Case Interview Fundamentals: Lesson 19 [Drill: Beer Direct Sales] — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Hey guys, so in this framework drill,
- 0:02you will learn and apply two things. The
- 0:05first is the step-by-step to build and
- 0:08present your frameworks, as we've seen
- 0:11in the theory video on on that. And the
- 0:13second thing is
- 0:15how to adapt the 3Cs or how to adapt
- 0:19your frameworks, in this case the 3Cs
- 0:21framework,
- 0:22for a specific case. This is a
- 0:27medium to difficult, but more towards
- 0:30medium case on a beer company that's
- 0:33trying to start a direct-to-home
- 0:37beer delivery operation in major cities,
- 0:39and they want to know if they should do
- 0:40it or not. We're going to go into the
- 0:42case questions soon.
- 0:44Uh but first,
- 0:46a note for you guys who are practicing
- 0:49or who are learning. There are two time
- 0:52frames that you can consider in order to
- 0:55do the drill, do the exercise on paper
- 0:58or while recording on audio
- 1:01before you watch my answer. If you're on
- 1:04skill-building mode, so if you're
- 1:06building the skills of building
- 1:08frameworks,
- 1:10take 10 to 15 minutes to structure this.
- 1:13I'd say 95% of you who are watching this
- 1:16are in this mode. If you can't yet
- 1:19build a really good framework for every
- 1:22case that you do, then you're on
- 1:24skill-building mode. And you're going to
- 1:27take longer in this mode than you would
- 1:29in an interview because you're learning.
- 1:31So, take your time to learn. Later, you
- 1:33can focus on improving time. If you're
- 1:36on time-improving mode, so if you if you
- 1:39know how to build frameworks, but you're
- 1:40not just fast enough yet for an
- 1:43interview, then take two to three
- 1:45minutes to structure because that's the
- 1:47time you've got in the interview. So,
- 1:49you already know how to do it, you just
- 1:51can't do it quick enough, so you're
- 1:53practicing for a time. Most of you guys
- 1:55are going to be on skill-building mode.
- 1:58So, just take take your time to
- 2:00structure this. You can always come back
- 2:031 2 3 weeks from now and structure this
- 2:06again on time-improving
- 2:08mode. All right?
- 2:10So, let's go into the case.
- 2:13And the case question is, should a major
- 2:17beer company start a direct-to-home
- 2:21beer delivery operation in major cities?
- 2:25Let me give you some context because
- 2:27this is not an obvious situation. This
- 2:30company's trying to, instead of going
- 2:33through retail to sell beer, they're
- 2:35trying to instead sell directly via
- 2:38delivery. A lot of people drink beer at
- 2:40home with their friends, and they need
- 2:42to go to the supermarket or order from a
- 2:45third-party delivery service. This beer
- 2:48company's trying to cut the middleman
- 2:51and sell beer directly for the
- 2:53drink-at-home occasion. And as a side
- 2:56note here, in a real interviews, it
- 2:58often happens that your interviewer
- 3:00casually tells these context situations
- 3:04in an informal manner, as I just have
- 3:06done. So, they will explain the case
- 3:09question in more depth, just informally.
- 3:12Even though it's informal, all this
- 3:14information should be used to solve the
- 3:18case. So, your next step now should be
- 3:20to ask clarification questions in case
- 3:23you have any. What would yours be? Well,
- 3:26here are mine.
- 3:28Actually, I just have one clarification
- 3:30question, which is, why do they want to
- 3:33do it? Is it to increase their margin by
- 3:36cutting the middleman off, or is it to
- 3:38gain market share because their beer's
- 3:41going to be so convenient to buy for
- 3:43that specific drinking occasion that
- 3:46people prefer to buy their beer because
- 3:49of the channel instead of
- 3:53going to supermarkets and having the
- 3:55option to choose among competitors. So,
- 3:57what is their
- 3:58reason to do this? Let's say that the
- 4:01interviewer tells me that they want to
- 4:03do this to get more margin by cutting
- 4:05off the retailer and to get more market
- 4:08share in the drink-at-home drinking
- 4:11occasion. So, both reasons, and this
- 4:14makes the case a little bit more
- 4:15complex, but not too much. Okay?
- 4:18There are other clarification questions
- 4:20that would make sense. Anything that
- 4:23helps you define the problem
- 4:26is game.
- 4:28If it's something that should be used to
- 4:30solve the problem, then it should be in
- 4:33your structure, not in your
- 4:34clarification question. So, that's kind
- 4:36of the line that you should draw. If
- 4:38it's a question that helps you define
- 4:41the problem and come up with the right
- 4:42structure, it's a clarification
- 4:44question. If it doesn't help you define
- 4:47the problem, but it helps you solve the
- 4:49problem, then it should be in your
- 4:51structure.
- 4:53Right? So,
- 4:54now it's the time for you to pause your
- 4:56video and structure the case.
- 4:5910 to 15 minutes in case you're learning
- 5:01how to build frameworks, two to three
- 5:03minutes in case you're learning how to
- 5:05do that fast. Now,
- 5:08most of you guys are going to do it on
- 5:09paper, which is fine. I highly recommend
- 5:12you that you do it on paper, and then
- 5:15hit the record button in your cell
- 5:17phone, in your smartphone, and actually
- 5:19deliver the presentation to your
- 5:21interviewer. You can then listen to that
- 5:24later or compare that to the way I
- 5:26present my framework, and that will help
- 5:28you improve your communication skills as
- 5:31well. Okay? So, pause the video now and
- 5:33do the framework on paper. If you want
- 5:35to also record the delivery of it, it's
- 5:38really important, and I'll see you soon.
- 5:41So, let's jump into my answer in this
- 5:43framework. So, I'll do it in three
- 5:45steps, as you should have.
- 5:47You should do the categories first, and
- 5:49these categories are the parts of the
- 5:51system that you're studying, in this
- 5:53case beer sales. Then, you should state
- 5:56your issues, the questions that you want
- 5:58to make about each category and the
- 6:01answers you want to have. And then, the
- 6:03third step is to, for most issues or for
- 6:06the most relevant issues, to say the
- 6:08hypothesis behind them, the hypothesis
- 6:10that underlie them, or at least explain
- 6:13why you need that piece of information.
- 6:16Now, as you've seen in the other video,
- 6:18there is a fourth step, which is how to
- 6:20test that hypothesis, but we can omit
- 6:23that for now
- 6:24because the interviewer will ask you
- 6:27in case
- 6:29they want to know how would you test it.
- 6:31And we also cover that in the hypothesis
- 6:33testing session of this course, in the
- 6:36hypothesis testing module, which you
- 6:38will get access
- 6:40in a few days.
- 6:42Okay? So, from now on, it's me
- 6:46delivering this framework to the
- 6:48interviewer after thinking for a few
- 6:50minutes.
- 6:51And here's how I would say it.
- 6:53Okay, so to answer how to answer if this
- 6:57major beer company should start a
- 6:59direct-to-home beer delivery operation
- 7:01in major cities, I would get a
- 7:05prioritized list of some cities that
- 7:08they think or that we think would make
- 7:09sense.
- 7:11And for this list, I would ask
- 7:14four more major questions or I would
- 7:16study four major categories. Here they
- 7:18are. The first are the customers. I want
- 7:21to know if they would like this
- 7:23direct-to-home delivery service channel.
- 7:26The second is the company. I want to
- 7:28know if we can operationalize this.
- 7:31Then, I want to study the competitors to
- 7:34know if we can outcompete them.
- 7:37And by competitors here, I mean other
- 7:39beer delivery services,
- 7:41not other breweries. And finally, I want
- 7:44to study our current distribution
- 7:46channels to see how does this move
- 7:48change our relationship with them. So,
- 7:51let me start with the customers first. I
- 7:53have four main questions regarding the
- 7:55customers. The first one is, do they
- 7:58currently get beer delivered? And if
- 8:01not, is this a lack of supply or a lack
- 8:04of interest? So, if it's a lack of
- 8:06supply, if no one delivers beer to their
- 8:08home in the select cities that we're
- 8:10studying, we need to confirm if there's
- 8:13interest. We need to see if they do a
- 8:15lot of beer runs, for example, if they
- 8:17go to the supermarket just to buy beer.
- 8:20That would be the perfect occasion for
- 8:22this delivery service. If there's
- 8:24supply, but they're not getting the beer
- 8:26delivered, there might be a lack of
- 8:28interest, and we can check that because
- 8:31if there is no market for this, then we
- 8:34probably don't want to do it.
- 8:36Second issue I want to analyze. How
- 8:38satisfied are they with the current
- 8:41delivery options? So, if they do get
- 8:43beer delivered, how satisfied are they
- 8:46with their options?
- 8:47I want to know if they're satisfied with
- 8:50time to deliver, with the price of the
- 8:53delivery beer versus the supermarket. I
- 8:55want to know the delivery conditions,
- 8:57for example, is the beer cold enough?
- 8:59And I want to know how the ordering
- 9:01process looks like and if they're
- 9:02satisfied with it. So, if they're
- 9:05calling
- 9:06companies to get beer delivered, but
- 9:08they heavily prefer an app, then
- 9:13there could be opportunities here with
- 9:15their insatisfaction. And here is, maybe
- 9:17they're getting beer delivered, but we
- 9:19can do a much better job. Third issue,
- 9:22how often do they drink at home?
- 9:25I want to know if this is a frequent
- 9:27purchase,
- 9:28and I'm assuming it is for the people
- 9:31who who who do drink beer at home
- 9:34because if it is, then we have we can
- 9:37have the opportunity to have loyal
- 9:39customers, which tend to be more
- 9:41profitable. And the fourth issue here
- 9:43is, do they get delivery for other
- 9:45things? So, maybe they're not getting
- 9:47beer delivered,
- 9:49perhaps due to a lack of supply, but
- 9:53our hypothesis is that if they're used
- 9:55to deliver
- 9:57to use delivery for foods, for other
- 9:59things, maybe drug stores, anything like
- 10:02that, they're more likely to use this
- 10:04channel for beer as well. So, by going
- 10:07through these four issues, I think we
- 10:09can understand if customers would like
- 10:11this channel. Now, let's move on to
- 10:13company. There are three major issues
- 10:15that I want to analyze here. The first
- 10:17is how a warehouse and logistics work.
- 10:21So, I want to know specifically within
- 10:23warehouses
- 10:25how many warehouses in a city do we need
- 10:28or per city? And I know there's a
- 10:30trade-off of having more warehouses and
- 10:32delivering faster versus having less
- 10:35warehouses and having less investment.
- 10:38So, I want to know what the optimal
- 10:39number is. And then the logistics.
- 10:42We will how will we deliver this beer
- 10:45home and how will it work? Second thing
- 10:48about if the company can operationalize
- 10:50this is how will we take orders? So, how
- 10:53how does our ordering flow look like?
- 10:56And then how do we assign these orders
- 10:58to specific warehouses and delivery
- 11:01people? And then finally, what should be
- 11:04our delivery terms? And this involves a
- 11:07bit of customer analysis as well, but
- 11:09also what does the company want to
- 11:10achieve with this? Do they want to fast
- 11:12delivery like in
- 11:1430 minutes like Domino's? And do do we
- 11:18want to deliver the beer cold? And also
- 11:22what type of
- 11:24pricing and what is our cost? So, just
- 11:27to know how profitable will this
- 11:29operation be. Now, on to competitors.
- 11:34So, regarding our competitors, I want to
- 11:36know if we can outcompete them, other
- 11:38delivery services. And there are three
- 11:39questions here. The first one is how
- 11:42good are the current delivery services?
- 11:45Are they doing a good job or not? And
- 11:47this involves customer satisfaction, but
- 11:49also their operations. So, we need to
- 11:51study them.
- 11:53Second, can we compete with them given
- 11:56that we won't carry our competitors beer
- 11:59brands? And I'm assuming that we won't.
- 12:02And the hypothesis here is that
- 12:04customers like to buy different brands
- 12:06in the same shopping occasion.
- 12:08And then because of that, assortment is
- 12:11an important decision driver. So, if
- 12:14this is true and we won't carry our
- 12:16competitors beer brands, we'll we'll
- 12:20uh
- 12:21be lacking to our customer in an
- 12:23important driver. And then finally,
- 12:27if we enter this market, can we stop
- 12:30supplying to these competitors? Because
- 12:33then they won't have our brands and this
- 12:36will uh give them a disadvantage as well
- 12:39in case the last hypothesis was true.
- 12:42And here I think there are two things.
- 12:43One is contractual obligations. Maybe by
- 12:47law we can't stop supplying them. And
- 12:49then the second thing to see here is if
- 12:52they can buy wholesale or even in the
- 12:54supermarket,
- 12:56uh
- 12:57and then we have no business telling
- 12:59them that they shouldn't buy our
- 13:01products or not.
- 13:03Finally, let's move on to distribution
- 13:05channels. I want to know how does this
- 13:07change our relationship with them?
- 13:11And I think here there's just one real
- 13:15issue, which is would supermarkets,
- 13:17convenience stores, etc. retaliate? So,
- 13:21what I mean here, I think there are
- 13:22three
- 13:23competing hypotheses of what could
- 13:26happen with distribution channels in
- 13:28case we implement this strategy. The
- 13:30first one is that our move towards
- 13:33direct sales will weaken our negotiation
- 13:35power with them if this new channel is
- 13:37successful. So, we're selling more
- 13:39direct and less through supermarkets,
- 13:43convenience stores, etc. and take sales
- 13:45away from them. Now, I don't believe
- 13:48that this channel will be so huge that
- 13:52we will severely hurt these channels,
- 13:54but it could be the case. And in this
- 13:56case, we may lose negotiation power.
- 13:58They may even take our product out of
- 14:01premium
- 14:02shelf space.
- 14:04The alternative hypothesis is that we
- 14:06will control the shift from indirect to
- 14:10direct sales.
- 14:11For example, by pricing our direct
- 14:15delivery beer lower or higher. So,
- 14:18instead of
- 14:19them gaining bargaining power, then
- 14:21maybe we could gain bargaining power
- 14:23with them and our negotiation power is
- 14:25even stronger.
- 14:27So, as they threaten us to
- 14:30remove our beer from premium shelf space
- 14:34and etc., we can threaten them to lower
- 14:37the price of home delivery beer and then
- 14:40they won't sell as much of our beer nor
- 14:43our competitors beer because people are
- 14:44just going to be ordering it. So, that's
- 14:46an alternative scenario. And the third
- 14:49scenario is that that this has no effect
- 14:51on bargaining power.
- 14:53People don't do a lot of beer runs or
- 14:54they won't switch. And in this case,
- 14:57maybe this business model isn't that
- 15:00good. It's not going to get that large.
- 15:02Now, I have a meta-hypothesis here,
- 15:05which is what I think could happen about
- 15:08these scenarios is that we may be able
- 15:10to control them through pricing. If we
- 15:13price close to their price, we won't
- 15:15have much of an effect. If we price a
- 15:18lot lower, then maybe we will
- 15:22bother them a lot. So, maybe we can
- 15:24control the scenarios through pricing,
- 15:26which then makes pricing a critical
- 15:30issue here. Just in case this business
- 15:32actually makes sense, which is what
- 15:34we're studying in the other buckets. So,
- 15:37it is by doing this this analysis and
- 15:40asking these questions and getting these
- 15:42answers in these four buckets that I
- 15:44would advise this beer company if they
- 15:46should start this direct-to-home beer
- 15:49delivery operation or not.
- 15:52And
- 15:53the way I would do it is I would start
- 15:56understanding if customers would like
- 15:58this channel. So, I would do the
- 15:59customer analysis first because if
- 16:01there's no demand for
- 16:03beer delivery at home, then I don't
- 16:05think it makes sense to study the other
- 16:07things. The answer is no, they
- 16:09shouldn't. So, that's where I would
- 16:10start and that's it.
- 16:13So, let's do a quick debrief here. What
- 16:15are the key learnings that you should
- 16:16have gotten from this framework? The
- 16:19first one is I've used the adapted three
- 16:22C's to structure this case. Pretty
- 16:24obvious I said I would that I would do
- 16:26it up front. But let's go through what I
- 16:29did exactly to adapt the three C's here
- 16:32and why this was the best option. The
- 16:35first thing I did is that there's no
- 16:37product. So, you might say, "Well,
- 16:39Bruno, but the three C's are customer,
- 16:42competition, and
- 16:44company." And you'd be right, but a lot
- 16:46of candidates use the business situation
- 16:48framework, which is the three C's and
- 16:51the product. So, I'm covering that up
- 16:53here. There's no product as this is a
- 16:55shift in the channels for all products.
- 16:59I'm not changing anything about the
- 17:01products of this brewery. So, it doesn't
- 17:03make sense to talk about products.
- 17:06Second thing is I considered competitors
- 17:09as the other delivery services, not the
- 17:13other breweries. Why did I do that?
- 17:15Isn't the competitor of a beer company
- 17:18another beer company? Well, yes, but
- 17:22in this case, we're talking about this
- 17:25beer company being a delivery service or
- 17:28verticalizing into a delivery service.
- 17:31So, we're talking about the competitors
- 17:33of this move of being a delivery
- 17:37service.
- 17:38Finally, I added other distribution
- 17:41channels as a category because this
- 17:43affects them. And I want to know how
- 17:45does it affect them because we as a beer
- 17:48company are the
- 17:50we're dependent on our distribution
- 17:53channels. So, if it affects them, it
- 17:55might as well affect us. And that's
- 17:58exactly what I'm looking for in this
- 18:00category. Now, I've done this case with
- 18:04candidates before and there are two
- 18:06patterns that I noticed. Some candidates
- 18:09are going to build a profitability tree
- 18:12to try to solve this case. Is selling
- 18:15beer through this new distribution
- 18:17channel going to be more profitable than
- 18:20our current business as usual?
- 18:23And while this can work,
- 18:26uh
- 18:27it's a very numerically oriented way of
- 18:30seeing this problem. And the problem is
- 18:33no one's done this before.
- 18:35It's a new move in the beer industry.
- 18:37So, you can make some assumptions about
- 18:40which one's going to be more profitable
- 18:42than than others. But if you do the
- 18:45assumptions yourself as a candidate,
- 18:46you're
- 18:47you're assuming something you cannot.
- 18:50You're not being data-driven. And
- 18:54if your interviewer just gives you a ton
- 18:56of data,
- 18:57you're going to be able to go through
- 18:59the case, but that data is going to be
- 19:02made up. In a real project, you wouldn't
- 19:05be able to do that
- 19:07to do a profitability comparison unless
- 19:11you
- 19:12did this study of these four categories
- 19:16first. Now, other candidates will use a
- 19:18business situation or a three C's
- 19:21framework or some other framework that
- 19:23they've learned somewhere of I don't
- 19:25know, new channel or
- 19:27or something like that. And the problem
- 19:29with those is
- 19:32let's say you're using the business
- 19:34situation framework from Victor Cheng.
- 19:36The problem with that is there's no
- 19:39product here. Some people would say,
- 19:41"Well, but the new product is the new
- 19:43channel." But then you're you're just
- 19:46mixing concepts up. A product is a
- 19:48product, a channel is a channel. There's
- 19:51a reason why they have different names.
- 19:53You analyze different things about them.
- 19:55You And you're not changing your product
- 19:58in this in this in this case. So,
- 20:02while you can
- 20:03uh do that,
- 20:05first, it's going to be very obvious to
- 20:06your interviewer that you're
- 20:07force-fitting a framework because you're
- 20:10calling something a concept that it it's
- 20:13not. You're calling a channel a product.
- 20:16Uh
- 20:17and second,
- 20:19you're going to just be doing a lot of
- 20:20mental gymnastics just to be able to fit
- 20:24your framework into the problem while
- 20:26you should be doing the opposite. You
- 20:28should be
- 20:29uh building or adapting a framework to
- 20:32your problem. So, this is the first
- 20:34takeaway. I've used the adapted 3 C's in
- 20:37the structure uh
- 20:39as the structure for this case because
- 20:40it's the best way to approach this
- 20:42problem or one really good way.
- 20:45Second takeaway here, notice the
- 20:47phrasing of the buckets. I didn't say
- 20:49customers, I want to analyze customers,
- 20:52but I said, "Would customers appreciate
- 20:55or like this new channel?"
- 20:57And this is a strong differentiator
- 21:00between candidates because first, it
- 21:03shows that you're not repeating a
- 21:05framework from memory. And second, it
- 21:07becomes an answerable question. So, a
- 21:09lot of candidates, they have these
- 21:11buckets in mind.
- 21:13And they say, "Well, in this case, I'm
- 21:14going to
- 21:15put distribution channels." And if you
- 21:18just say, "Well, I want to analyze the
- 21:20distribution channels." Or I want to
- 21:22analyze the customers.
- 21:24It's not clear what you want to analyze
- 21:26about them or why do you want to analyze
- 21:29them. So, much better to say, "Would
- 21:32customers appreciate this new channel? I
- 21:35need to do a customer analysis to answer
- 21:37that question." Or "Will the current
- 21:40distribution channels retaliate in some
- 21:42way? Or is this going to change our
- 21:44relationship with them?"
- 21:46I need to study them
- 21:48uh things about them to answer this
- 21:50question. This makes you more human,
- 21:52less robotic. A lot of you guys are
- 21:55worried, "Well, how am I not How do I
- 21:57not become a robotic candidate?" Well,
- 21:59this is one answer. You speaking real
- 22:02phrases, "Would customers appreciate?"
- 22:04instead of "I want to analyze
- 22:06customers." which doesn't mean anything.
- 22:09And the other thing is you need to
- 22:11questions that you can answer. "I want
- 22:13to analyze customers." is not a question
- 22:15and you can't answer that.
- 22:18A customer analysis can take as much as
- 22:21I don't know, years to make. Rig- It's
- 22:23not well-defined in scope. But if
- 22:26instead you have a real phrasing, real
- 22:29questions in these buckets, then
- 22:32uh you can answer these questions.
- 22:34"Would customers appreciate this
- 22:35channel?" You can gather enough data,
- 22:37enough evidence to say yes or no to
- 22:40that. Or probably or probably not, as it
- 22:44often is in real life because you can't
- 22:46really predict things, but you can say
- 22:48if they're likely or not. Now, another
- 22:51note
- 22:53uh for those of you who are curious
- 22:54before we jump into the business sense
- 22:57debrief in which I tell you which issues
- 22:59were are most important and which issues
- 23:02are differentiators. And this note is,
- 23:04"How do I lay out the structure on
- 23:07paper?"
- 23:09If you see my slides here, you're going
- 23:11to see that there's a lot of phrases
- 23:13written. And just to write these phrases
- 23:15on paper in a real interview, you'd take
- 23:17a lot of time. You'd spend more time
- 23:19writing than thinking, and that's not
- 23:21ideal. So, how would I do that on paper
- 23:24in a real interview? Well, not like
- 23:27this. Instead, I would say instead of
- 23:29writing "Customers, would they like this
- 23:31channel?" as I did here so you'd get
- 23:34clarity on what I'm talking about and
- 23:37what exactly uh I'm asking, I'd just
- 23:40write "Customers."
- 23:42When I'd communicate this to the
- 23:44interviewer, instead of saying "I want
- 23:46to analyze customers." I'd say, "I want
- 23:48to analyze if customers would like this
- 23:49channel." So, I'd give the inter- the
- 23:51interviewer all the information in
- 23:54verbal. But in writing, I just write
- 23:57"Customers." or "CUST"
- 24:00because I know by reading that that I
- 24:02meant customers.
- 24:04Let's check one issue of that. Here I
- 24:06wrote, "Do they currently get beer
- 24:09delivered?" "If not,
- 24:11is it lack of supply or lack of
- 24:13interest?"
- 24:15In a real uh interview, I'd just jot
- 24:17down whatever words I would need to
- 24:20remember so I could say these words to
- 24:23the interviewer. So, I'd write something
- 24:25like I'd make a bullet point and I'd
- 24:27write something like
- 24:29"Currently delivery?" {question mark}
- 24:33and then two uh
- 24:35ramifications of that. One is supply?
- 24:39{question mark} interest? {question
- 24:41mark} And as I read that, I would be
- 24:44able to tell the interviewer, "Well, my
- 24:46first question here is, do they
- 24:47currently get beer delivered?
- 24:50And if not, is it a lack of supply or a
- 24:52lack of interest?" So, here in this
- 24:55case, what you see on the screen is
- 24:58something that makes you it easier for
- 25:00you to understand, but in a real
- 25:02interview, you need to be able to do
- 25:04that writing a few words uh just so you
- 25:08can remember. And once you've trained
- 25:10enough and once you're used to doing
- 25:12that, you're going to be able to
- 25:14remember uh by your own writing. And
- 25:16then you speak to the interviewer in
- 25:19full phrases as a real human. Now, let's
- 25:22jump into the business sense debrief so
- 25:25we you can see which
- 25:27uh of these issues are more important
- 25:29and which of these issues really
- 25:31differentiate you and make you stand out
- 25:33as a candidate so you can compare with
- 25:35your own framework because I understand
- 25:37that your own framework is probably
- 25:39different from the one I did.
- 25:41Uh and that's not a bad thing, but you
- 25:43have to have some way to understand if
- 25:46what you did is good or not. So, let's
- 25:48jump into that.
- 25:50So, to be seen as a candidate with
- 25:52really good business sense to your
- 25:54interviewer, you need
- 25:56two required issues. If you didn't touch
- 25:59on these issues in your framework, then
- 26:02you can consider that you've made a
- 26:04mistake in terms of business sense, even
- 26:06in terms of structuring because it
- 26:08wouldn't be an exhaustive structure. And
- 26:10this is how structuring and business
- 26:12sense overlap. The first one is
- 26:15acknowledging that this specific channel
- 26:18addresses one specific consumption
- 26:22equation which might not be currently
- 26:24addressed by current channels. So, it is
- 26:27acknowledging that well, this client
- 26:30wants to do delivery at home and this is
- 26:33useful because there's one consumption
- 26:35occasion which is people drinking beer
- 26:38at home and
- 26:41current channels, supermarkets, even
- 26:43convenience stores may not be really
- 26:47uh
- 26:48really good for this specific
- 26:51consumption occasion. And maybe there
- 26:54are other delivery services which would
- 26:56be good if they're doing a good job, but
- 26:59the thing is to acknowledge that, you
- 27:00know, when you're drinking beer at home
- 27:02with friends or uh in an event, you
- 27:05don't want to go to the convenience
- 27:07store or to the supermarket to buy more
- 27:10beer. No one wants to do that. That
- 27:12sucks.
- 27:13And it's really simple. Business sense
- 27:16is usually common sense and you need to
- 27:19acknowledge this in your framework
- 27:21somehow.
- 27:23The second thing you need to have in
- 27:25your framework in order to have
- 27:26acceptable business sense in your
- 27:28interviewer's mind is the operational
- 27:31challenges in warehouse, logistics, and
- 27:34ordering. And the reason you need to do
- 27:36that is that this is not something that
- 27:39your company, the beer company,
- 27:41currently does.
- 27:44So,
- 27:45this may seem
- 27:47pretty simple,
- 27:49but operating a warehouse, doing
- 27:52logistics for e-commerce
- 27:54uh in a time-sensitive product such as
- 27:57beer, when people order beer via
- 27:59delivery, they want to
- 28:01get the beer as soon as possible, as
- 28:03cold as possible. And dealing with the
- 28:05ordering and the software platform, this
- 28:08seems simple because a lot of e-commerce
- 28:10companies do it really well, but it's
- 28:13not something that an industrial
- 28:15company, a beer company, knows how to
- 28:18do. And while you can buy
- 28:22{quote} {unquote} this stuff from
- 28:25third-party providers, if you're doing
- 28:27that, then why not just uh simulate
- 28:31sales or uh support current uh players
- 28:36in the delivery space. So, if you want
- 28:38to do this yourself, you better get good
- 28:40at it. And this is something that you
- 28:42need to make your interviewer aware that
- 28:44you understand is important because even
- 28:47though it's not something
- 28:49uh unusual for a company to be able to
- 28:52do these three things well, it's not
- 28:53something that a beer company really
- 28:55does well.
- 28:57Now, there are two what I call standout
- 28:59issues that you must have done in this
- 29:02case in order to be outstanding in
- 29:05business sense. And there may be others
- 29:06which I haven't thought about. I mean,
- 29:09these are things that make you stand
- 29:10out, so uh
- 29:12there's no rule book for them. A lot of
- 29:15it comes down to creativity, but these
- 29:17are two things that I think you could
- 29:19consider in a case similar to this, to
- 29:22add in a case similar to this next time
- 29:24you do one. The first one is, "What
- 29:26matters to this customer in this
- 29:29occasion?" So,
- 29:31in my framework, I mentioned that we
- 29:34need to know what matters to this
- 29:36customer in this occasion. And I
- 29:37mentioned that indirectly, but I said
- 29:40that the customer might care about the
- 29:42time to deliver or how cold the beer is
- 29:45or how easy it is to order. Now, one
- 29:48thing to notice here, this is not
- 29:50something that usually beer customers
- 29:53care about. I mean, they care about how
- 29:55cold a beer is if they're in a bar or in
- 29:58a restaurant, but they don't care about
- 30:00it too much if they're in a supermarket.
- 30:03They care about
- 30:05uh ease of ordering
- 30:07if they are in a convenience store
- 30:09because they want to convenience. I
- 30:11mean, it should be easy to to buy,
- 30:14but
- 30:16yeah, I guess this is important anyway
- 30:18because it's beer. Uh but, the thing is,
- 30:21by mentioning to the interviewer that I
- 30:23can understand what is important to this
- 30:26customer in this occasion, I'm implying
- 30:30that I can understand what is important
- 30:32what is an important driver of purchase
- 30:34to any customer in any occasion. So,
- 30:38this is one thing that will make you
- 30:40stand out by
- 30:41uh you've probably not thought about
- 30:43this beer delivery problem before. So,
- 30:45if you can come up with this in an
- 30:47interview, it shows to the interviewer
- 30:48that you have this ability.
- 30:50Now, the second thing that uh you should
- 30:53have
- 30:54talked about to stand out in terms of
- 30:57business and strategic knowledge that
- 30:58this move
- 31:00might change the relationship with the
- 31:02current distribution channels. And the
- 31:04reason why this is important,
- 31:06I didn't say why this is important
- 31:08during the case, but I'm going to say
- 31:11now,
- 31:12is you have a whole beer business to to
- 31:16to run.
- 31:18And this includes the drinking at home
- 31:20occasion,
- 31:21but it includes other occasions, other
- 31:24drinking purchasing occasions as well.
- 31:27And for every
- 31:29purchasing occasion nowadays, and even
- 31:31if this direct to home service is really
- 31:34successful, to all the other
- 31:37uh drinking occasions in the future, you
- 31:40will need your distribution channel's
- 31:43goodwill. You need them to sell more.
- 31:46You need them to guarantee a high market
- 31:49share. So, acknowledging that this move
- 31:52might change this relationship is
- 31:53important because if you don't
- 31:55acknowledge that, and there is indeed
- 31:58after you gather the facts, the data,
- 32:00the information about how they might
- 32:02react, if you find out that they will
- 32:05retaliate,
- 32:06then you're putting your whole business
- 32:09at risk because of one new channel
- 32:12initiative. Now, if you're a consultant
- 32:15and you propose that they should do it
- 32:17without addressing this thing first,
- 32:20some executive in the beer company might
- 32:23deny
- 32:24uh the the logic, or they might uh get
- 32:28really angry, or they might
- 32:30even make you not look good to the other
- 32:33executives because they will just raise
- 32:35this issue and say, "Well, have you
- 32:37thought about that risk? This is a risk
- 32:39that could put our whole company in bad
- 32:42waters, that could reduce our market
- 32:45share. And have you asked them how they
- 32:47might retaliate, or have you benchmarked
- 32:50what happened in other countries once
- 32:52companies did that?" So, things like
- 32:54that. This is really important because
- 32:55distribution channels are a key part of
- 32:58your business. They're a key partner of
- 33:00your business.
- 33:02Okay? So, the first two required issues
- 33:05are needed. You need them in your
- 33:07framework. These last two standout
- 33:10issues
- 33:12uh are
- 33:13differentiators.
- 33:15You don't need them to have done a good
- 33:18job, but you need them to have done a
- 33:19great job. And there might be others
- 33:21that I haven't thought of, of course. I
- 33:24hope you've liked this drill. I hope
- 33:26you've improved on it. Uh if you didn't
- 33:29do a good job, try to structure this
- 33:30case again.
- 33:32Close this video, try to structure it on
- 33:34paper again, maybe even replay it to
- 33:36watch it again because
- 33:38that's how you learn. You learn by
- 33:41trying to apply what you've just read or
- 33:44watched in this case. Okay? So, I'll see
- 33:46you in the next drill, and I hope you
- 33:48had a good time. The next drill is a
- 33:49really good one, so check that out to to
- 33:52improve your framework building and
- 33:55adapting skills.
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