Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

They're essentially going to pose a scenario and ask you how you would solve it. They're using this to get a read on your real-world understanding of marketing, and possibly to find out if you are innovative.

If you know the solution, present your plan right away. Paint the solution in broad strokes rather than processes (e.g., "I'd solve this with a combination of direct mail and white papers centered on the company's three competitive advantages, and I'd make sure the look and feel of the campaign emphasized our 25 years in the community," etc.).

If you don't know the solution, ask questions to learn more, especially in the areas where you sense there may be a solution. "Can you tell me more about the available budget?" "Can I assume the competitor has some weaknesses we can exploit?" Or even, "Is this an actual situation facing this firm?" Keep asking questions until you discern a direction that you can present.

Most of all, relax. Take yourself (and your nervousness) out of the equation by asking yourself "What would the president of this company want as the best outcome?" That answer is usually obvious, and then all you have to do is recite the marketing tools or steps that will deliver "the president's" solution.

Good luck on your interview, and thanks for visiting Marketing Profs' forum.

1) See this link on "How to Analyse a Case Study"
https://college.cengage.com/business/resources/casestudies/students/analyzi...

2) That link mentions SWOT, a basic tool everyone understands and can relate to. A second basic tool is the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) cash cow, star, dog and question mark matrix. Be sure to review your understanding of RMS (relative market share, and how it is calculated) and experience curves (the concept the BCG matrix is based on).

3) If you are already familiar with both SWOT and the BCG matrix, consider reading up on a third marketing tool. But make it a simple tool, avoid stuff like conjoint analysis. Your first task with the case study is to decide which tool to use. Using one gives automatic structure to your analysis and presentation.

4) Go to a business library and get the newest edition of Kotler's classic textbook on marketing. Review some of the case studies in it.

5) Get some data on the accounting industry you are interviewing at. How is the industry segmented among giant players and the hordes of small firms? Think in advance about the positioning of the firm you are interviewing at. Either this information helps you analyse the case, or it enables you to make some "compare and contrast" observations if the case study is out of a different industry.

6) If the firm's sales are based on relationship marketing, take a look at Jeffery Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections in the library. If there are Chinese members of the firm, also read a description of the Chinese word about business relations: quanxi, sometimes spelt guanxi.

7) MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: have a friend photocopy a case study, a case you have not seen.
He gives it to you under the same conditions as the interview. You dress for it as you would for the interview, have your calculator, pen and paper with you.
You have the same time as for the interview.

Ideal is if your friend videos you, even if just with a smart phone. Do this several times and you will get better, SIGNICANTLY better.

Harvard Business School MBAs do great at this kind of interview, because in their two years there they analyse 600 to 800 case studies. By the time they graduate, they have that routine down cold, from initial analysis to final presentation.

Good luck!
JH