CIP Flashcards
What is partners biggest fear?
That you speak your opinion on behalf of the company.
Choose your words carefully and say;
- The company should do X but I do not have the facts to be 100 %
- Tell the client confidently that you do not know the answer if that is the case
- “in most cases the client should do X”.
What is a KEY (many plus points) way to end your synthesis?
Restating your initial conclusion from the beginning of the synthesis AND following up with “If I had more time, we could also look into X, X and X in order to …….”
(sell more consultant hours)
Why do you use a framework?
To test your hypothesis.
Nothing else. Hence, STATE YOUR HYPOTHESIS
Why do we use hypothesis’?
It is the scientific metho.d
Nothing is left to intuition and guesses.
All about structured problem-solving which always gets the answer
When should you state your hypothesis?
within 5 minutes.
But it is fine to first ask a few background questions before you state your hypothesis based on the objective and company information.
what should you ask yourself every time you make a sub-conclusion?
“The reasons that can change the outcome of the conclusion AND any potential reasons we have forgotten to take into account?”
What are 5 great tips for your drill-down analysis?
- Start with the branch that eliminates the most uncertainty first
- Use both qualitative (30 %) and quantiative (70 %) quesitons
- Don’t stop drilling down a branch until you reach a conclusion
- Stop analyzing when you have found the MININALLY NECESSARY (80/20)
- Use diagrams to take notes
- Have one set of papers for hypothesis and issue tree
- And one for other thoughts and computations
What is a great synthesis?
- Conclusion
- Supporting statements
- Supporting 1
- supporting 2
- (supporting 3)
- Restatement of conclusion + “if i had more time…..” (sell more time)
How does a potential profitability analysis look?
what are TWO alternatives to this setup of the profitability framework?
Alternative 1:
- Costs
- Fixed costs
- Variable costs
- # of units sold
- Variable cost per unit
Alternative 2: (useful for PROFIT objectives with multiple business units)
- Profitability
- Profitability of Business unit 1
- Revenue
- Price
- # of units sold
- Cost
- Fixed cost
- Variable cost
- # of units produced
- variable cost per unit
- Revenue
- Profitbability of business unit 2
- (same thing)
What are the two main questions to ask regarding numerical data?
- Compare to historical data
- Compare to competitors / rest of the industry
What are some of the classic questions to ask within “customer”?
- Who is the customer
- Identify segments (segment size, growth rate, percentage of market)
- Compare current-year metrics to historical metrics (look for trends)
- What does each customer segment want? (identify key needs)
- Price sensitivity of each segment
- Distribution channel preference by segement
- Customer concentration and power
What are some of the main questions to ask regarding product?
- Nature of product (what it does, how it’s used, why it is useful)
- Commodity or differentiable good?
- Any complementary goods?
- Any substitutes? (indirect competitors? don’t buy anything?)
- Product’s life cycle
- Packaging
What are some of the main questions to ask within “Company”?
- Capabilities and expertise + competitive advantage
- Distribution channels
- Cost structure (fixed vs. variable)
- Investment cost (only if case involves investment decision)
- Intangibles
- financial situation
- Organizational structure
what are some of the main questions to ask within “competitor”?
- # of competitors and market share (so concentration)
- Competitor behavior (target segment, products, pricing, distribution)
- Best practice (are they doing things we’re not?)
- Barriers to entry (do we need to worry about new entrants?)
- Supplier concentration
- Regulatory environment
