Overview of Case Interview, Summaries of Mathematics

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Case Interviews:

An Overview

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• Overview

Agenda • Case Strategies

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1. The interview can evaluate your full ‘skill-set’

• The interview is an opportunity to demonstrate your business intuition, numerical abilities, and analytical mindset

2. Candidates can demonstrate confidence and composure under pressure

• Clients need to trust your answers as you deliver recommendations and think on your feet

3. Mastercard can showcase our work

• Many of Mastercard’s cases are based on real business problems that we help our clients navigate

Why do companies use

case interviews?

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Generally, there are three main types of

case interviews

At Mastercard,

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While this is a general guideline, keep in mind that every

interviewer's case may follow a different structure!

What's the structure of

the interview?

Mastercard

©2018 Mastercard. Proprietary and Confidential. Case in Point by Consentino is regarded by many as the de facto case prep book. While it’s not a prerequisite by any means, it can be a helpful starting point, especially for candidates not already familiar with case interview formats. While some of the material doesn’t align with Mastercard’s approach for tackling cases, the following chapters may be helpful to become familiar with the general format and etiquette:

Case in Point – Helpful, but not a Silver Bullet

we often avoid market sizing, brain teasers, and group cases Mastercard cases: Mastercard cases will be quantitative, so make sure you can handle that component of the practice cases The Ivy Case system emphasizes economic and industry trends, while we often focus on the company itself

©2018 Mastercard. Proprietary and Confidential.

This is a very general guideline of a case’s structure – your

interviewer may have something different in mind!

What does a case look

like?

Case Intro

• The interviewer will give a broad summary of the case
• Gather information to drive towards an answer to the key business question

Business

Question

• Using the information you have, get to a quantitative answer
• This will be the bulk of the interview, where your quantitative and communication skills will be tested

Considering

Other Factors

• Your interviewer may provide additional information to drive you towards a more nuanced answer
• You may also be asked to think about broadening the scope of your investigations

Final

Recommendation

• Time’s up!
• Concisely and clearly summarize your final recommendations
• Leave your interviewer with a clear answer to the business question and next steps

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• Understand what the initiative or event you are analyzing is
• Clarify what type of answer you must provide
  • Are you providing a recommendation? A dollar value? A breakeven quantity?
• Determine the impacted sources of revenues and costs, and ensure that your list is exhaustive
• Confirm the baseline you should compare result to (see the Incrementality Mentality section)
• If necessary, establish the timeframe for analysis, particularly if there are high additional fixed costs

Up-front questions for your interviewer

Ask clarifying questions up front, so that you will have all the information necessary to solve the case.

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Taking notes during the case

The overarching question / goal Clarifying questions and the corresponding answers Any equations you lay out to solve the case Math and calculations (don't forget units!) Any charts or tables to organize information Hypotheses for qualitative questions you receive For in-person cases, use your notepad to convey your approach, and help your interviewer track your math. Making sure they are engaged and following along is essential

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To succeed in any case interview, you’ll need to make sure that

you’re communicating clearly , organizing your thoughts, and

maintaining a positive attitude:

General guidelines

©2018 Mastercard. Proprietary and Confidential.

To succeed in any case interview, you’ll need to make sure that

you’re communicating clearly, organizing your thoughts, and

maintaining a positive attitude :

General guidelines

©2018 Mastercard. Proprietary and Confidential.  Overview

• Case Strategies  General guidelines - Profit calculations - Incrementality

Agenda

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While that’s technically true, it’s rarely an optimal structure for solving business

cases in either Mastercard interview cases or in the real world.

• For example, revenue can’t occur without the associated variable cost (e.g. Cost of Goods Sold, or COGS), and so it doesn’t often make sense to separate in that way.
• Applying the profit = revenue – cost formula too rigorously often results in candidates going through the case more slowly than necessary and making mistakes
• Again, the “standard” formula isn’t wrong … but it’s often cumbersome, unhelpful, and time-consuming

Profit Calculations

©2018 Mastercard. Proprietary and Confidential. Consider a shop that begins selling neon t-shirts, and wants to know if they made a profit in the first year. While the first calculation below results in the technically correct answer, the second calculation is A) closer to how real-world calculations are done (especially in retail) B) faster, since it avoids some unnecessary calculations, and C) much easier to manipulate once the problem becomes more complicated

Profit Calculations: An example