The map, type by type
A short tour so no prompt feels completely new. Depth comes later, one type at a time.
Key takeaways
- Recognizing the type gives you a head start, but the best candidates still build a structure for the specific problem.
- Guesstimate: estimate a number you cannot look up. Start by defining the number and splitting it into a formula.
- Profitability: profit has fallen, find out why. Start by splitting profit into the revenue side and the cost side.
- Profit and loss: reason from the full income statement. Start by finding which line moved.
You do not need to memorize this map. You need to recognize the main shapes, so that when a prompt arrives you have a sense of where you are. Every type below has its own module in the Case Types library, where you learn to solve any version of it.
The case types at a glance
- Guesstimate: estimate a number you cannot look up. Start by defining the number and splitting it into a formula. Trap: guessing one big number with no structure.
- Profitability: profit has fallen, find out why. Start by splitting profit into the revenue side and the cost side. Trap: jumping to a fix before you know the cause.
- Profit and loss: reason from the full income statement. Start by finding which line moved. Trap: getting lost in the lines instead of finding the cause.
- Market expansion: grow into new segments or regions. Start by asking which segment or region and whether it is attractive. Trap: assuming bigger is always better.
- Market entry: should the company enter a new market? Start with how attractive the market is, whether the company can win, and the economics. Trap: skipping whether the company can win.
- Growth strategy: grow revenue overall. Start by splitting growth into existing customers and new ones. Trap: a long list of ideas with no priorities.
- Pricing: what should we charge? Start with cost, competitors, and the value to the customer. Trap: pricing only from cost and ignoring value.
- Mergers and acquisitions: should we buy this company? Start with the market, the target, the price, and the risks. Trap: accepting the promised savings without questioning them.
- New product launch: should we launch, and how? Start with demand, economics, and how to bring it to market. Trap: loving the product and forgetting the customer.
- Competitive response: a competitor has acted, how do we react? Start with what the competitor did and our options. Trap: reacting fast without thinking about their next move.
- Operations and process: something is slow or costly. Start by walking the process step by step to find the bottleneck. Trap: improving a step that is not the constraint.
- Cost cutting: reduce cost without damaging the business. Start by splitting costs into large buckets and sizing them. Trap: cutting things that also bring in revenue.
- Capacity and supply chain: can we make and move enough? Start by comparing demand with capacity at each step. Trap: fixing one step while another is the real limit.
- Investment decision: is this project worth it? Start with the money you put in, the money it returns, and when it arrives. Trap: ignoring risk and the alternatives.
- Market study: understand an industry. Start by mapping the players, the customers, and the trends. Trap: a list of facts with no point of view.
- Declining industry and turnaround: the business is shrinking. Start by separating the company's problems from the industry's. Trap: assuming the company can grow while its whole industry shrinks.
- Public and social sector: the goal is not only profit. Start by being clear on the real objective and who is served. Trap: using pure profit logic where impact is the aim.
- Non-standard and creative: a prompt that fits no type. Start from first principles. Trap: forcing a familiar framework onto an unfamiliar problem.
Recognizing the type gives you a head start, but the best candidates still build a structure for the specific problem. A profitability case in a hospital is not the same as one in a software firm. The tailoring is where you win points.
The module "Which case type is this?" in the Case Types library gives you many short prompts to classify, with the first move for each. It is the next step in most plans after this lesson.
"Our client, a European grocer, is considering buying a smaller rival. Should it?" Which type is this?
"A rival bank has cut its fees by half. What should our client do?" What is a strong first move?
Sources for this lesson (1)
- Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and frameworks
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