Protecting an e-bike maker from a magnet cut-off
The prompt
A fictional e-bike maker in the Netherlands makes 120,000 bikes a year, earning EUR 400 of contribution on each. All its motors come from one supplier in China, and the team puts the chance of a three-month cut-off (for example, an export licence delay) at 15 percent a year. Option A: hold three extra months of motors, at EUR 150 each and a holding cost of 20 percent a year. Option B: move 40 percent of volume to a supplier in Japan at EUR 20 more per motor, plus EUR 300,000 a year to qualify and manage it; in a cut-off it keeps 40 percent of output going. Which option creates more value?
Practice with a partner
1. Send the interviewer link to a friend. They read the case aloud and hold the answers.
2. You open the candidate view: you see only the prompt, a timer and a notes box.
3. Speak the case out loud. Your partner shares data when you ask, then scores you with the rubric.
Interviewer view
For the person running the case
Candidate view
For the person answering the case
Clarifying questions, with the interviewer's answers
My notes on this case
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