Foda

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Tuck Consulting Club

1999 - 2000 Guide to Case Interviews
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Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

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Table of Contents
A Note From The Editors .............................................................................3 Some Thoughts On Case Interviews ..........................................................4Preparing For Case Interviews....................................................................7 Strategic Tools & Frameworks....................................................................9 Economics Frameworks ............................................................................19 Finance & Accounting Frameworks .........................................................22 Sample Cases… AnIntroduction..............................................................25 Sample Case & Suggested Solution.........................................................28 General Interview Questions .....................................................................30 Profitability Cases.......................................................................................32 Market Entry & GeneralStrategy Cases...................................................50 More Case Questions To Try.....................................................................82 Market Sizing & Estimation Cases............................................................83 More Market Sizing & Estimation Cases To Try............................... 86 Brainteasers................................................................................................87 The Resume Case.............................................................................. 92 Cases With Slides.............................................................................. 93

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A Note From The Editors…
"When it comes to case interviews, the cliché 'practice makes perfect' works."

This bookis a compilation of cases which Tuck students and alumni have received during interviews. The best way to use this book to prepare for interviews is to partner up with other students and practice the cases with each other. Suggested frameworks and analyses follow the case questions. While these suggestions should help give you some direction, do not limit your analyses to the frameworks recommendedwith each case. There is not usually a “right” way to analyze the case, nor is there a “right” answer. Often, interviewers are more interested in how you structure your thinking than in what “answer” you come up with. Use the frameworks you have learned in conjunction with your own personal, creative insights. Great thanks to everyone who has contributed to this guide. Special thanks to thefollowing individuals for their work on the guide over the years:
Pavan Chahal T’94 Karl Siebrecht T’96 Keri Dogan T’98 Clay Adams T’99 Vishy Ganapathy T’95 Raymond Yue T’96 Mike Gibney T’98 Carla Deykin T’99 Steve Ritchie T’95 Sylvia Konze T’97 Rohan Pal T’98 Kyle Keogh T’99

We in the Consulting Club sincerely hope that this guide continues to serve well the Tuck community. Allen Gove T'00, ParagDesai T'00 & Mary Beth Keiller T'00 1999 Editors

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Some Thoughts On Case Interviews…
Professor Phil Anderson
A Note On Frameworks
By the time you begin your case interviews, I would like you to feel very confident that you can listen to a description of a situation, and rapidly put together a systematic, logical way of analyzing it. I want you to be able to say toyourself, “I’ve practiced this for several weeks; I know I can do this.” A framework can guide your intelligent questioning of the interviewer, lets you lay out your analysis in a coherent manner, and lets you apply your experience to the case by pointing out how the case is an instance of a more general problem to which your experience applies. I cannot overemphasize that this is a skill...