100 Best Case Study Questions for Your Next Customer Spotlight

Brittany Fuller

Published: November 29, 2022

Case studies and testimonials are helpful to have in your arsenal. But to build an effective library, you need to ask the right case study questions. You also need to know how to write a case study .

marketing team coming up with case study questions

Case studies are customers' stories that your sales team can use to share relevant content with prospects . Not only that, but case studies help you earn a prospect's trust, show them what life would be like as your customer, and validate that your product or service works for your clients.

Before you start building your library of case studies, check out our list of 100 case study questions to ask your clients. With this helpful guide, you'll have the know-how to build your narrative using the " Problem-Agitate-Solve " Method.

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What makes a good case study questionnaire?

The ultimate list of case study questions, how to ask your customer for a case study, creating an effective case study.

Certain key elements make up a good case study questionnaire.

A questionnaire should never feel like an interrogation. Instead, aim to structure your case study questions like a conversation. Some of the essential things that your questionnaire should cover include:

  • The problem faced by the client before choosing your organization.
  • Why they chose your company.
  • How your product solved the problem clients faced.
  • The measurable results of the service provided.
  • Data and metrics that prove the success of your service or product, if possible.

You can adapt these considerations based on how your customers use your product and the specific answers or quotes that you want to receive.

What makes a good case study question?

A good case study question delivers a powerful message to leads in the decision stage of your prospective buyer's journey.

Since your client has agreed to participate in a case study, they're likely enthusiastic about the service you provide. Thus, a good case study question hands the reins over to the client and opens a conversation.

Try asking open-ended questions to encourage your client to talk about the excellent service or product you provide.

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Categories for the Best Case Study Questions

  • Case study questions about the customer's business
  • Case study questions about the environment before the purchase
  • Case study questions about the decision process
  • Case study questions about the customer's business case
  • Case study questions about the buying team and internal advocates
  • Case study questions about customer success
  • Case study questions about product feedback
  • Case study questions about willingness to make referrals
  • Case study question to prompt quote-worthy feedback
  • Case study questions about the customers' future goals

business case study quiz

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Customer's Business

Knowing the customer's business is an excellent way of setting the tone for a case study.

Use these questions to get some background information about the company and its business goals. This information can be used to introduce the business at the beginning of the case study — plus, future prospects might resonate with their stories and become leads for you.

  • Would you give me a quick overview of [company]? This is an opportunity for the client to describe their business in their own words. You'll get useful background information and it's an easy prompt to get the client talking.
  • Can you describe your role? This will give you a better idea of the responsibilities they are subject to.
  • How do your role and team fit into the company and its goals? Knowing how the team functions to achieve company goals will help you formulate how your solution involves all stakeholders.
  • How long has your company been in business? Getting this information will help the reader gauge if pain points are specific to a startup or new company vs. a veteran company.
  • How many employees do you have? Another great descriptor for readers to have. They can compare the featured company size with their own.
  • Is your company revenue available? If so, what is it? This will give your readers background information on the featured company's gross sales.
  • Who is your target customer? Knowing who the target audience is will help you provide a better overview of their market for your case study readers.
  • How does our product help your team or company achieve its objectives? This is one of the most important questions because it is the basis of the case study. Get specifics on how your product provided a solution for your client. You want to be able to say "X company implemented our solution and achieved Y. "
  • How are our companies aligned (mission, strategy, culture, etc.)? If any attributes of your company's mission or culture appealed to the client, call it out.

How many people are on your team? What are their roles? This will help describe key players within the organization and their impact on the implementation of your solution.

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Environment Before the Purchase

A good case study is designed to build trust. Ask clients to describe the tools and processes they used before your product or service. These kinds of case study questions will highlight the business' need they had to fulfill and appeal to future clients.

  • What was your team's process prior to using our product? This will give the reader a baseline to compare the results for your company's product.
  • Were there any costs associated with the process prior to using our product? Was it more expensive? Was it worth the cost? How did the product affect the client's bottom line? This will be a useful metric to disclose if your company saved the client money or was more cost-efficient.
  • What were the major pain points of your process prior to using our product? Describe these obstacles in detail. You want the reader to get as much information on the problem as possible as it sets up the reasoning for why your company's solution was implemented.
  • Did our product replace a similar tool or is this the first time your team is using a product like this? Were they using a similar product? If so, having this information may give readers a reason to choose your brand over the competition.
  • What other challenges were you and your team experiencing prior to using our product? The more details you can give readers regarding the client's struggles, the better. You want to paint a full picture of the challenges the client faced and how your company resolved them.
  • Were there any concerns about how your customers would be impacted by using our product? Getting answers to this question will illustrate to readers the client's concerns about switching to your service. Your readers may have similar concerns and reading how your client worked through this process will be helpful.
  • Why didn't you buy our product or a similar product earlier? Have the client describe any hesitations they had using your product. Their concerns may be relatable to potential leads.
  • Were there any "dealbreakers" involved in your decision to become a customer? Describing how your company was able to provide a solution that worked within those parameters demonstrates how accommodating your brand is and how you put the customer first. It's also great to illustrate any unique challenges the client had. This better explains their situation to the reader.
  • Did you have to make any changes you weren't anticipating once you became a customer? Readers of your case study can learn how switching to your product came with some unexpected changes (good or bad) and how they navigated them. If you helped your client with troubleshooting, ask them to explain that here.

How has your perception of the product changed since you've become a customer? Get the interviewee to describe how your product changed how they do business. This includes how your product accomplished what they previously thought was impossible.

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Decision Process

Readers of the case study will be interested in which factors influenced the decision-making process for the client. If they can relate to that process, there's a bigger chance they'll buy your product.

The answers to these questions will help potential customers through their decision-making process.

  • How did you hear about our product? If the client chose to work with you based on a recommendation or another positive case study, include that. It will demonstrate that you are a trusted brand with an established reputation for delivering results.
  • How long had you been looking for a solution to this problem? This will add to the reader's understanding of how these particular challenges impacted the company before choosing your product.
  • Were you comparing alternative solutions? Which ones? This will demonstrate to readers that the client explored other options before choosing your company.
  • Would you describe a few of the reasons you decided to buy our product? Ask the interviewee to describe why they chose your product over the competition and any benefits your company offered that made you stand out.
  • What were the criteria you used when deciding to buy our product? This will give readers more background insight into the factors that impacted their decision-making process.
  • Were there any high-level initiatives or goals that prompted the decision to buy? For example, was this decision motivated by a company-wide vision? Prompt your clients to discuss what lead to the decision to work with you and how you're the obvious choice.
  • What was the buying process like? Did you notice anything exceptional or any points of friction? This is an opportunity for the client to comment on how seamless and easy you make the buying process. Get them to describe what went well from start to finish.
  • How would you have changed the buying process, if at all? This is an opportunity for you to fine-tune your process to accommodate future buyers.
  • Who on your team was involved in the buying process? This will give readers more background on the key players involved from executives to project managers. With this information, readers can see who they may potentially need to involve in the decision-making process on their teams.

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Customer's Business Case

Your case study questions should ask about your product or solution's impact on the customer's employees, teams, metrics, and goals. These questions allow the client to praise the value of your service and tell others exactly what benefits they derived from it.

When readers review your product or service's impact on the client, it enforces the belief that the case study is credible.

  • How long have you been using our product? This will help readers gauge how long it took to see results and your overall satisfaction with the product or service.
  • How many different people at your company use our product? This will help readers gauge how they can adapt the product to their teams if similar in size.
  • Are there multiple departments or teams using our product? This will demonstrate how great of an impact your product has made across departments.
  • How do you and your team currently use the product? What types of goals or tasks are you using the product to accomplish? Get specifics on how the product actively helps the client achieve their goals.
  • If other teams or departments are using our product, do you know how they're using it? With this information, leads can picture how they can use your product across their teams and how it may improve their workflow and metrics.
  • What was the most obvious advantage you felt our product offered during the sales process? The interviewee should explain the benefits they've gained from using your product or service. This is important for convincing other leads you are better than the competition.
  • Were there any other advantages you discovered after using the product more regularly? Your interviewee may have experienced some additional benefits from using your product. Have them describe in detail what these advantages are and how they've helped the company improve.
  • Are there any metrics or KPIs you track with our product? What are they? The more numbers and data the client can provide, the better.
  • Were you tracking any metrics prior to using our product? What were they? This will allow readers to get a clear, before-and-after comparison of using your product.
  • How has our product impacted your core metrics? This is an opportunity for your clients to drive home how your product assisted them in hitting their metrics and goals.

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Buying Team and Internal Advocates

See if there are any individuals at the customer's company who are advocates for your product.

  • Are there any additional team members you consider to be advocates for our product? For example, does anyone stick out as a "power user" or product expert on your team? You may want to interview and include these power users in your case study as well. Consider asking them for tips on using your service or product.
  • Is there anyone else on your team you think we should talk to? Again, the more people can share their experience using your product, the better.
  • Are there any team members who you think might not be the biggest fans of our product or who might need more training? Providing extra support to those struggling with your product may improve their user experience and turn into an opportunity to not only learn about their obstacles but turn them into a product fan
  • Would you share some details about how your team implemented our product? Get as much information as possible about the rollout. Hopefully, they'll gush about how seamless the process was.
  • Who from your company was involved in implementing our product? This will give readers more insight into who needs to be involved for a successful rollout of their own.
  • Were there any internal risks or additional costs involved with implementing our product? If so, how did you address them? This will give insight into the client's process and rollout and this case study question will likely provide tips on what potential leads should be on the lookout for.
  • Is there a training process in place for your team's use of our product? If so, what does it look like? If your company provided support and training to the client, have them describe that experience.
  • About how long does it take a new team member to get up to speed with our product? This will help leads determine how much time it will take to onboard an employee to your using your product. If a new user can quickly get started seamlessly, it bodes well for you.
  • What was your main concern about rolling this product out to your company? Describing their challenges in detail will provide readers with useful insight.

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Case Study Interview Questions About Customer Success

Has the customer found success with your product? Ask these questions to learn more.

  • By using our product can you measure any reduced costs? If it has, you'll want to emphasize those savings in your case study.
  • By using our product can you measure any improvements in productivity or time savings? Any metrics or specific stories your interviewee can provide will help demonstrate the value of your product.
  • By using our product can you measure any increases in revenue or growth? Again, say it with numbers and data whenever possible.
  • Are you likely to recommend our product to a friend or colleague? Recommendations from existing customers are some of the best marketing you can get.
  • How has our product impacted your success? Your team's success? Getting the interviewee to describe how your product played an integral role in solving their challenges will show leads that they can also have success using your product.
  • In the beginning, you had XYZ concerns; how do you feel about them now? Let them explain how working with your company eliminated those concerns.
  • I noticed your team is currently doing XYZ with our product. Tell me more about how that helps your business. Illustrate to your readers how current customers are using your product to solve additional challenges. It will convey how versatile your product is.
  • Have you thought about using our product for a new use case with your team or at your company? The more examples of use cases the client can provide, the better.
  • How do you measure the value our product provides? Have the interviewee illustrate what metrics they use to gauge the product's success and how. Data is helpful, but you should go beyond the numbers. Maybe your product improved company morale and how teams work together.

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Case Study Interview Questions About Product Feedback

Ask the customer if they'd recommend your product to others. A strong recommendation will help potential clients be more open to purchasing your product.

  • How do other companies in this industry solve the problems you had before you purchased our product? This will give you insight into how other companies may be functioning without your product and how you can assist them.
  • Have you ever talked about our product to any of your clients or peers? What did you say? This can provide you with more leads and a chance to get a referral.
  • Why would you recommend our product to a friend or client? Be sure they pinpoint which features they would highlight in a recommendation.
  • Can you think of any use cases your customers might have for our product? Similar industries may have similar issues that need solutions. Your interviewee may be able to provide a use case you haven't come up with.
  • What is your advice for other teams or companies who are tackling problems similar to those you had before you purchased our product? This is another opportunity for your client to talk up your product or service.
  • Do you know someone in X industry who has similar problems to the ones you had prior to using our product? The client can make an introduction so you can interview them about their experience as well.
  • I noticed you work with Company Y. Do you know if they are having any pain points with these processes? This will help you learn how your product has impacted your client's customers and gain insight into what can be improved.
  • Does your company participate in any partner or referral programs? Having a strong referral program will help you increase leads and improve customer retention.
  • Can I send you a referral kit as a thank-you for making a referral and give you the tools to refer someone to us? This is a great strategy to request a referral while rewarding your existing customers.
  • Are you interested in working with us to produce additional marketing content? The more opportunities you can showcase happy customers, the better.

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Case Study Interview Questions About Willingness to Make Referrals

  • How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or client? Ideally, they would definitely refer your product to someone they know.
  • Can you think of any use cases your customers might have for our product? Again, your interviewee is a great source for more leads. Similar industries may have similar issues that need solutions. They may be able to provide a use case you haven't come up with.
  • I noticed you work with Company Y; do you know if they are having any pain points with these processes? This will help you learn how your product has impacted your client's customers and gain insight into what can be improved.

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Case Study Interview Questions to Prompt Quote-Worthy Feedback

Enhance your case study with quotable soundbites from the customer. By asking these questions, prospects have more insight into other clients and their success with your product — which helps build trust.

  • How would you describe your process in one sentence prior to using our product? Ideally, this sentence would quickly and descriptively sum up the most prominent pain point or challenge with the previous process.
  • What is your advice to others who might be considering our product? Readers can learn from your customer's experience.
  • What would your team's workflow or process be like without our product? This will drive home the value your product provides and how essential it is to their business.
  • Do you think the investment in our product was worthwhile? Why? Have your customer make the case for the value you provide.
  • What would you say if we told you our product would soon be unavailable? What would this mean to you? Again, this illustrates how integral your product is to their business.
  • How would you describe our product if you were explaining it to a friend? Your customers can often distill the value of your product to their friends better than you can.
  • What do you love about your job? Your company? This gives the reader more background on your customer and their industry.
  • What was the worst part of your process before you started using our product? Ideally, they'd reiterate how your product helped solve this challenge.
  • What do you love about our product? Another great way to get the customer's opinion about what makes your product worth it.
  • Why do you do business with us? Hopefully, your interviewee will share how wonderful your business relationship is.

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Case Study Interview Questions About the Customers' Future Goals

Ask the customer about their goals, challenges, and plans for the future. This will provide insight into how a business can grow with your product.

  • What are the biggest challenges on the horizon for your industry? Chances are potential leads within the same industry will have similar challenges.
  • What are your goals for the next three months? Knowing their short-term goals will enable your company to get some quick wins for the client.
  • How would you like to use our product to meet those challenges and goals? This will help potential leads understand that your product can help their business as they scale and grow.
  • Is there anything we can do to help you and your team meet your goals? If you haven't covered it already, this will allow your interviewee to express how you can better assist them.
  • Do you think you will buy more, less, or about the same amount of our product next year? This can help you gauge how your product is used and why.
  • What are the growth plans for your company this year? Your team? This will help you gain insight into how your product can help them achieve future goals.
  • How can we help you meet your long-term goals? Getting specifics on the needs of your clients will help you create a unique solution designed for their needs.
  • What is the long-term impact of using our product? Get their feedback on how your product has created a lasting impact.
  • Are there any initiatives that you personally would like to achieve that our product or team can help with? Again, you want to continue to provide products that help your customers excel.
  • What will you need from us in the future? This will help you anticipate the customer's business needs.
  • Is there anything we can do to improve our product or process for working together in the future? The more feedback you can get about what is and isn't working, the better.

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Before you can start putting together your case study, you need to ask your customer's permission.

If you have a customer who's seen success with your product, reach out to them. Use this template to get started:

Thank you & quick request

Hi [customer name],

Thanks again for your business — working with you to [solve X, launch Y, take advantage of Z opportunity] has been extremely rewarding, and I'm looking forward to more collaboration in the future.

[Name of your company] is building a library of case studies to include on our site. We're looking for successful companies using [product] to solve interesting challenges, and your team immediately came to mind. Are you open to [customer company name] being featured?

It should be a lightweight process — [I, a product marketer] will ask you roughly [10, 15, 20] questions via email or phone about your experience and results. This case study will include a blurb about your company and a link to your homepage (which hopefully will make your SEO team happy!)

In any case, thank you again for the chance to work with you, and I hope you have a great week.

[Your name]

business case study quiz

If one of your customers has recently passed along some praise (to you, their account manager, your boss; on an online forum; to another potential customer; etc.), then send them a version of this email:

Hey [customer name],

Thanks for the great feedback — I'm really glad to hear [product] is working well for you and that [customer company name] is getting the results you're looking for.

My team is actually in the process of building out our library of case studies, and I'd love to include your story. Happy to provide more details if you're potentially interested.

Either way, thank you again, and I look forward to getting more updates on your progress.

business case study quiz

You can also find potential case study customers by usage or product data. For instance, maybe you see a company you sold to 10 months ago just bought eight more seats or upgraded to a new tier. Clearly, they're happy with the solution. Try this template:

I saw you just [invested in our X product; added Y more users; achieved Z product milestone]. Congratulations! I'd love to share your story using [product] with the world -- I think it's a great example of how our product + a dedicated team and a good strategy can achieve awesome results.

Are you open to being featured? If so, I'll send along more details.

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Case Study Benefits

  • Case studies are a form of customer advocacy.
  • Case studies provide a joint-promotion opportunity.
  • Case studies are easily sharable.
  • Case studies build rapport with your customers.
  • Case studies are less opinionated than customer reviews.

1. Case studies are a form of customer advocacy.

If you haven't noticed, customers aren't always quick to trust a brand's advertisements and sales strategies.

With every other brand claiming to be the best in the business, it's hard to sort exaggeration from reality.

This is the most important reason why case studies are effective. They are testimonials from your customers of your service. If someone is considering your business, a case study is a much more convincing piece of marketing or sales material than traditional advertising.

2. Case studies provide a joint-promotion opportunity.

Your business isn't the only one that benefits from a case study. Customers participating in case studies benefit, too.

Think about it. Case studies are free advertisements for your customers, not to mention the SEO factor, too. While they're not promoting their products or services, they're still getting the word out about their business. And, the case study highlights how successful their business is — showing interested leads that they're on the up and up.

3. Case studies are easily sharable.

No matter your role on the sales team, case studies are great to have on hand. You can easily share them with leads, prospects, and clients.

Whether you embed them on your website or save them as a PDF, you can simply send a link to share your case study with others. They can share that link with their peers and colleagues, and so on.

Case studies can also be useful during a sales pitch. In sales, timing is everything. If a customer is explaining a problem that was solved and discussed in your case study, you can quickly find the document and share it with them.

4. Case studies build rapport with your customers.

While case studies are very useful, they do require some back and forth with your customers to obtain the exact feedback you're looking for.

Even though time is involved, the good news is this builds rapport with your most loyal customers. You get to know them on a personal level, and they'll become more than just your most valuable clients.

And, the better the rapport you have with them, the more likely they'll be to recommend your business, products, or services to others.

5. Case studies are less opinionated than customer reviews.

Data is the difference between a case study and a review. Customer reviews are typically based on the customer's opinion of your brand. While they might write a glowing review, it's completely subjective and there's rarely empirical evidence supporting their claim.

Case studies, on the other hand, are more data-driven. While they'll still talk about how great your brand is, they support this claim with quantitative data that's relevant to the reader. It's hard to argue with data.

An effective case study must be genuine and credible. Your case study should explain why certain customers are the right fit for your business and how your company can help meet their specific needs. That way, someone in a similar situation can use your case study as a testimonial for why they should choose your business.

Use the case study questions above to create an ideal customer case study questionnaire. By asking your customers the right questions, you can obtain valuable feedback that can be shared with potential leads and convert them into loyal customers.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in June 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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14 Best Case Study Questions to Ask Your Top Customers

Illustration Of Case Study Questions

If you want to show interested leads that you can put your money where your mouth is, case studies are a good way to go. They’re a valuable form of content that can even be used as lead magnets under the right conditions, and they have a singular purpose: To show how your clients achieved specific, significant results with your product or service. 

Knowing how to write a great case study is an important part of success, but there’s a part of the process that comes before that: Knowing which questions to ask, which you’ll determine when you’re preparing for a case study interview. 

The questions you ask can make the difference between a case study that feels like it’s been churned out by a low-quality AI machine compared to one that feels actionable, engaging, and high-stakes to your readers. 

In this post, we’re going to go over the 14 best case study questions to ask, along with discussing some tips to improve the results you’ll get. 

How to Structure Your Case Study Questions

Before we dive in, we want to talk about how to structure your questions in the interview.

In this post specifically, we’re going to look at individual questions you should ask around pointed topics, like about the client’s brand, solutions they’ve tried already, and their results. 

It’s best to stick close to the progression outlined here because it will give you the basic information you need at every level of the case study interview . You can’t ask what solutions they’ve tried before when you don’t even understand their brands’ needs. 

And keep in mind that when you’re asking users to provide specific information about a topic up front, they’ll often reference it later, strengthening the overall case study and sometimes encouraging them to share information they may not have thought to share otherwise. 

That being said, let’s go ahead and start to dive in to the best case study questions you should ask. 

Questions About Their Brand 

The best case studies will have some information about the brand they’re featuring and not just about how the brand uses their product. Information about the brand size, industry, and unique selling propositions (USPs ) can all play a valuable part in building a strong case study. 

Case Study Questions About Branding

These are a few important case study questions to consider asking about branding: 

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your brand? 

This is a great way to start the interview off strong. Ask the client to tell you about the brand, plain and simple. See what they have to say; they may share information about their product or service, how they fit into their industry, what differentiates them, and more. 

Leaving this first question relatively vague and open-ended helps them feel more comfortable while giving you some good ideas for where to go. 

If they’re stumped, ask them to provide a brief description of what their company does.

2. Can you tell me about your business’s structure, including industry, company size, or years in business? 

While this may feel technical, it can be exceptionally valuable to readers of the case study to help them relate or get a good understanding of who is using your products. 

3. An industry-relevant question 

SaaS tools that help with ad management may ask clients about their total monthly ad spend, for example. An eco-friendly company may ask clients what their “green goals” are or their previous carbon emissions. 

Think about what would benefit you to have in the case study, and ask it here if possible. 

Questions About Their Challenge & Pain Points 

We know that all great case studies will highlight the challenges that clients have before finding your product or service as their solution, exacerbated by key pain points. 

It’s so important to get enough information that these challenges feel real and significant in the case study; if you neglect to explain why a challenge was an actual obstacle, it can come across as seeming trivial. That can make your solution seem trivial, too.

Case Study Questions About Challenge And Pain Points

These are the best case study questions to ask for this stage of the interview.   

4. What were the challenges you needed to solve before finding our product? 

This is a specific, pointed question, which helps make it effective. 

If I ask my content marketing clients this question, for example, they might say, “we didn’t know how to create content that ranked well” or “we needed help creating content at scale.” 

You can dive deeper by asking pointed questions about their key problems, which brings us to the next question. 

5. Why did this challenge have such a significant impact on your business?

This is the golden ticket right here, because it’s about pain points. 

Say you’re selling marketing services, and the client’s challenge is that they wanted help with lead generation . 

The pain points of “organic channels were too slow in driving customer acquisition, and our churn rates were eviscerating our client numbers” or “we tried to run ads ourselves but ended up losing hundreds of dollars to no avail.” 

Wasted money. Bleeding clients. Too-slow organic channels. These are pain points that make the case study feel real, and that other customers will connect to.  

6. What other solutions had you tried before and why didn’t they work? 

While it’s best to skip out on trash-talking competitors in the case study, asking this question during the interview can give you valuable context and a lot to work with. 

If, for example, I’m a weight loss coach, my clients may have tried the keto diet and Weight Watchers to no avail. Knowing that the keto diet made them feel queasy and that they found the point-tracking Weight Watchers to be too much work can be useful information for the study, even if you don’t ever name the alternatives.

These are pain points in their own right, and can be utilized like the following: 

 “The client had tried different solutions before but found that the diets either made them sick or were too much work to maintain.” It positions your solution to be the winning option. 

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Questions About How They Discovered You 

While it may seem irrelevant, information about how customers discovered you and why they decided to work with you can actually become compelling parts of a case study— even if only mentioned in brief. 

Here’s an example of how you can use this information in the case study: 

“We found Breadcrumbs after our business partner mentioned it to us, and after reading about their easy-to-use interface and accessible lead scoring , we decided to give it a try.” 

You’ve got social proof (business partner referred them) and a promo for a unique feature that made them convert. 

Case Study Questions About How They Discovered Your Product

Here are the case study questions you can ask to get this information:

7. How did you find out about our brand? 

It’s a simple question, and it will likely be a simple answer. Nice and easy. 

8. What made you decide to try our product over other solutions? 

This essentially gets the customer to sell your product back to you, which is phenomenal. And someone reading the case study might think, “They’re right; I’ve also looked for a lead scoring tool with a great interface, I’d try that.” 

Questions About How They Used The Product or Service 

This will likely be one of the meatier parts of the case study interview because this is where some of the actionable information comes into play. How did your clients use your product or service, what steps did they take, and how can others use this to replicate the eventual results we’ll discover? 

Case Study Questions About How They Used Your Product Or Service

These are the case study questions to ask: 

9. Which specific products and product features did your team use? 

Say you’re selling invoicing software to small businesses. Not all clients will use every feature.

Graphic designers, for example, may take advantage of project estimates for upfront deposits more than a copywriter who only works for flat fees. That copywriter, however, might be more likely to use invoice templates for retainer clients or automated billing features. 

Ask about the products and services the team used. 

10. How did your team use our products and services to meet their needs? 

You know what products or services were used, but now it’s time to ask how they were used.

Project estimates, for example, allowed graphic designers to send more professional-looking invoices to clients, who could pay upfront deposits through credit card, check, or bank deposit. This helped that designer weed out clients who had no intention of paying and gave them the funds they needed to secure the supplies to begin working.

And for the copywriter who used automated billing, it saved her an exceptional amount of time and ensured she got paid on time because she sent those invoices on time. 

11. How was your experience? 

Was the SaaS tool user-friendly? Did your clients take advantage of a free demo program or the option to have an account manager get their entire account up and running?

Ask about their specific transition process using the tool and what made the experience a more positive one. 

Questions About Their Results 

Last but not least… the results. Believe it or not, some case studies skip this part of the interview, but you definitely want to include hard, quantifiable data in as many case studies as possible. 

Case Study Questions About Their Results

12. What end results did you get after using our product? 

Ask for the results your clients achieved. If they’re comfortable sharing the information, ask for KPIs. 

How did using our social media marketing software increase message response rates? 

How did our marketing service improve lead generation efforts, and customer acquisition costs? 

How did our lead scoring software reduce the contact-to-close period for leads or increase the overall financial value of leads acquired? 

Be as specific as the client will allow. The more definitive the data you can share, the better. 

13. What impact did these results have on your business? 

While this may seem self-explanatory, this is a great final question that again helps the impact of your product or service really stand out.

We saw customer satisfaction increase and sales go up by about 15% by improving message response rates on social media. 

Or, by getting more leads at lower costs, our business was able to reinvest those accelerated profits into additional campaigns to scale exponentially at an unprecedented rate, and now we’re opening two new branches. 

This can be a combination of data-focused or story-driven impacts. Either (or both!) works well. 

14. Is there anything else we should know? 

Anything else you want to share? This is a short but powerful question, and while some clients will say, “nope, that’s it,” you may be surprised what some other people share with you. 

There may be something they’ve been excited to talk about that hasn’t come up in the questions yet, or something may pop into mind to elaborate on something you’d discussed earlier.

Give them the floor, and see what they have to say. 

Final Thoughts 

If you’re going to take the time needed to conduct and write up a case study (both your own time and the client’s), you want to get it right. Coming prepared with a list of strong case study questions can help you create content that will be highly effective at generating leads and converting customers for a long time to come. 

Want to speed up the lead conversion funnel with lead scoring software? Create a Breadcrumbs account for free here ! 

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Five critical questions you need to answer when evaluating a business case

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I’ve written articles for Techrepublic on developing business cases and influencing decisions and will probably write quite a few more, but just for a change of pace, this piece is about evaluating or reviewing a business case.

So, why is this discussion necessary?

Professionals and managers are often asked to review a business case and provide a recommendation to the senior management. “It looks just fine” is not really going to cut it, trust me, especially if it transpires that it really isn’t fine at all. A major CLM (career limiting move) may be in the making. If you happened to be an executive whose job is to approve or turn down the case, the stakes are obviously even higher.

While these considerations may appear to be obvious to you and me, in the past twelve months alone I have seen several C-level executives readily sign off on business cases, which contained material errors, were based on incorrect assumptions or suggested actions that were not viable. I believe that such waste of resources and endangering of people’s careers is simply unnecessary.

Before we delve into the discussion, I would like to make the framing of this article clear. First, it’s written to enable people to become more effective in reviewing business cases, not to teach them how to shoot down a business case. In other words, it assumes that the reviewer is genuinely interested in the subject and wishes the author to succeed.

Second, this brief guide is a strictly practical tool that is not going to be concerned with how the case should have been written in the perfect world, but how to make a decision based on what you have in front of you (if at all possible). Third, there is not a ghost of a chance that we will be able to explore the subject in detail in the confines of a brief article.

Now, let’s get started. In all likelihood, the case you’ve received for review contains an executive summary, which is where you should start to gain a general understanding of what it is all about. Then you should read the rest of the case, which should tell a story. Then, ask yourself the following questions. If you are unsure of the answers, I recommend talking to the author.

What is this case all about?

After reading the executive summary and certainly after reviewing the body of the case, you should be in a position to reflect on the objective of the proposal. Is there a legitimate business concern or opportunity that it identifies and addresses? Are you tempted to shake your head say “So what?”

There are several common problems you may encounter here. First, you may find that there’s no clear objective. Second, you may find that the author does not understand the issue he or she is trying to address. Third, you may find that the problem is misdiagnosed which often leads to attempts to address not the cause but the effects. The latter includes the infamous sin of “let’s throw technology at it,” which invariably leaves the core problem unresolved.

If you’re clear on the objectives and they appear to be legitimate, read on.

How can we get there?

The next checkpoint is this: the business case must be advocating some course of action, but does it discuss alternatives that have been considered? My standard advice to business case developers is to discuss several good viable alternatives and recommend one of them.

If the case presents only one alternative and especially if it positions it as the only way to do it, it is prudent for the reviewer to reflect very carefully whether other viable alternatives may exist. If they appear to exist, while the objective has a merit, send the case back to the authors, encourage them to take a broader view and suggest that it may be appropriate to involve others. There is rarely only one way of doing things. The same course of action is also appropriate when you discover that the presented alternatives are weak bordering on silly. Please note that in keeping with our good-natured framing, I’m not suggesting to simply toss the case out, although that option is always available.

What are the costs and benefits?

Perhaps your business case was authored by someone who heeded my advice on firmly recommending one of the alternatives. Here’s the key question: What were their criteria for making this recommendation?

The business case should present to you a comparative analysis of pros and cons, cost and benefits of each of the alternatives. Sometimes the options are so closely related that it makes sense to discuss the common attributes and the deviations, and sometimes it makes sense to discuss them completely separately. Whichever way it is, you, as a reviewer, should have a feeling that someone has explained to you their thinking on the matter and it makes sense.

Here are some key items that you should expect to see:

  • Fit with mission, vision, values
  • Fit with strategy and other projects
  • Risk profile
  • Non-economic benefits and costs (qualitative, capacity)
  • Economic benefits and costs

The last bullet point can be so much of a problem that I intend to discuss it in detail in my next blog here on Techrepublic. There are concrete established methods of economic analysis that need to be followed and done well if this important portion of the business case is to be worth more than the paper it’s written on. There are actually rules that need to be followed, but in my observation, neither the author nor the reviewer always possesses the requisite skills. My advice is to learn the most commonly used methods of financial analysis, such as Payback, IRR and NPV and be able to identify issues. If you’re not familiar with these, seek an opinion of a professional. Please remember that financial analysis and accounting are two distinctly different skill sets. Do not simply give it to a CA, but check with an expert in financial analysis.

The fine details of these methods aside, you should expect to see the following two critical points addressed:

  • Assumptions . Being a projection of the future state, business cases involve assumptions. To judge whether the case is reasonable, you must be able to judge whether the assumptions are reasonable. As such, they should be clearly identified.
  • Sources of data. You want to know whether the supporting data has come from. Otherwise, how can it be trusted.

Once you’ve gone through the cost-benefit analysis, you should be in the position to state that you understand all the pros and cons of each alternative and know why the author made his or her recommendation.

What is involved?

Many business cases include draft implementation plans because, to cost out a project realistically, one has to think about the resource requirements and the project schedule. It’s not always warranted to delve into the detail, but often the author will have the implementation figured out to get the costs right, and since it exists already, why not include it into the business case.

If the business case in front of you includes the implementation plan, check it for realism and completeness. If you find that it lacks provisions for certain implementation activities that come at a cost, you will know that the financial analysis is also incomplete. But don’t sweat over the small stuff.

Is it both legal and ethical?

I’m not kidding! Check with the legal counsel if you have any doubts. If it seems to fall below the ethical standard of your organization, confer with your peers or those who may be better equipped to make this judgment.

There’s likely not such a thing as a perfect business case, nor is there the best ever way to review it. But I believe you will be in a good shape if you ask these questions each time you evaluate a business case.

Ilya Bogorad is the Principal of Bizvortex Consulting Group Inc (www.bizvortex.com), a management consulting company located in Toronto, Canada. Ilya can be reached at [email protected] or (905) 278 4753

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9 Types of Questions in Actual Case Interviews

Case interviews at management consulting firms are among the most difficult job interviews, but they are also quite predictable. Once you know the types of questions they ask, preparation is straightforward.

Using years of experience at McKinsey, as well as field reports from thousands of candidates, I’ve crafted a list of 8 common case interview questions, and in this article, I’ll show you how to answer each of them.

Case interview questions – Overview

Types of case interview questions .

Most questions in case interviews belong to one of these 9 types:

1. Framework/issue tree questions 2. Market-sizing and guesstimate questions 3. Valuation questions 4. Brain teaser questions 5. Chart insight questions 6. Value proposition questions 7. Information questions 8. Math problems 9. Solution-finding questions

In this article, we’ll discuss how to answer each question, along with the necessary tips and tricks.

How to answer case interview questions

There are the fo ur basic steps to answer case interview questions:

  • Step 1: Clarify any unclear points in the question
  • Step 2: Announce approach and ask for time
  • Step 3: Draw issue trees to solve the given problem
  • Step 4: Pitch your answer and end with a takeaway conclusion.

This general outline may vary depending on each type and each question – for example, brain teasers or information questions need only the last step, while market-sizing and framework questions need all four steps to deliver the perfect answer.

Type 1 – Framework/Issue tree questions

These are on top of the list among popular case interview questions!

business case study quiz

If the interviewer asks you to identify factors contributing to a problem or to break down an entity (such as the revenue of a business), he/she is telling you to draw an issue tree.

And to draw a spot-on issue tree, you need to master consulting problem-solving foundations , the MECE principle , and common consulting frameworks . You should check out our other articles on these topics before moving on, because mastering the issue tree is the key to acing every possible case interview.

You also need good business intuition to draw good issue trees, so that’s all the more reason to start reading every day.

Gastronomia – a gourmet restaurant chain has found the turnover rate among its highly-skilled chefs increasing dramatically for the last 3 years; this has led to a noticeable decline in food quality and increased training costs, among other negative effects.

Which factors would you consider when tackling this turnover problem?

business case study quiz

Job: Factors from the job itself. Further divided into 3 sub-branches

  • Compensations: are the salaries, bonuses, and benefits attractive enough?
  • Difficulty: is the job too difficult?
  • Nature: is the job too boring, too unengaging, too repetitive…?

Company: Factors from the work environment within the restaurant chain, surrounding the affected jobs. Further divided into 2 sub-branches

  • Cultural environment: is the culture at Gastronomia compatible with the chefs?
  • Physical environment: is the physical working environment at Gastronomia safe, comfortable, convenient…?

Competitors: Factors from outside the restaurant chain, related to competing job offers. Further divided into 2 sub-branches.

  • Inside industry: are other restaurant chains competing with Gastronomia for skilled personnel?
  • Outside industry: are there new career options or changes in existing alternatives that draw chefs away from restaurant chains like Gastronomia?

For detailed guides on issue trees, frameworks and their principles, see the articles on Issue Trees , Case Interview Frameworks, and MECE Principle

Type 2 – Market-sizing & guesstimate

These questions go along the lines of “How many trees are there in Central Park?” or “What’s the market size of pick-up trucks in the USA?”

The key to nailing market-sizing and guesstimate questions lies in not the closest results, but the most logical and structured approaches. In fact, the interviewer expects you to follow these four steps:

Step 1: Clarify: Make sure you and the interviewer are on the same page regarding every detail and terminology, so you won’t be answering the wrong question.

Step 2: Break down the problem: Break the item in the question (number of trees in Central Park, market size of pickup trucks) down into smaller, easy-to-estimate pieces.

Step 3: Solve each piece: Estimate each small piece one at a time; each estimation should be backed by facts, figures, or at least observations.

Step 4: Consolidate the pieces: Combine the previous estimations to arrive at a final result; be quick with the math, but don’t rush it if you aren’t confident.

Unless you come up with something about 10 times the reasonable estimate, don’t worry about being “wrong” – the interviewer is unlikely to have a “correct” number in mind, he/she just wants to see your structured mindset.

This question type is so common, we devote a whole article to it, and our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program have a separate package on these questions. Check out our comprehensive guide on Market-Sizing & Guesstimate Questions for more details!

Now, here’s a quick example for you to try and get used to this type:

How many smartphones are sold each year, globally?

  • Smartphones are phones using exclusively touch-screens.
  • “Sold” means sold to the end-consumers. 
  • The market size is calculated at present.

Break down the problem:

The global smartphone market can be divided into three segments – developed countries, developing countries, and undeveloped countries.

In each segment, the annual unit sales of smartphones depend on four variables:

  • The percentage of “phone-owning age” people among the population
  • The percentage of smartphone owners within the “phone-owning age” group.
  • The average, annual, per capita “consumption” of smartphones for those owners.

Solve each piece:

  • The population is 1.5 billion in developed countries, 5.5 billion in developing countries, and 1 billion in undeveloped countries.
  • 80% of the world population is in the “phone-owning age” (Global life expectancy is 70 and everyone older than 15 years counts towards the “phone-owning age” group)
  • 100% of the phone-owning age in developed countries will own a smartphone; the figure in developing countries is 75%, while in undeveloped countries it’s 10%.
  • The average smartphone user replaces their phone every 3 years – so they “consume” 0.33 phones each year.

=> Estimated global smartphone market: 1.53 billion units per year

=> Actual 2019 global smartphone sales:  1.37 billion units (error margin: 11.7%).

This market-sizing question is solved using a four-step process, which is explained in this article:  Market-Sizing & Guesstimate Questions

Type 3 – Valuation questions

Valuation questions are about estimating the monetary value of a business, and these are very popular in case interviews too!

Valuation questions are a blend of guesstimation/market-sizing, math, and business. They also require basic finance knowledge. There are three ways to estimate the value of a business:

  • The NPV Method: take the net cash flow generated by the business, and discount it to the present to account for time value of money. Basically “this company is worth X dollars because it gives me Y dollars over Z years”. This approach works best when the cash flow from the business is positive and stable.
  • The Market Method: take one index of the firm (which can be stocks or anything depending on the industry) and multiply it with an industry multiple (the value of one unit of the said index). In other words, “this company is worth AxB dollars because it has A traffic and each traffic is worth B dollars”. This approach works best when the market is transparent and data on similar firms are accessible – usually with major, established industries such as commercial airlines.

In real case interviews, you have to justify your approach then ask the interviewer to give you the necessary data.

Our client wants to sell his organic-food restaurant (called “Cato’s Cabbage Farm”) to retire. How much is his restaurant worth?

(Supposed the interviewer gives you the following data: his current income from the restaurant is $100,000 per year; two other restaurants in the neighborhood – one with 2 times more customers, and another about 0.75 times, have been sold at $1,800,000 and $1,000,000 respectively).

NPV Method: Cato’s Cabbage Farm value = $100,000 / 10% = $1,000,000

Market Method:

Assume the number of customers for Cato’s Cabbage Farm is 1 “customer unit”, then the two neighborhood restaurants get 2 and 0.75 “customer units”.

  • Industry multiple: ($1,800,000+$1,000,000) / (2+0.75) = ~$1,018,182
  • Cato’s Cabbage Farm value = $1,018,182 x 1 = $1,018,182

Type 4 – Brain teasers

Brain teasers are the least predictable case interview questions – but even these can be learned!

Brain teasers are riddles designed to test unconventional, creative, and logical thinking. A famous example of this is Accenture’s “How do you put a giraffe in a fridge?”.

Although not as popular as before, brain teasers might still appear in consulting interviews; therefore, you should spend some time to prepare.

Most brain teasers can be allocated into these seven types:

  • Logical questions are pure logic riddles – there’s no trick, no illusion, no creativity.

In our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program , there are +200 brain teasers to help you prepare for these “unpredictable” questions. You can also read our article about Case Interview Brain Teasers for insights on all of these exciting brain teasers, as well as 30 example questions and answers!

How do you put a giraffe in a fridge?

Open the fridge, put the giraffe in, then close the fridge. The question never says how big the fridge or the giraffe is.

For the logic and approach behind each kind of brain teasers, see the article on Brain Teasers.

Type 5 – Chart insight questions

You can’t be a management consultant without mastering the use of charts – the complex, scary-looking real-world charts such as those included in our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program.

In management consulting and case interviews, most charts are one (or a combination) of these four basic types:

  • Bar charts compare the values of several items at one point in time, or 1-2 items at several time intervals.
  • Line charts illustrate time-series data, i.e trends in data over a continuous period.
  • Pie charts illustrate proportions, i.e “parts of a whole” analyses.
  • Scatter-plots use data points to visualize how two variables relate to each other.

To read these charts and answer chart-insights questions effectively, you must follow a structured, comprehensive process:

You can find a more detailed guide in the Charts section in our article about Consulting Math.

What can you draw from the following chart?

business case study quiz

Trends in chart:

  • Steady rise in the number of confirmed deaths to about 70-80 per million;
  • Both changes started around March 10-11.
  • These sudden rises can be explained by events occurring in early-March, and 2.
  • If number of cases is kept low, the threat from COVID-19 will remain minimal, considering a mortality rate of only 2%.

Type 6 – Value proposition questions

No business or consulting candidate can succeed without understanding the customers!

Value-proposition questions are not only about correctly identifying customer preferences, but also about analyzing and delivering the answer in a structured fashion. The former relies heavily on business knowledge and intuition, but the latter can be trained methodically and quickly. Personally, I use a “double issue-tree” – essentially a table with customer segments on one axis and proposed values on the other:

For segmenting customers, you can use the following table. However, don’t over-rely on it, since there may be more relevant and insightful question-specific segmentations.

In some cases, clarification is also necessary – both to avoid “answering the wrong question” and to narrow down the range of customers/values you need to cover in the answer.

What will a customer consider when buying a Toyota sedan?

Clarification: A sedan must be branded “Toyota” to be a Toyota sedan – cars with other Toyota-owned brands such as Lexus or Ranz do not count in this question.

Situational Assessment:

Toyota sedans occupy the entry-level and mid-range price segments, so Toyota customers will be more price-conscious than, for example, Lexus customers.

They are also less likely to lean considerably towards one particular factor, so achieving a balance is extremely important.

Functionality factors:

  • Comfort: Toyota sedans are mostly for everyday use, so customers should feel comfortable being inside the car.
  • Utility: Toyota sedans are used for multiple purposes, so convenience for a wide range of uses is important.

Cost factors

  • Purchase price: A car can be an expensive investment while Toyota’s low-to-mid-range customers are more price-conscious, so having a cheap/reasonable price is important.
  • Fuel and maintenance: Maintenance and fuel costs over time are likewise inversely related to the decision to buy a Toyota sedan.

Physical factors

  • Performance: Customers are usually drivers themselves, who often pay attention to the technical characteristics of the car (speed, acceleration, handling, etc.)
  • Visual design: The car should possess the same level of visual appeal as other competitors in the same segment.
  • Build quality: Parts of the car should be assembled in a reasonably good manner.

Emotional factors

  • Branding: The car should come from a well-known, reputable brand
  • Personal preferences: Some customers choose specific cars simply because they “like” the car.

Type 7 – Information questions

In any problem-solving process, information is one of the overarching concerns!

“Information questions” essentially ask if the piece of data you use is obtainable in the first place. In real consulting work, data is not always available – client team members may refuse to cooperate or there’s simply no data on the subject.

There are many kinds of information sources in case interviews/consulting works, but I’ll divide them into primary and secondary sources. Primary sources means you must do the research yourself (or pay someone else to do it for you), such as customer surveys or mystery shoppings. If someone already did that research, and you use their results, it’s called a secondary source – you can get these from the client , the consulting firm you work for, or third-parties such as market research firms or external industry experts.

You can find out more about these sources and how to cite them in real case interviews through this free Prospective Candidate Starter Pack, which contains a glossary of data sources in consulting.

Our Prospective Candidate Starter Pack has a sheet containing all the possible sources of information in case interviews and consulting projects, among numerous other free resources; you can download and use it to answer these questions, by subscribing to our newsletter at the end of this article.

How do you assess your target customer’s preferences for sports cars?

Primary sources: customer survey, customer interviews, Secondary sources: industry reports, client sales reports, third-party expert interview, client expert interview

Type 8 – Math problems

A lot of information in case interviews and consulting work comes in the quantitative form, so you won’t escape Math by joining the consulting industry!

When you have to do the math, perform back-of-the-envelope calculations in a structured fashion, and say out loud what you’re writing. For one thing, it’s safe; for another, you show that you’re careful, organized, and reliable – just like actual consultants.

We have a Math Practice Tool right here! Use it every day, and you’ll be a master of mental calculations in no time flat!

We have a dedicated article on Consulting Math, which you should definitely read.

Type 9 – Solution-finding questions

What’s the point of analyzing a problem, if not to solve it?!

When dealing with solution questions, keep these four points in mind:

  • Firstly, in case interviews as well as real consulting projects, solutions must always solve every root cause of a problem, so remember to check if your solutions are relevant and comprehensive.
  • Secondly, every solution must be actionable – if your solutions are too expensive, too time-consuming, etc. for the client, they’re useless.
  • Thirdly, the interview expects a highly-structured answer; so segment your solutions based on their characteristics (long-term vs short-term is the easiest segmentation)

business case study quiz

Last but not least, deliver at least two solutions, preferably three to five. Otherwise, you’ll appear uncreative and lazy to the interviewer’s eyes.

Nailing these questions relies on having excellent business intuition; our Case Interview End-to-End Program has a dedicated Business Intuition package, but you should also train a habit of reading consulting and business articles daily, to sharpen your business mind.

A restaurant that relies solely on on-premise dining found the loss of adjacent parking space (due to termination of contract) harming their revenue. How can they fix that?

The solutions for the restaurant’s parking space problem can be divided into two types:

  • Short-term solutions: Find new parking space around the neighborhood, or renegotiate for old parking space (possibly at a higher price).
  • Long-term solutions: Introduce takeaway items and off-premise dining.

Reminders on case interview questions

The questions are not clear-cut in candidate-led cases.

There are two extremes in consulting case interview format: interviewer-led (McKinsey) and candidate-led (BCG, Bain).

Interviewer-led cases, on one hand, consist of multiple, clear-cut questions in a larger business case context; the candidate navigates through these questions to arrive at the solutions.

Candidate-led cases, on the other hand, have one big problem, which the candidate must break down into small pieces to identify the root causes and deliver solutions.

This list, therefore, is much more relevant to the interviewer-led format; nonetheless, this guide is still quite beneficial for candidate-led cases, because when solving that big problem, you’ll have to tackle small issues similar to the 8 aforementioned question types.

Mastering the fundamentals is crucial to consistent performance

Although it’s good to study the case interview questions, it is no substitute for mastering the fundamental principles.

Learning the exercises without the basics is like building a house without a foundation. My poor neighbor’s house developed a huge crack right down the center because of its weak foundation, so make sure to build your case interview prep a strong one by knowing the basics first.

Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you’ll become much more flexible – this quality is getting increasingly important because case interviews are getting less predictable, and more realistic.

If you haven’t, I advise you to read these articles (especially the first 4) before practicing the question types:

  • Case Interview 101
  • Issue Tree – The Complete Guide
  • MECE Principle
  • Case Interview Frameworks
  • McKinsey Case Interview – Interviewer-led Format
  • BCG & Bain Case Interview – Candidate-led Format

Expect the unexpected

If you study those nine question types, rest assured that you’ve covered the majority of questions in case interviews.

However, these are not all the possible questions you might be given. In actual cases, there are always questions that cannot be categorized neatly. If you do not prepare for these questions, it’s easy to be thrown off-balance.

So, how do you prepare for “the unexpected”?

  • Master the basics: Focus your efforts on the basics, once you’ve mastered them it’d be comfortable to move on to higher, more sophisticated levels.
  • Business Intuition : You need business intuition for a business-related job, it’s simple as that. Nearly every case concerns business in one way or another – even public sector cases. This is why we also teach business intuition in our Case Interview E2E Secret Program.
  • Have mock case interviews : Practice case interviews with ex-consultants will help you get a sense of what might happen or how you might be evaluated in actual cases. Highly experienced coaches from MConsultingPrep will review your performance, giving you the most valuable feedback and actionable tips & techniques.

Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

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Six types of charts in case interview are: Bar/Column chart, Line chart, Percentage chart, Mekko chart, Scatter plot chart, Waterfall chart.

A case interview is where candidates is asked to solve a business problem. They are used by consulting firms to evaluate problem-solving skill & soft skills

Case interview frameworks are methods for addressing and solving business cases.  A framework can be extensively customized or off-the-shelf for specific cases.

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33 Case Study Questions for Customer and Client Interviews

business case study quiz

When selling your product or service to prospective customers, you make a stronger case when you can show concrete results. This is where a case study comes in. A case study strengthens your sales pitch by showing firsthand results. You can boost your case studies by interviewing previous customers and asking them to share how they benefited from your business. Interview your loyal customers using the following questions to build strong case studies you can share with new prospective clients.

two women speaking at a table near a large window

What is a Case Study?

A case study is a detailed report that showcases how your product has benefited previous clients. It is a way to show firsthand how your product or service can benefit potential new clients. Case studies help you build trust with new clients — 88% of whom trust online customer reviews and ratings. Conversely, only 14% of customers trust advertisements.

Asking the right types of questions to your previous customers will help you better craft your final case study. Since you will be writing these studies with new clients in mind, drafting your questions beforehand will give you the right information to highlight how you have previously solved similar client issues in the past.

How to Write Case Study Questions

This section offers an outline of sections that should be included in your final case study and sample questions to ask of your clients.

Start With the Backstory

Before writing your case study questions, determine why you are writing it. Outline the major problems you intend to highlight and create questions that will allow you to articulate how you solved them. The following section includes case study question examples you can use to conduct your client interviews, but you can modify them based on your goals.

When interviewing your previous clients, first introduce them to your audience by including some background information on their company. Next, set up the case study by presenting the initial problem.

  • Tell me a little bit about your business and its history.
  • Who are your target customers?
  • Describe your role at the company.
  • What are some common challenges faced by businesses in your industry?
  • What problems or challenges were you facing that led you to seek out our product/service?
  • Why was this specific challenge a priority?
  • How was this problem impacting your business?
  • What other potential solutions had you tried before, and why weren’t they working?

Establish Your Relationship

After setting up the problem and why it was significant to your customers, ask them to define their relationship with your brand. If you are interviewing repeat customers, ask them how they discovered your business, why you were their chosen solution, and what's kept them coming back. If you are interviewing a first-time client, ask what drew them to your business over another.

Some questions can include:

  • How long have you been a customer with us?
  • How did you first hear about our business?
  • What made you choose our company over competitors?
  • How did you envision using our product or service to drive your solution?

Have Them Demonstrate Your Product

Once you have set up the initial problem and delved into how your client chose you to solve it, you can get into the details of the actual case study. Ask specific questions about how your client used your product or service.

Be detailed. These answers will help you draft a case study that resonates with prospective buyers who are facing the same issue.

  • How did you use our product or service to create your solution?
  • Which features of the product did you find most beneficial?
  • Was this product a replacement for a similar tool you had used in the past?
  • How many people at your company use our product?
  • What are the advantages of using our product over another similar one?
  • How was the setup and implementation process?
  • Did you contact the customer service team any time during the process?
  • If so, how was your customer service experience?
  • How was the rollout process?
  • What types of feedback have you received from employees about our product?

Outline the Product’s Benefits

This section of your interview will delve into the actual solution and its results. Use this section to ask about specific outcomes and metrics the company used to track successes.

  • How did our product address your specific challenges?
  • What kinds of measurable results did you see?
  • Which key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics did you measure to determine whether our product successfully solved your problem?
  • How has your business changed since you deployed our product or service?
  • How is your initial problem currently impacting your business? Is it still an issue, or has it been resolved?
  • How would you recommend other customers use our product to get the best results?

Wrap Up the Interview

At the end of the interview, ask some general business case study questions relating to customer satisfaction and relationship management. You can use these to conclude the case study. This section of the interview is also likely to generate some potential customer quotes you can use in your marketing materials .

  • Have you referred us to your friends or clients?
  • How likely are you to work with us again?
  • How can we improve our product to best meet your future needs?
  • In which other instances can you see our product providing a viable solution?
  • Is there anyone else I can talk to for more information?

How to Ask Your Clients for an Interview

If you have been in business for a while, you probably know your best advocates. Think about your top customers, and start by asking those who are the most likely to promote your business. If you know a client who often refers customers to you, ask them for a specific example of how your company helped them solve a problem.

You might draw a blank when asked to identify your best advocates. In this case, talk to your sales team or your project managers to see if they know of any potential customers who would be happy to share their success stories.

Consider your customers’ time. Don’t approach them for an interview in the middle of a busy season or if they have had a recent issue with your company. Get familiar with your selected clients and how they intended to use your product so you have some background information before starting the interview.

Finally, write a personalized request. Don’t send out a form email requesting case studies. Make your requests relevant to each potential interviewee so they know they are valued customers.

How to Write the Case Study

Instead of taking notes during the interview, take a recording on your phone or a portable recording device and transcribe it when you’re done. You can take minor notes as you go along, to help when you go back to transcribe. This way you can be more engaged in the interview and follow up on interesting information that might pop up. Be sure to check that your recording hardware or software is working ahead of time, to ensure you don't lose valuable information during the interview.

The case study questions listed above are arranged as an outline of a typical case study. Start by introducing the company and the problem they were trying to solve when they sought out your business. Next, explain the process of how they used your product to solve their problem.

End the case study with numbers and statistics demonstrating how you helped the business successfully solve its problem. Make sure you get specific numbers and figures to illustrate your clients’ successes. If you don’t get them during the initial interview, follow up with a phone call or email.

Sample Case Study Questions and Answers

These sample case study questions and answers demonstrate how to extract information from your interview and turn it into an engaging business case study that is interesting and informative.

This case study from Switch, a digital marketing agency, details how the company was able to help a client improve its return on investment (ROI) on search and Facebook ad campaigns by moving them from their in-house marketing team.

The case study starts with an impressive statistic — the company improved its ROI on search ads from 1.2x to 19x in a short time period. The case study breaks this statistic down for potential leads who might not be familiar with marketing terminology, indicating that its client was able to increase sales without spending more on search engine ads.

While the actual case study interview is not published, a sample question and answer that would have generated this data could be:

  • Q: How did shifting the development of search engine ad campaigns to Switch impact ad performance?
  • A: The Switch team was able to change our approach. Before, we used a single strategy on our search and Facebook ads. Their team was able to create split campaigns targeted to different audiences and run A/B tests to refine the messages. In a couple of months, our ROI on search ads went from 1.2x to 19x.”

This case study goes into detail about how Switch worked with its clients to refine the Facebook and search ad strategy, ending with impressive results.

Rogers Communications

Rogers Communications featured this case study detailing how its client Brampton Caledon Community Living (BCCL) used the company’s cloud-based mobile phone system to better service clients. This case study is simple, laid out with headings like “Challenge” and “Solution.”

Rogers Communications pulled relevant quotes from the client and included them in text boxes throughout the study to break up the text. Rogers also included direct quotes from personnel at BCCL, making a strong case for its product. While it doesn’t offer hard numbers like the previous example, it does include a quote detailing how the cloud-based system has improved the work environment.

Again, the interview for this case study is not included in the example, but it does include the answers as client quotes.

  • Q: What led you to switch over to the RogersUnison cloud-based platform?
  • A: “We had been using more laptops and mobile phones for work outside the office and Rogers Unison was essential to this transition.”

Best Practices for Conducting A Business Case Study Interview

When you’ve found client advocates who are willing to talk to you about how your company led them to success, draft your interview questions. Keep these best practices in mind.

Be Prepared

Being well-prepared for your interview is the best way to ensure its success. Before meeting with your client, learn what you can about the client so you can flesh out the case study. Conduct a mock interview to prepare. Talk to your sales team or the client’s specific project manager for details to better understand the client and what they were facing when they hired your company or purchased a product.

Ask Open-Ended Questions

Structure your questions so the interviewee has to give detailed answers. If you limit your interview to "yes" or "no" questions, it can be hard to gather enough information to write your case study. Open-ended questions let your client get into the specifics surrounding the study.

Do a Deep Dive

One reason you should record your interviews and transcribe them later is so you can focus on the client’s answers. Often, information will come up in an answer to one question that will prompt you to ask a follow-up question. Recording your interview lets you deviate from your prepared questions to get a more robust analysis of the case.

Getting Started on Your Case Study

Case studies are a great marketing tool for building credibility. They give prospective clients a better understanding of how you work and how you can provide alternative solutions for key issues. But the key to writing a good case study is to start with a quality interview.

You have the tools needed to draft powerful questions. So start the process by looking through your list of past clients and determining who would be the best to interview. Develop a thorough understanding of their situation and their history with your company, and then conduct your interview.

After your first few case studies, you'll be confident on how to best structure questions and refine your interviews to get the best information. Soon, you will be crafting detailed and engaging case studies to best market your business.

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  • Case Teaching

C ase studies are powerful teaching tools. “When you have a good case, and students who are well prepared to learn and to teach each other, you get some magical moments that students will never forget,” says James L. Heskett, UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, emeritus, at Harvard Business School (HBS). “They will remember the lessons they learn in that class discussion and apply them 20 years later.”

Yet, for many educators who want to pen their own case, the act of writing a great business case seldom comes easily or naturally. For starters, it’s time consuming. Case writers can spend substantial time visiting companies, securing a willing site, conducting interviews, observing operations, collecting data, reviewing notes, writing the case, revising the narrative, ensuring that teaching points come through, and then getting executives to approve the finished product.

The question, then, becomes: Where do you begin? How do you approach case writing? How do you decide which company to use as the subject of the case? And what distinguishes a well-written case from a mediocre one?

We asked three expert HBS case writers—who collectively have written and supported hundreds of cases—to share their insights on how to write a great business case study that will inspire passionate classroom discussion and transmit key educational concepts.

Insights from James L. Heskett

UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Keep your eyes open for a great business issue.

“I’m always on the prowl for new case material. Whenever I’m reading or consulting, I look for interesting people doing interesting things and facing interesting challenges. For instance, I was reading a magazine and came across a story about how Shouldice Hospital treated patients undergoing surgery to fix inguinal hernias—how patients would get up from the operating table and walk away on the arm of the surgeon.

6 QUALITIES OF GREAT CASE WRITERS

Comfort with ambiguity, since cases may have more than one “right” answer

Command of the topic or subject at hand

Ability to relate to the case protagonists

Enthusiasm for the case teaching method

Capacity for finding the drama in a business situation and making it feel personal to students

Build relationships with executives.

“When writing a case, it’s helpful to start as high in the organization as possible. It helps assure mid-level managers that they can share the information you need with an outsider. It also helps when it comes to getting the case cleared for use. Serving on corporate boards can help in building relationships with senior executives, but there are other ways to make those connections. For instance, you can approach speakers at business conferences if you think their presentations could form the basis for a good business case. If you want to write about a company where you don’t have any personal connections, you can always check with your colleagues to see if any of them have a personal relationship with the CEO or sit on a board where they could introduce you to the right person who would be able to facilitate the case. My colleagues and I make a lot of these introductions for each other.”

“If you make the case into a crossword puzzle that takes five hours to solve, it’s not really fair to the students and will most likely cause them to lose focus.” James L. Heskett

Skip the curveballs and focus on key issues.

“Cases don’t have to be obvious. As a pedagogical objective, you might want students to look beyond a superficial issue to say this is the underlying topic that we need to address, and these are the questions we need to pose. Still, I think it’s unhelpful if cases contain real curveballs where ‘unlocking’ the case depends on finding some small piece of information hidden in an exhibit. Give students a break! They may have to read and digest three cases per day, so they probably won’t be able to devote more than a couple of hours to each one. If you make the case into a crossword puzzle that takes five hours to solve, it’s not really fair to the students and will most likely cause them to lose focus.”

Build a discussion plan while writing the case.

“In case method teaching, the teacher is not in complete control. Students teach each other and learn from each other. On any given day, there will likely be somebody in the room who knows more about the company featured in the case than the professor does. So a professor can’t walk into the classroom and expect to impose a lesson plan that goes in a strict linear way from A to B to C to D. The case ought to be written to allow students to jump from A to D and then come back later to B if that’s how the discussion plays out. At the same time, the case should be structured so that the instructor can collect student comments on a board, organizing them as a coherent set of related ideas, and then deliver a 5-to-10-minute summary that communicates whatever essential concepts the case has covered. This summation can be a very powerful teaching and learning experience.”

Focus on quality over quantity.

“Cases don’t have to be too long. Some good cases are only two or three pages. Students may give more scrutiny to these brief cases than they would a 20-page case.”

Advice from Benson P. Shapiro

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

Take out the chaff in advance.

“You don’t want students to spend too much time separating the wheat from the chaff. If a case has 12 pages of text and 10 pages of exhibits, even the smartest MBA students will likely lose interest. Writers who try to capture a situation from every angle and in every detail end up with sprawling narratives that usually do not make a good case. When writing cases, you need to set good, strong boundaries. Avoid superfluous, flowery, or poetic material that may contain interesting anecdotes or factoids, but that could distract readers from the case’s core topics. Include only those important and useful details that can help students make decisions and understand key issues that the case explores.”

Work in layers and metaphors—subtly.

“The best cases work on multiple levels. A case should focus on a specific situation—for example, whether or not to introduce a certain product. But it should also serve as a metaphor for broader issues in the background: How do we think about introducing new products? Are we introducing enough products? Are new product introductions a source of competitive advantage in our industry? How should we organize and manage new product development? You want the case to encourage students to think broadly about the various cultural, financial, and strategic impacts that managerial decisions have on a company.”

“Writers who try to capture a situation from every angle and in every detail end up with sprawling narratives that usually do not make a good case.” Benson P. Shapiro

Encourage emotional engagement.

“Case writing is an interesting literary form—it needs to be very engaging, but also educational. Great cases revolve around points of contention on which intelligent people can hold different points of view: What should you do? Why? How do you get it done? Ideally, students should have to choose between two very attractive alternatives or two terrible alternatives. The best cases involve questions that get students emotionally engaged so that they really care about choices and outcomes. When you see students physically leaning forward and following what their peers are saying, you know that they have a visceral feel for the importance of the subject. When you hear them debating after class— You were out in left field! You missed what was really important here! —that’s how you can tell you succeeded in developing a great case.”

Lessons from Carin-Isabel Knoop

Executive Director of the Case Research & Writing Group, Harvard Business School

Don’t forget the classroom component.

“Cases are deliberately incomplete documents. What a case writer leaves out of a case is often just as important as what he or she puts into it. Cases are designed to be completed through classroom instruction and discussion. While drafting the case, try to develop the classroom process in parallel. Work on the assignment questions and classroom content. Keep in mind that the case should be able to adapt to your classroom and course needs.”

Hone your elevator pitch.

“Before getting started, always have clear, succinct learning objectives in mind. Don’t start developing the case until you are able to summarize these objectives in less than five minutes.”

Case writing is a relationship, not a transaction.

When choosing a case site, be clear with executives that you are developing a teaching tool and that you will require their time and candor—and eventually their data. Put them at ease, and manage the authorization process, right from the start. Indicate that quotes will be cleared before publication and there will be time for individual review. During the creation process, ask their advice. This creates a process of engagement and helps bring home that this is a pedagogical tool, not gotcha journalism. At HBS, we oftentimes invite someone from the company to attend class. Finally, once the case is done, stay in touch with your case protagonists. They will move to other organizations and spread the good word about their experience with case writing.

Invite disagreement in case discussions.

“The case study method is based on participant-centered learning. The students all start from the same base of 11 (or however many) pages in the case, but they bring different knowledge and experiences into the classroom. So they can take the same facts and disagree about what course of action to pursue. We want students to behave like decision makers, and it can be painful to make decisions. Some critics deride the case teaching method as being unrealistic, but someone who just lectures about marketing doesn’t help students realize how difficult it is to choose between two plausible options to meet the same marketing objectives. For students, a big part of the education process is learning from discussions with classmates who think differently and advocate for different solutions. Witnessing a robust case discussion reminds us of the potential for collective learning to emerge from contrasting views.”

“Faculty don’t just write cases for teaching purposes, they write them to learn.” Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Case Writing Process Is a Worthy Effort

Researching, writing, and publishing cases is well worth the time and effort. “The case research and writing process is important for faculty development,” Knoop adds. “While developing field cases, faculty go to site visits and meet with decision makers. The case writing process helps connect scholars to practitioners and practitioners to the academic world. Faculty case writers get to explore and test how their academic theories work in practice. So faculty don’t just write cases for teaching purposes, they write them to learn. The case method is an integral part of faculty development.”

There’s another big bonus to becoming a case writer, especially for younger educators. “Young business instructors face a credibility gap with their students,” says Heskett. “It’s not uncommon to have MBA students in a class who have more experience than the instructor on a particular subject. Once you go into the field and write a case, you will know more about that subject than anyone else in the class. A primary way for professors to establish their credibility on a topic is to have written the case the class is discussing that day.”

James L. Heskett

James L. Heskett is UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics, emeritus, at Harvard Business School. He completed his Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and has been a faculty member at The Ohio State University as well as president of Logistics Systems, Inc. Since 2000, he has authored a blog on Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge website .

Benson P. Shapiro

Benson P. Shapiro is the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, emeritus, at Harvard Business School where he taught full time from 1970 to 1997. Since 1997, Shapiro has concentrated his professional time on consulting, giving speeches, serving on boards, and writing. He continues to teach at Harvard and has taught in many executive programs and has chaired the Sustainable Marketing Leadership for Mid-Sized Firms Program.

Carin-Isabel Knoop

Carin-Isabel Knoop is the executive director of the Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Business School. She is also coauthor of Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace .

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business case study quiz

47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

Case interview examples - McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.

One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

  • McKinsey examples
  • BCG examples
  • Bain examples
  • Deloitte examples
  • Other firms' examples
  • Case books from consulting clubs
  • Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

  • Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
  • Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
  • Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
  • GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
  • National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
  • Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
  • Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
  • Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
  • McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
  • McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

  • Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
  • Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
  • BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
  • Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
  • BCG live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

  • CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
  • FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
  • Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
  • Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
  • Written case interview tips (Bain website)
  • Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
  • Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

  • Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
  • Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
  • Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
  • Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
  • Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
  • Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
  • Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
  • Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
  • Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

  • Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
  • Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

  • Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
  • Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

  • Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
  • Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
  • Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

  • Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
  • Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
  • AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

  • Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
  • Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

  • Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
  • Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

  • Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
  • Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
  • 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
  • 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
  • Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

  • Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
  • Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

13. Consulting clubs case interview examples

  • Berkeley case book (2006)
  • Columbia case book (2006)
  • Darden case book (2012)
  • Darden case book (2018)
  • Duke case book (2010)
  • Duke case book (2014)
  • ESADE case book (2011)
  • Goizueta case book (2006)
  • Illinois case book (2015)
  • LBS case book (2006)
  • MIT case book (2001)
  • Notre Dame case book (2017)
  • Ross case book (2010)
  • Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

The IGotAnOffer team

Interview coach and candidate conduct a video call

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business case study quiz

A case interview is a type of job interview technique used mainly by management consulting firms to screen candidates by assessing analytical skills in a pressured real-time environment. Below are several resources that may be helpful when preparing for a case interview.

  • CaseInterview.com Free blog content, but registration required. Caters to aspiring management consultants. Founded by Victor Cheng, author of "Case Interview Secrets," who is a frequently cited expert on the case interview.
  • Interview Preparation Tips (Bain) Includes case interview guidance.
  • Practice Case Interviews (Boston Consulting Company) Reviews consulting interview process and tips.
  • Preparing for the Case Interview (Deloitte) Deloitte's case interview prep tool allows you to practice problem-solving skills, analytical ability, and strategic and logical thinking.
  • FirstHand (formerly Vault) Access provided by Boston University Career Center. Registration is required for first time users . Follow these steps to create your account: 1. Go to Firsthand and click " Get Started ". 2. Click on “ Register now ” at the bottom of the box. Enter your BU email address on the next page. Complete the registration process and then click “ Create Account ” to get started. 3. Click on the link Firsthand e-mails you to confirm your email address (this can take several minutes to process). Note : Firsthand will send you a follow up email to “complete your profile.” This is not required, and completely optional. Excellent resource on what it can be like to work within an industry, company, or profession. How to Find the Vault Guides and Rankings : Vault Guides are under “The Library .” Select The Library tab on the left side of the page, and you’ll see a link for Guides in the top navigation bar. Vault Rankings are under “Careers .” Select the Careers tab on the left side of the page to see rankings in various fields. The Careers tab also includes FirstHand Industries and Professions which include Industry profiles and Profession profiles.

business case study quiz

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  • Last Updated: Nov 17, 2023 12:09 PM
  • URL: https://library.bu.edu/business-case-studies

20+ Data Science Case Study Interview Questions (with Solutions)

2023 Guide: 20+ Essential Data Science Case Study Interview Questions

Case studies are often the most challenging aspect of data science interview processes. They are crafted to resemble a company’s existing or previous projects, assessing a candidate’s ability to tackle prompts, convey their insights, and navigate obstacles.

To excel in data science case study interviews, practice is crucial. It will enable you to develop strategies for approaching case studies, asking the right questions to your interviewer, and providing responses that showcase your skills while adhering to time constraints.

The best way of doing this is by using a framework for answering case studies. For example, you could use the product metrics framework and the A/B testing framework to answer most case studies that come up in data science interviews.

There are four main types of data science case studies:

  • Product Case Studies - This type of case study tackles a specific product or feature offering, often tied to the interviewing company. Interviewers are generally looking for a sense of business sense geared towards product metrics.
  • Data Analytics Case Study Questions - Data analytics case studies ask you to propose possible metrics in order to investigate an analytics problem. Additionally, you must write a SQL query to pull your proposed metrics, and then perform analysis using the data you queried, just as you would do in the role.
  • Modeling and Machine Learning Case Studies - Modeling case studies are more varied and focus on assessing your intuition for building models around business problems.
  • Business Case Questions - Similar to product questions, business cases tackle issues or opportunities specific to the organization that is interviewing you. Often, candidates must assess the best option for a certain business plan being proposed, and formulate a process for solving the specific problem.

How Case Study Interviews Are Conducted

Oftentimes as an interviewee, you want to know the setting and format in which to expect the above questions to be asked. Unfortunately, this is company-specific: Some prefer real-time settings, where candidates actively work through a prompt after receiving it, while others offer some period of days (say, a week) before settling in for a presentation of your findings.

It is therefore important to have a system for answering these questions that will accommodate all possible formats, such that you are prepared for any set of circumstances (we provide such a framework below).

Why Are Case Study Questions Asked?

Case studies assess your thought process in answering data science questions. Specifically, interviewers want to see that you have the ability to think on your feet, and to work through real-world problems that likely do not have a right or wrong answer. Real-world case studies that are affecting businesses are not binary; there is no black-and-white, yes-or-no answer. This is why it is important that you can demonstrate decisiveness in your investigations, as well as show your capacity to consider impacts and topics from a variety of angles. Once you are in the role, you will be dealing directly with the ambiguity at the heart of decision-making.

Perhaps most importantly, case interviews assess your ability to effectively communicate your conclusions. On the job, data scientists exchange information across teams and divisions, so a significant part of the interviewer’s focus will be on how you process and explain your answer.

Quick tip: Because case questions in data science interviews tend to be product- and company-focused, it is extremely beneficial to research current projects and developments across different divisions , as these initiatives might end up as the case study topic.

How to Answer Data Science Case Study Questions (The Framework)

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There are four main steps to tackling case questions in Data Science interviews, regardless of the type: clarify, make assumptions, gather context, and provide data points and analysis.

Step 1: Clarify

Clarifying is used to gather more information . More often than not, these case studies are designed to be confusing and vague. There will be unorganized data intentionally supplemented with extraneous or omitted information, so it is the candidate’s responsibility to dig deeper, filter out bad information, and fill gaps. Interviewers will be observing how an applicant asks questions and reach their solution.

For example, with a product question, you might take into consideration:

  • What is the product?
  • How does the product work?
  • How does the product align with the business itself?

Step 2: Make Assumptions

When you have made sure that you have evaluated and understand the dataset, start investigating and discarding possible hypotheses. Developing insights on the product at this stage complements your ability to glean information from the dataset, and the exploration of your ideas is paramount to forming a successful hypothesis. You should be communicating your hypotheses with the interviewer, such that they can provide clarifying remarks on how the business views the product, and to help you discard unworkable lines of inquiry. If we continue to think about a product question, some important questions to evaluate and draw conclusions from include:

  • Who uses the product? Why?
  • What are the goals of the product?
  • How does the product interact with other services or goods the company offers?

The goal of this is to reduce the scope of the problem at hand, and ask the interviewer questions upfront that allow you to tackle the meat of the problem instead of focusing on less consequential edge cases.

Step 3: Propose a Solution

Now that a hypothesis is formed that has incorporated the dataset and an understanding of the business-related context, it is time to apply that knowledge in forming a solution. Remember, the hypothesis is simply a refined version of the problem that uses the data on hand as its basis to being solved. The solution you create can target this narrow problem, and you can have full faith that it is addressing the core of the case study question.

Keep in mind that there isn’t a single expected solution, and as such, there is a certain freedom here to determine the exact path for investigation.

Step 4: Provide Data Points and Analysis

Finally, providing data points and analysis in support of your solution involves choosing and prioritizing a main metric. As with all prior factors, this step must be tied back to the hypothesis and the main goal of the problem. From that foundation, it is important to trace through and analyze different examples– from the main metric–in order to validate the hypothesis.

Quick tip: Every case question tends to have multiple solutions. Therefore, you should absolutely consider and communicate any potential trade-offs of your chosen method. Be sure you are communicating the pros and cons of your approach.

Note: In some special cases, solutions will also be assessed on the ability to convey information in layman’s terms. Regardless of the structure, applicants should always be prepared to solve through the framework outlined above in order to answer the prompt.

The Role of Effective Communication

There have been multiple articles and discussions conducted by interviewers behind the Data Science Case Study portion, and they all boil down success in case studies to one main factor: effective communication.

All the analysis in the world will not help if interviewees cannot verbally work through and highlight their thought process within the case study. Again, interviewers are keyed at this stage of the hiring process to look for well-developed “soft-skills” and problem-solving capabilities. Demonstrating those traits is key to succeeding in this round.

To this end, the best advice possible would be to practice actively going through example case studies, such as those available in the Interview Query questions bank . Exploring different topics with a friend in an interview-like setting with cold recall (no Googling in between!) will be uncomfortable and awkward, but it will also help reveal weaknesses in fleshing out the investigation.

Don’t worry if the first few times are terrible! Developing a rhythm will help with gaining self-confidence as you become better at assessing and learning through these sessions.

Product Case Study Questions

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With product data science case questions , the interviewer wants to get an idea of your product sense intuition. Specifically, these questions assess your ability to identify which metrics should be proposed in order to understand a product.

1. How would you measure the success of private stories on Instagram, where only certain close friends can see the story?

Start by answering: What is the goal of the private story feature on Instagram? You can’t evaluate “success” without knowing what the initial objective of the product was, to begin with.

One specific goal of this feature would be to drive engagement. A private story could potentially increase interactions between users, and grow awareness of the feature.

Now, what types of metrics might you propose to assess user engagement? For a high-level overview, we could look at:

  • Average stories per user per day
  • Average Close Friends stories per user per day

However, we would also want to further bucket our users to see the effect that Close Friends stories have on user engagement. By bucketing users by age, date joined, or another metric, we could see how engagement is affected within certain populations, giving us insight on success that could be lost if looking at the overall population.

2. How would you measure the success of acquiring new users through a 30-day free trial at Netflix?

More context: Netflix is offering a promotion where users can enroll in a 30-day free trial. After 30 days, customers will automatically be charged based on their selected package. How would you measure acquisition success, and what metrics would you propose to measure the success of the free trial?

One way we can frame the concept specifically to this problem is to think about controllable inputs, external drivers, and then the observable output . Start with the major goals of Netflix:

  • Acquiring new users to their subscription plan.
  • Decreasing churn and increasing retention.

Looking at acquisition output metrics specifically, there are several top-level stats that we can look at, including:

  • Conversion rate percentage
  • Cost per free trial acquisition
  • Daily conversion rate

With these conversion metrics, we would also want to bucket users by cohort. This would help us see the percentage of free users who were acquired, as well as retention by cohort.

3. How would you measure the success of Facebook Groups?

Start by considering the key function of Facebook Groups . You could say that Groups are a way for users to connect with other users through a shared interest or real-life relationship. Therefore, the user’s goal is to experience a sense of community, which will also drive our business goal of increasing user engagement.

What general engagement metrics can we associate with this value? An objective metric like Groups monthly active users would help us see if Facebook Groups user base is increasing or decreasing. Plus, we could monitor metrics like posting, commenting, and sharing rates.

There are other products that Groups impact, however, specifically the Newsfeed. We need to consider Newsfeed quality and examine if updates from Groups clog up the content pipeline and if users prioritize those updates over other Newsfeed items. This evaluation will give us a better sense of if Groups actually contribute to higher engagement levels.

4. How would you analyze the effectiveness of a new LinkedIn chat feature that shows a “green dot” for active users?

Note: Given engineering constraints, the new feature is impossible to A/B test before release. When you approach case study questions, remember always to clarify any vague terms. In this case, “effectiveness” is very vague. To help you define that term, you would want first to consider what the goal is of adding a green dot to LinkedIn chat.

Data Science Product Case Study (LinkedIn InMail, Facebook Chat)

5. How would you diagnose why weekly active users are up 5%, but email notification open rates are down 2%?

What assumptions can you make about the relationship between weekly active users and email open rates? With a case question like this, you would want to first answer that line of inquiry before proceeding.

Hint: Open rate can decrease when its numerator decreases (fewer people open emails) or its denominator increases (more emails are sent overall). Taking these two factors into account, what are some hypotheses we can make about our decrease in the open rate compared to our increase in weekly active users?

Data Analytics Case Study Questions

Data analytics case studies ask you to dive into analytics problems. Typically these questions ask you to examine metrics trade-offs or investigate changes in metrics. In addition to proposing metrics, you also have to write SQL queries to generate the metrics, which is why they are sometimes referred to as SQL case study questions .

6. Using the provided data, generate some specific recommendations on how DoorDash can improve.

In this DoorDash analytics case study take-home question you are provided with the following dataset:

  • Customer order time
  • Restaurant order time
  • Driver arrives at restaurant time
  • Order delivered time
  • Customer ID
  • Amount of discount
  • Amount of tip

With a dataset like this, there are numerous recommendations you can make. A good place to start is by thinking about the DoorDash marketplace, which includes drivers, riders and merchants. How could you analyze the data to increase revenue, driver/user retention and engagement in that marketplace?

7. After implementing a notification change, the total number of unsubscribes increases. Write a SQL query to show how unsubscribes are affecting login rates over time.

This is a Twitter data science interview question , and let’s say you implemented this new feature using an A/B test. You are provided with two tables: events (which includes login, nologin and unsubscribe ) and variants (which includes control or variant ).

We are tasked with comparing multiple different variables at play here. There is the new notification system, along with its effect of creating more unsubscribes. We can also see how login rates compare for unsubscribes for each bucket of the A/B test.

Given that we want to measure two different changes, we know we have to use GROUP BY for the two variables: date and bucket variant. What comes next?

8. Write a query to disprove the hypothesis: Data scientists who switch jobs more often end up getting promoted faster.

More context: You are provided with a table of user experiences representing each person’s past work experiences and timelines.

This question requires a bit of creative problem-solving to understand how we can prove or disprove the hypothesis. The hypothesis is that a data scientist that ends up switching jobs more often gets promoted faster.

Therefore, in analyzing this dataset, we can prove this hypothesis by separating the data scientists into specific segments on how often they jump in their careers.

For example, if we looked at the number of job switches for data scientists that have been in their field for five years, we could prove the hypothesis that the number of data science managers increased as the number of career jumps also rose.

  • Never switched jobs: 10% are managers
  • Switched jobs once: 20% are managers
  • Switched jobs twice: 30% are managers
  • Switched jobs three times: 40% are managers

9. Write a SQL query to investigate the hypothesis: Click-through rate is dependent on search result rating.

More context: You are given a table with search results on Facebook, which includes query (search term), position (the search position), and rating (human rating from 1 to 5). Each row represents a single search and includes a column has_clicked that represents whether a user clicked or not.

This question requires us to formulaically do two things: create a metric that can analyze a problem that we face and then actually compute that metric.

Think about the data we want to display to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Our output metric is CTR (clickthrough rate). If CTR is high when search result ratings are high and CTR is low when the search result ratings are low, then our hypothesis is proven. However, if the opposite is true, CTR is low when the search result ratings are high, or there is no proven correlation between the two, then our hypothesis is not proven.

With that structure in mind, we can then look at the results split into different search rating buckets. If we measure the CTR for queries that all have results rated at 1 and then measure CTR for queries that have results rated at lower than 2, etc., we can measure to see if the increase in rating is correlated with an increase in CTR.

10. How would you help a supermarket chain determine which product categories should be prioritized in their inventory restructuring efforts?

You’re working as a Data Scientist in a local grocery chain’s data science team. The business team has decided to allocate store floor space by product category (e.g., electronics, sports and travel, food and beverages). Help the team understand which product categories to prioritize as well as answering questions such as how customer demographics affect sales, and how each city’s sales per product category differs.

Check out our Data Analytics Learning Path .

Modeling and Machine Learning Case Questions

Machine learning case questions assess your ability to build models to solve business problems. These questions can range from applying machine learning to solve a specific case scenario to assessing the validity of a hypothetical existing model . The modeling case study requires a candidate to evaluate and explain any certain part of the model building process.

11. Describe how you would build a model to predict Uber ETAs after a rider requests a ride.

Common machine learning case study problems like this are designed to explain how you would build a model. Many times this can be scoped down to specific parts of the model building process. Examining the example above, we could break it up into:

How would you evaluate the predictions of an Uber ETA model?

What features would you use to predict the Uber ETA for ride requests?

Our recommended framework breaks down a modeling and machine learning case study to individual steps in order to tackle each one thoroughly. In each full modeling case study, you will want to go over:

  • Data processing
  • Feature Selection
  • Model Selection
  • Cross Validation
  • Evaluation Metrics
  • Testing and Roll Out

12. How would you build a model that sends bank customers a text message when fraudulent transactions are detected?

Additionally, the customer can approve or deny the transaction via text response.

Let’s start out by understanding what kind of model would need to be built. We know that since we are working with fraud, there has to be a case where either a fraudulent transaction is or is not present .

Hint: This problem is a binary classification problem. Given the problem scenario, what considerations do we have to think about when first building this model? What would the bank fraud data look like?

13. How would you design the inputs and outputs for a model that detects potential bombs at a border crossing?

Additional questions. How would you test the model and measure its accuracy? Remember the equation for precision:

image

Because we can not have high TrueNegatives, recall should be high when assessing the model.

14. Which model would you choose to predict Airbnb booking prices: Linear regression or random forest regression?

Start by answering this question: What are the main differences between linear regression and random forest?

Random forest regression is based on the ensemble machine learning technique of bagging . The two key concepts of random forests are:

  • Random sampling of training observations when building trees.
  • Random subsets of features for splitting nodes.

Random forest regressions also discretize continuous variables, since they are based on decision trees and can split categorical and continuous variables.

Linear regression, on the other hand, is the standard regression technique in which relationships are modeled using a linear predictor function, the most common example represented as y = Ax + B.

Let’s see how each model is applicable to Airbnb’s bookings. One thing we need to do in the interview is to understand more context around the problem of predicting bookings. To do so, we need to understand which features are present in our dataset.

We can assume the dataset will have features like:

  • Location features.
  • Seasonality.
  • Number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
  • Private room, shared, entire home, etc.
  • External demand (conferences, festivals, sporting events).

Which model would be the best fit for this feature set?

15. Using a binary classification model that pre-approves candidates for a loan, how would you give each rejected application a rejection reason?

More context: You do not have access to the feature weights. Start by thinking about the problem like this: How would the problem change if we had ten, one thousand, or ten thousand applicants that had gone through the loan qualification program?

Pretend that we have three people: Alice, Bob, and Candace that have all applied for a loan. Simplifying the financial lending loan model, let us assume the only features are the total number of credit cards , the dollar amount of current debt , and credit age . Here is a scenario:

Alice: 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$20K$ in debt - **Bob:** 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$15K$ in debt

Candace: 10 credit cards, 5 years of credit age, $\$10K$ in debt If Candace is approved, we can logically point to the fact that Candace’s $\$10K$ in debt swung the model to approve her for a loan. How did we reason this out?

If the sample size analyzed was instead thousands of people who had the same number of credit cards and credit age with varying levels of debt, we could figure out the model’s average loan acceptance rate for each numerical amount of current debt. Then we could plot these on a graph to model the y-value (average loan acceptance) versus the x-value (dollar amount of current debt). These graphs are called partial dependence plots.

Business Case Questions

In data science interviews, business case study questions task you with addressing problems as they relate to the business. You might be asked about topics like estimation and calculation, as well as applying problem-solving to a larger case. One tip: Be sure to read up on the company’s products and ventures before your interview to expose yourself to possible topics.

16. How would you estimate the average lifetime value of customers at a business that has existed for just over one year?

More context: You know that the product costs $\$100$ per month, averages 10% in monthly churn, and the average customer stays for 3.5 months. Remember that lifetime value is defined by the prediction of the net revenue attributed to the entire future relationship with all customers averaged. Therefore, $\$100$ * 3.5 = $\$350$… But is it that simple?

Because this company is so new, our average customer length (3.5 months) is biased from the short possible length of time that anyone could have been a customer (one year maximum). How would you then model out LTV knowing the churn rate and product cost?

17. How would you go about removing duplicate product names (e.g. iPhone X vs. Apple iPhone 10) in a massive database?

See the full solution for this Amazon business case question on YouTube:

business case study quiz

18. What metrics would you monitor to know if a 50% discount promotion is a good idea for a ride-sharing company?

This question has no correct answer and is rather designed to test your reasoning and communication skills related to product/business cases. First, start by stating your assumptions. What are the goals of this promotion? It is likely that the goal of the discount is to grow revenue and increase retention. A few other assumptions you might make include:

  • The promotion will be applied uniformly across all users.
  • The 50% discount can only be used for a single ride.

How would we be able to evaluate this pricing strategy? An A/B test between the control group (no discount) and test group (discount) would allow us to evaluate Long-term revenue vs average cost of the promotion. Using these two metrics how could we measure if the promotion is a good idea?

19. A bank wants to create a new partner card, e.g. Whole Foods Chase credit card). How would you determine what the next partner card should be?

More context: Say you have access to all customer spending data. With this question, there are several approaches you can take. As your first step, think about the business reason for credit card partnerships: they help increase acquisition and customer retention.

One of the simplest solutions would be to sum all transactions grouped by merchants. This would identify the merchants who see the highest spending amounts. However, the one issue might be that some merchants have a high-spend value but low volume. How could we counteract this potential pitfall? Is the volume of transactions even an important factor in our credit card business? The more questions you ask, the more may spring to mind.

20. How would you assess the value of keeping a TV show on a streaming platform like Netflix?

Say that Netflix is working on a deal to renew the streaming rights for a show like The Office , which has been on Netflix for one year. Your job is to value the benefit of keeping the show on Netflix.

Start by trying to understand the reasons why Netflix would want to renew the show. Netflix mainly has three goals for what their content should help achieve:

  • Acquisition: To increase the number of subscribers.
  • Retention: To increase the retention of active subscribers and keep them on as paying members.
  • Revenue: To increase overall revenue.

One solution to value the benefit would be to estimate a lower and upper bound to understand the percentage of users that would be affected by The Office being removed. You could then run these percentages against your known acquisition and retention rates.

21. How would you determine which products are to be put on sale?

Let’s say you work at Amazon. It’s nearing Black Friday, and you are tasked with determining which products should be put on sale. You have access to historical pricing and purchasing data from items that have been on sale before. How would you determine what products should go on sale to best maximize profit during Black Friday?

To start with this question, aggregate data from previous years for products that have been on sale during Black Friday or similar events. You can then compare elements such as historical sales volume, inventory levels, and profit margins.

Learn More About Feature Changes

This course is designed teach you everything you need to know about feature changes:

More Data Science Interview Resources

Case studies are one of the most common types of data science interview questions . Practice with the data science course from Interview Query, which includes product and machine learning modules.

Hertz CEO Kathryn Marinello with CFO Jamere Jackson and other members of the executive team in 2017

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

  • Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
  • Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
  • The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
  • Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
  • A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
  • Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
  • The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Class 11 Business Studies Case Study Questions

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CBSE Class 11 Business Studies Case Study Questions are available on myCBSEguide App . You can also download them from our student dashboard .

For students appearing for grade 11 CBSE exams from the Commerce stream, Business Studies is a fundamental subject. Business Studies is considered to be quite interesting as well as an occupying subject as compared to all other core subjects of the CBSE class 11 commerce stream. To ace this CBSE exam, students are not only required to work hard but they ought to learn to do smart work too.

Among all the other core subjects of the Commerce stream i.e accountancy, economics and business studies, Business Studies is the one that is purely theoretical. It is termed to be comparatively easier and more scoring than the other mandatory subjects of the commerce stream. Many students who opt for the commerce stream after their 10-grade exams desire to learn in-depth about the business organizations and their work, for them the subject is of utmost importance. Business Studies is an essential component of the class 11 commerce stream curriculum.

In order to ace the subject the student needs to have conceptual clarity. CBSE has designed the syllabus for class 11 Business Studies so as to provide students with a basic understanding of the various principles prevalent in the Business organizations as well as their interaction with their corresponding environment.   

Case Study Questions in class 11 (Business Studies)

Case-based questions have always been an integral part of the Business Studies question paper for many years in the past. The case studies have always been considered to be challenging for the students, for such questions demand the application of their knowledge of the fundamental business concepts and principles. Last year i.e-  2021 CBSE introduced a few changes in the Business Studies question paper pattern to enhance and develop analytical and reasoning skills among students.

It was decided that the questions would be based on real-life scenarios encountered by the students.CBSE not only changed the way case-based questions were formulated but also incremented their weightage in the Business Studies question paper. The sole purpose of increasing the weightage of case-based questions in the class 11 curriculum by CBSE was to drift from rote learning to competency and situation-based learning.

What is a case study question? (Business Studies)

In Business Studies, a case study is more like a real-world test of how the implementation works. It is majorly a report of an organization’s implementation of anything, such as a practice,a product, a system, or a service. The questions would be based on the NCERT textbook for class 11 Business Studies. Case-based questions will definitely carry a substantial weightage in the class 11 Business Studies question paper. questions.

A hypothetical text will be provided on the basis of which the student is expected to solve the given case-based question asked in the Business Studies class 11 exam. Initially, the newly introduced case-based questions appeared to be confusing for both the students and the teachers. Perhaps, they were reluctant to experiment with something new but now a lot more clarity is there that has made the question paper quite student-friendly.

Case study questions could be based on any chapter or concept present in the NCERT textbook. Thus, it is expected from the students to thoroughly revise and memorize the key business fundamentals. 

Business Studies syllabus of class 11 CBSE   

The entire Business Studies course is divided into 2 parts:

  • Part A, Foundation of Business
  • Part B, Finance and Trade

The class 11 Business Studies exam is for a total of 100 marks, 80 marks are for the theory and the remaining 20 for the project. Most of the questions are based on the exercises from the NCERT textbook. It is recommended to rigorously go through the contents of the book. A single textbook has been published by NCERT for Class 11 Business studies. There are a total of 10 chapters in this book divided into 2 parts. 

CBSE Class – 11

Business Studies (Code No. 054)

Theory: 80 Marks Time: 3 Hours Project: 20 Marks

Case Study Passage (Business Studies class)

As part of these questions, the students would be provided with a hypothetical situation or text, based on which analytical questions will have to be answered by them. It is a must for the students to read the passage in depth before attempting the questions. In the coming examination cycle (2022-23), case-based questions have a weightage of around 30%. These questions can be based on each chapter in the NCERT book for Business Studies, grade 11.

Students must prepare well for the case-based questions before appearing for their Business Studies exam as these questions demand complete knowledge of the various concepts in their syllabus. CBSE plans to increase the weightage of such questions in the upcoming years.

Sample case-based Questions in Business Studies

Business Studies as a subject provides a way of perceiving and interacting with the business ecosystem. It is a core subject of the commerce stream that is purely theoretical and relevantly easier than the other compulsory subjects of the stream. Class 11 Business Studies syllabus is closely related to trade and commerce. The subject cannot be ignored as it is the foundation of many concepts and theories which are studied at an advanced level in class 12.

The case-based questions asked in the CBSE Business Studies question paper for class 11 are of two types:

As per the latest circular issued by CBSE on Assessment and Evaluation practices of the board for the session 2022-23, CBSE has clearly mentioned that competency-based questions including case studies will be different from subjective questions.  

The questions can also be categorized on their difficulty level:

  • Direct: such questions can be easily solved. Their answer is visible in the given passage itself.
  • Indirect/ Analytical: such questions are confusing and tricky. These can be solved by the application of the theory or principle that is highlighted in the provided text. 

How To Prepare For Case-based Questions? (Business Studies grade 11)

Students need to prepare well for the case-based questions before appearing for their class 11 Business Studies exam. Here are some tips which will help the student to solve the case-based questions at ease:

  • Read the provided text carefully
  • Try to comprehend the situation and focus on the question asked
  • Analyze and carefully answer the question asked
  • In general, the passage given would be lengthy in Business Studies case-based questions but their solutions are comparatively short and simple
  • One can significantly save time if they follow a reversal pattern, that is going through the questions before reading the comprehensive case study passage.
  • Answer in a concise manner
  • One should concentrate on solidifying key fundamental principles/theories
  • Go through the NCERT textbook in depth. The language used is crisp and simple.
  • While providing solutions to the case-based question, pick the keyword/keyline based on which you are driving insights.

 In order to excel in the Business Studies class 11 exam, one needs to ignore the shortcut techniques and get to read the NCERT textbook rigorously. Case studies can be easily solved if your key fundamentals are strong and clear. The best part of having these questions is that the asked question itself projects a hint of its answer. These simple points if kept in mind will definitely help the students to fetch good marks in case study questions, class 11 Business Studies. 

Case study question examples in Business Studies

Here a re some given case study questions for CBSE class 11 Business Studies. If you wish to get more case study questions and other study material, download the myCBSEguide app now. You can also access it through our student dashboard.

Business Studies Case Study 1

Read the hypothetical text given and answer the following questions:

Manish, Rahul and Madhav live in the same locality. They used to meet and discuss their ideas. After discussing the recent fire breakout in their area, they decided to take fire insurance for their house or work area. Manish gets his house insured against fire for ₹1 lakh and during the policy period, his house gets damaged due to fire and the actual loss amounts to ₹2.5 lakh. The insurance company acquired the burning material and approved his claim. Rahul gets his godown insured against fire for ₹1 lakh but does not take enough precautions to minimize the chances of fire like installing fire extinguishers in the factory. During the policy, a fire takes place in his godown and he does not take any preventive steps like throwing water and calling the employees from the fire fighting department to control the fire. He suffered a loss of ₹1,20,000. Madhav took a fire insurance policy of ₹20 lakh for his factory at an annual payment of ₹24,000. In order to reduce the annual premium, he did not disclose that highly explosive chemicals are being manufactured in his factory. Due to a fire, his factory gets severely damaged. The insurance company refused to make payment for the claim as it became aware of the highly explosive chemicals.

How much can Manish claim from the insurance company?

  • None of the above

How much compensation can Rahul get from the insurance company?

Which principle is violated in the case of Rahul?

  • Insurable Interest
  • Utmost Good Faith

How much amount is the insurance company liable to pay to Madhav if he files a case against it?

  • Insufficient information

Which principle of Insurance is violated by Madhav?

  • Insurable interest
  • Subrogation
  • Proximate Cause

The insurance company acquired the burnt material and approved his claim. Which principle of Insurance is highlighted in the given statement.

  • (a) Mitigation
  • (a) Utmost Good Faith
  • (d) Subrogation

Business Studies Case Study 2

 Sarthak Electronics Ltd. has a loss of Rs 15,00,000 to pay. They are short of funds so they are trying to find means to arrange funds. Their manager suggested a claim from the insurance company against stock lost due to fire in the warehouse. He actually meant that they can put their warehouse on fire and claim from insurance companies against stock insured. They will use the claim money to pay the loan.

  • Will the company receive a claim if the surveyor from the insurance company comes to know the real cause of fire?
  • Write any two Values which the company ignores while planning to arrange money from false claims.
  • State any three elements of fire insurance

Business Studies Case Study 3

OLX and qickr are examples of well-known websites used to conduct business. Tarasha’s sofa set got spoiled in the rain. Her friend suggested that she should change the fabric so that it looks new and put it for sale on Olx. Tarasha followed her friend’s advice and got her sofa repaired so that it looked better and uploaded nicely clicked pictures on the website without disclosing the fact that it was damaged from the inside. She found a buyer and sold it for Rs 10,000. After five days the buyer found the real state of the sofa set and called Tarasha but she did not answer any of the calls.

  • identify the type of business highlighted in the above case.
  • Identify any two values which are overlooked by Tarasha.
  • Explain any two benefits and limitations of e-business.

Advantages of case study questions in Business Studies

Class 11 Business Studies syllabus is not very vast but has to be focussed upon as it forms the base for your 12th grade Business Studies syllabus. Students are supposed to prepare themselves thoroughly from the NCERT textbook. The Case-based questions prominently focus on the real and current scenarios of the Business world. Approximately 30% of the question paper will comprise case study questions that demand high-order thinking and reasoning skills from the students. The students ought to practice class 11 Business Studies case-based questions from the various options available to them, so as to excel in the subject.

  • Enhance the qualitative and quantitative analysis skills of students
  • Provides an in-depth understanding of the key Business theories/concepts
  • Inculcate intellectual capabilities in students
  • Help students retain knowledge for a longer period of time
  • The questions would help to discard the concept of rote learning
  • Case studies promote and strengthen practical learning.

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Generative AI will first be successfully scaled in business operations

Curt Mueller

February 5, 2024 Generative AI (gen AI) had an exciting year in 2023. This year, claims of its transformative potential will be tested as organizations attempt to scale gen-AI-powered activities. The aim will be to make gen AI part of the fabric and architecture of business operations in a way that measurably moves the dial on business performance. We estimate that gen AI could offer savings opportunities of $1.4 trillion to $2.6 trillion across operations functions, including customer service, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement, alongside its impact on the back office .

This will be harder than much of the coverage of gen AI—so far—may have led some to believe. Amid the declarations and promises, we offer some practical ideas for putting gen AI to work in your business.

AI’s potential spans the 4Cs

Gen AI applications span several archetypes of capabilities that reside, at least partially, in the scope of operations functions. These include the 4Cs:

  • Concision. New capabilities in concision have equipped gen AI to interpret large corpuses of unstructured data to identify and summarize relevant answers in service and analysis contexts.
  • Creative content. Gen AI’s potential handling of creative content can enable the rapid tailoring of complex and structured documents to specific needs and contexts.
  • Customer engagement. Out-of-the-box copilots powered by gen AI can guide customers through their personalized journeys in the realm of customer engagement.
  • Coding and software. New capabilities in coding and software promise swifter migration from legacy systems at scale.

Persuasive examples already exist. The customer support function of a South American telecommunications company used conversational AI to prioritize its higher-value clients while promoting self-service. By automating a proportion of its contact activity and consolidating redundant platforms, the company reduced operational expenditures by roughly $80 million. Elsewhere, a gen-AI-powered learning platform led to onboarding surveys reporting improved onboarding experience by some 35 percent. Another business reduced financial planning and analysis costs by more than $6 million through use of a sophisticated gen-AI-powered research assistant that automatically pulls information from multiple sources, synthesizes knowledge, and presents it for human verification.

Operations: The realm of tangible testing

Operations functions are an attractive area for introducing gen AI, because these functions typically have well-established measurement and reporting processes, which make it easier to see the impact of decisions such as how much time a supervisor saves or how much more efficient a particular stage of process has become. Smart businesses will experiment with gen AI in operations, analyze the results, and then carefully apply what they have learned to more complex scenarios. Despite some of the lofty claims made in 2023, most businesses will experience no silver bullet or lightning strike but instead testing, learning, and iterative progress.

For example, at manufacturing plants where shift reports are routinely handed over between shifts, gen AI has the potential to reduce delivery time for these reports by 50 to 70 percent. Organizations can apply gen AI to such workaday but business-performance-enhancing tasks. Those that do so will have live case studies from which to learn and on which to build. Then they can apply the resulting knowledge and know-how to refinements in inventory, scheduling, and the use of raw materials.

Avoiding ‘pilot purgatory’

As in past digital transformations, the best practices for introducing generative AI will involve setting up governance structures; drafting, updating, and socializing transformation road maps; and establishing an indefatigable communications strategy. Creating value from gen AI requires tackling operational readiness challenges as much as grappling with new technologies. This is the familiar terrain of capability building and change management: developing new capabilities in IT and tech, managing risk and reputation, and monitoring regulatory matters. It is critical here to have a strong relationship between operations leaders and tech leaders, as is true for any successful change program.

Companies can benefit from addressing the deployment of gen AI as a transformation, not merely a technological advance. This calls for focusing on the business challenge, not the technology itself. In other words, companies identify the exact business challenge gen AI could address and then verify that a more efficient solution cannot already come from traditional AI, internal rules, or organizational shifts. Deploying gen AI for its own sake will not yield tangible business results and could even become a fruitless distraction.

Building the right team

Quick-win use cases deliver value and excitement, and they prevent efforts from becoming “just another IT project.” Lighthouse use cases foster trust and alleviate organizational concerns while paving the way for more advanced gen AI applications. They also provide the business with a secure space in which to learn and formulate the right questions.

A core team with the right complementary skill set to steer gen AI pilot projects should have expertise in business operations, technology, and change management. Again, the key stages will be familiar to many: clarifying stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, identifying and elevating domain experts. And as with any major change in ways of working, the chances of success are vastly greater when project leaders involve the front line early and often. When projects are derailed, the most common reason is by a failure of the project leaders to take people with them, and gen-AI-powered projects will be no different.

Involving the right people

Any venture that aims to scale gen AI will involve legal, privacy, and governance issues . Those responsible for addressing these issues need to be on board, and the company should tap their expertise to inform the road map for scaling gen AI. A significant introduction of gen AI is likely to require new controls, training modules, and more. For more examples of current and possible applications for GenAI, and the inherent risks, listen to our recent podcast here.

When it comes to talent, most organizations will likely benefit from upskilling existing tech roles to include emerging gen AI skills, such as prompt engineering. Developing separate roles may be less of a priority, though external hiring in key areas may be necessary. Knowing when to hire and when to train internally for gen AI success is a value creating decision-making skill that leaders will need to master at pace.

Familiar questions

Though companies’ answers will differ, the business questions remain the same: How will a gen AI transformation get us to market faster or enhance productivity and efficiency? What new set of capabilities do we need within the workforce to make the most of the opportunity? How do we measure gen AI’s return on investment?

As companies begin experimenting with use cases, answers to these questions will begin to emerge in the very near future, and many of the success measures already exist. Over the coming years, we will see whether the excitement in 2023 was overdone or gen AI becomes a critical, game-changing tool of the magnitude of, say, data analytics. In the meantime, businesses and their leaders have work to do and choices to make as they test ideas and search for value through the smart application of these new technologies.

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  24. Getting started with gen AI in Operations

    Organizations can apply gen AI to such workaday but business-performance-enhancing tasks. Those that do so will have live case studies from which to learn and on which to build. Then they can apply the resulting knowledge and know-how to refinements in inventory, scheduling, and the use of raw materials. Avoiding 'pilot purgatory'