solving cases. Sometimes, cases also
include guesstimates that test your quant ability with general knowledge, so mastering
them is essential.
Mohika’s Note: It is not necessary that the interviewee reaches the exact same number
that is derived here, or uses the same approach. It should, however, be of the same order.
3.1 Case 1 (Cricket Countdown, A&M)

Question: Can you tell me the number of cricket balls used in the Inter IIT sports
meet?
Preliminary Questions
1. Do we consider only balls used during the matches or even the balls used in practice?
Just the match balls.
2. What kind of matches are being played? Are these one-day matches, T-20, or test?
T-20 matches.
3. What is the format of the tournament?

Each team will play against each other, and the top 4 teams will go into the semifinals,
which will lead to the final.
4. How many IITs are participating? How many teams are participating from each IIT?
Take ’N’ IITs to be participating, with each having one team.
Note: In case the interviewee is stuck, or the case has to be made simpler, here N
can be replaced with 23.
18 Chapter 3. Cases: Guesstimates
5. How often are the balls changed? Are they changed after every few overs?
No, one ball is used in each innings of the match.
Case Solving Begins!
Okay, let’s break the problem down mathematically. Do we also consider lost balls
during the matches?(illustrates structure)
Totals No. of Balls

Used
Total Number of No. of Balls used

Matches per match
N
C2 3 (2 Semi + 1 Final) 2 (1 per Innings) Extra Balls
Look at Historic Data

Quality of Balls Used
Dimensions of the Ground
Surroundings of the Ground
Yes, consider them.
Can you list down a few ways you can find the number of balls lost?
Sure. (lists them down) We can look at the historical data if it is available with the
client. Apart from that, we can look at the quality of the ball and determine its dura-
bility in a given match. We can look at the stadium’s dimensions and surroundings
to determine the probability of finding the ball if it goes out. All these factors will
determine the average number of extra balls used in a match.
Note: Since the structure here is depicted for N, there is no final number that
can be given. The interviewer should ensure that the interviewee can present a
formula for it.
3.2 Case 2 (Pharmacy Potential, Bain)

Question: Can you calculate the market size of the E-Pharmacy Market?
1. What do we mean by market size here? Are we talking in terms of the number of
people, revenue...?
Total revenue per year in Rupees.
3.2 Case 2 (Pharmacy Potential, Bain) 19
2. And we are considering only medicines? Are we not considering, say, other medical
supplies they might be selling?
Yes, consider only medicines.
Okay, let’s break the problem down. First estimating the Market Size in terms of
people and then further how chronic and non-chronic users might spend. (illustrates
structure)
Market Size
Total Yearly Revenue
Chronic Users Non-Chronic Users

(35%) (65%)
Tablets/day (3) 4 times yearly
Cost of Strip (150) Sick for 4 days
No of tablets in a strip (10) Requiring 4 tablets/day
No of Users Cost of Strip (100)
No of tablets in a strip (10)
No of Users
Population
Urban Rural
(30%) (70%)
Low Income Middle Income High Income Low Income Middle Income High Income
(40%) (50%) (10%) (40%) (50%) (10%)
Internet Internet Internet Internet Internet Internet

(80%) (90%) (100%) (70%) (80%) (100%)
Probability Probability Probability Probability Probability Probability

(0%) (10%) (30%) (0%) (0%) (10%)
The final amount seems to be around 6000 Cr Rupees

Great! That seems right.
Note: The probability here is the joint probability of logistics and availability and is
estimated from the interviewee’s general knowledge.
3.3 Case 3 (Soda Summation, ICG*)

Question: Estimate the amount of Soda consumed in IITK on a normal day.
1. Do we consider only the soda consumed on that day or the stored soda as well?
Consider only the amount consumed.
2. Are we considering the entire campus population, including the guards and the
workers?
No, consider only the students.
3. What soda products are we talking about? Are we considering club soda and baking
soda too?
No, just the soft drinks.
4. What kind of a day and month is it?

It is a regular academic day in the month of April.
5. In what unit do we want to estimate the consumption? Is it in litres, rupees, or the

number of soft drink bottles?
Calculate in liters.
Okay, let’s break the problem down mathematically.(illustrates structure)
Students
Undergraduate Master's Students Ph.D Students

(5000) (2000) (2000)
Low Volume Medium Volume High Volume Low Volume High Volume
(0.125L) (0.25L) (0.5L) (0.125L) (0.25L)
55% 30% 15% 60% 40%
Low Volume Medium Volume High Volume

(0.125L) (0.25L) (0.5L)
50% 40% 10%

3.4 Case 4 (Tea Tally, ICG*) 21
The total soda consumption comes out to be around 1900L.

Good job! We can end the case here.
3.4 Case 4 (Tea Tally, ICG*)

Question: How many tea cups are sold at a railway station?
1. Tea cup sounds a lot like porcelain tea sets. We mean the tea sold, right?
Yes, the tea.
2. When we say railway station, what do we include? Tea can be sold on the platform,
outside the railway station, and inside the train.
Consider only the platform.
3. Do we consider selling tea to everyone on the platform?

Yes.
4. How many platforms are at the railway station?

There are seven platforms. Platform 1 has an entry exit. The other six are between
the railway lines.
5. So platforms 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7 are joined?

Yes, they are.
6. What is the length of the platform?

We are talking about CNB here. The minimum length for a passenger platform, as
per Indian Standards, is 180 meters. You can take some ideas from that.
Okay. So, I am taking the effective length as 200 meters for platform 1 and 150m for
platforms 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7. Here, by the effective length, I mean where the crowd is
present for a station like CNB. That sounds good. Go ahead.
7. Is there any difference between the frequency of trains arriving during the day and
those arriving at night?
Why don’t you try to analyze that?
I would assume that we have a higher frequency of passenger trains during the day.
You can go ahead with that assumption.
8. What is the size of the cup?

Take it to be 50ml.
9. Are there any seasonal considerations?

Say it is the fall season, and the month is September.
Okay, let’s break the problem down mathematically. (illustrates structure)

Cups Of Tea
Effective Length is 200m Other Platforms Effective Length is 150m

1 tea shop every 20m
Platform 1 1 tea shop every 30m
(3)
10 PM - 8 AM 8 AM - 5 PM 5 PM - 10 PM 8 AM - 10 PM 10 PM - 8 AM
(0.25 cups/min) (1 cup/min) (0.5 cups/min) (0.5 cups/min) (0.1 cups/min)
8400 Cups/Day 7200 Cups/Day
My estimate is 15,600 cups daily.

Excellent, that’s the end.
3.5 Case 5 (Energy Estimate, Dalberg)

Question: Estimate the energy and resource consumption at an African Refugee
Camp.
1. What type of energy are we referring to?

Why don’t you list some down for me?
There can be electricity, water, gas, food, etc.
Let’s consider electricity, water, and gas.
2. What does the refugee camp look like?

So the refugee camp has ten blocks. Each block can be considered to be a five-room
house with one kitchen. Each room can accommodate two people and has one tube
light and one fan. The kitchen has one refrigerator and one microwave. Consider the
washrooms to be outside the camp and out of consideration here.
3. What is the current occupancy of the camp? Also, are there any other common
facilities in the camp that we need to consider?
80% of the camp is occupied currently. You can ignore energy consumption for the
common facilities.
4. Where is the refugee camp located? What time of the year is it?
It is located in Spain. It is the summer season.
5. What does an average day look like for a refugee?

The refugees currently do not have a work permit or access to leave the compound.
So, they stay in the camp all day and cook three meals a day.
6. In what unit do we want to estimate the consumption? For what duration do we want
to estimate?
3.6 Case 6 (Newspaper Network, ICG*) 23
Consider the electricity consumption in kWh and the water and gas consumption in
liters. Estimate the consumption in a day.
Energy Consumption in
a single block
Electricity Water Gas
Drinking (2L/day x 10 People)
Cooking (10 L/day)
5 Rooms Kitchen Washing (10 L/meal x 3 Meals/day)
Cleaning (20 L/day)
Gas used
No. of Meals
Light Fan Refrigerator Microwave per Meal
(20W) (30W) (250W) (1000W)
A gas cylinder having 30L gas
3 Meals/day x
lasts 540 meals, so for a single
10 People
10 Times x meal, 1/18L of gas is used
6 Hours/Day 20 Hours/Day 24 Hours/Day
30 Secs/Day
Note: The structure shows the energy consumption for just one block. This should
be multiplied by the number of blocks and the percentage occupancy of the camp to
reach to the final number.
The daily electricity consumption comes out to be around 78 KWh. The water
consumption comes out to be 640L, and that for gas is 13.33L/day .
I think we can end the case here.
3.6 Case 6 (Newspaper Network, ICG*)

Question: Estimate the revenue of the newspaper company Business Times.
Interviewer’s Note: Not all information in this case is revealed directly. Specific questions
are asked even if the information seems obvious to be given already. This is a practice that
can be followed in a few other cases as well.
1. What are the different revenue streams?

There are two major streams, the offline and the online division.
2. What is the time frame of our estimate?

Let’s consider a day.
3. Are we a national paper? For what geography do we want to estimate the revenue?
We are a national English newspaper, but we are only interested in the revenues from
the Kanpur division.
4. So what audience are we talking about in the online and offline divisions? What is
our revenue model?
For the offline mode, consider households, and our revenue source for this is through
advertisements and newspaper charges. Our online revenue model is a subscription-
based model with INR 100 per month pricing.
5. What is the price of our paper? Do we have any info on the competitors and their
pricing?
Our price is INR 10 per newspaper. There are two major competitors, A and B. Their
prices are INR 9 and 9.5, respectively. You can assume that they are similar to us.
6. What is our advertisement revenue model?

So our newspaper has 20 pages, a maximum of 15% of the space is occupied by
national advertisements and another 15% is occupied by local advertisements at
maximum.
Since we are focusing on the revenue from Kanpur, can we ignore the revenue from
the national ads?
Yes, you can.
So, can you detail the local ads revenue model in more detail?
We earn 20,000 per one full page of ads. There can be any number of ads on that
page. On Mondays and Tuesdays, 60% of the space dedicated to local ads is covered.
This number is 80% on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 100% of it is covered on
the remaining days.
Do we have a break-up of the Kanpur customers for the online and offline segments?
30% of the population prefers reading the online paper, and the rest prefers the offline
mode.
The daily revenue from the Kanpur region comes out to be 16.4L INR.
Good job! This is the end.
Note: The advertisement model is not shown in the structure here. If the inter-
viewee mentions the model in their structure, then ensure that the information is
mentioned accurately, as this can be a little confusing.
3.7 Case 7 (Cash Capital, McKinsey) 25
Sources of Revenue
Advertisements Offline (21L) Online (9L)
Households (4.2L)
0-18 Years 18-30 Years 30+ Years
(20%) (20%) (60%)
Low Income Middle Income High Income

(40%) (50%) (10%) Probability of Probability of
buying (30%) buying (15%)
English English English

(20%) (40%) (80%)
Affordability Affordability Affordability

(40%) (80%) (100%)
3.7 Case 7 (Cash Capital, McKinsey)
Question: What is the average ATM cashflow in IITK?
1. Do we want to calculate it for all the ATMs?

No, consider only one ATM.
So, what we can do is estimate the total cashflow on campus and divide it by the
number of ATMs.
Good, you can go ahead with that.
2. In what units and for what time frame to want to estimate?

Calculate in INR and for a time frame of a month.
3. What time of the year are we talking about?

Assume a normal working semester.
So, the number of ATMs comes out to be 8.

That seems fair. Go ahead.
The cash flow for an ATM in a month comes out to be roughly 9.45L INR.
Great work! We can end the case here.
Population
Professors Workers Students

(1000) (2000) (9000)
Frequency Amount
50% use ATM
(5 times/month) (3000) UG Masters Ph.D
(5000) (2000) (2000)
Frequency Amount
(4 times/month) (1000)
Frequency Amount
(1 time/month) (1000)
Frequency
(2 times/month)
Amount
(1000)
Frequency Amount
(2 times/month) (1500)
Campus Population Average Frequency

Number of ATMS 8 hours/day 5 mins/withdrawal 8 ATMs
(12000) (2 times/month)
4. Cases: Profitability
Vashi’s Note: Profitability is one of the most common types of cases asked in interviews
and a great starting point. Start with focusing on asking the right set of preliminary
questions to help you with your drill speed. Work on structuring intuitively through
practice (not memorizing the framework), and finally work on your recommendations and
synthesizing.
Shivangi’s Note: Apart from the case itself, try to understand the tone and attitude to ask
questions. It is not recommended you copy it. Rather, develop your own demeanour that
compliments your personality. PS: Since these cases are very text heavy, it would be more
fruitful if the Interviewer reads the complete case before starting.
4.1 Case 1 (Cattle Cravings, A&M)

Our client is an animal food manufacturer and they have been facing losses. Identify
the problem and give a few recommendations.
1. Okay, so can you please tell me since how long have we been observing these losses?
We have been observing these losses since inception five years ago.
2. Before starting my analysis, I would like to clarify what is the animal food that we
are referring to here. Additionally, can you please specify if we specialise in any
particular type?
Sure, our client sells cattle food for cows, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, and they
specialize in producing food for cows.
3. Can you tell me who are our client’s customers?

28 Chapter 4. Cases: Profitability
The client sells their product to corporations and individual farmers, irrespective of
their scale and size.
4. So, in what part of the value chain do we lie? Do we handle the entire supply chain
of procuring raw materials, manufacturing, distributing and selling the product, or
only one particular component of the supply chain?
We don’t handle the entire supply chain of producing animal food; we are only
involved in manufacturing the product.
5. Can you tell me more about what raw materials we use?

Sure, we mainly use grains like wheat, oats etc., in varied compositions.
6. Okay, now that I have a good idea about what our client does, can you give me more
information about our market cap and how other players are doing?
Currently, we are the 3rd largest player in the market, with the 2nd largest player far
ahead of us. It is important to note that others are not suffering as much as us.
That seems like a problem. Please give me a moment to structure my thoughts before
we proceed.
We have been observing losses in our business for a long time; it might be a revenue-
side issue or a cost-side problem, or maybe due to both. Can you give more idea
about how both the components are performing? (illustrates structure)
Sure. The client’s revenue is fine, but their costs are much higher than the competi-
tors’.
Okay, then I would bifurcate the costs into fixed and variable. Are the fixed costs
abnormally high, or does the problem lie with the variable costs?
Why don’t you list down all the fixed and variable costs, and then we can proceed?
Sure, the fixed costs can include the rents for factory and office space, utilities, capital
maintenance, labor costs, and insurance.
To determine the variable costs, I can go ahead with a value chain analysis. The
client can incur costs for raw material procurement, its inbound logistics and pro-
cessing. After that, the packaging, warehousing, and outbound logistics for the final
product would also cost the client money. Followed by that, distribution and retail
and after-sales services and marketing can also be counted as variable costs. Does
my analysis cover all aspects, or am I missing anything?
Yes, your analysis looks good. You may proceed further.
Thanks, so moving on, do we have any information about where we have been spend-
ing more as compared to our competitors?
Yes, we have observed that raw material procurement cost is higher for us than for
our competitors.
Okay, can you tell me who we source the material from?

Sure, we go to the wholesale mandi and buy our grain there for the month.
4.1 Case 1 (Cattle Cravings, A&M) 29
Profits (Lower)
Revenue (On Par) Costs (Much higher)
Fixed Costs Variable Costs
1. Rent Raw material

2. Utilities (Electricity, Water, etc) Procurement Marketing and other
3. Maintenance costs
4. Labour
5. Office
6. Insurance
7. Management
Wholesale Mandi
Wheat, Oats, other

Volume Middlemen
grains
Pretty close to
actual reason
Grade or Quality Price Volatility
Raw material
Inbound Logistics Processing Packaging Warehousing
Procurement
Distribution and Outbound

Retail Logistics
Interesting, do you have any idea about what our competitors do?
Yes, they go to the same mandi.
Interesting, due to the size of our competitors, do they have special deals that we do
not have access to?
No, the mandi is a competitive space, and you can’t crack long-term deals in it (large
arbitrage opportunities).
Alright, Can you explain what happens at the mandi? Let’s say every Tuesday, we
go and get 1000kg of grain and come back. Is it possible that we are getting more
expensive grains considering our costs are higher than our competitors, or do you
know if the mix is different?
It could be true, but those are marginal areas; you don’t have to focus on them.
Okay, so do we have a middleman in the process?

No, we don’t incur costs due to the involvement of middlemen as our company
representatives go to the mandi.
Okay, so are we buying crops at the wrong time? Let’s say we’re buying at the start
of the day when the prices are more competitive as compared to our competitors who
are, let’s say, buying at the end of the day.
Do you mean price variability?
Yes.
Okay, that has been an issue. There are no intra-day price variations, but you’re on
the right track.
Alright, could it be that the competitor is buying the crops according to the season,
let’s say Kharif crops during that season and storing them?
Yes, they have a cold storage facility, and they buy the crops seasonally. You may
wrap up the case and lay out your recommendations.
Recommendations
1. In short term, you can negotiate a contract with sellers to buy crops during the
harvest season.
2. For long-term measures, you can construct a similar cold storage mechanism and
experiment with the composition of grains on the basis of cost optimisation and
customer response.
4.2 Case 2 (Restaurant Rundown, Bain)

Your client is a restaurant owner in your city Kanpur. They have been facing a decline
in profits. You have been approached to figure out the underlying reasons and suggest
recommendations.
1. Okay, so the key problem that I need to focus on is declining profits. Are there any
other concerns that I should keep in mind while approaching the case?
No, there aren’t any underlying problems. You can go ahead with the case.
2. Alright, so can you please elaborate more on the decline in the profits. For how long
have we been observing this trend?
The profits have declined by 25%, and this trend has persisted for 3 months.
3. Got it. Now, I would like to know more about our client. So, are we looking at
only one restaurant or a chain of restaurants? Is there anything different about our
restaurant that you would like to mention?
Our client owns only one restaurant, so you need to focus only on that. Ours is an
open-air restaurant, so you can count it as something different than usual.
4. Sure. Can you tell me more about what kind of services we offer? Along with dine-in,
do we also provide online orders and delivery or takeaway services? Also, do we
have any other revenue stream like valet parking etc.?
No, we only provide dine-in services and don’t have any subsidiary services like
valet parking.
5. Okay, is there any customer base that we particularly cater to? Also, can you also
tell me how people come to our restaurant? (interviewee was trying to gauge if there
was any special attraction to the restaurant)
It’s a family restaurant with mostly middle-class families frequenting it. As for your
second question, people living within a 5 km radius of our restaurant usually come
there.
6. Have you noticed any new competitive activity?

No, we haven’t noticed any new competitive activity.
Okay, now that I have a good idea about the case scenario, please give me a few
moments to structure my thoughts before we proceed.
We have been observing a decline in profits. Is it due to increased costs, a decrease

in sales or issues in both components? (illustrates structure)
Revenue Dine In Only
Revenue Number of Customers Average Ticket Size
Number of Customers Number of Tables Occupancy Rate Turnover Rate
Customer Demand Need Awareness Accessibility Customer/User Experience

Framework
Pre-Meal During the Meal Post-Meal
External Reason
Factories or Animal
Smell Trash Collection
Husbandry Farms
Maintenance of Restaurant
We have been observing a decline in revenues while the costs have more or less
remained the same.
Got it. So, according to me, revenue can be taken as the restaurant’s capacity
multiplied by the occupancy rate (Average number of tables occupied out of the
total) multiplied by the average expenditure per customer. So, would I be correct to
conclude that the drop in revenue must be due to a drop in the above three factors?
Yes, you can go ahead with this analysis in mind. So, we have observed a drop in the
occupancy rate as well as in the average expenditure per customer.
Okay, so to analyse the root cause of the problem, I would like to trace out a cus-
tomer’s journey. So, the journey would start with the decision to eat food. Can
you tell me what kind of customers do we serve? Do we have our usual customers
who frequently come to our restaurant, or do we have many people who come to
our restaurants for the first time? Has there been a particular decline in any such
segment?
It is a good thing that you decided to go ahead with the customer journey. To answer
your question, we have a healthy mix of both types of customers, and we have seen a
uniform decline in both segments.
Interesting, I need to know if there have been changes in the eating tendencies of
our usual customers. Has there been any change in the eating habits of the nearby
population? Maybe there were some macroeconomic conditions, health scares or
abnormalities in the past months that may have brought about such a change.
No, you can assume that the eating habits have remained the same and there has been
no decrease in the nearby population.
Okay, has there has been a change in the nearby population which served as the
customer base for the restaurant? The decrease in nearby population might explain
the decrease in the number of people coming to the restaurant.
No, there has been no decrease in the nearby population, though it was an interesting
thought from your side.
Thank you. Moving on to the new customer segment, I would like to know if we
have made some changes in our advertising strategy that has led to a change in the
awareness of our restaurants in people’s minds.
No, there has been no change in our advertising strategy.
Okay, as there is no change in our advertising strategy so the customers should be

aware of our restaurant to the same extent before the profits declined. Now, moving
on to the customers’ decision to visit a restaurant. Can you tell me if the nearby
restaurants have been facing the same decline as ours?
No, the nearby restaurants have not been facing such an issue.
Okay, this rules out the advent of a new competitor or new service (online ordering,
takeaways etc.) introduced by a competitor. Because such a thing would’ve affected
all the players somewhat, is it correct to assume the above?
Yes, you are correct to assume that.
Alright, now tracing the customers’ journey to our restaurant, has there been any
nearby construction, changes in the parking system or any other change that might
prevent the customer from entering the restaurant?
No such thing has happened lately that might prevent the customer from entering the
restaurant.
Okay, so we should move to the customer experience then. I would branch it out
into external and internal factors. External factors include the activities that happen
outside the restaurant, while the internal factors depend on things that are under the
restaurant’s control, like its indoor aesthetics, quality of food etc. Both of them can
be further segregated into sensory factors. Should I go ahead with such segregation?
Yes, you can go ahead with such a structure.
Sure, so starting out with external factors. Has there been any change in the outside
view, has there been an increase in traffic that is leading to more noise, or has there
been a foul smell that has been irritating the customers? (A sensory analysis to map
the customer’s experience)
Yes, the customers have complained about a foul smell lately, causing them to leave
earlier than usual.
Okay, before deep diving into the external factors, I want to confirm if you’ve made
any changes that might affect internal factors. Maybe you had changed the aesthetics
of the restaurant, brought in a new chef or changed the operations of the restaurant
due to which there was a deviation from the usual taste or any other change like that.
It’s a good thing that you confirmed it. Though we’ve not made any changes inter-
nally, that might affect the customer’s experience.
Got it. So, you mentioned complaints about the foul smell. Are there any new
establishments, like a factory or an animal husbandry farm etc.? Or maybe our
maintenance has gone bad? Or is there a trash collection issue?
Yes, there is a trash collecting basin that has not been cleaned for the past 3 months,
and is producing the foul smell and creating an issue with the experience of dining.
Okay, so here is my hypothesis about what might have happened. As you mentioned
earlier, ours is an open-air restaurant. So the foul smell prevented the customers
from staying in the restaurant for a long time. This led to a decrease in the occupancy
rate. As they were staying in for a less period of time, we can assume that they were
ordering less food which led to a decrease in the average expenditure per customer.
Seems good. You can lay out your suggestions now.
Recommendations
Okay, so I would like to segregate my recommendations into short-term and long-term.

1. For short-term recommendations, you can complain to the municipality and make
them collect trash more often. If they don’t heed your complaint, you can also hire
private trash collectors to clean out the unit.
2. If the situation persists, and you cannot take any of the above actions, then you might
also consider making your open-air restaurant a closed-air restaurant. It might take
away one of the USPs of your service, but you might also decrease the loss in profits.
3. As an extreme measure, you might consider shifting the location as a last resort, but
that would be too much of a hassle.
4.3 Case 3 (Medicine Mayhem, Bain)
Your client is the CFO of a pharma manufacturing firm which is facing an increase
in packaging costs. Find out the root cause of the problem.
1. I’m required to find out the root cause for the increase in packaging cost. Is there
any other secondary objective that I need to keep in mind?
No, you don’t have to keep any secondary objective in mind.
2. Okay. So, how much has the packaging cost increased, and how long have we been
observing this increase?
We have been observing a 20% increase in the packaging cost since last year.
3. I would now like to know more about the client’s company. Where are they set up
and where do they operate?
Sure, the pharma company is set up in India, manufacturing common medicines here,
and supplying them worldwide.
4. How has our competition been doing in terms of packaging cost?

They have been affected too, but are facing lesser impact as compared to us.
I have limited knowledge of how the packaging of medicines is carried out in the
pharmaceutical industry. Can you give me a broad overview of how our company
goes about doing this?
Yes, sure. So, there are 3 levels of packaging: primary, secondary and tertiary. The
primary level is putting the medicine into its aluminum and plastic cover, the sec-
ondary level is putting these packets into boxes and the tertiary level of packaging
involves putting these boxes into cartons for transportation.
Understood. I’m curious, have we been facing issues in all packaging levels or is the
issue localized?
Yes, we have been able to localize the issue to primary packaging, more specifically
to aluminum.
Okay, so we have mainly had an increase in cost due to aluminum. Would you want
me to deep-dive into the value chain of aluminum procurement to find out the root
cause of the cost increase? (illustrates value chain)
4.3 Case 3 (Medicine Mayhem, Bain) 35
Wastage Rent
Value Aluminum Creating Procurement of

Packaging Aluminium
chain sourcing Al foil foil by client
Labour Machines
Yeah, go ahead and do that.
Okay, so I think aluminium would be mined, processed and then sent to the factory
to flatten into thin foils. These foils can then be bought by our client for packaging
purposes. This is a broad overview of the value chain of aluminium according to my
understanding. Am I missing anything?
You could’ve mentioned the transportation cost of aluminum, but overall I believe
you’ve broadly covered it.
Okay, so I want to focus on the issues that we might be facing in the value chain.
Maybe the cost of mining and processing raw aluminum has increased leading to an
increase in its pricing as a commodity. Moving on to the next step, maybe the factory
which is flattening the aluminum into foils has undergone some operational changes
which again might’ve hiked up the prices. You mentioned transportation, we might
be facing some problems in that domain as well, maybe the distributor has increased
its service rates, leading to an overall increase in the cost of procuring aluminum.
(illustrates structure)
Al required per
Cost Cost of Al per kg No. of tablets
tablet (kg)
Density (kg/mm3) Volume (mm3)
Area per tablet (mm2) Thickness of sheet (mm)
Factors affecting Internal protocal Machinery Corruption / human

Regulation
thickness of sheet (chemical) capability intervention
Good. Due to political upheaval in one of the major aluminum exporter countries, we
have been observing fluctuations in the aluminum index. All other segments of the
value chain have more or less remained the same, and have not caused any problems.
This seems like an industry-wide issues. However, since you pointed out that others
have had lesser impact, should I also look into our own operations about handling
primary packaging to see if any internal aspect related to packaging is causing any
problems?
Yes, you can go ahead.
Okay, so the cost of aluminum packaging can be illustrated as the number of tablets
being manufactured multiplied by the weight of aluminum packaging required per
tablet multiplied by the cost of aluminum per kg. The weight of aluminum packaging
required per tablet can be further stated as the density of aluminum multiplied by
the volume of aluminum packaging required per tablet which can again be broken
down into the area of aluminum packaging allotted per tablet and the thickness of
the packaging. Has any of the above factors been changed recently by the company?
Yes, we had to increase the thickness of the aluminum packaging sheet. Can you
guess why such a step might have been taken by the company?
Sure, there might have been some modification in the internal protocol of the com-
pany, maybe the government has rolled out new regulations regarding the medicinal
packaging thickness, or there might be some issue with our machinery which is then
leading to increased thickness of packaging. We can also consider that there might
be some internal corruption where an official of the pharma company has been
bribed by the aluminum manufacturer to increase the packaging thickness so that the
manufacturer can sell more.
You have some interesting suggestions, but yes, due to the new regulations rolled out
by the government, we had to increase the aluminum thickness. You may close the
case now.
Recommendations
No Recommendations were asked
4.4 Case 4 (Fishy Fishes, Bain)

Your client is a Goa-based fishing company facing losses in revenue since last year.
You have been approached to identify the root cause and give recommendations for
the same.
1. So, I need to find out the reasons why our company has been facing losses since an
year. Is there any secondary objective that I need to keep in mind?
No, there is no secondary objective.
2. Got it. Do we have a quantitative idea about the loss that we have been facing?
Sorry, we don’t have any numbers related to that.
3. No problem. I would like to know more about how our company functions. Can you
tell me the exact working of the company?
Sure, so our client has two verticals. One vertical is involved in catching fish and
selling them while the other one is involved in the business of renting out boats.
4. How do we sell the fishes and at what prices do we sell it with respect to our competi-
tors? Also, do all the market players deal in the same area or different locations?
4.4 Case 4 (Fishy Fishes, Bain) 37
We sell them locally and at the same competitive price as our competitors. We all
sell our seafood in the same market.
5. Alright. So, are the fishermen, boats and equipment employed and owned by us or
are their services outsourced?
Yes, the fishermen are our own employees and we own the boats and equipment used
by us.
6. Okay, are we the only player in the market facing a loss in the business or is this an
industry-wide problem?
We are the only player in the industry facing the problem of growing losses.
Total Fish
Fish caught per

Number of Ships
Ship
Number of Fish caught per

Fishermen Fisherman
Labour Apparatus Methods Working Hours Miscellaneous
The actual reason
Shape of Fishing
Nets
So, are we facing a revenue loss in a particular vertical of ours or is the loss across
the board?
We have been facing a loss in the business of catching and selling fish.
Alright, can you give me an idea about the type of fishes we catch? Do we also look
for anything other than that like prawns or crabs?
We catch only two types of fish, small and big. We don’t catch anything else.
Okay, so the revenue can be broken down into the number of units sold multiplied by
the price per unit. Now, you’ve already told me that we are selling our seafood at
competitive prices and that none of our competitors have been facing a loss, so the
decrease in the selling price can’t be the reason. Am I correct to make that assertion?
Yes, you are right. The loss in our revenues is due to a decrease in the units of seafood
we sell.
Okay. So, does the issue lie on the supply side or in the demand side? Have we been
observing a decrease in demand or has the demand remained the same but now we
are not able to cater to it? Also, has such a decrease been observed across both
kinds of fish or only for one particular kind?
Well, we have not been able to cater to the demand of small fish as we have not been
able to catch enough of them for the last one year.
Interesting. It is now evident that the revenue loss is due to a decrease in the number
of small fish caught. I want to know why such a thing has been happening. We can
analyse what factors the number of small fish being caught depends on.
Yes, go ahead.
So, the number of small fish caught can be written down as the number of ships and
the number of fish caught per ship. Has there been a change here?
Yes, the number of small fish caught per ship has decreased.
Okay. To analyze it further, the number of fish being caught per ship can then be bro-
ken down into the number of fishermen and the average number of fish being caught
by a fisherman. Now, the average number of fish being caught by the fisherman will
depend on several factors. For instance, the labor being put in by the fisherman, the
equipment and methodology used, the number of hours they have been working and
other miscellaneous factors. Has there been a change in any of the above factors?
Yes, the fishermen, number of boats, efficiency of the fishermen, and work hours
have remained the same, but around a year ago, we changed the fishing equipment.
The shapes of holes in the fishing nets we used changed from square to circle.
So, I think that circular holes provide easy escape to small fish leading to a decrease
in the number of fish being captured. Is my hypothesis correct?
Yes, you are right. You can go ahead and lay out your recommendations now.
Recommendations
1. Sure, first of all, I believe that you should buy different fishnets with an optimal mesh
size and shape, if there is no particular reason to continue with the circular hole
fishnets.
2. Maybe using different techniques might make the net more effective, like intertwining
the nets or overlaying them.
3. You can also target a different set of seafood that might be a better fit and be more
easily captured by the new net to make profits.
Thank you. You may close the case now.

4.5 Case 5 (Flower Fiasco, ADL)
You are providing consulting services to a flower shop in Delhi that has been facing a
decline in profits. Find out the root cause for such a decline and recommend some
solutions.
1. Okay, so the flower shop has been facing a decline, and I have been consulted to
resolve that. Is there any secondary objective that I need to keep in mind while doing
so?
No, there is no secondary objective.
2. Got it. So can you give me a quantitative estimation of the profit decrease, and for
how long have we been observing this?
Sure. We have observed a loss of 40% in our profits in the last 6 months and a loss
of 60% in the last 3 months.
3. How is the competition breakup scenario in the market? And are they facing a
decline in profits too, or is it just us?
The competition is scattered. We don’t know about their profit trends, but they do
not seem unhappy.
4. Okay, I would like to know more about our client. Can you tell me where we are
located in Delhi and how many shops do we manage?
We only have one shop which is located in a busy market in Delhi.
5. Alright. Do you have information on what part of the value chain does the client
lie in? Do they take care of the entire cultivation of flowers, their processing, trans-
portation and selling, or do they focus only on a segment of the value chain?
We don’t do any of the things that you mentioned. We are only involved in the retail
selling of the flowers.
6. I would like to know more about our client’s products and their customers. What
kind of flowers do they sell, do they sell them for any special occasion or for usual
usage, and is there any customer segment that they particularly target?
We sell the usual flowers in demand for daily use, like for temple garlands and
sometimes for high-end bouquets etc. Our customers are mostly common folk either
going to the temple or buying flowers for a date.
Got it. I’ll take a few moments to structure my thoughts and will get back to you.
Our profits have been decreasing for the past few months. Let’s break it down into
revenues and costs. Is the decrease in profits due to a decrease in revenues, an
increase in costs or due to an interplay of both phenomena?
We are not sure where the problem lies. So, you may want to analyze both segments.
Profits
Revenue Cost
Analyze product mix
(Flower variety)i (Price)i Fixed costs Variable costs
Rent
Think about this!
No of units sold Avg selling price
Bills
Internal factors Wages
Supply Demand External factors
Sure, so can we begin with the revenue side?

Yes, you can go ahead with revenue.
I would like to know if any particular product of ours has taken a major hit.
No, the revenue for all of our products has been down. Please note that the decrease
in revenue has not been due to a decrease in the selling price but due to a decrease in
the number of units of all kinds of flowers being sold by us.
Supply
Packaging Loading Transportation Unloading Shelfing
diagram
Distributor Flower shop
That is helpful, thank you. So, I’ll look into the problem both from the supply and
demand side as it might be the case that the demand has remained the same but due
to some operational reason we cannot supply the products or the demand for flowers
itself has decreased. Does such a way forward work?
Yes, you can go ahead with such an analysis.
Okay, so I’ll look at the supply side first. Can you give me a broad overview of the
supply chain for purchasing the flowers?
Sure, we source our flowers from a company called JJ, a flower cultivator company.
Then there is a distributor X that sells these flowers to us and takes a small cut for
his services.
Has there been any issue in the cultivation of flowers by JJ? Maybe the quality of
seeds has gone down; there might have been some meteorological issue that would’ve
led to a bad harvest; has there been any change in the governmental policy regarding
such cultivation or maybe the company has made some operational changes.
No, the flower cultivators have experienced the usual harvest, and no changes in
policy regulation and company operations have been introduced. You can move on
to the next segment.
What about X? Have they made any recent operational changes?

No, they too have not made any operational changes.
Okay, so would it be correct to assume that the flowers are reaching on time, and
does their quality remain unaffected?
Well, the flowers are reaching us in time, but in the past few months, their quality
has been degrading.
Interesting. I want to dive deep into the supply chain from X to Flower Shop. JJ
would send the flowers to X, who would package and load them onto the trucks for
transportation. After being transported to the client’s shop they are unloaded and
arranged on the shelves. Am I missing anything in this supply chain? If not, have we
localized the problem to any particular component of the supply chain?
You are not missing anything from the value chain and yes, we have localized the
source of the problem to transportation. We asked for an audit report for the entire
process from company X and found that the flowers remain in good condition during
packaging and loading, but after being transported they are found to be in bad condi-
tion.
Okay, let’s break down the transportation to understand the root cause of the problem.
The problem can be due to factors arising from the transportation trucks or due to
external factors. I would like to analyze the factors related to the transportation
trucks.
Sure, go ahead.
So, has there been any recent decrease in the number of trucks which has led to X
filling more flowers than the capacity of trucks leading to their deterioration? Or
maybe the truck cohort has grown old and needs to be serviced. Have there been
any reports of rash driving by the drivers? That coupled with inefficient storage of
flowers can lead to its damage.
No, things have been going pretty smoothly from X’s side. Their operations have
been going on the same as before, there have been minimal reports of rash driving
and no change in storage arrangements compared to before.
Transportation
Truck External factors
No. of trucks Weather
Quality of trucks Road condition
Suspension Tyres Chassis Legal barriers
Driver
Arrangement or
storage of flowers
Okay, so I’ll move on to the external factors. Though it is improbable, has the
weather in the last few months been particularly bad leading to the damaging of
flowers en route? What seems more probable is the deterioration of roads along the
route, leading to such damage or maybe there has been some legal obstruction, due
to which the trucks are taking longer to reach their destination leading to wilting of
flowers.
Yes, the road quality along the truck’s route has indeed dropped, leading to the
dismantling of flower arrangements inside the truck. Due to this, the client has
been receiving damaged flowers for a few months. You can go ahead with your
recommendations.
Recommendations
Sure. So, I’ve classified my recommendations into short and long-term.

1. For short-term measures, we can take alternate routes with better quality roads and
properly package the flowers. We can instruct the drivers to drive slowly whenever
they come across particularly damaged sections of the route.
2. For long-term measures, we can ask X to invest in trucks with better suspensions and
lodge a complaint to the municipality about the damaged roads and wait for them to
repair them.
Okay, you may wrap up the case and synthesize it.

Alright. So, our client is a retail flower seller in Delhi facing a decline in profits. The
decline was due to a decrease in unit sales due to their inferior quality resulting from
their transportation on damaged roads. Short-term recommendations include chang-
ing to an alternate route, proper packaging of flowers and instructing the drivers to
drive slowly through damaged sections of roads. A long-term recommendation would
be lodging a complaint in the municipality and waiting for them to repair the roads.
4.6 Case 6 (Rattled Ratatouille, BCG)

You are consulting a restaurant in Paris facing profitability issues. Analyze and
recommend solutions to them.
1. Before starting, can you tell me what we mean by profitability here? Are we referring
to profitability as profits divided by revenue?
Yes, that is what we mean here.
2. Since when are you facing these issues, and what is the magnitude of the decrease in
profitability?
We have been facing this issue for the past 1-2 quarters, and the decrease in prof-
itability is 50%.
3. Got it. I would like to know more about the restaurant. Can you tell me what type of
restaurant it is in terms of the customers we serve, where exactly it is located, and if
we only serve food or do we offer any other subsidiary services?

It is a cafe in the middle of a lake. The customers that come are a mix of both tourists
and locals. We provide food typically served in a cafe, like snacks and coffee and we
also house a library indoors.
4. Alright, so the restaurant is situated in the middle of the lake. I am intrigued about
how the customers reach the restaurant. Can you tell me more about that?
Sure, we run motorboats across the lake, taking customers to and fro from the
lakeside and the restaurant.
Got it. I would like to take a few moments to structure my thoughts and will get back
to you. Thanks!
So, we know that the profitability is decreasing. Is it due to a decrease in revenues or

an increase in costs, or an interplay of both of the phenomena?
Our revenues have been facing a decrease while the costs have more or less remained
constant.
Got it. So, revenue can be broken down into further streams. We can classify them
into core and non-core businesses. Core caters to the dining experience, whereas non-
core will look after the subsidiary services like library, transportation etc. (pauses,
illustrates structure)
Revenue
Non Core (books, value

Core (food/dining)
added services)
Parking charges
No. of orders Average ticket size
Transportation of visitors
Supply Demand
Recreational activities
Seems fine, you may proceed further.
Thanks, the core revenue stemming from the dining experience can be branched out
in the number of orders received and the average ticket size for an order. Has there
been a decline in any of these factors?
Yes, we have been facing a decline in the number of orders, while the average ticket
size for an order has remained the same.
So, the decline in the number of orders can be due to a decrease in demand or a
decrease from the supply side. It might be that you have the ability to cater to the
demand, but the customers are ordering less, or the demand has remained the same,
but due to some operational reason, you are not able to cater to it. Can you tell me
what has been the case?
We have not made any operational changes, so the supply side is working well, but
the customers themselves are not ordering much on their own, so you can say that
there is a problem with the demand.
Alright. To identify why the customers are ordering less, I would like to trace out
their journey. So, first of all, the customer would want to have the snacks that our
cafe serves and make up their mind for the same. Has there been any overall decrease
in such demand? (illustrates structure)
Customer
Need Awareness Accessibility
Customer Demand experience
Framework
Fluctuation in demand of Advertisement/marketing Location, connecting roads, Food quality, ambience,
cuisines the client prepares and external factors security regulations etc. service - internal factors
No, we had conducted a survey to gauge such a tendency and found that the demand
levels have remained the same.
Interesting, I would now move on to the next step. Say, the customer has finally de-
cided, but are they aware of the cafe? Have you made any changes in the advertising
strategy that might’ve led to a change in customer awareness level for the cafe?
No, we’ve not made any changes to our advertising strategy. You can proceed to the
next steps.
Okay, so the customer is aware of our cafe. Now, I want to look at how the customers
travel to the cafe. Has there been any recent change in the route, traffic regulations
or mode of transportation the customers take? Maybe a new construction popped up
that has been constricting customers from coming to the lake or maybe the public
transportation to the lake has been stopped.
No, as far as we are aware, the customers have been taking the normal route; there
has been no recent change there. The regulations too have remained the same. For
the mode of transportation, you may want to know that we introduced motorboats a
few months, doing away with slower rowboats; this is the only change in the mode
of transportation taken by customers that we are aware of.
Got it. Have you taken any kind of feedback from the customers on this recent
change or noticed any change in the tendencies of particular customers ever since
this change has been introduced?
The motorboats are extremely fast and ever since they have been introduced, our
old-aged customers have made complaints of feeling dizzy. We’ve also noticed
that this particular customer segment has been ordering less since we switched to
motorboats.
Obviously, older people have been feeling dizzy due to motorboat travel and hence
lose their appetite as they feel queasy, leading to a reduction in the number of orders.
Does this reduction form a significant proportion of the overall decrease?
Yes, it can be one of the reasons, but we don’t think it is the sole reason for the overall
decrease. You should continue your analysis.
Okay, I would move on to the customer experience now that they have entered the
cafe. I will again bifurcate it into core and non-core activities. The core activity is
dining in the cafe, and the non-core activity refers to the reading experience in the
library housed by the cafe. The dining experience can be further broken down into
pre-meal, during-meal and post-meal experiences. The same thing can also be done
with the non-core activity. It can be broken down into pre-reading, during-reading
and post-reading experiences. Can I go ahead with this structure? (illustrates struc-
ture)
Customer Experience
Dining Library
Pre meal During meal Post meal Books Reader
Preferences Food quality Discount/coupons Availability of books Location of library

Variety Service speed Payment options
Affordability Staff behavior Staff behavior Variety of books Lighting, positioning
Rumors Ambience
Condition of books
Yes, you may go ahead with this.
Thanks. So, deep diving into our core activity, the pre-meal experience would depend
on the availability of the customer preferences, cost of the food served by us, waiting
time for the table etc.; the during-meal experience will depend on the food quality,
service speed, staff behavior, and the overall ambience of the cafe like lighting, venti-
lation, aesthetics; while the post-meal experience will be influenced by the payment
options, availability of discounts or coupons and other such stuff. Am I missing
anything here? If not, then have there been any changes in the above three buckets in
the past few months?
Yes, I think you’ve covered all the aspects of the dining journey experience. For
your second question, there has not been any change in any of the segments that you
mentioned.
Interesting. So, I’ll move on to the customer experience for the non-core activity,
which is that of reading. Pre-reading experience can include easy access to the
library, availability of preferred books if they are properly arranged according to
genres etc. The during-reading experience can refer to the overall comfort of the
reading space, like if there is proper lighting and ventilation; if there has been any
change in library rules that might’ve been causing discomfort among the customers,
like they are now not allowed to bring food with them to the library or other stuff
like that. Post-reading experience can refer to the payment options, book issuance
availability, staff behavior, etc. Has there been any such change in the above-stated
segments? If yes, then have you observed the tendencies of any of your customer
segments?
Well, a few months ago, we relocated the library to the back, which isn’t adequately
ventilated and dimmed the light bulbs there, and since then, we have observed a
steady decrease in the number of local customers coming to our cafe.
Makes sense. Local customers must’ve preferred your cafe for its ambient read-
ing space, but it must have been affected by the relocation in the back, which isn’t
properly ventilated and the dimming of lights. So, now your cafe is attracting fewer
local crowds, which has led to a decrease in the number of orders received by your
cafe as that crowd also used to order snacks while reading in the library. Should I
move on to the non-core revenue stream? But I’ve covered them through the customer
journey and non-core activity experience analysis.
Yes, you are right about your hypothesis, and you need not go ahead with the non-
core revenue stream. You may go ahead with your recommendations now.
Recommendations
1. Sure, my recommendations include decreasing the boat’s speed and re-introducing

rowboats to receive more orders from the elderly crowd visiting our cafe.
2. We can have a seating arrangement outside if we have the space, for the older
customers to wait and feel better before they enter the closed spaces of the cafe.
3. To regain our local crowd, we can invest in proper ventilation and lighting of the back
area where the library was shifted and offer incentives and conduct book-related
events to attract more crowds.
5. Cases: Unconventional
Vashi’s Note: The best way to solve unconventional cases is to focus on how you can
make the structure of your problem statement MECE. If you are good with structuring,
these cases are your best friend, but they can be scary if you have a robotic approach to
case solving. There are many ways to structure an unconventional problem, so make sure
to let your interviewer friend know to take it easy on you :)
5.1 Case 1 (Attendance Apathy, Bain)

Question: Your client is the Director of IIT Kanpur, and the students have been
skipping classes lately. Figure out why and recommend some fixes.
1. Do we have any time frame or semester and a number on how many students have
started skipping classes ?
It has been happening gradually for a long time, and we do not have any number.
2. Have we seen any correlation between the time of the day and attendance?
Yes, this trend has mainly been observed for the morning classes
3. Is this issue localized to any particular department? Like Chemical, Civil, Mechani-
cal, Electrical Engineering, etc.? Or maybe observed in a particular batch? Y19/20
etc.?
Nothing as such.
4. Do we have any data on how the Under-Graduates and Post-Graduates are doing
regarding attendance?
There has been a drop for both segments, but much more significantly, it has been
48 Chapter 5. Cases: Unconventional
observed in the PG batches.
Decline in attendance
Morning Afternoon Evening

Labs
classes classes classes
4th year 3th year 2nd year 1st year 1st/2nd

PhD
UG UG UG UG year PG
Inherent Workload/other
Accessibility Experience Incentive
interest commitment
Academic work Roads Ambience Compulsory

attendance
Clubs/societies Classroom size Teaching aid
Class
participation
Attendance Quality of lecture
machines
Yes, the PGs have been complaining of an increased workload. Can you give me one
reason you think this has happened?
TAs check the exam and quiz answer papers, assignments and lab reports of the
UG students and take their tutorials, which is one of the primary reasons for their
workload. As the ratio of PGs to UGs has decreased, they have to spend more time
checking assignments and papers during the night. This could be one reason for
their increased workload.
Let’s assume this is the only reason. Can you give me a few recommendations
on how to work around this?
Recommendations
1. I suggest we could, for the time being, advise professors to have objective-type
computer-checked papers (short term)
2. From the next semester, we could also shift the PG classes down the timetable by
1/1.5hrs (short term)
3. We could develop our infrastructure and increase the number of seats to an optimum
level (long term)
5.2 Case 2 (Attendance Apathy 2, BCG) 49
5.2 Case 2 (Attendance Apathy 2, BCG)
Question: You are consulting the Dean of Student Affairs at IIT Kanpur, and they say
that attendance is going down across all courses. What do you recommend we do?
1. From when have we been facing this decline? Do we have a number on it?
3 months
2. Have we seen any correlation between the time of the day and attendance?
No, the decline is throughout the day
3. Are we facing this problem in any particular department? Like Chemical, Civil,
Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, etc.? Or maybe in a particular batch? Y19/20,
etc., or particular courses?
The decline seems to be overall categories.
4. Has there been a decline in attendance for the UG batch, PG batch or both?
For both of them.
5. Is there any difference in the attendance for the labs?

No, the labs are not affected.
6. Is this the odd semester, the even semester, or the summer semester?
Odd semester.
Let me try to understand it from the student’s point of view. Value can be Inherent
and Derieved (Incentive Structure).
Yes, there might be accessibility issues.
Are the classrooms all fine, and are the roads all okay?
Nope, this does not seem to be an issue.
Okay, so all students are able to reach the class, let’s analyze the experience of the
class, maybe that is the problem
None of this seems to be an issue.
Okay, let’s take a look at if the process of taking attendance has been affected
Yes, we have been hearing complaints from students recently that attendance was
taken only in the first 5 minutes of the class and that time was insufficient for every-
one to get marked present. This decision was taken to avoid students coming in late
but getting marked present. Can you give recommendations?
Value Inherent Value (Interest) Incentive Structure
Accessibility to Classrooms
Experience Instructor's Teaching Teaching Aids Ambience of the Class
Accessibility to Attendance Settings of Machine during

Attendance taking procedure Processing of Attendance
Machines Attendance
The actual reason
Attendance only taken in first 5

minutes
Recommendations
1. Stretch the time limit to 10 mins or 15 mins. (short term)

2. You can take attendance multiple times during the class. (short term)
5.3 Case 3 (Attrition Avalanche, A&M)

Question: Your client is a Multinational Company working in IT services. They
have been observing an increased rate of attrition for the past three years. Give
recommendations that will help them retain their employees.
1. I’m unfamiliar with the word attrition. Could you explain it?
Attrition here is the departure of employees from the organization.
2. Can you tell me more about our business and the IT services we offer?
We work in the backend IT services. You can assume us to be like Infosys or TCS, etc.
3. Is there a particular vertical of business whose employees are facing this issue? for
example, HR or Sales, etc.?
There are some differences but none to draw any inference, assuming all of them
face this issue.
4. Is this drop being seen at any particular leadership level?

Yes, our company consists of 7 levels, and we are facing this issue more prominently
in the bottom 4 levels.
5.3 Case 3 (Attrition Avalanche, A&M) 51
5. What’s the size of the company, and where do you operate from?
We are a mid-sized company. We have our headquarters in New York and operate
worldwide, and we have a fine position in the market, no issues with that.
6. Do the attrition rates have any geographical correlation?

Yes, they are majorly happening in Asian countries.
Okay, I want to start by understanding the most common reasons for Employee
Attrition. (illustrates structure)
Employee Attrition Monetary Compensation Work that employee is doing Quality of Life Growth and Learning
Higher Education and Online

Within the Firm Outside the Firm
Courses
Perks given by the Firm

Appraisal Cycles Working Model
Culture of the Firm
The workload is fine, and the quality of life does not seem to be an issue. We have a
fairly supportive management, and folks are usually promoted every 1 or 2 years.
What about our competitors and the market?

No Issues. Everything is at par.
How about growth and learning, including higher education status, etc., funding
employee’s grad school?
Our competitors have started these bonds in the last 3 years that support the plans
of employees to get higher education, and we have not jumped onto that model yet.
Can you give some recommendations on how we could fix this?
Recommendations
1. You could develop your own policy like the competitors and retain young employees
(short term)
2. You could develop a policy that allows employees to work on an online degree (short
term)
3. Give them an opportunity to work from an overseas office (mid term)
5.4 Case 4 (Partner Predicament, BCG)

Question: A partner at BCG is coming late to the office. Analyse why and give a few
recommendations.
1. When do they come to the office and how late are they coming in and from when?
They are supposed to arrive by 10 AM but he is usually 10-15 minutes late. This has
been happening every day for the last 5 months.
2. Could you give me some personal background? Is he married? Does he have kids?
Yes, so he is married and has 2 school-going children.
3. How does he travel to work?

He drives to work in his own car.
Okay, let’s analyze his morning and figure out the problem. (illustrates structure)
Morning Follow Getting Driving to Reaching

Wake-up Breakfast Parking car
life cycle morning routine into car office complex office
Yes, so driving to the office complex is taking longer.
Okay, let me take a moment to map out where time could be spent more from when
he starts his car to when he stops his car. (illustrates structure)
The issue is with the average speed.
Time taken to Motional Non-motional

reach office
Distance
Avg. speed
Let me break this down further. (illustrates structure)

Reasons for less Car Roads Traffic Misc.
OR OR OR
average speed
Like tolls
No, the problem is within the car.

5.4 Case 4 (Partner Predicament, BCG) 53
Let’s see. (illustrates structure)
Reasons within Driver In hood Tyre pressure

OR OR
the car
Engine issue
Physical Mental
Pedal malfunction
Pickup issue
It seems like the partner is driving slower than usual.
Is it for some sort of safety reason?

Yes.
I’m trying to understand if this is for him self or other passengers. Is there anyone
else travelling with him?
No.
Has he recently heard of an accident that has affected him to drive slowly or maybe
he has started to prefer driving slowly because of back pain that he experiences due
to driving fast?
Yes, so his eyesight has weakened over the past few months, and he has not realized
that it has made him a more cautious and slow driver.
Recommendations
1. We could ask him to leave home slightly early so as to make it on time (short term)
2. Provide flexible work timings preferably when there is lower traffic (short term)
3. Help him find an alternate route that is easier to drive on (mid term)
5.5 Case 5 (Pocket-Money Problems, ICG*)
Question: Your friend says he is spending more money on average this semester and
can’t figure out why, can you help him? (This is an advanced case which will force you
to think out of the box and try to distract you by making you jump to conclusions)
1. What do you mean by on average, how are you calculating it?

I calculate how much I spend daily by accounting for expenses every month and
dividing by the number of days for that month.
2. By how much are you spending more? and how much did you spend in a day last
semester?
About 10 Rs daily, and 150 Rs on average.
3. What semester is this?

The summer semester.
4. What are your different modes of transactions?

I use only Online Payments (UPI).
5. Is it safe, to rule out that pocket money is used for investing or lending to a friend
and they pay you back the next month etc?
Yes, I only use it for the canteen, to buy clothes or to go out of campus sometimes.
(illustrates structure) Is it safe to not consider low-frequency low-ticket size and

high-frequency high-ticket size expenses? The former is defined as < 30Rs once
maybe in a week and the latter being > 100Rs once every 1-2 days. I think the former
might not impact the monthly spending at all and the latter would impact it to a
higher extent than 10Rs a day.
Yes, that would be a fair assumption.
Is there a problem with any particular one or both?

I’m not sure, but you could start with the high-frequency low-ticket size.
Okay, let’s take an average working day and figure out your daily expenses. Then we
could move to weekends. (illustrates structure)
Sure.
Can you break down your day? From waking up to going to sleep?
Can you help me with that? I’m not sure what you mean. (guides according to the
structure)
The extra expenses are localized to the three canteen breaks. So has the frequency of
using these breaks increased or have you been spending more on average each time
5.5 Case 5 (Pocket-Money Problems, ICG*) 55
Expenses
Low Frequency, High Low Frequency, Low High Frequency, High High Frequency, Low
Ticket Size Ticket Size Ticket Size Ticket Size
Eat Outs
'Analyse a Day'
(Weekday)
Shopping
Miscellaneous
Room and Sleep

Breakfast (9 AM) Classes Lunch (1 PM) Library Dinner (8 PM)
(12 AM)
Canteen Visit Tea Canteen Visit

$ $ $
On the Weekend, Classes are replaced with sleep and sports
Number of Canteen Average Spend

Expenses
Visits per Visit
you visit the canteen compared to the previous semester?

Last semester I did not visit the canteen right after lunch because I had labs then.
Oh that seems to be the problem then.

You’re right. The summers have made me visit the canteen every alternate day
grabbing a soft drink right after lunch.
That adds up to the extra 10-15 Rs you have been accounting for.
Oh, Right! What do you think I should do to save some money?
Recommendations
1. You can carry a water bottle handy and keep yourself hydrated so that the frequency
you visit the canteen will be lower.
2. To plug the high frequency-low ticket expenses, you can buy the lower cost product,
maybe the Rs 10 small juice box.
3. To save the low frequency-high ticket costs, you can buy only the most essential items
or fewer items while shopping.
Thank You & All The Best
~ Team ICG

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IIT Kanpur Consulting Group

F IRST AUTHOR : Advait Vashi

First Edition, August 2023

For feedback, kindly mail us at: iitkconsult@gmail.com

3.5 Case 5 (Energy Estimate, Dalberg) 22

1.1 How to use this Casebook?

not necessary to follow the same structure rigidly.

1.2 What is Management Consulting?

1.3 What is expected of a Management Consultant?

In addition to the mentioned skills, management consultants should be able to manage

1.4 What are Case Interviews?

Use a structured approach: Use a framework or a structured approach to analyze

Practice mental math: Case interviews often involve calculations, so brushing up

1.5 Frameworks and Resources

Ansoff Matrix: Analyzes a company’s strategic options for growth in terms of

Balanced Scorecard: Measures a company’s performance using financial and non-

BCG Matrix: Analyzes a company’s product portfolio to determine which products

GE Matrix: Analyzes a company’s business units based on their market attractive-

SWOT Analysis: Evaluates an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,

Value Chain Analysis: Analyzes the activities involved in creating a product or

2.1 Interview Tips from Seniors

2. Strong presence of mind is a fundamental expectation. Be ready to talk about and

2. Think of appropriate preliminary questions to finalize a strategy. Do not jump to

4. Continuously communicate with the interviewer to engage them in your problem-

Here are a few tips to keep your nerve:

2.2 Suggestive Timeline for Internships

2.3 Suggestive Timeline for Placements

3.1 Case 1 (Cricket Countdown, A&M)

3. What is the format of the tournament?

Case Solving Begins!

Totals No. of Balls

Total Number of No. of Balls used

Look at Historic Data

Yes, consider them.

3.2 Case 2 (Pharmacy Potential, Bain)

Total Yearly Revenue

Chronic Users Non-Chronic Users

Tablets/day (3) 4 times yearly

Cost of Strip (150) Sick for 4 days

No of tablets in a strip (10) Requiring 4 tablets/day

No of Users Cost of Strip (100)

No of tablets in a strip (10)

Internet Internet Internet Internet Internet Internet

Probability Probability Probability Probability Probability Probability

The final amount seems to be around 6000 Cr Rupees

3.3 Case 3 (Soda Summation, ICG*)

4. What kind of a day and month is it?

5. In what unit do we want to estimate the consumption? Is it in litres, rupees, or the

Case Solving Begins!

Okay, let’s break the problem down mathematically.(illustrates structure)

Undergraduate Master's Students Ph.D Students

55% 30% 15% 60% 40%

Low Volume Medium Volume High Volume

50% 40% 10%

The total soda consumption comes out to be around 1900L.

3.4 Case 4 (Tea Tally, ICG*)

3. Do we consider selling tea to everyone on the platform?

4. How many platforms are at the railway station?

5. So platforms 2-3, 4-5, and 6-7 are joined?

6. What is the length of the platform?

8. What is the size of the cup?

9. Are there any seasonal considerations?

Case Solving Begins!