Case Interview Framework

I'm new to case study interviews and have done a bit of research on WSO and on the web in general. Out of curiosity, how many frameworks did you learn for interviews?

I see that Victor Cheng has 4 frameworks while Case in Point has way more. Would you say that the 4 frameworks from VC are generally sufficient for case studies?

9 Comments
 

Case in point is retarded and Victor Cheng is outdated (btw it is just kind of a 4C framework). Victor Cheng only has one framework that he applies to everything: you want to avoid doing this. Go through Cheng's framework once because it is clearer, but learn to break down each case in its component parts.

 
donald_stump

Case in point is retarded and Victor Cheng is outdated (btw it is just kind of a 4C framework). Victor Cheng only has one framework that he applies to everything: you want to avoid doing this. Go through Cheng's framework once because it is clearer, but learn to break down each case in its component parts.

What other books/guides are good? How about the vault guide to consulting or crack the case?

 
Husky32 donald_stump:

Case in point is retarded and Victor Cheng is outdated (btw it is just kind of a 4C framework). Victor Cheng only has one framework that he applies to everything: you want to avoid doing this. Go through Cheng's framework once because it is clearer, but learn to break down each case in its component parts.

What other books/guides are good? How about the vault guide to consulting or crack the case?

I also heard about the Wharton MBA Case Interview Study Guide? Any feedback?

 

No frameworks is what worked for me. Learn a few, but just to understand the thought process and structure behind them. When you're not worried about sticking to a rigid framework, you have much more freedom to change things on the fly or adapt to new info from your interviewer. I once had a totally qualitative case interview, where none of the traditional frameworks were of any use.

 

Here's an alternative: read /lots/ of frameworks from all sorts of sources (CiP, VC, casebooks). Eventually you'll see a bunch of similarities and you'll have a more abstract, "framework for frameworks".

For example, market entry, product entry, etc. all boil down to a business decision, which you can cover in 3 buckets:

  1. Strategic fit/qualitative
  2. Economic fit/quantitative
  3. Risks/next steps

I hit up that "framework" maybe 75% of the time in my interviews cause it generated a more specific framework for me.

 
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