Non-Profit/Public Sector/Non-Traditional Case Strategies

Question

2 main questions:

1. What are your favorite non-profit or non-traditional cases? (I include things like process improvement and organizational restructuring in these categories)

2. What questions, areas of emphasis, or considerations do you make with non-profit cases?

I've experienced some trouble with non-profit/public sector cases recently, particularly with clearly defining objectives (yes, I make sure to define the objective at the beginning of every case) and the best way to measure impact. I'd like to hear any advice, plus any answers to the two questions above. Thanks

John

Answer 1

Hi,

These types of cases are actually pretty traditional, especially for McKinsey. The reason why people think that they are rare is that the casebooks (that are in general not a good source of cases) do not have enough of them.

To provide a bit of structure, there are several types of non-profit cases:

Factors influencing the price (What are the factors influencing the price of oil? Factors influencing the price of real estate?)
Macroeconomic cases (How will you improve life expectancy in a particular city? How will you decrease the unemployment?)
Public sector non-profits (Increasing the revenues of a museum; increasing the revenues from tourism in a city)
Redesigning the processes (How will you develop a new anti-monopoly regulation?)
Non-profit investments (A billionaire is building a new school. What are the factors to look at?)
Ops and cost-cutting (How to reduce the traffic jams on a bridge? A garbage processing facility is out of capacity, what should they do?) - I personally consider them as a separate type of cases that is pretty traditional in the offices performing a lot of ops projects.

Answering your second question about the objective - you can still define the objective for most of them. Two types of questions you should ask:

Could you please clarify the model / business model? E.g. if a billionaire is building a new school, is it a school for talented kids, rich kids or mass segment? Is it going to generate revenues?
What are the main criteria for success? Is it NPV, ROI, share talented kids entering the top Universities?

Best!

Answer 2

Hi,

These types of cases are actually pretty traditional, especially for McKinsey. The reason why people think that they are rare is that the casebooks (that are in general not a good source of cases) almost don't have them

Feel free to reach me if you need a prep on them.

To provide a bit of structure, there are several types of non-profit cases:

Factors influencing the price (What are the factors influencing the price of oil? Factors influencing the price of real estate?)
Macroeconomic cases (How will you improve life expectancy in a particular city? How will you decrease the unemployment?)
Public sector non-profits (Increasing the revenues of a museum; increasing the revenues from tourism in a city)
Redesigning the processes (How will you develop a new anti-monopoly regulation?)
Non-profit investments (A billionaire is building a new school. What are the factors to look at?)
Ops and cost-cutting (How to reduce the traffic jams on a bridge? A garbage processing facility is out of capacity, what should they do?) - I personally consider them as a separate type of cases that is pretty traditional in the offices performing a lot of ops projects.

Best

Answer 3

You should check out Bridgespan website. McKinsey site also has a case example on social sector.

Answer 4

Hi there,

Both Sloan 2011 casebook and ESADE casebook have several decent examples of non-profit cases (PM me if you can't find online and I can share)

Additionally, the McKinsey website has several case examples: https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/interviewing. from the list, two cases "Diconsa" and "Transforming a National education system" are non-profit cases.

I also agree with Vlad, that these types of cases are fairly common at McKinsey but considerably less common at BCG/Bain.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Hello John,

I would like to share with you the most typical Non-profit case, which is mostly used in the final round of interviews.

Check it out, https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/interviewer-led-mckinsey-style/advanced/mbb-final-round-case-non-profit-museum-revenue-increase-219 whether you can crack it?

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

GB

Answer 6

Hi Aditya,

You can check the recent uploads of cases, where I have shared the real non-profit case, which is used mostly in the final round of interviews.

You can find it here https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/interviewer-led-mckinsey-style/advanced/mbb-final-round-case-non-profit-museum-revenue-increase-219

Can you solve it?

Do you have any further questions?

GB