OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

1. What are the different principles of Inventory Management? How can models of Inventory
Management be applied to different industrial use cases? Give Examples (200 Words)

5 Basic inventory management principles

Forecasting of demand
The Flow of warehouse materials
Turning of inventory/rotation of stocks
Counting the number of cycles
Process Auditing
Industrial uses of Inventory management:
Forecasting of demand
The cost of inventory can rank among the top five expenses for a business, depending on the
industry. Inventory management principles offer the highest potential for savings when it
comes to accurate demand forecasting. Inventory oversupply and undersupply can have a
significant impact on business costs.
The Flow of warehouse materials
It is crucial to sort, set up an order, clean systemically, standardize, and maintain discipline so
that there are no dollars lost due to poor processes.
Turning of inventory/rotation of stocks
Managing inventory to the level of lot numbers is vital for minimizing costs in certain business
sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, and chemical warehousing.
Counting the number of cycles
In order to maintain accurate inventory, cycle counting is a critical component. In addition, this
will allow you to measure the success of your current processes and ensure that your processes
are accountable for potential sources of error.
Process Auditing
Early and frequent auditing is one of the cornerstone principles in inventory management.
Process audits are the first step toward identifying error sources. From receipt to shipping and
each inventory transaction in between, an audit of the process should be conducted at each
step
2. What is the difference between supply chain & value chain? (300 words with model)

Value Chain

The idea of a value chain was pioneered by American academic Michael Porter in his 1985 book
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. He used the idea to
show how companies add value to their raw materials to produce products that are eventually
sold to the public.1

There are five steps in the value chain process. They give a company the ability to create value
exceeding the cost of providing its goods or services to customers. Maximizing the activities in
any one of the five steps allows a company to have a competitive advantage over competitors
in its industry. The five steps or activities are:

Inbound Logistics: Receiving, warehousing, and inventory control.

Operations: Value-creating activities that transform inputs into products, such as assembly
and manufacturing.
Outbound Logistics: Activities required to get a finished product to a customer. These include
warehousing, inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping.
Marketing and Sales: Activities associated with getting a buyer to purchase a product.
Service: Activities that maintain and enhance a product's value, such as customer support
and warranty service.

In order to help streamline the five primary steps, Porter says the value chain also requires a
series of support activities. These include procurement, technology development, human
resource management, and infrastructure.
Supply Chain
The supply chain comprises the flow of all information, products, materials, and funds between
different stages of creating and selling a product to the end user. The concept of the supply
chain comes from an operational management perspective. Every step in the process—
including creating a good or service, manufacturing it, transporting it to a place of sale, and
selling it—is part of a company's supply chain.

The supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request.
These functions include:
Product development
Marketing
Operations
Distribution
Finance
Customer service

Supply chain management is an important process for most companies and involves many links
at large corporations. For this reason, supply chain management requires a lot of skill and
expertise to maintain.

3. What is Agile Supply Chain model? How can firms make their supply chain more agile? Give
references from the industry. (200 words)

Agile is a method that has been used to develop and create new software. The approach
undertaken for agile is an iterative approach. This means whenever new developments or any
form of requirements are discovered or needed, they are added to the software. The agile
supply chain is a very basic term for understanding and comprehending the flow of goods and
services. These can be various types of goods and services. It takes into consideration the
motion of products and services as to how they will be stored if storage is a necessity and need.
Any work in progress items that need to be taken into consideration and lastly delivery of these
goods and services to its ultimate user, the customer.
Agile supply chain focuses on key points like

Efficiency,
Productivity
 Cost-saving
Flexibility
Innovation

An agile supply chain is about delivering goods and services quickly, achieving cost-saving while
doing so, being flexible to changes in market conditions and consumer demands, and maintain
the overall productivity of the organization.
Industry examples:
Walmart is the second largest employer in the United States; it has more than 11,000 stores in
27 countries and an inventory worth 32billion; this shows how important it is for them to have
efficient and agile supply chain management. Walmart has been successful by having fewer
links in their supply chain management, partnering with vendors that add strategic value for the
innovative and modern technology to cut costs and cross-docking of inventory

4. What are the lessons a firm can learn from the Covid-19 pandemic with respect to
Operations Management? (200 words)
Business planning during the COVID-19 pandemic should address critical elements of your
business. The objective is to protect your cash flow and employees. But it’s also an opportunity
to identify innovations and new ways of working that may not have existed before.
Lesson One: Many Enterprises Don’t Truly Understand Their Supply Chains

Some organizations may have discovered there were critical points of weakness in their supply
chains that were not identified until they were stressed by the pandemic. Methods of managing
supply chains were not sufficient for the unpredictable environment of COVID-19, including
spikes in demand, partners that suddenly paused or ceased operations, and sudden material
and product shortages.
Lesson two : It’s All About The Ecosystem

The supply chain issues at the outset of the pandemic illustrated the need to shift the buyer-
seller relationship from “transactional” to “symbiotic.” Even the word “supply chain” seems
outmoded, because the modern extended enterprise is an ecosystem of partnerships across
third, fourth and even fifth parties, rather than a discrete chain of one-to-one relationships.
Lesson three: Embrace Technology For Faster Response
The pandemic exposed the need for (and shortage of) real-time, actionable third-party risk
management (TPRM) data. This type of data allows firms to quickly “connect the dots” and
make important, informed decisions at the outset of a crisis. Few organizations have invested in
the infrastructure and master data management (MDM) processes required to create this kind
of real-time TPRM data platform.

5. How is procurement different from purchase? What are the factors one should consider for
devising its sourcing strategies? (200 words)
The difference between procurement and purchasing is that one is a strategic process and the
other is a transactional function when sourcing and acquiring products and services.
Procurement concentrates on the strategic process of product or service sourcing, for example
researching, negotiation and planning, whilst the purchasing process focuses on how products
and services are acquired and ordered, such as raising purchase orders and arranging payment.
Procurement and purchasing are two separate business processes that both relate to the
sourcing and acquisition of goods and services and can often be seen as part of the
procurement department.
Factors one should consider for devising its sourcing strategies
Increased Level of Cost Savings

The most obvious benefit businesses will experience from strategic sourcing would be higher
levels of cost savings. By identifying and selecting suppliers that will provide the highest value
at the right pricing will enable an organization to continuously achieve higher cost savings. This
is even more important as according to Zycus’ Pulse of Procurement 2018, 54% of top
procurement professionals have recognized cost savings as a key focus area.
Better Alignment of Sourcing and Business Objectives
Aligning the sourcing activities of a business to its organizational goals and objectives is at the
crux of strategic sourcing. Better alignment allows the business to achieve higher business
performance with higher efficiency and minimal supply chain risks.
Long-term Relationship Building with Suppliers
Strategic sourcing helps an organization build long-term relationships with its suppliers. By
reinforcing the focus on the core capabilities of the suppliers and assuring the right suppliers for
the right sourcing objective, strategic sourcing helps create a synergy between organizations
and its suppliers. Sustained relationship with suppliers also implies that when the suppliers are
valued and considered in various sourcing decisions; they feel motivated to optimize their
performance to meet the organizations objectives.

6. What is the primary objective of a person working as a supply chain manager? (100 words)
The following are the 3 most important objectives of Supply Chain Manager.
1. Improving Efficiency

One of the most crucial objectives of Supply Chain Management is efficiency. Efficiency is
synonymous with waste minimisation. Waste can manifest itself in a number of ways, including
wasted materials, wasted money, wasted person-hours, wasted delivery time, and many other
forms. Keeping waste to a minimum is a critical component of Supply Chain Management.

2. Improving Quality

Supply Chain Management is not solely concerned with waste reduction. Another key objective
is to ensure that the product is of the highest possible quality. Quality Assurance can be
characterised as adherence to various customer-specified quality attributes, ranging from
performance to specific features. This includes adhering to food safety regulations,
demonstrating ethical and sustainable practices, and other similar actions. It is critical to
establish precise standards that involve supply partners from the start.

3. Reducing Costs

It is the goal of Supply Chain Management to reduce a company’s operating expenses. It lowers
the cost of all types of business expenses, such as the cost of purchasing, manufacturing, and
delivering goods, by establishing an optimised supply chain. It is possible to shorten the holding
period of both raw materials and finished items by allowing a smooth flow of raw materials
between a supplier and a company and the movement of finished goods between a company
and its customers. This helps to reduce losses and keep the overall cost of doing business as low
as possible.

7. What are multimodal channels? How does this help in cost optimization? (300 words with
model)
To define multimodal optimization as a practice: it offers transport services that combine
several shipping modes to get shipments from Point A to Point B. Modes may include truck, rail,
ocean, or air, and each supports the delivery of freight to its final destination as quickly and
affordably as possible.

Multimodal shipping compiles all the various hand-offs and moves under a unified bill of lading,
despite the number of carriers that are moving a shipment. It opens up opportunities for more
truckload capacity acquisitions and greater diversity when it comes to load and shipment types
accepted.

Freight shipment optimization improves with the multimodal approach. It allows for more
affordable and sustainable shipment practices rather than an immediate focus on the most
direct and often most costly service options.

8. What do you understand by DMAIC & PDCA model? Where are such models used? (200
words)

1. DMAIC :

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control in short referred as DMAIC. When it is fully
implemented, ideates new process solution and problem solving approach. It is an
improvement cycle which is a core tool used for driving six sigma rules. It makes the process
easy for data driven cycle which improves, optimizes and stabilizes business process and design.
Its an interconnected phase, where each step requires to ensure best possible result.

The five steps in cyclic DMAIC process are :

DEFINE
MEASURE
ANALYZE
 IMPROVE
CONTROL

2. PDCA :

PDCA stands for Plan-Do-Check-Act. It is an iterative design which is a management method

used for various business purposes for their improvement, controlment and continuation of
processes product. Originally developed by America Physicist Walter during 1920s. This is also
called Deming cycle. Represents continuous loop of planning, doing, checking and acting. It
provides simple and effective approach for solving problem and manages change. The model is
useful for problem solving iterative techniques used to improve business-solving iterative
technique used to improve business and processes..

PDCA consists four steps mentioned below :

PLAN
DO
CHECK
ACT
9. What do you understand by six-sigma? What are the cons of the six-sigma process? What is
Kanban card? (300 words)
Six Sigma is a term that originated in statistical quality control. It refers to a process wherein
99.99966% of opportunities to produce a part’s feature are free of defects.
The goal of the Six Sigma methodology is therefore to reduce the number of defects in a
process by minimizing variability in a process.
For many, the statistics behind this method are less relevant than the outcomes produced by
this methodology.
Overall, Six Sigma aims to accomplish goals such as:
Reducing variation and increasing predictability
Minimizing defects in products and increasing process efficiency
Improving quality of products, customer experiences, and customer value
Improving the organization’s financials
Cons
Some criticisms include:

Its lack of originality

The poor quality of Six Sigma certification programs
Over-reliance on statistics
A lack of creativity
A limited focus on process improvement, rather than innovation and growth

This limited scope means that Six Sigma may exclude other important areas of the business, so
it should not be viewed as a “cure-all” to an organization’s problems.

A Kanban card is a visual representation of a work item. Translated from Japanese, it literally
means a visual (kan) card (ban). It is a core element of the Kanban system as it represents work
that has been requested or is already in progress.

A Kanban card contains valuable information about the task and its status, such as a summary
of the assignment, responsible person, deadline, etc.

10. Explain the following (200 words each)

a. Zero-based costing
In business, ZBB allows top-level strategic goals to be implemented into the budgeting process
by tying them to specific functional areas of the organization, where costs can be first grouped
and then measured against previous results and current expectations.

Because of its detail-oriented nature, zero-based budgeting may be a rolling process done over
several years, with a few functional areas reviewed at a time by managers or group leaders.
Zero-based budgeting can help lower costs by avoiding blanket increases or decreases to a prior
period's budget. It is, however, a time-consuming process that takes much longer than
traditional, cost-based budgeting.
The practice also favors areas that achieve direct revenues or production, as their contributions
are more easily justifiable than in departments such as client service and research and
development.

Zero-based budgeting, primarily used in business, can be used by individuals and families, too.

b. Cold supply chain

A cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain comprising refrigerated production,
storage and distribution facilities supported by equipment that can constantly maintain the
required low-temperature range. However, it’s far more complex than it sounds.

For example, some vaccines require a constant temperature range from the time they are
manufactured until they are used. The requirement is so exact that if the temperature goes
outside of this range, even for a short time, the vaccine could lose its potency and become unfit
for use. Learn more about GEP’s supply chain management services and supply chain software
solutions.

c. Procurement cycle
The procurement cycle is the process of selecting a vendor, buying goods or services from them
and managing their ongoing performance. Also known as the procurement life cycle, purchasing
cycle or sourcing cycle, the procurement process is, indeed, circular in most cases. The steps in
the purchasing cycle are:

Challenge or need identification

Approval to purchase
RFX creation and administration
Vendor evaluation and selection
Contract negotiation and payment
Implementation and delivery
Vendor performance review
11. What is TQM? How will you use total quality management and reduce the losses of the
bin during the day to day transportation/operation? (300 words with an example: big basket)
Total quality management is a structured approach to overall organizational management. The
focus of the process is to improve the quality of an organization's outputs, including goods and
services, through the continual improvement of internal practices. The standards set as part of
the TQM approach can reflect both internal priorities and any industry standards currently in
place.

Industry standards can be defined at multiple levels and may include adherence to various laws
and regulations governing the operation of a particular business. Industry standards can also
include the production of items to an understood norm, even if the norm is not backed by
official regulations.
Big Basket is a significant e-grocery provider in India. Big Basket operates on two levels: first, it
purchases farm products and personal care items; second, it manages the stock in its
warehouses in the locations where it has a presence. Big Basket can modify its operational
strategy to complete all deliveries in less than four hours. Two delivery options, including next
day planned delivery and 90-minute delivery, were available in the previous model. In order to
minimize burden on both ends of the operations, the model may anticipate the groceries into
groups of high frequency, average frequency, and less commonly bought products.

12. What significant changes do you foresee in the post-Covid scenario in the field of Supply
Chain Management? Pick four present trends and explain what kind of changes do you expect
in the future? (400 words)

The future of supply chains is digital and autonomous

The pandemic has indeed accelerated many preexisting trends, and supply chain is no
exception: 64% of surveyed supply chain executives say digital transformation will accelerate
due to the pandemic. The race is on for digital enablement and automation: 52% of executives
say that the autonomous supply chain (e.g., robots in warehouses and stores, driverless forklifts
and trucks, delivery drones and fully automated planning) is either here or will be by 2025.
Leverage Technology That Speaks To the Vision
As organizations develop their visions and cultures to support true end-to-end visibility, they
need to create a technology system that reinforces it (below/right).
The system must be fully integrated, in such a way, that updates and changes can be reflected
in all affected systems.

Central to the system is a supply chain execution system with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
capability, allowing the system to make many routine decisions that are normally the job of
humans. AI allows the system to operate with fewer FTE’s and at a faster rate. Execution
systems will vary from organization to organization but at a minimum should include, or have
integrated bolt-on modules.
Implement Company-Wide Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement (CI) programs are based on the premise that work can always be
improved. The Japanese refer to this as kaizen. Improvements come in two forms, incremental
and breakthrough. Incremental improvements occur in small steps that build toward success
slowly. They are the foundation of CI. These improvements are usually low-cost and low-risk
solutions that are implemented by employees. Incremental improvements are usually localized,
meaning that they only affect a small area such as a functional area in a distribution center, the
procurement department, etc.

Breakthrough improvements are just that. They are major improvements that affect entire
business processes and create an order of magnitude savings in cost or time. They are usually
riskier and require investment in effort, materials, and equipment to implement. Many times,
they will require a pilot program to test the improvement on a small scale in order to validate.

It is best to focus on CI programs on fundamentals. There are three fundamental, but critical,
requirements for the long-term success of any supply chain. These are opportunities that
reduce cost, reduce cycle time, or improve organizational processes.
Develop a Supply Chain Risk Analysis Plan
Many organizations operate multiple supply chains. They do this for a variety of reasons; some
operate in diverse industries requiring radically different supply chain strategies and
operations, others operate omnichannel environments, still, others operate different channel
strategies - think consumer and industrial paper products. However, every organization needs a
single supply chain risk management methodology so that the interests of the many outweigh
the interests of the few (divisions/channels). Without such a plan, business units will always
operate from a position of self-interest, optimizing risk within their own span of control over
the needs of the entire organization. The supply chain impacts the entire organization, so
developing a single supply chain risk management plan that applies to the entire organization
will benefit everyone.

The risk analysis plan should consist of the following:

develop a team structure;

develop a list of risks;
calculate risk probability and cost impact;
develop a strategy for each risk; and
monitor risk.

13. Vertical integration of the supply chain comes with an increase in total risk factor, how
should a company develop its supply chain model to mitigate such risk? State with example.
(300 words with models)
Real-World Examples of Vertical Integration
The fossil fuel industry is a case study in vertical integration. British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, and
Shell all have exploration divisions that seek new sources of oil and subsidiaries that are
devoted to extracting and refining it. Their transportation divisions transport the finished
product. Their retail divisions operate the gas stations that deliver their product.

The merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010 created a vertically integrated
entertainment company that manages and represents artists, produces shows, and sells event
tickets. The combined entity manages and owns concert venues, while also selling tickets to the
events at those venues.3

This is an example of forward integration from the perspective of Ticketmaster, and backward
integration from the perspective of Live Nation.
Mitigating Risk:
A company that is considering vertical integration needs to consider which is better for the
business in the long run.
If a company makes clothing that has buttons, it can buy the buttons or make them. Making
them eliminates the markup charged by the button-maker. It may give the company greater
flexibility to change button styles or colors. It may eliminate the frustrations that come with
dealing with a supplier.

Then again, the company would have to set up or buy a whole separate manufacturing process
for buttons, buy the raw materials that go into making and attaching buttons, hire people to
make the buttons, and hire a management team to manage the button division.

A company must carefully evaluate the costs and complexities of vertical integration before
making this buy or make decision.

14. What do you understand by the “Bullwhip effect”? What are the pros & cons associated?
The bullwhip effect is a supply chain phenomenon describing how small fluctuations in demand
at the retail level can cause progressively larger fluctuations in demand at the wholesale,
distributor, manufacturer and raw material supplier levels. The effect is named after the physics
involved in cracking a whip. When the person holding the whip snaps their wrist, the relatively
small movement causes the whip's wave patterns to increasingly amplify in a chain reaction.
Pros:
If customer demand increases rapidly, the available safety stock can be used to fill orders while
managers increase their own orders to suppliers. This allows for time to increase production
without imposing on customer service
Cons:
excessive inventory investment, poor customer service, lost revenues, misguided capacity
plans, ineffective transportation, and missed production schedules.
15. How can you mitigate/minimize its effect.? (300 words)
Thankfully, there are 4 simple ways to mitigate and control the effects.

1. Streamline your supply chain – Reducing the number of suppliers and the number of tiers in
your supply chain can facilitate better communication across teams and decrease the swing
that creates the bullwhip effect. Utilizing supply chain automation technology helps link
together all aspects of the supply chain and consolidate communication channels.
2. Optimize inventory management – Keeping track of stock levels, orders, and demand with
inventory management software leads to more accurate ordering from suppliers, decreasing
the bullwhip effect.

3. Minimize sales and discounts – Maintaining a steady price point even during market
fluctuations decreases the bullwhip effect by encouraging a regular stream of customer
demand. Clothing and accessories business Everlane reduces the bullwhip effect by rarely
holding sales or giving discounts, instead opting to keep prices low year-round with a smart
direct-to-consumer model.

4. Maintain consistent, smaller order sizes – Offering bulk discounts may attract customers but
it also unnecessarily increases inventory levels and magnifies the bullwhip effect. Encouraging
orders according to customer need instead of bulk discounts helps mitigate the bullwhip effect.

16. How does the FMCG distribution channel works? (500 words with example: HUL)
FMCG distribution channels are channels for the FMCG product from the manufacturer to the
consumers. These channels ensure the flow of goods, information and finance. FMCG
distribution channel consists of three important entities:
Agents: generate sales by promoting company’s product
Merchants: retailers, wholesalers or stockiest, they buy and stock the products in bulk and then
supply them
Facilitators: mange transportation of goods manufactured from one place to another.
For instance, typical distribution channel for P&G consists of:
1.Typical Distribution of HUL Products
HUL products are distributed through a network of redistribution stockists RS) (covering both
urban and rural population).
There are C&FAs (Carrying and Forwarding Agents) in the country who feed these redistribution
stockists regularly.
The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, kiosks and general stores. The
C&FAs act as buffer stock‐points (at company depot) to ensure that stock‐outs did not take
place.
The C&FA system has also resulted in cost savings in terms of direct transportation and reduced
time lag in delivery.
2. Intensive Distribution
HUL follows this strategy in India. As the company manufactures FMCG convenience / necessity
goods, hence there is lesser/no brand loyalty from customer side. These products are typically
purchased impulsively and frequently and required to be widely available to customers.
The distribution network of the company needs to be very strong and proactive.
As the products are relatively small and easily transported, they are easy to box up a great
number of units to many different channel intermediaries
3. Extensive Distribution
Sold in retail stores such as Walmart, Target, and other convenient stores all over the world
Company requires extensive distribution to obtain big sales volume
Procter and Gamble owns a series of distribution centers.
4.Transportation
Shipping: Their first mode of transportation is through shipping Advantages: Provided large
amounts of carrying capacity with low cost Disadvantages: They are often affected by weather
and seasonal delay which may delay the shipping time. Truck wholesaling: Then the products
move to truck fleets. Advantages: Trucks are relatively fast form of transportation
Disadvantages: Expensive way to transport so often they use double trucks
The corporation creates more efficient distribution channels by utilising its total control. By
reducing the number of distributors, the distributors become more competitive and stable.To
maximise inventories and decrease out-of-stocks, HUL is investing in a more flexible and quick
distribution network. It fairly distributes resources among available channel possibilities. To
build a more effective distribution system, it is also investing in its sales team.
MARKETING
MARKETING ROLES – POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

General questions:
1. What is the difference between marketing and sales?
In the simplest of terms, marketing is building awareness of your organization and brand to potential
customers. Sales is turning that viewership into a profit, by converting those potential customers into
actual ones

2. What do you understand by value? How can you measure it?

The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of
factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's
perceived value of the product.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) describes the amount of profit the business will generate from a
customer over the customer’s entire lifetime. It can also be defined as the present value of the
future cash flows attributed to the customer during his/her entire relationship with the
company. The purpose of the customer lifetime value metric is to assess the financial value of
each customer. Customer lifetime value encourages firms to shift their focus from quarterly
profits to the long term health of their customer relationships. It helps in determining the limit
on spending to acquire new customers. For this reason, it is an important element in calculating
payback of advertising spend in marketing mix modelling. Many retailers optimize their
customer acquisition strategies by trying to minimize how much they spend to acquire each
customer (cost per acquisition of customer or CAC). When you understand the lifetime value of
different customers, however, you can optimize more effectively for the long run. Rather than
simply optimizing for CAC, you can look at the difference between CAC and CLV. After all, if one
customer is 10x more valuable than another, it is certainly worth spending a little more to
acquire him. It is a useful metric used by marketing managers especially at a time of acquiring a
customer. Ideally, lifetime value should be greater than the cost of acquiring a customer. Some
also call it a break-even point. The two forms of lifetime value analysis:
· Historical lifetime value simply sums up profit per customer till date.
· Predictive lifetime value projects what new customers will spend over their entire lifetime.

3. What do you know about the product life cycle?

There are four stages:
Stage 1.
Market Development / Introduction This is when a new product is first brought to market,
before there is a proven demand for it, and often before it has been fully proved out technically
in all respects. Sales are low and creep along slowly. The need for immediate profit is not a
pressure. The impact on the marketing mix and strategy is as follows:
· Product branding and quality level is established and intellectual property protection, such as
patents and trademarks are obtained.
· Pricing may be low penetration to build market share rapidly or high skim pricing to recover
development costs.

Stage 2.
Market Growth Demand begins to accelerate and the size of the total market expands rapidly.
It might also be called the “Take-off Stage.” Competitors are attracted into the market with very
similar offerings. In the growth stage, the firm seeks to build brand preference and increase
market share.
· Product quality is maintained and additional features and support services may be added.
· Pricing is maintained as the firm enjoys increasing demand with little competition.
· Distribution channels are added as demand increases and customers accept the product.
· Promotion is aimed at a broader audience.

Stage 3.
Market Maturity Demand levels off and grows, for the most part, only at the replacement and
new family formation rate. Those products that survive the earlier stages tend to spend longest
in this phase. At maturity, the strong growth in sales diminishes. Competition may appear with
similar products. The primary objective at this point is to defend market share while maximizing
profit.
· Product features may be enhanced to differentiate the product from that of competitors.
· Pricing may be lower because of the new competition.
· Distribution becomes more intensive, and incentives may be offered to encourage preference
over competing products.
· Promotion emphasizes product differentiation.
Stage 4.
Market Decline The product begins to lose consumer appeal and sales drift downward. At this
point, there is a downturn in the market. For example, more innovative products are
introduced or consumer tastes have changed. There is intense price cutting, and many more
products are withdrawn from the market. Profits can be improved by reducing marketing
spending and cost cutting. As sales decline, the firm has several options:
· Maintain the product, possibly rejuvenating it by adding new features and finding new uses.
· Harvest the product–reduce costs and continue to offer it, possibly to a loyal niche segment.
· Discontinue the product, liquidating remaining inventory or selling it to another firm that is
willing to continue the product.
· By imaginatively repositioning their products, companies can change how customers mentally
categorize them. They can rescue products struggling in the maturity phase of their life cycles
and get them back to the growth phase. And in some cases, they might be able take their new
products forward straight into the growth phase.

5. Why do you think you’re suited for a career in marketing?

If you look around you can find the impact of marketing everywhere, from commercials on
YouTube to newspaper advertisements. Although marketing has been here for a while, it has
spawned new disciplines instead of becoming obsolete.

Conventional marketing has given way to multiple disciplines, including digital marketing,
international marketing and marketing management. A broad spectrum marketing degree lets
you explore all of these disciplines and select one that suits your interests.

6. Give us a few instances to show how marketing is a part of your life.

I have always had a strong creative side and an interest in visual arts. I started my own business
while in school creating simple websites and promotional materials for local businesses. I think
that experience combined with my education really solidified marketing as my career of choice,
and I’m really excited to be interviewing for this opportunity

7. Are you aware of any recent trends in the industry? (MUST 2: You must thoroughly analyze
the industry that the concerned company is a part of. Look at trends, opportunities for
growth,
current market leaders, revenue models across companies, threats and so on – use models
like PESTEL to understand the industry situation)

1. Conversational marketing
It’s where users interact and have conversations with brands through chatbots and voice
assistants. It’s also commonly used in online marketing campaigns, with click-to-messenger
being one of the most popular options for paid advertising. Artificial intelligence and machine
learning are the main technologies behind conversational marketing.
2. Highly personalized content experience
As the name suggests, it’s content that’s personalized and tailored to each individual user.
Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and Facebook are examples of well-known brands that effectively
personalize content to each user. When you log on to Amazon, the home page content displays
products likely to interest you based on your previous purchases and browsing history. Netflix
makes movies and series recommendations based on your viewing history and preferred
genres, while Spotify does the same with music. And social media giant Facebook uses
algorithms to determine what type of content to show on your newsfeed.

8. Sell me this pen/bottle (anything practically).

“How often do you use pens? When’s the last time you used one? Don’t you use a pen pretty
much every day?”
“Do you prefer blue ink, black ink? Or maybe even green or red?”
“Have you ever noticed that a cheap pen isn’t as easy to use, the ink doesn’t flow as easily, the
writing doesn’t look as good, and you never know when they’re going to run out of ink?”

9. What is the most important skill required in the marketing field?

At its core, marketing is about communicating to an audience, so it's no surprise that
communication is the top skill those in the field need to have! Being able to express yourself
and convey concepts to others in a clear, engaging way will be essential to your work as a
marketer.

10. If you were the marketing manager of a brand X, how will you market it?
For the ‘Experienced Ones’ – I don’t think you need an answer to this, but for somebody looking
to start off their careers in marketing, this question can be thrown in during that ‘coveted
interview’. In the first week of joining any company, there is practically nothing you can do
apart from getting your basics in order like employee id, IT setup, frequent visits to the
cafeteria or exchanging unwanted pleasantries.

But you can definitely have an approach to this, step back and put a logical flow. I would say, in
addition to my regular tasks, I would like love to add on to my understanding of customers, our
products, competitors’ offering. If possible, accompany our sales reps on their field visits, speak
to our retailers/ distributors and shadow them on customer calls. Ingrain this in your mind, a
marketer has and must put in a lot of time in the market understanding his current customers,
potential customers, competitors’ customers and lost customers. Even CMO’s of companies like
HUL, P&G have their dose of field visits. So don’t hesitate to step out of that work station.

11. What are your favorite ad campaigns? Why are they your favorite?
Reddit’s brand awareness Super Bowl advert

Super Bowl airtime is hot currency for brands. And it makes sense if you want to get in front of
your target audience. Our data shows that over 1 in 2 NFL fans say they find new products
through TV ads, and 41% of Americans watch or follow the NFL.

So that eye-magnet spot at the Super Bowl is an expensive one. It’s estimated that in 2022, 30-
second ad slots were selling pretty quickly for around $6.5 million – the most expensive in NFL
history.

In the past, some brands have pushed the boat out and extended the slots by an extra 15 or 30
seconds. But Reddit decided to take a novel approach with its video marketing campaign: go
small or go home.

12. Have you read any book on marketing apart from Kotler? (Marquess has sent some books
via email)
Yes
13. Can you tell me what you’ve learnt in your marketing course in Trimester 1?
Learnt about STP, Consumer preference, Porters value chain, Porters 5 forces, Porters generic
strategy etc.
14. What kind of marketing frameworks are you aware of? Can you explain them?
1. 7Ps Marketing Mix

This widely used model considers the stages of business strategy, beginning at conception and
taking it to evaluation. The Ps stand for:

Product: What’s being sold?

Prince: How much does it cost?
Place: Where will the product be sold?
Promotion: How will you communicate with your audience?
People: Who is involved in the production, promotion, and distribution?
Process: How will you deliver it to the customer?
Physical Evidence: How will you prove to customers that your business exists?

When you utilize the 7P model, you’ll have the opportunity to analyze and optimize every
aspect of your company and your strategy to improve your business.

marketing strategy framework: The-7Ps-Marketing-Mix

15. What is positioning? Is it the same as branding?

Positioning
Once the organization decides on its target market, it strives hard to create an image of its
product in the minds of the consumers. The marketers create a first impression of the product
in the minds of consumers through positioning. Positioning helps organizations to create a
perception of the products in the minds of target audience. Ray Ban and Police Sunglasses cater
to the premium segment while Vintage or Fastrack sunglasses target the middle-income group.
Ray Ban sunglasses have no takers amongst the lower income group.
Branding
Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. Branding can be applied
to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual product and service names. Legal
protection given to a brand name is called a trademark.

16. Can you describe any marketing project that you successfully planned and executed? 17.
Give us an example of a successful campaign you were a part of and how you did it. 18. Which
publications and blogs do you follow?
I have always had a strong creative side and an interest in visual arts. I started my own business
while in school creating simple websites and promotional materials for local businesses. I think
that experience combined with my education really solidified marketing as my career of choice,
and I’m really excited to be interviewing for this opportunity

19. What are the best things you love about marketing?
It’s Subjective and there is no one true right answer.

20. What is promotion? Is it the same as advertising?

This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. You can
'integrate' different aspects of the promotions mix to deliver a unique campaign. The elements
of the promotions mix are:
· Personal Selling
· Sales Promotion
· Public Relations
· Direct Mail
· Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
· Advertising
· Sponsorship

While, advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of goods and
services by the identified sponsor in the exchange of a fee. Through advertising, the marketer
tries to build a pull strategy; wherein the customer is instigated to try the product at least once.
The complete information along with the attractive graphics of the product or service can be
shown to the customers that grab their attention and influence the purchase decision.
21. What is the difference between push and pull in marketing?

Pull marketing — pushing messages to prospects, synonymous with inbound marketing (The Power of
Pull). Push marketing — prospects pull messages from you, synonymous with outbound marketing.

22. What do you understand by STP? Give an example.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
This three-stage STP process involves analysing which distinct customer groups exist and which
segment the product best suits before implementing the communications strategy tailored for
the chosen target group.
Example: Amazon Kindle
Segmentation: Urban vs Rural, City, Income, Education, Lifestyle, Personality, Benefits, Usage
Rate, Readiness Stage, Attitude towards Product.
Targeting: Urban, Tier-I and Tier- II cities, Income > 5 lpa, Graduates, Culture-oriented,
Ambitious and information seeking, People seeking a convenient mode of reading and buying
books, Voracious readers and people who read while on the move, People with high awareness
of such a technological product, People enthusiastic and positive about an alternative way of
reading books which makes it more convenient for them
Positioning: An alternative way of reading books which makes it more convenient and offers a
technological solution which feels closest to reading a physical book.

23. What do you understand by the term market share? How do you calculate it?
Market Share: Percentage of the total market serviced by your company/product/brand
measured in either revenue terms or unit volume terms
Relative market share (RMS): Relative market share is the firm’s or brands market share is an
index of its largest competitor. In this way, relative market share becomes a measure of
competitive strength. The formula for calculating relative market share is as follows: Relative
market share = firm’s market share/largest competitor’s market share If Tang has a market
share of 20% and Rasna has 30%, then RMS of Tang is 20/30 = 0.66 Market leader will have
RMS >1

24. What are the recent developments in the field of marketing?

5 Recent Advancements in Marketing

Chatbots. We're always looking for new ways to engage with our target market. ...
Influencer Marketing. Social media marketing has grown exponentially over the past decade.
...
Increased Customization. ...
Data Collection and Analytics. ...
Interactivity.

25. What do you understand by social media marketing? Is it the same as digital marketing?
If you are engaging in “digital marketing”, typically you are implementing several channels of
digital marketing. For example, your business may create a digital marketing strategy that
includes SEO, Email Marketing, Content Marketing, Analytics & Social media. If you are only
engaged in one channel (like social media), you typically wouldn’t say that you have a digital
marketing campaign in place. Digital marketing usually denotes the use of several online
marketing channels.
Social media marketing is just one component, one channel, of digital marketing. It simply
means marketing products and services via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+,
YouTube, and other social networking sites. It typically involves engagement with followers,
seeking out influencers, holding contests, posting content, live-streaming, and anything else
you can do to grab people’s attention with a tweet or an update.
Specific Questions – Sales Role
Since, as a fresh B-school graduate you’re likely to find yourself in a sales role, it is imperative
that you are aware of the basics of sales.

1. What do you understand by the field of sales?

Sales is a term used to describe the activities that lead to the selling of goods or services. Businesses
have sales organizations that are broken up into different teams. And these sales teams are often
determined based on:

● The region they're selling to

● The product or service they're selling
● The target customer

Salespeople reach out to contacts that might be interested in purchasing the product or service that their
company is selling. And the contacts that demonstrate interest (e.g., visiting the company website,
downloading a piece of content, interacting with your company on social media).

2. As a sales manager, how will your role be different to that of a marketing manager?

As a Sales Manager, I will be responsible for managing the employees in charge of selling a product
or service, while as a marketing manager I’ll focus on gauging the demand for these goods.

3. Explain the role of a sales manager in an organization. What other departments will you come in
contact with during your day to day work?

A sales manager is responsible for meeting the sales targets of the organization through effective planning
and budgeting.

A sales manager devises strategies and techniques necessary for achieving the sales targets. He is the one
who decides the future course of action for his team members. A sales manager can’t work alone. He
needs the support of his sales team where each one contributes in his best possible way and works
towards the goals and objectives of the organization. He is the one who sets the targets for the sales
executives and other sales representatives. A sales manager must ensure the targets are realistic and
achievable.

4. What is the difference between B2B and B2C sales?

B2B sales include a decision-making process that characteristically needs more than one individual
signing off. Business to consumer, or B2C sales, is related to the selling of products to one individual
consumer. In addition, B2C selling does not usually include more than one individual in the decision-
making process.

5. What is B2G sales? Name a few organizations who are likely to be involved in this domain.

B2G describes the relationship between an enterprise and an authority, such as a tax office. The
acronym B2G stands for “business-to-government.” In general, B2G includes any kind of relationship
between public authorities, such as the government, and companies. Public services are contact points
for legal matters, for example, but may also interact with companies in the form of lobbying. A third form
of cooperation between companies and public authorities also understood as a B2G relationship is the
public-private partnership (PPP).

6. What are some key traits that a good sales manager should have?

● Experienced
● Leads by example
● Able to coach
● Strategic
● Integrity
● Confident
● Innovative
● Motivating

7. Do you have any idea about the stages that eventually lead to the completion of sales?

The stages of the 7 step sales process are:

● Prospecting and Initial Contact

● Qualifying
● Needs Assessment
● Sales Pitch or Product Demo
 ● Proposal and Handling Objections
● Closing
● Following Up, Repeat Business & Referrals

8. In B2B sales, how will you identify high potential customers?

● Get Familiar with Demographics.

● Evaluating the Psychographics.
● Do Research on Successful Competitor Brands.
● Analyze your Product to see who will buy from you.
● Read Industry Blogs and Forums.

9. What is the difference between a prospect and a lead?

The terms “lead” and “prospect” are just two of many terms used to describe the status of a business
relationship. A lead is someone who may fit your target market but is not ready to buy just yet. Through
your own research, you’ve handpicked (literally, or through automation) a pool of people who may fit
your target market.

If the lead is responsive to your offer, there’s a good chance they’ve become a prospect. However, if they
don’t respond, or if they’re unwilling or unable to buy just yet, they’ll remain a lead. If they continuously
ignore your efforts to get in touch, these leads are sometimes called “cold leads.”

10. How will you introduce yourself to a customer?

Shortness is a virtue: Long drawn out introductions lose focus from the meeting's purpose. Keep your
introduction concise and friendly, showing genuine interest in your customer.Customers are the backbone
of an organization. As a sales person, you should know how to handle their queries in a proper way.While
introducing yourself to the customer, also introduce your company.Be gentle and try to pay attention to
the needs of the customer rather than focusing on your skills.

11. What is your career goal? Do you see yourself in a sales position 10 years down the line?

● Increase Collaboration – Across the Board - Interdepartmental Collaboration - Cross Channel

Marketing - External Collaboration
● Reach Out to Customers to Deepen Your Market Insights
● Upgrade Your Role, and with it, your Responsibilities
 ● Expand Your Authority beyond Your Organization

10 years from now I see myself as becoming more skilled, more efficient and professional. Better person
and at a higher position in the company that would never lose me at any cost. I want to devote the next
few years to learning new skills, taking up challenging jobs and putting my hard work to grow and
hopefully see myself advancing to the next level.

12. What kind of targets do sales executives have set for them?

Sales goals are set objectives for your sales team. These goals center on a specific sales KPI and are often
tied to overarching business goals. Typical sales goal examples include increasing revenue 25% year over
year or boosting customer retention 10%. To help your sales team succeed, don’t establish just one big,
audacious sales goal. Make and meet smaller goals quickly. More frequent rewards for these smaller goals
boost confidence and productivity. Build to that larger sales goal incrementally.

13. Is it better to retain an old customer or acquire a new customer?

Depends on the business needs at any point of time but in general:Acquiring a new customer can cost five
times more than retaining an existing customer.Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits
from 25-95%.The success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%, while the success rate
of selling to a new customer is 5-20%.

14. What do you like about a sales job?

For anyone with a competitive streak or the desire to be rewarded for their hard work, this is a key
motivator and something that will drive a successful career for yearsYou work with your customers to
improve their businesses. This kind of consultancy work puts salespeople in front of lots of different
people in a companyGreat salespeople work with their customers, not against them. Working in sales
means understanding psychology

Managing your own time and being responsible for the revenue you generate is as close as any
professional will get to run their own business. Sales can be a great training ground for going out on your
own.

15. Give us a few instances where you’ve sold something.

I have been involved in selling a subscription plan made by my company during my intern
16. What do you understand about distribution channels?

A distribution channel is a chain of businesses or intermediaries through which a good or service passes
until it reaches the final buyer or the end consumer. Distribution channels can include wholesalers,
retailers, distributors, and even the Internet.

17. What is the difference between a distributor and a retailer?

The main difference between a distributor and a retailer is that, a distributor supplies the products, goods
and/or services, while a retailer sells the products, goods and/or services.

18. What is the difference between modern trade and general trade?

General trade is basic retailing, i.e. small scale business targeting the consumers who opt day to day
purchases in small quantity while the modern trade is about selling products to big houses. Due to this
the retail business or let’s say that the consumers dependent over the past steps suffer to a lot of extent.

A closer analysis of general trade will highlight its similarities with the traditional sales strategies. Back in
time the houses used to focus more upon quality and less over the sales strategies like marketing and
promotion.

However, with the entry of modern trade, things went to the other pole of the axis. Today the houses
focus much over marketing and promotion and thus the consumers have to bear this amount invested in
form of either increased price or deteriorated quality.

19. Identify some latest trends in the field of sales.

● Trend 1: Investing in Future Growth.

● Trend 2: Finding the Growth in Micro markets.
● Trend 3: Capturing Value from Big Data and Advanced Analytics.
● Trend 4: Outsourcing the Sales Function.
● Trend 5: Understanding Social Selling.
● Trend 6: Collaborating More Closely with Marketing.
● Trend 7: Adopting Automation and Artificial Intelligence.
20. How important do you think after-sales service is? How will you carry it out?

After sales service refers to various processes which make sure customers are satisfied with the products
and services of the organization.

The needs and demands of the customers must be fulfilled for them to spread a positive word of mouth.
In the current scenario, positive word of mouth plays an important role in promoting brands products and
services. After sales service makes sure products and services meet or surpass the expectations of the
customers.

After Sales Service Techniques:

Sales Professionals need to stay in touch with the customers even after the deal. Never ignore their calls,
emails, messages etc.

Call them once in a while to exchange pleasantries.

Give them the necessary support. Help them install, maintain or operate a particular product. Sales
professionals selling laptops must ensure windows are configured in the system and customers are able
to use net without any difficulty. Similarly organizations selling mobile sim cards must ensure the number
is activated immediately once the customer submits his necessary documents.

Any product found broken or in a damaged condition must be exchanged immediately by the sales
professional. Don’t harass the customers. Listen to their grievances and make them feel comfortable.

21. How will you persuade a customer to buy your product after initial rejection?

First of all, I would analyze the reasons for the initial rejection by the customer and if some tweaks can be
made to the product or the service to better serve his need.

After the analysis, I would again pitch in the product/service to him with the specific sets of improvements
made in order to persuade him to re-think about his previous decision.

This incremental change would surely make his feel the want he has and would convert into a customer
from being a lead.

22. Give us an example of how you’ve creatively convinced someone of an idea.

I had convinced one of my friends to pursue the idea of leather footwear manufacturing and
understanding the intricacies of the distribution channels and how to reach larger customer base.

I had done the number crunching of the investments needed to pursue the idea. The profit margins and
the marketing strategies and he was pretty convinced with the idea.

23. How would you deal with an angry customer?

● How to Deal with Angry Customers

● Remain calm.
● Practice active listening.
● Repeat back what your customers say.
● Thank them for bringing the issue to your attention.
● Explain the steps you'll take to solve the problem.
● Set a time to follow-up with them, if needed.
● Be sincere.
● Highlight the case's priority.

24. What do you know about customer loyalty? Can you measure it?

A loyal customer is -

● Likely to refer you to her friends and contacts.

● Likely to continue buying from you as long as the need is there.
● Not actively looking for other suppliers.
● Not open to sales pitches from competitors.
● Open to other products and services that you offer.
● Easy going towards emerging issues and gives you time and trust to fix them.
● Likely to give feedback about how you could improve.
Ways to measure:Net Promoter Score (NPS) - This metric indicates the likeliness of your customer
referring you to her friends. She answers this simple question with a value between 1 – 10.Repurchase -
This measures the ratio of repeat purchasers over one-time purchasers. A purchase is at the core of a
commercial relationship, which makes this metric a valid representation of customer loyalty.Upselling
Ratio - This tracks the ratio of customers who’ve bought more than one type of product divided by the
customers who’ve bought only one. This sounds similar to the Repurchase Ratio, but it’s different because
it concerns another product.

25. Can you manage working efficiently under the pressure of deadlines?

● Start Predicting and Planning For Crunch Times

● Create a Prioritization Strategy
● Ask Yourself What Needs To Be Done Right Now
● Stop Procrastinating
● Take Contrary Action with Purposeful Slacking
● Review past Pressure Points and Identify Patterns

26. What do you understand by Key Account Management?

Key account management is the process of building long-term relationships with your company's most
valuable accounts. These accounts make up the majority of the business' income.

27. How would you rate your performance as a part of a team versus working individually?

I always try to balance my performance while working in the team and complementing in every possible
way. Individual working gives you an additional sense of freedom to think creatively but the learnings
from working in a team outweigh those factors. Hence I would rate my performance slightly better as a
team than working individually.

28. How do you convince a customer to set a meeting with you?

● Know your customer. Effective public speakers take the time to know their audience.
● Don't make a pitch; have a conversation.
● Know your product.
● Be prepared for the unexpected.
● Follow up.
You can refer to this link for some answers:
https://www.careerride.com/sales-interview-questions.aspx
Specific Questions – Market Research Role
1. What is market research?
Market research is defined as the process of evaluating the feasibility of a new product or
service, through research conducted directly with potential consumers. This method allows
organizations or businesses to discover their target market, collect and document opinions and
make informed decisions. Market research can be conducted directly by organizations or
companies or can be outsourced to agencies which have expertise in this process. The process
of market research can be done through deploying surveys, interacting with a group of people
also known as sample, conducting interviews and other similar processes. Primary purpose of
conducting market research is to understand or examine the market associated with a
particular product or service, to decide how the audience will react to a product or service. The
information obtained from conducting market research can be used to tailor marketing/
advertising activities or to determine what are the feature priorities/service requirements of
consumers. A market research project may usually have 3 different types of objectives.
1. Administrative: Help a company or business development, through proper planning,
organization, and both human and material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs
within the market, at the right time.
2. Social: Satisfy customer’s specific needs through a required product or service. The
product or service should comply with the requirements and preferences of a customer when
it’s consumed.
3. Economical: Determine the economical degree of success or failure a company can have
while being new to the market, or otherwise introducing new products or services, and thus
providing certainty to all actions to be implemented.
2. What is the purpose of market research? Why is it important?
Successfully running and growing your business depends on understanding your target
customers. Once you have a clear picture of their goals, needs, and values, you are more able to
drive them towards purchasing your products or services.
Market research is one of the best tools you have for understanding your customers. It gives
you hard data that you can use to drive your marketing strategy, making both marketing and
selling easier and more effective.
Market research helps you:
● Improve communication - It drives your communication not only with your current
customer base but with target prospects as well. Market research shows you where your
customers can be reached, as well as what language will be most effective in attracting their
attention and resonating with them on an emotional level.
● Identify opportunity. Market research helps you identify both high-level and more
accessible opportunities for reaching and converting new customers. It can be the best way to
discover new platforms for advertising, consumer concerns you were unaware of, and gaps
within your market that you can fill.
● Lower your risk. Concrete data keeps you focused on the real opportunities and helps
you avoid unproductive effort. When you understand your customers, you can use your
resources to reach them more effectively, with less risk of wasting time, money, and effort on
marketing initiatives that don't work. Market research also helps you identify low-risk, high-
reward areas where your company can expand or offer new services,

3. Differentiate between primary and secondary research.

Primary research is research you conduct yourself (or hire someone to do for you.) It involves
going directly to a source – usually customers and prospective customers in your target market
– to ask questions and gather information. Secondary research is a type of research that has
already been compiled, gathered, organized and published by others. It includes reports and
studies by government agencies, trade associations or other businesses in your industry. For
small businesses with limited budgets, most research is typically secondary, because it can be
obtained faster and more affordably than primary research.
4. Give a few real-life examples of use of market research.
Market research is done by any of the various methods including Use of Focus groups, One on
one interviews, Conducting surveys, using test marketing. Market research helps businesses
strengthen their position in the market, identifies threats based on the data collected, it helps
making better decisions, helps in future planning, etc.
5. What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Quantitative research is information about quantities, and therefore numbers, and qualitative
data is descriptive, and regards phenomena which can be observed but not measured, such as
language.
Qualitative research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting non-numerical data,
such as language. Qualitative research can be used to understand how an individual
subjectively perceives and gives meaning to their social reality.
6. Is market research always one hundred percent accurate? If not, give examples.
No, it is not always accurate simply because of the variables that are involved. Sometimes, the
results of the surveys may be distorted, sometimes the data collected in terms of your analytics
may not be accurate. So there is always a chance that market research is not 100% accurate.
7. What are some methods of conducting market research?
Market research is done by any of the various methods including Use of Focus groups, One on
one interviews, Conducting surveys, using test marketing. Some other examples of market
research are Tracking cultural trends, Monitoring social media, Gathering customer feedback,
In-store product testing.

8. What are the things you should keep in mind while designing a questionnaire?
Good design will aid in increasing the willingness of respondents to complete the survey, as well
as improving the accuracy of data collected. The following guidelines may be followed -
● Make sure each question is clear, reflects what you are asking and how you want it
answered.
● Do not make the list of response choices too long and be sure they don't overlap.
● Avoid negatives - especially double negatives
● Be sure each question asks about a single topic
● Put difficult or personal questions toward the end of the survey.
● Keep the number of open-ended questions to a minimum.

9. Customers often fill surveys without thinking about the answers. How do you deal with
such a problem?
These days response rates for customer satisfaction surveys are often so low that non-response
and self-selection biases can render them worthless. The most pressing priority is to reverse
this trend. Incentives are not the answer. But what if you reduced the survey to the smallest
possible unit: a single question. Many businesses have done just that; reset their
institutionalised thinking around the customer satisfaction survey and opted for single survey
questionnaires for low-friction and honest, in-the-moment feedback. The one-question survey
doesn’t spell the end of long-form market research questionnaires, focus groups and in-depth
user studies. Such practices undoubtedly have their place when the objective is wider market
intelligence.
10. What are the kind of analyses you’ll do based on the data you’ve collected?
Data analysis is the process of collecting, modeling, and analyzing data to extract insights that
support decision-making.There are several methods and techniques to perform analysis
depending on the industry and the aim of the analysis. All these various methods for data
analysis are largely based on two core areas: quantitative methods and qualitative methods in
research. There are the seven essential types of data analysis methods along with some use
cases in the business world - Cluster analysis, Cohort Analysis, Data mining, Regression analysis,
etc.
11. Discuss how you’ve used market research in your college projects.
We performed research on the study of famous well-marketed brands that got away with
selling substandard quality products in a project for which we had to collect data for that.
12. What have your findings been? Give us some interesting insights you managed to gather.
It was seen that several brands did that despite the reliability as a brand being damaged
because of it for a variety of different reasons, and after which they had to take measures to
salvage the situation.
Specific Questions – Digital Marketing Role

1. What do you understand about digital marketing? Why has it grown important over the
years?
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with
potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes
not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia
messages as a marketing channel. The group of potential customers that are found online is a
much larger group of people than you are likely to be able to attract locally. Using digital
marketing, you can reach an enormous audience in a way that is both cost-effective and
measurable. Benefits of online marketing include:
● The ability to interact with your prospects and learn exactly what they are looking for
● The ability to reach a global marketplace & you can save money and reach more
customers for less money than traditional marketing methods
● Get to know your audience and allow them to know you personally which can help to
create brand loyalty
● You can track responses to your marketing efforts immediately.
2. What are some ways by which companies carry out digital marketing activities?
● Define Your Goals & Identify Your Target Market
● Realistically Assess Your budget
● Take Advantage of Social Media
● SEO. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the use of keywords and other strategies to
help online users find your website through organic searches.
● SEM - Search engine marketing is a digital marketing strategy used to increase the
visibility of a website in search engine results pages
● Pay per click
● Content on websites
● Emails

3. What is the purpose of digital marketing?

The role of digital marketing is to help you garner new traffic, leads, and sales for your business
by reaching people looking for your products and services. By itself, web marketing is the
process of marketing your company online to prospective leads and high-value consumers. The
importance of digital marketing is that you can easily track and monitor your campaigns. When
you invest time and money into your campaigns, you want to know that they are working.
Digital marketing makes it easy for you to track your campaigns, which allows you to adapt and
drive better results

4. What is the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?

Outbound marketing involves proactively reaching out to consumers to get them interested in a
product. By contrast, inbound marketing centers on creating and distributing content that
draws people into your website. While outbound marketing pushes messages to a wide
audience, inbound marketing is magnetic. Rather than sending out general messages to
uninterested audiences, inbound marketing allows you to attract your best prospects — and
those who are actively looking online for solutions.
5. What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing refers to the use of social media and social networks to market a
company's products and services. Social media marketing provides companies with a way to
engage with existing customers and reach new ones while allowing them to promote their
desired culture, mission, or tone. Social media marketing has purpose-built data analytics tools
that allow marketers to track the success of their efforts.
6. What do you understand by SEO? Why is it important?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing tool which is used to place a URL or
company’s website at the top of the search engine’s results. It is adapted by businesses and
individuals to maximise the visibility of their companies and websites. It also aims to draw
maximum traffic possible to a website by bringing the website to the top of the search engine’s
results. It is important in this digital world to maximise the visibility of a business websites and
content to boost traffic and therefore improve business activities. Companies hire SEO
specialists to boost traffic in their websites. Organic traffic arrives at their websites naturally
and not as a result of paid search effects.
7. What do you understand about keywords from the perspective of digital marketing? How is
keyword optimization done?
Keywords from the perspective of digital marketing are words and phrases that define what the
content is all about. They are also referred to as search queries because these are the same
words and phrases that people used to enter into search engines when they are seeking for
information. When we properly leverage and target keywords, it can influence the success of
our marketing strategy. Keyword optimization is defined as the act of researching, analysing
and selecting the best keywords to target to drive qualified traffic from search engines to our
business website. Our keywords must be included in the title tag. It must also be in our building
strategy, internal links, inbound links, breadcrumb links, navigational links. If we wish to rank
well and connect, we need to use targeted keywords in our content. Target keywords must be
used in our image file names. Also, having optimized keywords in our meta tags produces more
clicks in searches. Include keywords for SEO in the URL. Keyword optimization is critical to how
we structure and organize our site content.
8. What are some ways by which you can increase traffic on your website?
If we are looking to increase traffic with both organic and paid ways, the following are some
good methods that provide results
· Perform keyword research
· Create memorable content
· Write Guest posts
· Keep active social media
· Use advertising to increase website traffic
· Send Email newsletters
· Influencer outreach
· Create a helpful industry tool or content
· Submit press releases to influential publications
· Exchange backlinks
9. What are some digital marketing tools you’re aware of?
Social media marketing tools, email marketing tools, SEO, conversion optimization tools, lead
enrichment tools, landing page and lead capture tools, graphic creation tools are some of the
categories of digital marketing tools that I am aware of. Google Analytics, Moz, Canva, HubSpot
are some of the digital marketing tools that I am aware of.
10. What do you understand by ‘remarketing’?
Remarketing involves targeting customers who have already viewed something on our website
and also customers who have demonstrated interest in our products. It offers a means to re-
engage customers who might have been browsing on our website but did not follow through a
conversion. It is found that 70-96% of users leave a website without taking any action. So as a
digital marketer we must try to take advantage of their interest in our brand and convince them
to come back to us by using remarketing. A remarketing strategy would allow us to track certain
pages on our website. For example, many brands will track their shopping cart pages, so that
they can target those who abandon their shopping carts.
11. When you visit the website of e-commerce platforms, they have some tailored product
‘suggestions’ for you. How do they determine that?
The ‘suggestions’ that we get on an e-commerce platform is done with the help of a ‘product
recommendation engine’. There are three basic approaches used to configure the underlying
algorithm:
· The content-based filtering method – analyses customer data on the likes and dislikes of
each user (cookies allow tracking over multiple visits), then makes recommendations based on
the browsing history of that user. The idea behind content-based filtering is that if a customer
enjoys a certain item, they will most likely enjoy a similar item.
· The collaborative-filtering method – incorporates data from users who purchased similar
products, then combines that information to make decisions about recommendations. The
main advantage of this approach is that it can provide complex recommendations on items
without having to ‘understand’ what the item is.
· A hybrid method – combines the content-based and collaborative-based methods to
incorporate group decisions, but focus the output based on attributes of a specific visitor. An
example of this approach is how Spotify uses a hybrid filtering system to curate their
personalised ‘Discover Weekly’ playlists.
12. Have you done any digital marketing certifications? What have you learnt?
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Course - Google Digital Garage, Google Analytics Course -
Google Analytics Academy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Certification - Hubspot Academy.
Apart from learning all the basics in the different certification courses, during my internship, I
learnt about Incorporating plans and monitored social media content, as well as conducting
several campaign reports and presenting all of those findings to the managers. I also analysed
and generated digital content which was used to build a customer base and gain traction on
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, among other social media platforms.

13. What is the role of a digital marketing professional? What skills are required for such a role?
A digital marketing professional is responsible for developing, implementing and managing
marketing campaigns that promote a company and its products and/or services. He or she plays
a major role in enhancing brand awareness within the digital space as well as driving website
traffic and acquiring leads/customers.
14. How does Google earn revenue from advertisements?
Google earns revenue from advertisements using AdSense and through monetization of
YouTube.

15. What are the metrics you set to evaluate a digital marketing campaign?
Some key metrics which are tracked in digital marketing campaigns are:
● Overall Website Traffic
● Traffic by Source
● New Visitors vs Existing User
● Sessions
● Average Session Duration
● Page Views
● Most Visited Pages
● Exit Rate
FINANCE QUESTIONS

1. What are the key branches in the field of finance? Which one are you interested in?
The four main areas of finance are corporate finance, investments, financial institutions
and markets, and international finance.
I would personally be interested in working around investments because I believe it
forms the stem of all financial activities pertaining to an organization

2. What are the most important items to analyse in financial statements?

The values of Current assets, liabilities, Owner's equity, Revenue and expenses which
depict the profit at various stages of expense. These are the key items to find the different
ratios (Liquidity, Leverage, Efficiency etc.) and to analyse financial statements as a whole to give
insights on functioning and stability of business.

3. Why do we conduct ratio analysis?

Ratio analysis compares line-item data from a company's financial statements to reveal
insights regarding profitability, liquidity, operational efficiency, and solvency. Ratio analysis can
mark how a company is performing over time, while comparing a company to another within
the same industry or sector.

4. Why do you understand leverage?

Financial leverage is the use of borrowed money to finance the purchase of assets with
the expectation that the income or capital gain from the new asset will exceed the cost of
borrowing. More often than not the risk associated with it is fixed by the borrower.

5. Why are there three types of leverages and what are their uses?
Operating leverage -The impact of fixed costs on the profit structure of the firm can be
judged with the analytical tool of break-even analysis. Operating leverage capture the firm's
ability to use fixed operating cost to magnify effects of changes in sales on its earnings before
interest and taxes.
Financial leverage- The ability of a firm to use fixed financial charges to magnify the
effects of changes in EBIT on firm's earnings per share. In other words, financial leverage
involves the use of funds obtained at a fixed cost in the hope of increasing the return to the
equity shareholders.
Combines leverage- It shows the different combined effects of operating leverage and
financial leverage.

6. What are the key ratios to check for banking sector?

Net interest margin is an especially important indicator in evaluating banks because it
reveals a bank's net profit on interest-earning assets, such as loans or investment securities.
Loan-to-assets ratio can help investors obtain a complete analysis of a bank's operations. Banks
that have a relatively higher loan-to-assets ratio derive more of their income from loans and
investments, while banks with lower levels of loans-to-assets ratios derive a relatively larger
portion of their total incomes from more-diversified, noninterest-earning sources, such as asset
management or trading.
Return-on-assets ratio is considered an important profitability ratio, indicating the per-dollar
profit a company earns on its assets.

7. What is the difference between real rates and nominal rates?

A real interest rate is an interest rate that has been adjusted to remove the effects of
inflation to reflect the real cost of funds to the borrower and the real yield to the lender or to
an investor. A nominal interest rate refers to the interest rate before taking inflation into
account. Nominal can also refer to the advertised or stated interest rate on a loan, without
taking into account any fees or compounding of interest.

8. Why are real rates important?

Real rates are important because they take into consideration the inflation and gives
the actual picture of the market while borrowing money.

9. What is the application of Basel Norms?

Banks lend to different types of borrowers and each carries its own risk. They lend the
deposits of the public as well as money raised from the market i.e., equity and debt. This
exposes the bank to a variety of risks of default and as a result they fall at times. Therefore,
Banks have to keep aside a certain percentage of capital as security against the risk of non –
recovery.

10. How does a CRR and Repo rate affect money supply?
Cash reserve ratio is the percentage of total deposits that banks are required to keep in
reserves either in the vaults or with RBI so that the same can be given to bank's customers if
the need arises. Banks do not get any interest on this money. Allows to maintain a desired level
of inflation, control money supply and liquidity in the economy. The lower the CRR, the higher
liquidity with banks, which in turn goes into investment and vice versa.

11. How does repo and reverse repo work?

The repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks in
the event of any shortfall of funds. Monetary authorities use this to control money supply in the
economy, thereby inflation.
The reverse repo rate is the rate at which RBI borrows funds from commercial banks. It
is the rate at which commercial banks in India park their excess money with RBI usually for the
short term.

12. What is the difference between fiscal and monetary policy?

Monetary policy refers to central bank activities that are directed toward influencing the
quantity of money and credit in an economy. By contrast, Fiscal policy refers to the
government's decisions about taxation and spending. Both monetary and fiscal policies are
used to regulate economic activity over time.

13. What are NPAs?

A non-performing asset (NPA) is a classification used by financial institutions for loans
and advances on which the principal is past due and on which no interest payments have been
made for a period of 90 days or more in general.

14. How are NPAs treated in financial statement of Banking Institutions?

 Nonperforming assets (NPAs) are recorded on a bank's balance sheet after a prolonged
period of non-payment by the borrower. NPAs can be classified as a substandard asset,
doubtful asset, or loss asset, depending on the length of time overdue and probability of
repayment.

15. How are NBFCs and Banks different?

The major difference between NBFC and bank is that unlike banks, an NBFC cannot issue
self-drawn cheques and demand drafts. Another important point of distinction is that while
banks take part in the country's payment mechanism, non-banking financial companies are not
involved in such transactions.

16. Why do we need to calculate time value of money?

Provided money can earn interest, this core principle of finance holds that any amount
of money is worth more the sooner it is received. At the most basic level, the time value of
money demonstrates that, all things being equal, it is better to have money now rather than
later.

17. What do you understand by capital budgeting?

Capital budgeting is the process of making investment decisions in long term assets. It is
the process of deciding whether or not to invest in a particular project as all the investment
possibilities may not be rewarding.

18. What is NPV? How do you calculate it?

Net present value (NPV) is a tool of Capital budgeting to analyse the profitability of a
project or investment. It is calculated by taking the difference between the present value of
cash inflows and present value of cash outflows over a period of time.
NPV= (Cash Flow/(1+i) t) −initial investment
where:
i=Required return or discount rate
t=Number of times periods
19. What are the underlying assumptions of IRR?
RR refers to the Internal rate of return of investments where the earnings for the
investment is calculated. However, one important assumption is that in the IRR method the
intermittent cash flow is also invested under the same.

20. How to make decision when IRR and NPV differ in project rankings?
Whenever an NPV and IRR conflict arises, we should always accept the project with
higher NPV. It is because IRR inherently assumes that any cash flows can be reinvested at the
internal rate of return. This assumption is problematic because there is no guarantee that
equally profitable opportunities will be available as soon as cash flows occur.

21. What is CAPM? Why is it used?

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) describes the relationship between systematic
risk and expected return for assets, particularly stocks. CAPM is widely used throughout finance
for pricing risky securities and generating expected returns for assets given the risk of those
assets and cost of capital.

22. What is the role of Beta in CAPM?

Beta is used in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), which describes the relationship
between systematic risk and expected return for assets (usually stocks).

23. What is Sharpe Ratio?

The ratio is the average return earned in excess of the risk-free rate per unit of volatility
or total risk. Volatility is a measure of the price fluctuations of an asset or portfolio.

24. What are the shortcomings of CAPM and its alternatives?

The Shortcomings are:

Risk-Free Rate (Rf)

The commonly accepted rate used as the Rf is the yield on short-term government securities.
The issue with using this input is that the yield changes daily, creating volatility.
Return on the Market (Rm)
The return on the market can be described as the sum of the capital gains and dividends for the
market. A problem arises when, at any given time, the market return can be negative. As a
result, a long-term market return is utilized to smooth the return. Another issue is that these
returns are backward-looking and may not be representative of future market returns.
The arbitrage pricing theory is an alternative to the CAPM that uses fewer assumptions and can
be harder to implement than the CAPM.

25. What do you understand by portfolio management?

Portfolio management is the art and science of selecting and overseeing a group of
investments that meet the long-term financial objectives and risk tolerance of a client, a
company, or an institution. The ultimate goal is to maximize the investments' expected return
within an appropriate level of risk exposure.

26. How is portfolio risk and return calculated?

The returns from the portfolio will simply be the weighted average of the returns from
the two assets, as shown below:
RP = w1R1 + w2R2

Let's take a simple example. You invested $60,000 in asset 1 that produced 20% returns
and $40,000 in asset 2 that produced 12% returns. The weights of the two assets are 60% and
40% respectively.

The portfolio returns will be:

RP = 0.60*20% + 0.40*12% = 16.8%
27. What are derivatives? Its types.
A derivative is a contract between two or more parties whose value is based on an
agreed-upon underlying financial asset or set of assets.
The most common types of derivatives are forwards, futures, options, and swaps.

28. What are the different type of risks?

Systematic risks, also known as market risks, are risks that can affect an entire economic
market overall or a large percentage of the total market. Market risk is the risk of losing
investments due to factors, such as political risk and macroeconomic risk, that affect the
performance of the overall market.
Unsystematic risk, also known as specific risk or idiosyncratic risk, is a category of risk
that only affects an industry or a particular company. Unsystematic risk is the risk of losing an
investment due to company or industry-specific hazard.

29. How does swaps work?

A financial swap is a derivative contract where one-party exchanges or "swaps" the cash
flows or value of one asset for another. For example, a company paying a variable rate of
interest may swap its interest payments with another company that will then pay the first
company a fixed rate.

30. What are Options?

Options are financial derivatives that give buyers the right, but not the obligation, to buy
or sell an underlying asset at an agreed-upon price and date.

31. Explain call and put options with payoff diagrams.

Calls give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying asset at the
strike price specified in the option contract.
Puts give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying asset at the
strike price specified in the contract.
32. How do you calculate Free Cash Flow?
Free cash flow can be calculated in various ways, depending on audience and available
data. A common measure is to do EBIT*(1 − tax rate) + depreciation + amortization – (changes
in working capital and capital expenditure).

33. What are different valuation approaches?

Comparable company analysis is a relative valuation method in which you compare the
current value of a business to other similar businesses by looking at trading multiples like P/E,
EV/EBITDA, or other ratios.
Precedent transactions analysis is another form of relative valuation where you
compare the company in question to other businesses that have recently been sold or acquired
in the same industry. These transaction values include the take-over premium included in the
price for which they were acquired.
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis is an intrinsic value approach where an analyst
forecasts the business' unlevered free cash flow into the future and discounts it back to today
at the firm's Weighted Average Cost of Capital.

34. How do mutual funds work?

A mutual fund is a type of financial vehicle made up of a pool of money collected from
many investors to invest in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other
assets.

35. How are mutual funds different from ETFs?

Mutual funds usually are actively managed to buy or sell assets within the fund in an
attempt to beat the market and help investors profit.
ETFs are mostly passively managed, as they typically track a specific market index; they
can be bought and sold like stocks.
Mutual funds tend to have higher fees and higher expense ratios than ETFs.

36. What are the sources of Foreign Investment?

 Commercial loans, which primarily take the form of bank loans issued to foreign
businesses or governments.
Official flows, which refer generally to the forms of development assistance that developed
nations give to developing ones.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) pertains to international investment in which the investor
obtains a lasting interest in an enterprise in another country.
Foreign portfolio investment (FPI), on the other hand is a category of investment instruments
that is more easily traded, may be less permanent, and do not represent a controlling stake in
an enterprise.

37. How do stock price change?

An increase in demand plays a huge role in determining the price. If the demand for a
particular stock increases for any reason, the stock price starts rising since every sale attracts
more bidders making it imperative for them to bid higher to buy the share. If there is a drop in
demand for a particular share, fewer bidders are attracted, pulling the stock price low.

38. What is the difference between Active and Passive investing?

Active investing, as its name implies, takes a hands-on approach. The goal of active
money management is to beat the stock market's average returns and take full advantage of
short-term price fluctuations.
Passive investing is limiting the amount of buying and selling within portfolios, making
this a very cost-effective way to invest. The strategy requires a buy-and-hold mentality. That
means resisting the temptation to react or anticipate the stock market's every next move.

39. What are the methods of equity valuation?

Equity valuation methods can be broadly classified into balance sheet methods,
discounted cash flow methods, and relative valuation methods.
Balance sheet methods are the methods which utilize the balance sheet information to
value a company. These techniques consider everything for which accounting in the books of
accounts is done.
Discounted cash flow methods are based on the fact that present value all future
dividends and the future price represent the market value of equity.
 Relative Valuation methods is also called comparable methods because they use peers
or competitors' value to derive the value of the equity.

40. How is equity valuation different form firm valuation?

Firm value gives an accurate calculation of the overall current value of a business,
similar to a balance sheet, equity value offers a snapshot of both current and potential future
value.

41. Explain the usage of Dividend Discount Model?

Dividend Discount Model attempts to calculate the fair value of a stock irrespective of
the prevailing market conditions and takes into consideration the dividend pay-out factors and
the market expected returns. If the value obtained from the DDM is higher than the current
trading price of shares, then the stock is undervalued and qualifies for a buy, and vice versa.

42. Explain the impact of stock splits and stock buybacks on the share price and number of
outstanding shares?
A stock buyback reduces the number of shares available to trade in the market, the
value of each existing share increases.
Due to a stock split the stock price will be reduced since the number of shares
outstanding has increased.

43. What is the need of basic and diluted EPS?

Earnings per share (EPS) only take into account common shares, while diluted EPS
includes convertible securities.
The formula to calculate a company's Basic EPS is its net income less any preferred dividends
divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding.
Diluted EPS is calculated as a company's net income minus preferred dividends divided by the
weighted average number of shares outstanding plus the impact of convertible preferred
shares and the impact of options, warrants, and other dilutive securities.
44. What is YTM and how is it calculated for callable and puttable bonds?
Yield to maturity (YTM) is the total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held until
it matures.

45. How will you calculate the yield of a zero-coupon bond?

Without accounting for any interest payments, zero-coupon bonds always demonstrate
yields to maturity equal to their normal rates of return. The yield to maturity for zero-coupon
bonds is also known as the spot rate.

46. What is the difference between IPO and FPO?

Initial public offering or IPO is the first time a company goes public. When we say a
company has gone public, it means it has offered its shares to the public at large and is ready to
get listed at the stock exchanges of the country.
A Follow-on public offer is the issuance of shares after the company is listed on a stock
exchange. In other words, an FPO is an additional issue whereas an IPO is an initial or first issue.

47. What is enterprise value and its most used multiple?

The net valuation of any Firm is called the enterprise value. EV includes in its calculation
the market capitalization of a company but also short-term and long-term debt as well as any
cash on the company's balance sheet. Enterprise value is a popular metric used to value a
company for a potential takeover.
The Relative valuation is the most used multiple.

48. How is relative valuation used?

Relative valuation uses multiples, averages, ratios, and benchmarks to determine a
firm's value. A benchmark may be selected by finding an industry-wide average, and that
average is then used to determine relative value.

49. What are some of the most common multiples in relative valuation?
 One of the most popular relative valuation multiples is the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.
It is calculated by dividing stock price by earnings per share (EPS), and is expressed as a
company's share price as a multiple of its earnings.

50. What is an optimal capital structure for a company?

The number of units a company can manufacture at the lowest possible cost. Generally
speaking, a company is said to have reached optimum capacity when the cost of the production
of one additional unit is equal to the average cost for every unit.
51. Explain fixed and floating rate mechanisms?
A floating interest rate implies that the rate of interest is subject to revision every
quarter. The interest charged on the loan will be pegged to the base rate, which is determined
by the RBI based on various economic factors. With changes in the base rate, the interest
charged on the loan will also vary.
Fixed interest rate implies that the lending rate is fixed for the term of your loan.

52. How does interest rates and inflation affect exchange rates?
Low interest rates spur consumer spending and economic growth, and generally positive
influences on currency value. If consumer spending increases to the point where demand
exceeds supply, inflation may ensue, which is not necessarily a bad outcome. But low interest
rates do not commonly attract foreign investment. Higher interest rates tend to attract foreign
investment, which is likely to increase the demand for a country's currency.

53. What is the role of credit rating agencies?

A rating agency is a company that assesses the financial strength of companies and
government entities, especially their ability to meet principal and interest payments on their
debts. The rating assigned to a given debt shows an agency's level of confidence that the
borrower will honour its debt obligations as agreed.
ECONOMIC BASED QUESTIONS

1. What are the 3 central problems of economics?

· What to Produce? - It is related to the type and quantity of goods and services that
need to be produced.
· How to Produce? - This aspect deals with the process or technique by which the goods
and services can be produced.
· For whom to Produce? - This problem deals with determining the final consumers of the
goods produced.

2. What is deficit budgeting?

The term deficit financing is generally referred to as a technique used by a government to
manage the ‘Fiscal Deficit’ in budgetary situations. An excess of estimated expenditure over the
estimated revenue over a specific period of time is known as fiscal deficit. Governments across
the world normally resort to cover the deficit by borrowing from the public through the sale of
bonds, disinvestment of Government’s stake in PSEs, by printing new money, etc.

3. What is the difference between capital and current account?

Capital Account and Current Account are the two key elements of the ‘Balance of Payments’
(BOP), which records a country’s economic transactions with other countries over a period of
time. Capital account records changes in the capital of the economy due to capital receipts and
expenditure whereas Current account records all the inflow and outflow of funds to and from
the country for a specific period resulting from trading products and services and other income.

4. What is the difference between Keynesian and Classical economics?

Classical economics and Keynesian economics are both schools of thought that are different in
approaches to defining economics. Classical economic theory is the belief that a self-regulating
economy is the most efficient and effective because as needs arise people will adjust to serving
each other’s requirements. Keynesian economics harbors the thought that government
intervention is essential for an economy to succeed.

5. What is the basic rationale behind the Real Business Cycles theory?
The real business cycle theory views aggregate economic variables as the outcomes of the
decisions made by many economic agents acting to maximize their utility subject to production
possibilities and resource constraints. Their views mainly relate to technology shocks, labour
market, interest rate, role of money, fiscal policy, prices and wages in business
6. What is indifference curve?
Indifference Curve is a curve on a graph (the axes of which represent quantities of two
commodities) linking those combinations of quantities which the consumer regards as of equal
value.

7. What is the Production Possibility Frontier?

A production–possibility frontier (PPF), production possibility curve (PPC), or production
possibility boundary (PPB), or Transformation curve/boundary/frontier is a curve which shows
various combinations of the amounts of two goods which can be produced within the given
resources and technology.

8.What is the IS-LM framework?

The IS-LM model appears as a graph that shows the intersection of goods and the money
market. The IS stands for Investment and Savings. The LM stands for Liquidity and Money. On
the vertical axis of the graph, ‘r’ represents the interest rate on government bonds. The IS-LM
model attempts to explain a way to keep the economy in balance through an equilibrium of
money supply versus interest rates.

9. What are Giffen goods?

Giffen good, a concept commonly used in economics, refers to a good that people consume
more of as the price rises. Therefore, a Giffen good shows an upward-sloping demand curve
and violates the fundamental law of demand. It is important to note that all Giffen goods are
inferior goods, but not all inferior goods are Giffen goods.
10. What is the use of economics in the field of management?
Managerial Economics can be defined as amalgamation of economic theory with business
practices so as to ease decision-making and future planning by management. Managerial
Economics assists the managers of a firm in a rational solution of obstacles faced in the firm’s
activities. It makes use of economic theory and concepts. It helps in formulating logical
managerial decisions.

11. What economic changes were initiated by the Government under the Industrial Policy/ the
New Economic Policy (NEP) of 1991?
New Economic Policy refers to economic liberalisation or relaxation in the import tariffs,
deregulation of markets or opening the markets for private and foreign players, and reduction
of taxes to expand the economic wings of the country.
The branches of the new economic policy are threefold:
1. Liberalization
2. Privatization
3. Globalization
The government sought to open up the Indian economy through these measures and gear India
from a Soviet-model economy to a market economy. This is an ongoing process and the
initiation was done in 1991.

12. What is GDP? What is the GDP growth rate of India?

GDP or Gross Domestic Product is basically the total monetary output of a country in a specific
time period, usually a year. To put it simply, it’s the final value of all the goods and services
produced in the county in a year. It’s one of the most efficient ways to track down the
economic wellbeing of the country.
India’s current estimated GDP growth rate is 6%.

13. Distinguish between microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Microeconomics talks about the actions of an individual unit, i.e. an individual, firm, household,
market, industry, etc. On the other hand, the Macro Economics studies the economy as a
whole, i.e., it assesses not a single unit but the combination of all i.e., firms, households, nation,
industries, market, etc.
14. How would you differentiate between nominal and real interest rates?
A real interest rate is an interest rate that has been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation
to reflect the real cost of funds to the borrower and the real yield to the lender or to an
investor. A nominal interest rate refers to the interest rate before taking inflation into account.
Nominal can also refer to the advertised or stated interest rate on a loan, without taking into
account any fees or compounding of interest.

15. What is your understanding of monopoly?

The term monopoly means a single seller (mono = single and poly = seller). In economics, a
monopoly refers to a firm which has a product without any substitute in the market. Therefore,
for all practical purposes, it is a single-firm industry.

16. What is your understanding of the oligopoly market? Can you think of any examples?
Oligopoly is a market structure with a small number of firms, none of which can keep the others
from having significant influence. The concentration ratio measures the market share of the
largest firms Oligopoly is when a small number of firms collude, either explicitly or tacitly, to
restrict output and/or fix prices, in order to achieve above normal market returns. NEWS,
SMARTPHONES, MUSIC INDUSTRY.
17. What is inflation? What is its current rate?

Inflation is the decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time. A quantitative
estimate of the rate at which the decline in purchasing power occurs can be reflected in the
increase of an average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy over
some period of time. The rise in the general level of prices, often expressed as a percentage,
means that a unit of currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods. Current Inflation
rate is 5.1%.

18. What is stagflation?

In economics, stagflation or recession-inflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high,
the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It presents a
dilemma for economic policy, since actions intended to lower inflation may exacerbate
unemployment.
Market failure refers to the inefficient distribution of goods and services in the free market. In a
typical free market, the prices of goods and services are determined by the forces of supply and
demand, and any change in one of the forces results in a price change and a corresponding
change in the other force. The changes lead to a price equilibrium.
19. What according to you is a market failure and what causes it?
Causes of Market Failures
1. Externality
2. Public goods
3. Market control
4. Imperfect information in the market.

20. What are externalities?

In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit for a third party who did not agree to it. Air
pollution from motor vehicles is one example. The cost of air pollution to society is not paid by
either the producers or users of motorized transport. Externalities often occur when the
production or consumption of a product or service's private price equilibrium cannot reflect the
true costs or benefits of that product or service for society as a whole.
21. Explain the price elasticity of demand.
A good's price elasticity of demand (PED) is a measure of how sensitive the quantity demanded
of it is to its price. When the price rises, quantity demanded falls for almost any good, but it
falls more for some than for others. The price elasticity gives the percentage change in quantity
demanded when there is a one percent increase in price, holding everything else constant. If
the elasticity is -2, that means a one percent price rise leads to a two percent decline in
quantity demanded.

22. What are the important features of a capitalist economy?

The main features of the capitalist economy are as follows-
1. Existence of private property
2. Freedom of ownership
3. Desire to earn profit
4. Free competition and cooperation go together (Refer capitalist economy definition)
5. The role of an entrepreneur- Entrepreneurs are the pillars of the market capitalist
economy.
23. What are the important features of a socialist economy?
In a socialist economy the factors of production are all state-owned. So all the factories,
machinery, plants, capital, etc. is owned by a community in control of the State.
The main features of a socialist economy are as under:
1. Public or collective ownership of resources
2. Economic planning
3. Social welfare motive
4. Little importance of price mechanism

24. Explain Neo-Keynesian Economics.

Keynesian are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand
(total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and inflation. In the
Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the productive capacity of the
economy. Instead, it is influenced by a host of factors – sometimes behaving erratically –
affecting production, employment, and inflation.
25. What are some of the basic biases explained in Behavioral Economics?
Overconfidence Bias.
Self Serving Bias.
Self-serving cognitive bias.
Herd Mentality.
Loss Aversion.
Framing Cognitive Bias.
Narrative Fallacy.
Anchoring Bias.
Confirmation Bias
26. Who is the latest Indian to win a Nobel Prize in Economics. What is his/her contribution to
the field of economics?
Abhijit Banerjee was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics “for their experimental
approach for “alleviating global poverty.”

27. Who is known as the father of modern economics?

Adam Smith is known as the father of modern economics.

28. What is RBI? What are its functions?

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central bank. It controls the monetary policy concerning
the national currency, the Indian rupee. The basic functions of the RBI are-
-the issuance of currency
-to sustain monetary stability in India
- to operate the currency
-and maintain the country’s credit system.

29. What is Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem?

Arrow's impossibility theorem is a social-choice paradox illustrating the flaws of ranked voting
systems. It states that a clear order of preferences cannot be determined while adhering to
mandatory principles of fair voting procedures.

30. What is Purchasing Power Parity? Name top 5 countries in the world by GDP (Purchasing
Power Parity).

Purchasing power parity is a measurement of prices in different countries that uses the prices
of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currencies. In
many cases PPP produces an inflation rate that is equal to the price of the basket of goods at
one location divided by the price of the basket of goods at a different location. The PPP inflation
and exchange rate may differ from the market exchange rate because of poverty, tariffs, and
other transaction costs.
Consulting Related Interview Questions and Basic Concepts

1. Why do companies need consultants?

Consultants offer a wide range of services, including the following:
● Providing expertise in a specific market
● Identifying problems
● Supplementing existing staff
● Initiating change
● Providing objectivity
● Teaching and training employees
● Reviving an organization
● Creating a new business
● Develop solutions to problems and plans for capitalizing on opportunities.

2. Difference between strategy and tactics?

● Strategy defines your long-term goals and how you’re planning to achieve them. In other
words, your strategy gives you the path you need toward achieving your organization’s mission.
● Tactics are much more concrete and are often oriented toward smaller steps and a shorter
time frame along the way. They involve best practices, specific plans, resources, etc. They’re
also called “initiatives.”
3. How would you make your company more profitable?
There are four key areas that can help drive profitability. These are reducing costs, increasing
turnover, increasing productivity, and increasing efficiency.
Increasing business' profitability will depend on a number of factors - such as the business
sector you work in, the size of your business, or its operating costs. However, you could review
these options:
● Locating areas in your business that could be improved or made more efficient - e.g.
general business processes or administration
● Using key performance indicators (KPIs) to analyse your strengths and weaknesses - e.g.
rising costs or falling sales
● assessing your general business costs - e.g. overheads, how discounted deals with loyal
customers affect your profits, how productive your staff are
● reviewing your areas of business waste and reduce them - e.g. power supply costs
● regularly reviewing the pricing of your products
● testing the prices of any products you review before making the changes permanent
● improving your profitability through your best customers - use up-selling, cross selling and
diversifying techniques to improve your profit margins
● identifying areas of expenditure and limit these by bargaining with your suppliers
● long-term deals with suppliers to negotiate a better price on products
● researching new opportunities in your business sector and identifying where you could
expand the market
● put monitoring systems and processes in place - e.g. benchmarking
4. How to size a market?
To calculate market size, you need to understand your target customer. Assess interest in your
product by looking at competitor sales and market share, and through individual interviews,
focus groups or surveys. Your goal is to determine how many people within your target market
are likely to purchase your product.
There are two methods that are commonly used for market sizing: top-down and bottom-up.
Although the top-down method is simple, it's often unreliable and overly optimistic. It looks at
the "relevant" market size for your product or service, and then calculates how much your
organization might earn from it. A top-down approach gives you inflated data, and you often
can't rely on it to make good decisions.This is why it's much more effective to use the bottom-
up approach. This approach is time-consuming, because you do all of your own market research
and you don't rely solely on generalized forecasts and trends. However, you'll get a more
realistic and accurate assessment of your market's potential.
5. How many wheelchairs are purchased annually in the U.S.?
Assumptions -
1.No. Of hospitals = 100000, ambulatory service center = 100000, rehab = 10000 (Application -
Homecare, hospitals, ambulatory service center, rehabilitation)
2.No of wheelchair required in a hospital = 500, ambulatory service center = 100, rehab = 100
3.0.01% of US people are homecare patients and out of them only 50% would require
wheelchair
Total Wheelchair market in US = (100000*500)+(100000*100)+(10000*100)+(3.3
million*0.01*0.5)

6. What are the different segments of the wheelchair market in the U.S?
Based on product - manual and electric
Category – Pediatric and adult
Application – Homecare, hospitals, ambulatory service center, rehabilitation

7. How many people wear green on any given day in New York City.
Assuming that the population of New York is 8,500,000. Initial assumptions -
a. 10% people are indoor everyone else is outdoor on any given day
b. Indoor people are wearing 2 pieces of cloth and outdoor people 4 pieces
c. There is no specific preference on colour
d. Total ten colors
Assuming the probability of wearing a green dress is 1/10. The total number of people staying
indoor and wearing green color is 2*0.1*0.1*8500000=170000 people are wearing green and
are indoor.
Similarly, the number of people outdoor and wearing green are – 4*0.1*0.9*8500000 =
3060000
So the total number of people wearing green are - 170000 + 3060000 = 3230000

8. How would you react if you presented your ideas to a corporate executive who was
sceptical that you could achieve the desired results?
I think it comes down to convincing people and those around you that you can achieve the
desired results by pushing yourself and giving them a more detailed overview.

9. What was the most difficult case you ever worked on?
The most difficult case would be when I worked on a case to solve a case at my company for a
client to make a product for checking productivity of their employees.
10. So far, what has been your favourite case? And why?
The favorite case would be a case I worked on Pidilite’s corporate challenge.
11. Do you intend to continue consulting in the near future? Or do you already have a
plan for what you want to do next?
Consulting is currently my top career choice for the following three reasons.One, I want to
make a significant impact by working with executives at billion-dollar companies on their most
challenging business problems. The opportunity to make such a big difference is what excites
me and gets me out of bed. Two, I am passionate about this and through consulting, I can
further develop the soft and hard skills to make me a successful business executive.Three, I
enjoy working closely with teams, especially with bright and extraordinary people. I look
forward to getting to know my colleagues closer and developing friendships with them.

At this moment, I feel that no other career better suits my professional needs and goals than
consulting.

12. You're a consultant for a small business that sells a well-known product. A major
competitor launches a similar product that incorporates cutting-edge technologies.
What should a small business do in this situation?
13. A football stadium can hold how many tennis balls?
Assuming that the volume of a tennis ball is 4 cubic inches. There has to be some space in
between the packed tennis balls. Let’s say this takes up a quarter of the space. So each ball
takes 5 cubic inches in total.
Assuming the volume of a stadium is 100 million cubic feet and 5% of the space is occupied with
chairs and other types of construction.
No of balls = Available space / Total volume each ball will take = (0.95*100 million cubic feet)/5
cubic inches

14. Calculate the magnitude of the pencil market in the United States.
According to a report of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association, 5 billion pencils
were produced in the United States in 2006. Market tracking firm Business Communications Co.
estimated the number of home office users at 59 million in 2007

15. How quickly is the market for X expanding?

Projected growth rate = ((Targeted future value – Present value) / (Present value)) * 100

16. What kind of leader are you?

I would say I am a Situational leader who can implement a range of leadership types and modify
their style based on the needs of their employees and the environment. Because of its
versatility, this type of leadership can be effective in most organizations.

17. Describe how will you conduct a normal sales meeting.

Set an objective.
Set agenda
Creating meetings norms
Set expectations
Share action items and steps
18. What do you mean by strategic management? Why is it important?
Strategic management is the ongoing planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all
necessities an organization needs to meet its goals and objectives. Changes in business
environments will require organizations to constantly assess their strategies for success. The
strategic management process helps organizations take stock of their present situation, chalk
out strategies, deploy them and analyze the effectiveness of the implemented management
strategies. Strategic management strategies consist of five basic strategies and can differ in
implementation depending on the surrounding environment.
● Five stages of strategic management process:
● assessing the organization's current strategic direction;
● identifying and analyzing internal and external strengths and weaknesses;
● formulating action plans;
● executing action plans; and
● evaluating to what degree action plans have been successful and making changes when
desired results are not being produced.

19. In the following 12 months, we hope to save 20% of our budget. What can you do to
assist us in achieving this goal?
The company can follow cost leadership strategies to reduce the overall spending and save on
the budget. However, this might take more than a year to implement for a company of large
size. It can follow lean methodology to reduce overhead and eliminate unnecessary expenses.
Implementing the lean six sigma model can result in increased revenue and decreased costs.
Along with this some other steps to take are – automation, building partnerships and cross
selling whenever possible and outsourcing.

20. In this industry, what constitutes a competent consultant?

The following skills make a case for a competent management consultant -

a. They are strategic thinkers with an ability to focus on the whole system and consider the
interconnections and interdependencies within it.
b. They help other leaders and teams to not only define what success looks like but also to
ascertain whether operational capacity exists to deliver it.
c. They apply a process-improvement mindset and methodology so as to effectively solve
problems but also to evaluate the systems and processes beyond it to limit the likelihood of
unintended negative consequences or experiencing long-term harm down the line.
d. They comprehend the full scope of strategy and ensure the right strategic outcomes are
defined, and then lead navigational efforts to help execute and measure the results.
e. THey have deep understanding of performance metrics and are able to define which
data align with which metrics, how to turn the data into actionable intelligence that decision
makers can use and how, and in what format, the information should best be communicated
21. What do you think the most pressing concerns are in this industry (company you will
be interviewing for) – how will you approach this question?

Industry analysis is a market assessment tool used by businesses and analysts to understand
the competitive dynamics of an industry. It helps them get a sense of what is happening in an
industry, e.g., demand-supply statistics, degree of competition within the industry, state of
competition of the industry with other emerging industries, future prospects of the industry
taking into account technological changes, credit system within the industry, and the influence
of external factors on the industry.
Type of industry analysis -
I. Competitive Forces Model (Porter’s 5 Forces)
II. Broad Factors Analysis (PEST Analysis)
III. SWOT Analysis

22. What are some ethical issues that consultants should be aware of?

The following are a few of the ethical codes for a consultant.

1. Do no harm to your client.
2. Keep client information private unless the client or law requests otherwise.
3. Do not create dependence by you on your client, nor by your client on you.
4. Anticipate and avoid conflicts of interest (for example, representing two opposing
interests at once).
5. Do not act in the official capacity as an advocate for your client.
6. Do not go beyond your own expertise.
7. Do not skip the discovery phase of consulting.

23. Why are you interested in working for our consulting firm rather than one of the
Others?
I’m interested to work in your consulting firm because of the following reasons -
1. Exceptional People
2. Top Notch Clients
3. Challenging Projects
4. Professional Growth
5. Personal Growth
6. Strong Alumni Base
8. Ongoing Mentorship and Training
9. Opportunity to Develop a Specialty

24. From start to finish, walk me through the life cycle of a recent project you worked on.
What were the outcomes/deliverables you were able to achieve? What went good and
what went wrong?
I integrated live and virtual programs into interactive and cohesive products and collaborated
with project managers to set goal-oriented but realistic coding landmarks for the duration of
the project lifecycle. Also, I assisted in collaboration & acquisition efforts by designing proposals
to potential clients. Along with that, I liaised with product managers to identify viable product
requirements and use-cases into well-defined user stories for the team. I also worked on data
analysis based on client data. Essentially, it ensured that the different applications were built
and delivered to the different clients.
25. Tell me about a moment when you had a difficult client to deal with. What did you
take away from the encounter? What would you change if you could?
During the covid situation last year, the workload increased multifold and some of the
resources were not available during that period, but there were some very important
deliverables that had to be completed. I think pressure is something you must accept and thrive
upon. So, I had to work longer and smarter as well, and eventually, I got the job done and it was
one of the most important achievements I did during my period at my previous job.
26. Describe an instance when you had to guide a group of people through a challenging
Task.
I worked with a new product development group because it would provide me with a new
experience. We were experimenting with technology that had not yet been worked on
internally. It was not used before, but we had done such a good job as a group and I was
responsible for the entire development group’s work and I had to lead a team of 6 to ensure we
managed to deliver the necessary deliverables for the client.
27. Describe an instance when you were working on various projects for different clients.
How will you manage to avoid overstretching yourself?
Last year, the workload increased multifold and some of the resources were not available
during that period, but there were some very important deliverables that had to be completed.
I think pressure is something you must accept and thrive upon. So, I had to work longer and
smarter as well, and eventually, I got the job done. One needs to stay calm to be successful.
28. How would you explain to a client a complicated technical issue?
In instances where I had to explain to the client some technical complicated issue I always took
help of the following methods.

a) real world analogies contextualized to the business domain

b) a deck containing examples related to the issue, the impact it will have on overall timelines
and proposed solutions that can be implemented

29. Consider having a challenging boss. What would you do in this situation?

Certain strategies that would help deal with a challenging boss are -
I. Determine your boss' motivations
II. Take responsibility when necessary
III. Choose your words carefully
IV. Empathize
V. Don't discuss your boss with coworkers
VI. Anticipate expectations
VII. Practice your leadership skills
VIII. Study your boss' communication style

30. Tell me about a time when you were pressed for time. How did you manage your time
to do the task?
I worked with a product development group and were experimenting with technology that had
not yet been worked on internally. It was not used before, but we had done such a good job as
a group and I was responsible for the entire development group’s work and I had to lead a team
of 6 to ensure we managed to deliver the necessary deliverables for the client.

31. Explain :
a. Porter’s Five forces

Porter's Five Forces is a model that identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape
every industry and helps determine an industry's weaknesses and strengths. Five Forces
analysis is frequently used to identify an industry's structure to determine corporate strategy.
Porter's model can be applied to any segment of the economy to understand the level of
competition within the industry and enhance a company's long-term profitability. The Five
Forces model is named after Harvard Business School professor, Michael E. Porter.

b. Value Chain Analysis

The term value chain refers to the various business activities and processes involved in creating
a product or performing a service. A value chain can consist of multiple stages of a product or
service’s lifecycle, including research and development, sales, and everything in between. The
concept was conceived by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter in his book The
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.
Taking stock of the processes that comprise your company’s value chain can help you gain
insight into what goes into each of its transactions. By maximizing the value created at each
point in the chain, your company can be better positioned to share more value with customers
while capturing a greater share for itself. Similarly, knowing how your firm creates value can
enable you to develop a greater understanding of its competitive advantage.

According to Porter’s definition, all of the activities that make up a firm's value chain can be
split into two categories that contribute to its margin: primary activities and support activities

Primary activities are those that go directly into the creation of a product or the execution of a
service, including:

Inbound logistics: Activities related to receiving, warehousing, and inventory management of

source materials and components
Operations: Activities related to turning raw materials and components into a finished product
Outbound logistics: Activities related to distribution, including packaging, sorting, and shipping
Marketing and sales: Activities related to the marketing and sale of a product or service,
including promotion, advertising, and pricing strategy
After-sales services: Activities that take place after a sale has been finalized, including
installation, training, quality assurance, repair, and customer service

Secondary activities help primary activities become more efficient—effectively creating a

competitive advantage—and are broken down into:

Procurement: Activities related to the sourcing of raw materials, components, equipment, and
services
Technological development: Activities related to research and development, including product
design, market research, and process development
Human resources management: Activities related to the recruitment, hiring, training,
development, retention, and compensation of employees
Infrastructure: Activities related to the company’s overhead and management, including
financing and planning
c. Blue Ocean & Red Ocean Strategy

Blue ocean strategy is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a
new market space and create new demand. It is about creating and capturing uncontested
market space, thereby making the competition irrelevant. It is based on the view that market
boundaries and industry structure are not a given and can be reconstructed by the actions and
beliefs of industry players.

A red ocean strategy involves competing in industries that are currently in existence. This often
requires overcoming an intense level of competition and can often involve the commoditization
of the industry where companies are competing mainly on price.

d. Ansoff Matrix

The Ansoff Matrix, also called the Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a tool used by firms to
analyze and plan their strategies for growth. The matrix shows four strategies that can be used
to help a firm grow and also analyzes the risk associated with each strategy

The four strategies of the Ansoff Matrix are:

Market Penetration: This focuses on increasing sales of existing products to an existing market.
Product Development: Focuses on introducing new products to an existing market.
Market Development: This strategy focuses on entering a new market using existing products.
Diversification: Focuses on entering a new market with the introduction of new products.

e. BCG Matrix
The Boston Consulting group’s product portfolio matrix (BCG matrix) is designed to help with
long-term strategic planning, to help a business consider growth opportunities by reviewing its
portfolio of products to decide where to invest, to discontinue or develop products. It's also
known as the Growth/Share Matrix.

The Matrix is divided into 4 quadrants based on an analysis of market growth and relative
market share, as shown in the diagram below.

1. Dogs: These are products with low growth or market share.

2. Question marks or Problem Child: Products in high growth markets with low market share.
3. Stars: Products in high growth markets with high market share.
4. Cash cows: Products in low growth markets with high market share

32. How can a company attain a competitive advantage?

The four primary methods of gaining a competitive advantage are cost leadership,
differentiation, defensive strategies and strategic alliances.

33. What is MECE logic?

MECE is a principle used by management consulting firms to describe a way of organizing

information. The MECE principle suggests that to understand and fix any large problem, you
need to understand your options by sorting them into categories that are: Mutually Exclusive–
Items can only fit into one category at a time and Collectively Exhaustive – All items can fit into
one of the categories.

34. What are corporate synergies?

Corporate synergy refers to a financial benefit that a corporation expects to realize when it
merges with or acquires another corporation. Corporate synergy occurs when corporations
interact congruently with one another, creating additional value. Synergies are divided into two
groups: operational and financial.

35. How will you suggest a client on Mergers and Acquisitions?

One must take many factors into consideration when deciding not only if you’re going to pursue
a merger or acquisition, but also how you’re going to execute the deal. M&A can be an
extremely laborious and involved process, so ensure you spend adequate time and resources
exploring the following:

Financing the Deal: Will you pursue a stock or asset deal? Also, think about additional costs,
such as tax implications (which will differ based on the type of deal you pursue), capital
expenditures, comparative ratios, and replacement costs.
Rival Bidders: As the buyer, don’t assume that you are the only party interested in the target
company. As the target company, you should explore multiple bids rather than accept the first
option.
Target Closing Date: Keep your ideal timeline in mind. The deal will inevitably take longer than
you anticipate, but tracking against a general schedule can help expedite processes and limit
stalling. Each party should be aware of the other’s timeline as well.
Market Conditions: Outside forces, such as trends in your product marketplace (or the larger
economy), will undoubtedly affect the success of a merger or acquisition. Spend time on
product and market forecasting — and consult outside experts when necessary — to improve
your chances of executing a worthwhile and financially valuable deal.
Laws: Understand the relevant corporate and antitrust laws, as well as securities regulations,
when moving through your M&A deal. Additionally, be aware of any exclusivity agreements as
you move through the process.

36. Mckinsey 7s?

The McKinsey 7S Framework is a management model developed by business consultants Robert
H. Waterman, Jr. and Tom Peters (who also developed the MBWA-- "Management By Walking
Around" motif, and authored In Search of Excellence) in the 1980s. This was a strategic vision
for groups, including businesses, business units, and teams. The 7 S's are structure, strategy,
systems, skills, style, staff and shared values.

Let's look at each of the elements individually:

Strategy: This is your organization's plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage
over its competitors.
Structure: this is how your company is organized (that is, how departments and teams are
structured, including who reports to whom).
Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff use to get the job done.
Shared values: these are the core values of the organization, as shown in its corporate culture
and general work ethic. They were called "superordinate goals" when the model was first
developed.
Style: the style of leadership adopted.
Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.
Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the organization's employees.

Placing shared values in the centre of the model emphasizes that these values are central to the
development of all the other critical elements.

The model states that the seven elements need to balance and reinforce each other for an
organization to perform well.

37. What is the Product Life Cycle?

The term product life cycle refers to the length of time a product is introduced to consumers
into the market until it's removed from the shelves. The life cycle of a product is broken into
four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
This concept is used by management and by marketing professionals as a factor in deciding
when it is appropriate to increase advertising, reduce prices, expand to new markets, or
redesign packaging.
Introduction: This phase generally includes a substantial investment in advertising and a
marketing campaign focused on making consumers aware of the product and its benefits.
Growth: If the product is successful, it then moves to the growth stage. This is characterized by
growing demand, an increase in production, and expansion in its availability.
Maturity: This is the most profitable stage, while the costs of producing and marketing decline.
Decline: A product takes on increased competition as other companies emulate its success—
sometimes with enhancements or lower prices. The product may lose market share and begin
its decline.

38. Your approach in solving:

a. Profitability issue related cases.

Here are Five Steps to Crack a Profitability Case Problem

1. Clarify the problem

2. Prepare your structure
3. Analyze the revenue side
4. Analyze the cost side
5. Close the profitability case

b. Market entry case.

Below are the 4 steps for the Market Entry Stategy Case.
Assessing the target market
The main goal here is to determine if the market is large, growing, and what the competitive
landscape looks like. In addition, you’ll want to determine if there are any additional factors
that might prevent a company from expanding successfully, for example, if there were a war in
the country, high levels of corruption or anti-American sentiment.

Key questions include:

● How big is the market and is it growing?

● Who is the target customer and what are their needs or preferences?
● What is the competitive landscape?
● Are there any social, macroeconomic, or geopolitical factors to consider?

Evaluating company capabilities

Now to dive into the client’s business to understand their product offering, their current
customers, strengths and weaknesses, and their financial situation. Just because a new market
is attractive doesn’t mean a company should always expand there. The company needs to have
the right characteristics to successfully enter.

The key questions you’ll want to answer in this step are:

● What is the current product and customer mix?

● What are the strengths and weaknesses of the company?
● Who are the key suppliers or partners?
● What is the current financial position?

Quantifying the opportunity

The next step is determining the investment that would be required to enter the market versus
the expected revenue potential. In other words, would the juice be worth the squeeze?

● What share of the market could be captured?

● What would the primary costs of entry be?
● What are the outstanding risks?

Developing a go-to-market plan

The final step for a market entry case is laying out the ‘how’ once you’ve come up with an
answer on whether or not to enter. There are several ways a company could enter a new
market.

Each of these would be evaluated using pros and cons:

Acquire a company in the target market

Form a partnership with a company e.g. sell through a local distributor rather than direct to
consumers
Grow organically into the new market, either with an existing brand or through a new brand
c. Pricing case.
Pricing a product is one of the most important aspects of your marketing strategy. Generally,
pricing strategies include the following five strategies.
Cost-plus pricing—simply calculating your costs and adding a mark-up
Competitive pricing—setting a price based on what the competition charges
Value-based pricing—setting a price based on how much the customer believes what you’re
selling is worth
Price skimming—setting a high price and lowering it as the market evolves
Penetration pricing—setting a low price to enter a competitive market and raising it later

d. Growth strategy case.

A growth strategy is an organization's plan for overcoming current and future challenges to
realize its goals for expansion. Examples of growth strategy goals include increasing market
share and revenue, acquiring assets, and improving the organization's products or services.
ANALYTICS ROLES - POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

General Questions:

1. Why did you think you are fit for an Analyst Job?
The major function in an analyst’s job is to utilize data to help companies make better business
decisions. My comfort with numbers, data collection, market research and analysis make this
role an ideal one for me. The reason for selecting this role was because it encompassed the
skills I’m good at, and allows me to work towards something, which I am really curious and
interested in.

2. What Analytics tools are you aware of? How would those be helpful in an organisation?
Some of the Analytics tools which I aware of are- SQL, Tableau

All these tools help to analyse the data, decipher the underlying trends and ultimately aide in
providing valuable insights towards business problems
3. What do you think is the role of a Business Analyst in an organization?
The Business Analyst works as a link between different stakeholders within an organization.The
person clarifies and finalizes the requirements, provides insights in project planning, designs
and finally validates the developed components as well. The personnel for this role should
possess adequate domain knowledge and should be able to sort the business needs amongst
the stakeholders belonging to different domains.
4. Give an example of a scenario where analytics can be used in our organization?
Using historical sales data in analytics, one could understand which product is most popular
among the customers, which parts of the year sales are high/low by product and contribution
to sales by region. With an understanding of these factors, decisions about how to price less
popular products, what discounts to offer on which product and which part of the year and
which region or demographic requires additional marketing efforts, etc. can be made.

5. Provide an example of how you have used data in your past experiences (personal or
professional) to support your decision making process?
In a recent experience for a case study competition, we had to allocate certain fixed amount of
resources, amongst some objects each of whom had different values for a few fixed
parameters. Although we had a qualitative idea on how to proceed with the problem, to decide
on the exact value, we took the help of the data present. A simple optimization model was
created which took into account the various boundary conditions and objective constraints. The
model used the data present and presented us the exact amount that needs to be distributed
amongst each individual object.

6. What steps would you follow to build a predictive model?

The steps are as follows:
o Understand and define the problem statement
o Explore the correct profile of data for your model
o Clean the selected data
o Build the predictive model
Iterate the model and monitor the results over a time period

7. What will you do if you find conflicting data during your analysis?
The first step would be to perform data validation to check whether training data is
representative of real world data using secondary data sources. This would help identify the
"right" records from a set of conflicting records.
Post this, to handle database related conflicts - update, deletion, uniqueness - architectures and
frameworks that prevent and/or detect and eliminate such conflicts in real time can be used to
maintain data integrity.
8. Explain the software development life cycle.
The process is followed within a software organization for efficient software evolution. It
consists of a detailed plan describing how to develop, maintain, replace and alter or enhance
specific software. The main steps in this cycle are:
1. Planning
2. Defining
3. Designing
4. Building
5. Testing
6. Deployment

9. What is Agile methodology & the various terminologies involved?

It is a process involving disciplined project management which encourages frequent inspection
and adaptation of requirements. It is based on the principle of iterative development, wherein
requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-
functional teams. The various terminologies involved are:
1. Acceptance criteria
2. Burndown
3. Backlog grooming
4. Sprint
10. What are the various steps involved in an analytics project?
The 7 vital steps in an analytics project are:
1. Understand the Business problem
2. Get the Data
3. Clean Data as per requirement
4. Manipulate Dataset to ensure maximum suitability
5. Understand the underlying trends using data visualizations
6. Perform exploratory analysis based on requirement such as descriptive or predictive etc
Try to perform multiple iterations to get a better output
Conceptual Questions:

1. What is Linear Regression & its use case?

Linear regression is a method of statistical modeling that assumes that the target variable is a
linear combination of independent variable(s). It can be used to predict continuous variables,
for e.g. heart rate from other patient medical data, rainfall from weather patterns, etc.
2. What is logistic regression and how to interpret the result?
Logistic regression is a classification method used to predict the likelihood of one class of target
variable occurring over the other given a certain set of conditions - independent variables. it
maps input to target using a logit function to make this possible. All output values are between
0 and 1. In binomial logistic regression, a binary classification problem, one class is assigned 1
and another 0. The output lying in [0,1] is then thresholded to be assigned to one class or
another.
3. Is logistic regression a regression or a classification model?
It is a non-linear regression model which uses the logit function at output. It is used for
classification only.
4. What are the assumptions of linear regression?

The assumptions are:

- The relationship between input and target variables is linear
- The variance of errors in prediction / residuals is the same for any value of input variable
- Each record/observation is independent
The target variable is normally distributed
5. What is EDA (exploratory data analysis)?
EDA is the process of understanding the given dataset by both visual inspection as well as
statistical and summary methods. Visual methods are the first check which allows spotting of
any glaring irregularities providing direction for statistical analysis. Mean, median, mode, box-
plots and detection of empty values are used to understand quality of data and weed out
outliers. This process may also include removing unwanted variables and correlation analysis.
6. How to handle missing values in a data set?

There a few ways to handle missing data:

- If the records corresponding to missing bvalue form a very small portion of the dataset, it is
reasonable to delete those records
If deletion is not acceptable, then missing values can be replaced by central values like median
or mode which are robust to outliers
7. What are the various data reduction techniques?

Data reduction techniques are in general used to reduce the size of the dataset for
computational reasons. Some of the methods are -
- Data aggregation to produce condensed summary data in cases where that is sufficient
- Dimensionality reduction to eliminate collinear variables and reduce size of dataset
Data compression like in the case of audio and images which can be both lossless and lossy

8. State the difference between feature selection and factor analysis.

Factor analysis is a method of expressing variability among observed correlated variables in
terms of a lower number of unobserved abstract variables called factors. This can be used for
dimensionality reduction.
Feature selection is a method of trying combinations of given independent variables to predict
target and choosing the combination (a subset) of independent variables that models the target
to an acceptable level of accuracy using metrics such p value.

9. How do you clean data? What are the steps involved?

The steps involved are -

- Remove duplicates or irrelevant observations
- Fix structural errors or conventions in variable values - NA and Not Applicable being present in
same column
- Filter outliers
- Handle missing data
Validate data using manual checks and correlation analysis

10. What is correlation and causation?

Correlation is the measure of the strength of relationship between 2 variables. But correlation
does not imply that change in one variable causes the other to change. Causation is when one
variable changing causes the second variable to change in a certain way - a cause and effect.
11. How do you handle multicollinearity?

Ways of handling multicollinearity -

- Removing some highly correlated independent variables using adjusted R score and variance
inflation factor to pick the right set of variables
- Use factor or component analysis methods to reduce dimensionality in a vector space that is
different from the given bases
Use methods such as LASSO and ridge regression that have regularization methods

12. Explain classification, clustering and name some of the algorithms under both.
Classification uses predefined classes to train a model whereas clustering groups data points
into categories that are not predefined using similarity between data points for given variables.
That is classification is supervised and clustering is unsupervised.
Classification algorithms - Logistic regression, SVM Classification, Bayes, Nearest neighbour
Clustering algorithms - K-means, Gaussian Mixture Modeling, t-SNE

13. How do you measure the efficiency of a classification model?

Performance of a classification model can be measured using the follow metrics - accuracy,
precision, recall,F1 score which is a composite of precision and recall, binary/categorical cross-
entropy

State the difference between Normalization and Standardization

Normalization rescales values to within a range of [0,1] whereas standardization rescales values
to have a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.

14. How do you handle biased data?

Methods of handling biased data -

- Imbalanced datasets that have more records corresponding to one class than another can be
resampled to eliminate this bias
- Use k-fold cross-validation to minimize effect of bias in training
- Carefully analyze the utility of variables at the cleaning stage to avoid removing seemingly
unimportant variables. This prevents exclusion bias.
Perform data validation methods to ensure training data is representative of real world

15. What is the difference between Diagnostic and Descriptive analytics?

Descriptive analytics is any analytics that is used to understand and report what has happened
(in a business over the last year, for example) using standard metrics. it does not go into
recommendation, it is merely a set of statistically backed observation and/or inferences.
Diagnostics analytics goes a step further and tries to understand and report why certain things
happened removing influence of confounding factors as far as possible.

16. How would you handle overfitting and underfitting?

Overfitting can be handled by -
- increasing size of training data
- using cross validation during training
- reducing number of training cycles on same dataset
- reducing the degree of polynomial being fitted in case of regression
Underfitting can be handled by -
- Increasing degree of polynomial being fitted
- Increasing number of epochs of training
Using a more complex models that can capture the more complex behaviour of system to be
modelled

17. How will you decide the appropriate model for analysis for any problem statement?
The first step is always to estimate the complexity of the system to be modelled based on
subject matter expertise. This gives us a point from where to start. Then more models that are
of the same or different type are tested for performance. In the end, a set of models (as
exhaustive as possible within given time, computational and cost constraints) are tested and
compared using the same performance metrics to identify the best model for the job at hand.

18. What are the different types of Analytics and what are they used for?
Descriptive analytics - Used to answer the question "what happened?". It is comprehensive and
accurate. Diagnostic analytics - "Why is it happening?". It drills down to the root cause of
isolating all confounding information Predictive analytics - "What is most likely going to
happen?" - Historical patterns used to predict future likelihood based on which business
decisions can be taken.
Prescriptive analytics - "What do I need to do?" - Recommends actions, strategies based on
testing strategy outcomes

Product Analyst Questions:

1. How would you measure the success of a product launch?
There can be both quantitative and qualitative approaches to measure the success can be:
Quantitative (KPI's):
1. Campaign launch metrics: Leads generated, Website Traffic, News Coverage
2. Production Adoption Coverage: Customer Usage, User Retention
3. Market Impact Metrics: Revenue Generated, Competitive Win Rate
4. Qualitative Feedback Metrics: Customer Review, Internal Feedback
Qualitative Methods:
Understand if the new product launched actually fits into your long terms company vision
If the product launched is generating enough "media attention", "market penetration" and
"customer curiosity"
2. What is AB testing?
In this method we compare two versions of a product/service against each other on different
samples of customers equally representative of the population and determine which one
performs better. Essentially it is an experiment of two or more variants being shown to users
randomly, and we try to find statistically which variation performs better for a given goal.

3. What criteria are important when you are deciding what data you will work with while
analyzing the product?
The criterias to keep in mind in these cases are:
1. What is the source of the data
2. Is the data available readily usable or if modifications need to be made to ensure usability
3. How will the data be connected in the bigger picture - is it relevant?
4. Is the process to import data feasible
Can you verify the data through other means

4. What is meant by Benchmarking?

It is a method in which we compare our practices and the best possible ones from other
organizations and set standards/frameworks so that it can lead to the implementation of best
practices and improve business processes.

5. Explain KPI & name some of the product success metrics.

It stands for Key Performance Indicator, a measure of performance which is quantifiable in
nature. The indicator is measured over time for a specific objective. They help provide insights
that allow the organizations to make better decisions. Some of the product success metrics are:
1. Monthly Recurring Revenue
2. Churn Rate
3. Customer Lifetime Value
Customer Acquisition Cost

6. What is a user flow diagram & user journey diagram?

User journeys touch upon different aspects such as the user pain points and emotions while
users are engaged with products/services.
User journey, on the other hand, helps us take a customer focused design approach. It provides
a true reflection of the user research and not just limited to the assumed hypothesis
Situation-Based Questions:

1. Consider a hypothetical situation: An online e-commerce company has a huge difference in

sales of 2 categories of products namely home furniture and skin care products (Skin care
products having lower sales than Home furniture goods). What are the possible reasons for the
same?
The possible reasons are that e-commerce company -
- is selling skin care products that are from new/unknown brands which customers don't yet
trust
- is known for furniture and has recently added skin care products to its portfolio
- does not offer competitive rates on skin care products when compared to competitors but
does so for furniture
- offers a range of furniture from well-known brands that are industry standard but does in case
of skin care products
offers a very small collection of skin care products that are for a niche market

2. Consider 2 products, headphones and keyring, of a company with 80% confidence of them
being associated (headphone is associated with keyring). Would you consider the 2 products to
be associated, based on the above data alone?
The conditional probability of them being bought together is 80%. This indicates that the
majority of the time they are brought together by the customers during the purchase process.
Hence we can consider them to be associated in the given context.

3. A model gives 97% accuracy with training data but its accuracy drops when applied to test
data. What could be the reason?
The model has been underfitted to the training data. More cycles of training (epochs) and/or
increasing amount of training data will help overcome this problem in case training-validation-
testing split of the dataset was done in an unbiased way.

4. Research has been conducted to understand users’ sentiment towards cold drinks.
Categories like “Bad for health”, “Good taste” and “Juices are a better alternative” are formed
on the basis of users’ responses. What technique would be used to group each user under the
given categories?
Since the data under consideration is labeled data, so we can use supervised learning technique
such as Classification to help segment the users based on the given categories provided

5. Consider a fashion brand, having both retail and online presence, that wants to reduce
customer attrition. You wish to develop a predictive model to identify customers who are more
likely to stop shopping from you. How would you go about collecting the data for this process?
SQL - Refer till “Having Clause” in this link.

We can use SQL to analyse the database by looking at some of the KPI's involved:

- Cross category purchase below a certain threshold can indicate customers who are not deeply
engaged
- Find the count of customers filing complaints and providing negative feedbacks
- Repeat Purchase rate below a set threshold might indicate higher customer attrition
- Higher number of customers who have returned their products, indicate disregard for the
product.
- Low average purchase value indicates lower customer affinity.