You know you are going to get a lot of cases that ask you to analyze the market/industry. Below is a list of core questions you should be thinking and asking about the market/industry. You need to learn these so you can rattle them off in your sleep. It will speed up your structure link (because you won’t have to stop and think) and ensure that you don’t miss anything critical. You will probably add to or subtract from the list depending on the case, but it will eventually become second nature to you and thus build up your confidence.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
CORE QUESTIONS TO ASK
- Market size, growth rate, and trends?
- Where is it in its lifecycle? (Emergine? Mature? Declining?)
- Industry drivers?
- Customer segmentation(s)?
- Margins?
- Industry changes
- M&A? New Players?
- Changes in technology?
- Regulations?
- Distribution channels?
- Major players and market share?
- Product differentiations?
- Barriers to entry/exit?
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About the Author
Marc Cosentino
Marc, the world’s foremost authority on case interviewing has twenty seven years of experience with case questions. He has written well over a hundred cases, while coaching, preparing and training more than a hundred and fifty thousand students and alumni. He has written three books involving cases and consulting. Cosentino has given workshops to students at colleges and MBA programs for the last twenty seven years and has held training sessions for career services professionals on how to give cases and how to analyze a student’s performance.
