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CASE INTERVIEW WORKSHOP:
PART III
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ANNOUNCEMENTS Weekly case practice Thursday, 30th June,
5:30pm, UT MSB B100. Now open to all members. McKinsey online events: http://
www.mckinsey.com/careers/your-career/McKinsey-on-campus/online-events Full time application deadline: July 18th 2016
BCG connection event on July 7th from 5-7pm at their Houston office (1221 McKinney, Suite 3000 Houston, TX 77010)
Weekly case practice on Thursday, July 7th is cancelled due to the BCG event.
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OPENING A CASE
1. Take notes2. Synthesize the prompt3. Ask clarifying questions 4. Pause to prepare your structure5. Present hypothesis and structure
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ANALYSIS
1. Select one component of issue tree2. Analyze using process of elimination3. Comment on significance of numbers4. Update issue tree5. Summarize what you have learned6. Move to next branch7. Exhaust all branches
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CLOSING
1. State recommendation or conclusion clearly
2. Two or three supporting reasons3. Risks (as appropriate)4. Next steps (as appropriate)
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DIFFERENT CASE TYPES By format
Interviewer-led Candidate-led Written/presentation Group
By content Market entry Profitability Business situation/strategy Mergers and acquisitions “Back of the envelope” estimation case
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS (M&A) CASE
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PROS AND CONS OF M&A
Pros Increases market
shareReduces
competition Introduces less risk
(v.s. developing new products)
Cons Increases financial
risksMay not achieve
synergyMay introduce
clash in company culture
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REAL-LIFE M&A CASES
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PROMPT
Our client is a beer brewing and retailing company in the east coast. Their products serve the regional “low-end” market and the company has a steady growth in sales. Currently our client is actively seeking acquisition opportunities and interested in Bita Beer Company, a beer brewing company serving the “high-end” market in the west coast. Our client has hired us to help them figure out whether this is an attractive acquisition.
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SUMMARIZE THE PROMPT
Candidate: Thanks for the information. This is an interesting case. It sounds like our client is doing well in business and looking for acquisition opportunities. Buying Bita Beer Company could be a great move for our client in terms of expanding their business. I’m happy to help them make the decision.
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CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
Client’s goalGeographyPrice
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CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
Client’s goalCandidate: Does our client have any specific
quantitative goal for this acquisition? Interviewer: The rationale of our client for
this acquisition is to develop a premium beer product aiming the high-end market. Meanwhile, our client hopes the investment associated with this acquisition would be profitable in 5 years.
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CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
GeographyCandidate: Our client is a east coast
company. Why are they looking so far away for the acquisition?
Interviewer: Good question. That’s because currently there is no company in the east coast for sale. The premium beer market is mainly on the two coasts.
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CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
PriceCandidate: I assume Bita Beer Company
is on sale. If so, what is the asking price? Interviewer: Yes, Bita Beer Company is on
sale and asks for $200M
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PREPARE THE STRUCTURE
Client: A Beer producer and retailer• Serving “low-end”
market in east coast• Steady growth in sales• Acquisition target: Bita
Beer Company a premium beer producer in west coast
Clarifying questions• Return on investment
(ROI) in 5 years• No acquisition target
in east coast• Acquisition price:
$200M
Objective: Return on investment in 5 yearsHypothesis: This will be an ideal acquisition and our client can achieve its business goal.
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PREPARE THE STRUCTURE
Client: A Beer producer and retailer• Serving “low-end”
market in east coast• Steady growth in sales• Acquisition target: Bita
Beer Company a premium beer producer in west coast
Clarifying questions• Return on investment
(ROI) in 5 years• No acquisition target
in east coast• Acquisition price:
$200M
Objective: Return on investment in 5 yearsHypothesis: This will be an ideal acquisition and our client can achieve its business goal.
Industry dynamics
Market size
Competition
Market growth
Synergy with client company
Increase
sales?Reduce cost?
Brand value
Company
culture
Cannibalizatio
n
Target company
Customer Product Profitab
ility
Revenu
e
Cost
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INDUSTRY DYNAMICS
Industry dynamics
Market size
Competition
Market growth
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MARKET SIZE AND COMPETITION
Candidate: Do we have any data about how big the markets are and the market share of Bita Beer Company?
Interviewer: Yes. Why not take a look at Exhibit 1 and tell me what you find?
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EXHIBIT I
Total: $800M Total: $1 billion
2015 West Coast Premium Beer Market
2015 East Coast Premium Beer Market
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INSIGHTS FROM EXHIBIT 1 Candidate: I found two things from Exhibit I: 1. In the west coast, Bita Beer Company takes 25% of
the market share, which is the highest among all the other competitors
2. In the east coast, the market size is larger with relatively less competition. It seems domestic beer is more popular in the east coast.
Candidate: I’m thinking it could be a great opportunity if our client can introduce the beer of Bita Beer Company to the east coast. I would like to explore this idea later if we have time
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MARKET GROWTHCandidate: Do we have any data about
the overall market size and Bita Beer Company’s market share in previous years?
Interviewer: The overall premium beer market size has been stable in the past few years. Meanwhile, Bita Beer Company had an average of 5% growth of its market share in the past 3 years.
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PART I SUMMARY
Bita Beer Company is in a leading position in the west coast premium beer market.
The overall premium beer market growth is stable and Bita Beer Company outperforms it
Domestic premium beer is more popular in the east coast where there is less competition. It could be a good opportunity for our client to introduce a new premium beer.
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TARGET COMPANY
Target company
Customer Product Profitability
Revenue Cos
t
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CUSTOMER AND PRODUCTCandidate: What makes Bita Beer Company’s
beer so popular in the west coast? Do we have any data about its beer and who are the customers?
Interviewer: Absolutely. Bita Beer Company has a trade secret that improves its brewing process, yielding fresher and better tasting beer. As for the customers, we don’t have any data about them. It seems that their beer is popular among all ages.
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CUSTOMER AND PRODUCTCandidate: I would like to confirm that our
client will be able to produce the beer of Bita Beer Company in the east coast after the acquisition. Are there any special processes that limit the factory only to the west coast?
Interviewer: That’s a good point. Actually all the techniques are transferable after the acquisition.
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PROFITABILITYCandidate: I see. I was wondering is Bita
Beer Company profitable? Interviewer: That’s a good point. How do
you plan to analyze that? Candidate: Based on Exhibit I, we should
have some information to calculate the revenue. If I can have some cost information, I should be able to calculate the profit.
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PROFITABILITY - REVENUERevenue: $800M 25% = $200M
Candidate: Do they have any other source of revenue?
Interviewer: Not that we know of.
Candidate: Excellent. Do we have any data about their cost structure?
Total: $800M
2015 West Coast Premium Beer Market
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EXHIBIT II
Average cost of a bottle
of beer
($)/
bottle
Raw materials 0.5
Labor 0.1
Transportation 0.2
Storage 1
Package 0.2
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INSIGHTS FROM EXHIBIT II Two findings1. Total variable cost = 0.5 + 0.1 + 0.2 + 1 + 0.2 =
$22. Storage cost is the highest among all variable
costs (50%) Candidate: Do we have any information about how
many bottles Bita Beer Company sold in 2015? I was also wondering what are the total fixed costs?
Interviewer: Yes, Bita Beer Company sold 80M bottles last year. And the fixed costs were $20M.
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PROFITABILITY
Total cost = $2 80M bottles + $20M = $180M
Profit = revenue cost = $200M $180M = $20M
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INSIGHT FROM EXHIBIT IIBita Beer Company is a profitable companyHowever, the potential profit that our client
can acquire in the next 5 years is $20M 5 = $100M. Our client cannot break-even in 5 years for the $200M purchase price
Variable cost, especially storage cost, is the major cost of the company. If the company would like to improve its cost structure, that might be a good starting point.
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Synergy with client company
Increase sales?
Reduce cost?
Brand value
Company culture
Cannibalization
SYNERGY WITH CLIENT COMPANY
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SYNERGY WITH CLIENT COMPANYCandidate: Since it seems we can potentially
reduce the storage cost, I would like to focus on that first. I was wondering why is the storage cost so high?
Interviewer: That’s a good question. There are two reasons: Bita Beer Company has an outdated storage system. It
requires an investment to upgrade it. Bita Beer Company is only a beer brewing company.
There is always a waiting period before transporting the beer to the retailer, which increases the storage cost.
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SYNERGY WITH CLIENT COMPANY Candidate: That’s interesting. I was wondering what
is the storage cost of our client and whether they can help Bita Beer Company to improve it.
Interviewer: The average storage cost per bottle for our client is $0.50.
Our client have recently upgraded its infrastructure for beer storage. Besides, our client is also a beer retailer, thus the waiting period is shorter. Actually our client has estimated the investment associated with upgrading the infrastructure of Bita Beer Company. This information can be found in Exhibit III.
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EXHIBIT III
Plans Investment Storage cost ($)/Bottle
Plan A $40M 0.8
Plan B $60M 0.6
Plan C $120M 0.5
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CALCULATION
Plans ($)Saved/bottle Profit increased/yearPlan A 1 0.8 = 0.2 0.2 80M = 16MPlan B 1 0.6 = 0.4 0.4 80M = 32MPlan C 1 0.5 = 0.5 0.5 80M = 40M
Plans Total additional profit in 5 years Total investment Break-
even?Plan
A (20M + 16M) 5 = 180M 200M + 40M = 240M No
Plan B (20M + 32M) 5 = 260M 200M + 60M =
260M Yes
Plan C (20M + 40M) 5 = 300M 200M + 120M =
320M No
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INSIGHTS FROM EXHIBIT III
Candidate: After the calculation, it seems only investment plan B will allow our client to achieve its goal to break-even in 5 years. I would like to double-check our client’s financial ability to make sure they can afford the $260M investment.
Interviewer: That sounds reasonable. Our client is doing well in recent years and they can definitely afford the $260M investment.
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OTHER FACTORS FOR SYNERGY
Interviewer: What other factors should our client consider regarding this acquisition?
Candidate: That’s a good question. Can I have one moment to organize my thoughts?
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OTHER FACTORS FOR SYNERGY
1. Brand value: “low-end” vs. “high-end”2. Company culture: management style3. Geographical difference: west coast vs.
east coast4. Business opportunity in the east coast5. Potential cannibalization?
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PREPARE YOUR RECOMMENDATION
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RECOMMENDATIONCandidate: I recommend that our client acquires Bita Beer Company and invests $60M for upgrading its infrastructure.1. Bita Beer Company is a profitable company with
leading market share in the west coast. 2. By investing $60M, our client will achieve its
goal to break-even the investment in 5 years. 3. Bita Beer Company owns a premium beer that
can be assimilated into our client’s product line. This fits our client’s goal for this acquisition.
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RISKS AND NEXT STEPS Risks
Potentially lose some old Bita Beer Company customers after the acquisition
Geographical difference could be a big risk factor Next steps
Increase advertising to ensure customers believe that the beer quality remains the same after the acquisition
Set up regular meetings between the two companies to ensure effective communication
Evaluate the revenue and cost to produce and sell the premium beer in the east coast
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GROUP INTERVIEW
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GROUP INTERVIEWFormat
Typically 4-5 candidates in a group Answer questions in turn Expected to write on a white board Ask questions in the end
What interviewers look for Teamwork ability and social skills Problem-solving skills Presentation skills in a team environment
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TIPS FOR GROUP INTERVIEWS
Be a friendly and cooperative team member
Do not wait for the next question. Be proactive!
Practice writing on a white boardPrepare an interesting question in the
end