consulting cases

consulting cases

Structured Case Samples and Answers
Below are several examples of the kinds of cases we use in interviews. (You are not likely to come across these in real interviews, but if you do, you should tell your interviewer.) The first two cases are designed to help you walk through the issues raised in each problem and get a sense of how you should be thinking about a problem; the third and fourth cases are ones that you should work through on your own before consulting the model answers. Reasonable answers to the cases are included in italics.

Case I: Car Insurance
Until recently, most car insurance was sold to car owners by insurance brokers. A car owner would call or visit a broker who would suggest a range of different policies sold by different insurance companies. Insurance companies would pay a commission to a broker for each policy sold.
More recently, car owners have started buying insurance directly from an insurance company over the phone. We were asked to work with a leading car insurance company that had been very successful in selling policies through brokers to help them figure out whether they should start selling their policies “direct” to customers over the phone. If you were a car owner what might be the advantages of buying insurance direct from an insurance company over the phone versus buying from an insurance broker?
For example, an insurance broker may be able to provide a service in comparing different policies from different insurance companies. However, buying direct from an insurance company over the phone may be both cheaper (since there is no commission that has to go to a broker) and may be very convenient if done efficiently over the phone.
What things would you need to consider to decide whether the insurance company should start selling car insurance over the phone?
You would have to think about:
Potential Market Size: What is the existing market for direct selling? What is the market’s growth potential? How many...

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