Frameworks

Frameworks

PESTLE Framework: The One Job That Earns Case Points

Why six-bucket PESTLE rarely scores in cases, how Aguilar's ETPS scan became the acronym, and a worked example that turns regulation into cost per unit.

Frameworks

Framework Mistakes the Case Score Sheet Punishes

What interviewers dock when you recite a framework: six failure modes with before/after transcripts, tied to what MBB firms say they assess.

Frameworks

Ansoff vs BCG Matrix: Growth Path or Cash Allocation

Ansoff asks where to grow; BCG asks where cash goes. Trace both to 1957 and 1970, then see when the wrong matrix steers a case off a cliff.

Frameworks

Unit Economics in Cases: Pick the Unit, Then the Math

How interviewers score unit economics: choose the right unit, prove contribution, and see how the wrong unit flips the recommendation.

Frameworks

First Principles in Cases: Units, Costs, Constraints

What first-principles thinking means in a case: decompose to units and physical limits, rebuild from data, and know when it wastes the clock.

Frameworks

CLV in Cases: Margin, Discounting, and the Traps

Treat CLV as discounted profit with retention risk. Catch margin vs revenue, CAC payback, and survivorship traps with one worked example.

Frameworks

Cost-Benefit Analysis in Cases: Four Ways Naive CBA Lies

How real CBA works: discount rates from OMB A-94 and the Green Book, sunk costs, option value, incidence, a live HS2 trap, and a fully worked case.

Frameworks

Market Attractiveness: Score the Market, Not the Hype

Why market attractiveness is relative: GE–McKinsey roots, Porter structure, a case failure mode, and a scored comparison of two markets with real numbers.

Frameworks

Decision Trees in Cases: Choices, Chance, and When EV Lies

Build a real case decision tree: decision nodes, chance nodes, expected value, and when risk, irreversibility, or information value overturns the math.

Frameworks

Driver Tree vs Issue Tree: The Arithmetic That Wins Cases

A driver tree is arithmetic: every branch adds or multiplies into its parent. How that differs from issue and decision trees, with a full worked example.

Frameworks

Mock Case Interviews Worth the Hour: Rubric, Leak, Fix

A mock consulting case only pays off when you score it on a stable rubric and leave with one named leak. Scripts, sheet, and how many mocks move scores.

Frameworks

Five Forces in Cases: Why Industry Margins Sit Where They Do

Porter's Five Forces is a margin tool, not a five-bucket recital. Trace it to the 1979 and 2008 HBR pieces, see where dumps fail, and run one quantified case.