SPJIMR CASEBOOK

Deloitte S&O
Anuradha Seshu
 Name of the Candidate: Anuradha S

Name of the Interviewer: Anish Swaminathan

Interview: Round 1

•The questions were mostly based on my CV. The interview started with Anish
introducing himself and asked me to do the same. This lasted for a while as Anish
asked me to elaborate on a couple of things that I had covered ranging from my
interests to my work experience and my childhood. The interview was very casual.

•He then gave me a guestimate: Market size for a American Bicycle company
planning to enter India. The focus was more on indentifying the filters and not the
actual number. He gave me a suggestion when I realized that my final number was
high and I incorporated it. In a couple of places, he asked me to explain the filters
I used in more detail.

•He asked me if I had any questions, my background being the same, I asked him
for his opinion on a new regulation which turned into a fruitful discussion.
 Name of the Candidate: Anuradha S

Name of the Interviewer: Sudeep Krishna

Interview: Round 2

•The questions were mostly based on my CV. The interview started with Sudeep
asking me about why my CGPA was not mentioned on the CV and we debated that
for about 5-10 mins. He asked me about my Autumns project and we had a long
discussion on it as it was an area that he had written a white paper on.

•He then gave me the case: It was a simple market entry case where Sudeep tried
his best to be hostile and pass remarks to bring in anxiety and stress. I knew his
nature and thus played along. He looked for only method of solving the case and
not the final solution. He also asked me to guess the name of the company, which
I did and then asked me if I wanted to change my solution post that knowledge. I
refused and stuck to my derived solution.

•He asked me if I had any questions, I asked him the solution he gave the company
and the reason for it and discussed it at length.
Case Type: Market Entry for a medical Devices company- (India vs China and Low vs
Premium pricing)
Case Question: Decision between country of choice & Pricing

It was a market entry case; Sudeep asked me to answer 4 questions

1. Micro & Macro factors involved in decision making
2. The market size and whether any factors would make us pick up the smaller market
3. The pricing I would choose- low or high
4. Go-to-market in the country of choice
• I listed down the macro factors, ranging from GDP to population, to present size of
market, governmental regulations etc. All of these were clubbed into different aspects
of PESTLE and drew a branched tree which Sudeep saw and questioned me on. (Yes,
handwriting is a must as consultants like to read what you write)
• I listed down the micro factors and he then handed me the data set. I analysed the table
and calculated no of surgeries/hospital and a couple of other basic calculations (some
of them being- market size in 2030, Annual Profit as Profit margin was provided). I drew
a table for clarity
• Finally provided a solution : I gave the exact opposite solution (India and Premium)
based upon some qualitative parameters even though the numbers tilted towards
China (guess it was growth in hospitals & competition & population change or
something) INDIA CHINA
• This was the first case that Sudeep handled & he suggested market entry Pros Pros
into china at low pricing. However, since I had guessed the name of the Cons Cons
company, we discussed the success of this model for the firm 10 yrs aftr the decision
 Name of the Candidate: Anuradha S

Name of the Interviewer: Santosh Anoo

Interview: Round 3 (Partner round)

•Santosh asked me how my other rounds went, I told him that round 1 was good,
however round 2 I was a little presumptuous and jumped to the conclusion a little
too quickly.
•The rest was a generic discussion, some from my CV and some normal HR
questions. Sudeep was present even during the partner rounds, making it clear to
us that he called the shots in case of doubtful candidates.
•Santosh asked me about my work ex and why not the industry, then asked why
consulting and if I would be able to manage the life . He asked me about extra
curricular activities listed on my CV. He also asked why not the Autumns company.
•He asked me if I had any questions, and luckily I had paid attention during the ppt
session and asked him a question from there and also on what they are looking for
in a candidate in the partner round (Obviously, the questions were polished and
not put forth like I mentioned it here)
 What Worked for you?

My background was strength, they were hiring for Life Sciences and I capitalized on
it.
The all the interviewers were very casual and they liked to engage in light
conversation, I was able to hold on to their attention and brought in a little bit of
humor which Anish & Santosh liked a lot.

Any Special Tips.

1. Take feedback and incorporate but don’t change your answer just because they
tell you that they picked the other option in real life, try and discuss it and stick
to ‘logic derived conclusion’
2. Needn get the case right but the structure is important
3. Talk to them and make them smile, they like people who can hold on to their
attention.
4. Don brag, you ll get caught, they are good at reading faces & be ready for
sarcasm (especially if Sudeep is interviewing you)
SPJIMR CASEBOOK

PRTM
Kanchan Chanana
 Kanchan Chanana

Sreejayan (35 minutes)

Do you have any question for me ?

Ans: Consulting being the dynamic profession, how do you develop new and existing consultants in the system?

Tell me about yourself?

Why consulting?
Why you?
Examples on every point you state (and preferably from work ex)
Case
So there are 3 problems at the client
1) Supplier related costs are high
2) Lead time is high
3) Supplier capability up gradation in the ever changing technology environment

Answer I only attenpted first part

Question I asked – How many suppliers does the client have?
3000 suppliers
What is the total purchase?
1200 Mn dollars
What is the purchase from the top supplier?
70 mn
I think it is fair to assume that the client has a fragmented supplier base
Yes, you are right. What else?
Why the client has so many suppliers?
Actually, there is no specific reason for this.
Do we know how is the supplier selection done?
After this question, he stopped me and said yes we are going in the right direction
The real problem the client was facing was fragmented supplier base and need to change their supplier selection strategy

What 3 things you want to improve about yourself?

 Kanchan Chanana

Nitin Soundale (45 minutes)

Tell me about yourself?

Why consulting?
Why PRTM?
Lot of questions from my work experience.
Examples on every point you state (and preferably from work ex)
Situation 1
Your client has 3 businesses – specialty machine manufacturing, small machines manufacturing, large machines manufacturing
Client is facing huge cost impact due to fluctuation in raw material prices. What do you suggest ?

Question I asked – How is the raw material purchased – is it consolidated buying ?

No, but its good idea . Tell me how would you go about it?

Calculate total requirement of each type of material used in all 3 businesses

Calculate the contribution of each type of material – price*qty
Classify which are imported and which are locally purchased
Analyze trends in the market price of the commodities

Consolidate buying for in-house and supplier requirements

Forward booking to hedge risks

Situation 2
You are consultant to an Indian client where the proposal you suggested is not being accepted by the design manager. Convince

I think I did not fair well in this .

Do you have any questions for me?

1) What is the major challenge you faced in consulting?
2) How do you select members in your team
 Kanchan Chanana

Rajesh (partner round telephonic, 40 minutes)

Tell me about your background

Notable achievements and highlights
How are you different from other 2 candidates?
Why consulting?

Lets discuss about the current problem in KFA

Why KFA is facing problem?

I gave reasons.
Compare jet airlines with KFA
What can be done to turnaround the situation?

Case – Our client is a global manufacturer of large machines used for making very specialized components. Currently they have lot of suppliers
which are supplying sub assemblies. They have hired us to consolidate their supplier base. Also the client wants to understand the key benefits and
risks associated with it.

Solution -
How consolidation – check no of suppliers, geography spread, dependence on each supplier, criticality associated with the components supplied
Q how many supplier does the client currently have?
30 suppliers
Q What is our dependence on each supplier
70% of total purchase is supplied by 30% of the suppliers.

Consolidate the bottom 70% of suppliers which are supplying 30% of purchase.

Key benefits – economies of scale, efficient management of supplier base, higher purchasing power with the client, etc
Key risks – dependence on the supplier increases, supply risk, geography risk etc.

Any questions for me?

1) What are the typical phases in a project?
2) What is the average duration of a project?
 Kanchan Chanana

Mahesh (partner round, telephonic 30 minutes)

Tell me about background and your interests

Why PRTM?

What are the 2 things if PRTM offers you will make you think about long term career with the firm and which 2 things will make you think otherwise.

Do you have any questions for me?

1) How are the new consultants associated with the partners?

2) How do u select members in your team for a project
What worked for you?
I was able to support anything and everything I said with examples.
I was able to pick up hints given by the interviewer.
Talk to people working in the firm you applying for, it helps big time.

Any Special Tips.

1) Be calm and confident, interviewer will try to make you nervous in many ways.
2) Keep the interviewer involved in the discussion, ask their opinion or something
like are we heading in the right direction. They are there to help you.
3) Be thorough with your work experience, that’s where I was asked the maximum
questions
SPJIMR CASEBOOK

Deloitte – AERS Innovation

Prabhat Kumar
 Prabhat Kumar

Deepti Thomas and Abhishek Deshpande

Interview 1

Before the interviews started, there was a Shortlist based on your resume. The
shortlisted candidates had an interaction with the seniors from Innovation team a
day before the interview for getting clarity on the role. The interview started with
basic questions about yourself and questions from your CV regarding the autumns
work experience. They were focussing mainly on how I have been innovative in my
approaches at various situations that I had faced, be it in school, at SP, or at DOCC.
There were some out of the box questions too which were asked like “Tell us 5
ways how you can conduct this interview innovatively”. Apart from these
questions, the basic questions like “Why consulting?” and “Justify your interest in
consulting even though you have majored in Finance “ were asked. Overall, the
interview was quite grilling but all they were looking for is confidence in tackling
unorthodox situations and your innovative answers.
 Prabhat Kumar

Sachin Arora and Ibha Mendevell

Interview 2

This was a very tricky interview. The interview over a duration of 1 hour judged
me on creativity and my ability to provide out of the box solutions. Some of the
questions asked –
1. They gave me 4 different colour markers, and asked me to draw “Passion” in
one minute.
2. They asked me my favourite colour. Then asked me to write 10 words
associated with my favourite colour in 30 seconds. After that, I was asked to
make a poem using all those 10 words in 2minutes.
3. Give us 3 reasons why we shouldn’t select you.
4. Give us 3 reasons why you would reject our offer of employment.
5. One of the alum came to the room and asked me to find out 3 things about
Ibha which even she didn’t know.
6. One aspect which was focussed upon was whether the candidate was clear
about the role offered. So a good part of the interview was the panel making
sure to explain you the role and its responsibilities.
 Case Type : How to Improve Sales

Case Question : This was a straightforward case of falling sales and revenue due to
many competitors entering the market. I was asked to be the yoghurt seller who was
once the leader in terms of sales in a marketplace. And suddenly, 5 other players
entered the market with the same product ( no differentiation at all ). I had to
suggest ways to improve the dwindling sales and bring customers back.

Anyone who would have gone through “Case in point” would be easily able to
solve this case using the framework given. Apart from suggesting the usual
solution, I tackled the problem from the point of view of Supply Chain also. I
highlighted the problems that could have been arising due to lack of cold storage
supply chain. This perspective was not expected by the interviewers and hence
gave me brownie points for tackling a marketing problem from operations point of
view as well.
 Prabhat Kumar

Suman Jagdev and Amit Srivastav

Interview 3

This was a pretty formal interview and was different from the first two. It mostly
centred around my Internship experience with Ernst & Young. I had worked on a
Though leadership project in the Financial Services sector. Hence it was pretty
easy for me to link up the work I did there to the work I am expected to do in
Deloitte. This was a chill interview and was very well in my comfort zone. I was
asked to present on the white board the work I did in E&Y in layman’s language.
The second part of the interview was an HR case in consulting.
 Case Type : HR Case

Case Question : This was a case related to problems arising out of delays and
roadblocks in a high value project for an important client. One of the members had
left the team and the project was not able to meet the required deadlines. I was to
suggest ways to the Partner as to how the project can be revived in the next meeting.

Using concepts from OB course, this case was easily solved based on intuition.
Firstly, I described the problem statement and thought out loud as to what are the
core issues which need to be tackled. Once you find these issues, you suggest
recommendations on how to tackle each one of them keeping the client’s interest
and the company reputation of the highest importance. One question which I was
asked was to what all qualities I will look for in a personnel to be elected as the
manager for this project and how will I motivate him/her.
 What Worked for you?

1. Confidence definitely matters a lot in consulting interviews.

2. Being able to tackle HR questions seamlessly is the key to crack such interviews.
3. Ability to think on the feet.
4. Interaction with seniors from Deloitte prior to the interview which helps in
better understanding of the role.
5. Ability to communicate in simple language and not having second thoughts
about what I said.

Any Special Tips.

1. This was the first company on campus for consulting and hence everyone around
me was really tensed. The key is not to be bogged down by looking at others and
their preparation, instead having faith in your abilities. If it is your day, no one
can stop you from cracking the interview.
2. For this specific role, I would suggest interested people to find such innovative
problems and try solving them before interview apart from the regular case
studies.
SPJIMR CASEBOOK

Deloitte S&O
Varun Madan
 Name of the Candidate: Varun Madan
Name of the Interviewer:Don’t remember names
1st interview: SP Jain Alumni (2005 batch)
Interview: Round 1

• Formal introduction- why consulting?

• Why not investment banking (I had interned at JP Morgan) or joining family
businesses (I had mentioned family business in my introduction)
• Some stuff on my CV- conversations on my academics, ECA
• Guess estimate the market for mineral water bottles in India
• Given a chance to ask questions- asked about Deloitte in general (on areas
where Deloitte wants to grow more as a firm)
 Interview: Round 2

Name of the Interviewer: Dont Remember

- Basic stuff on CV- any thing from the last round that i wanted to share
-Understanding my work at McKinsey Knowledge Centre better (I had worked
with McKC for 2 years pre MBA)
- Asked to give examples of Front end exposure during work life- talked about
DOCC project and a Consulting competition that I had won at SP Jain
- A detailed case on pharma industry-
-Market sizing case
- Few numbers- basic calculations (a good case from Case in Point could be a
reference)
 Interview: Round 3 (Partner round)

Very light hearted conversation

Allowed me to ask them questions

1) Question 1: Understanding the operations part of Deloitte consulting (the O in

S&O)- i was basically here looking to get an example of the extent Deloitte
gets involved in operations

2) Question 2: Joining a function team (say Supply Chain) v/s a Sector Team (say
healthcare) and the pros and cons of the two approaches

During my questions I was also showing my knowledge of the profession given my

background with McKinsey
What Worked for you?

A strong background and a well prepared CV

Academic rigor + ECA gave me talking points
Consulting Interest Groups- extremely important but don’t over do it- give some
time to your preparation
Networking before the process: During the ppt and other GL’s I had asked a few
questions which Deloitte remembered. I think they liked that part

Any Special Tips.

-If you are reading it, it means you are concerned about placements so no doubts
about the effort you are putting in
- Try enjoying the processes (i know its easier said than done)
-Try talking to people in other schools informally to get a sense of questions that the
same firm has been asking (using Case books from ISB and reading through the
interviews can be a useful exercise)
SPJIMR CASEBOOK

Pricewaterhouse Cooper
Nimit Khurana
 Name of the Candidate: Nimit Khurana

Name of the Interviewer: Akash Srivastava, Hazel Dias (HR)

Interview: Round 1

• There was a GD round before this and the topic was super arbit – “Sky is red”
• About this round - Just to make me comfortable he started talking about Movies,
Mumbai and other things but you need to show positive attitude in whatever you
say.
• Akash was also from Tata Motors hence he asked me about my work ex in detail
and I ended up explaining the processes, which I have been part of, on the white-
board . That’s not all he went two levels deeper in everything I wrote and asked
me about the stake holders in each processes and how do I think that the process
can be improved.
 Case Type: Lean Manufacturing

Case Question: I was handed over a sheet containing the responses of the
customers, Production employees and sales team of a paper manufacturing
company and I had to suggest steps to make all of them happy.
Customers – “ Material is received once in a month because of which huge
inventory needs to be maintained”
Production – “ It is never clear what needs to be done and who Is responsible for
what and even the shop floor area is cluttered with raw material”
Sales Team – “ Product quality is not good, customer is complaining about the poor
quality”

I was asked to write on the white board my approach towards the problem. I asked for a
minute and then started writing the problem areas like Quality, Forecasting issues, Role clarity
and Flow of Information, in front of all these problems like
5S
Demand Based Forecasting
Balanced Scorecard
Lean Methodology (More of like a superset)
 Case Type: Lean Manufacturing

I was asked to prioritize the tools I will be using and I was asked the reason behind it. I
chose Balanced scorecard and Lean as lean methodology includes all other things and I
explained how Balanced Score Card will help. Then I was asked about the parameters I
would use to measure the progress
OTIF
Fill Rate
What followed was obvious – Explanation of Fill Rate and I was dumb enough to quote
Order fill rate and Product fill rate and out of no where he gave me another mini case
where I had to calculate order and Product fill rate. And I was asked about what all steps
would I use to increase order and product fill rate in specific. I didn’t expect this kind
question and all that came to my head was process reliability and generic steps like supplier
dynamic inventory buffer and I showed how to go about it. Then came the bummer, he
asked me which of the following would I use to improve Order fill rate – Process reliability
improvement or change over time reduction and I asked about the details of the product
and the manufacturing and then I said process reliability and he asked me for an analogy
and I said economy of scale but he expected a lean terminology which I was unable to
answer.

What followed after it were standard HR questions – tell me your three weaknesses and
then the standard question “you are not good at this, this and this then why should we hire
you.”
 Interview: Round 2 (Partner round)

Name of the Interviewer: Ravind Mithe, Hazel Dias

Before I entered the interview room Hazel came and told me to be bold in
anything I answer in front of the partner. I guess my confidence level was a little
shaky in the last round but it was too technical for my expectations. Anyways, as I
entered I was asked the most prepared question “ Tell me about yourself” and
just when I was about to spill out the crammed answer I was asked to find out the
wastes in my Tata Motors projects and then he asked me to explain each waste. I
was asked about my accomplishments in work ex and how can I make the process
better now (after MBA). He tried to pin me on anything random I said or seemed
unprepared about. He asked me about the worst moment of my life and I had
something personal to answer and he did probe me about the incident and tried
to find whether I was making that stuff out of thin air or not. Anyways, next he
asked me about what all parameters would I use and on what all levers would I
measure the performance of these parameters to reconfigure an already
established supply chain.
 Interview: Round 2 (Partner round)

Name of the Interviewer: Ravind Mithe, Hazel Dias

Which was followed by the question about what all factors are important in a
new product introduction process which was related to my work-ex. I almost
consistently missed one point in all of the questions but I was confident about
what I said. He just asked me few more questions related to my resume and then
I was asked if I had any questions for them.
What Worked for you?

I had a very bad experience in Deloitte partner round as the partner was super rude
because he was pissed with something the last candidate did. Again in PRTM
partner didn’t select anyone who came to his panel and he specifically told me to
go back to industry where better opportunities lies for me. Hence I was low on
confidence but super friendly interviewers helped me gain my confidence back.
Another thing that helped me was that I sat and discussed all Ops funda with my
ops fellas.

Any Special Tips.

1. I have seen smartest people get rejected because of very silly reasons and
unexpected selections happen. Bottom-line is that luck plays a big part but we
cant leave everything on it. Be prepared and through with all your fundas and do
make Consult Interest groups and practice cases and guesstimates because even
if you don’t get through consults the knowledge will help you in other
companies as well.
2. Be confident and always wear that awesome smile of yours.
3. Go through their ppt very carefully
ALL THE BEST

THANK YOU