PWC Deals Strategy Interview

Hi there,

What to expect in general

You should absolutely expect cases/questions to be much more deal focused. As such, you should practice M&A/DD cases.

Furthermore, they would absolutely expect you to leverage your existing experience in your answers.

Finally, I interviewed with PwC in their Technology practice and I can tell you that it felt much less "case-y" than the pure strategy firms. As such, just be prepared to not be taken through a whole case. As an example, off the bat I was asked "How would you organize a backlog of IT enhancements". Of course, I used my judgement to not treat it like a case and just went through the classifications/process I would use and why. Make sure to read the cues here!

How to Prepare

1) Search on M&A/Acquisitions/Valuation here (already done): https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases?language=en&topic[]=1&topic[]=19&sort=real-case-desc&page=1&perPage=20

2) Google and casebooks are your friend. Go to the various company sections to find M&A cases

3) Here's a case I wrote that is similar to what you might expect: https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/roma-solutions-senior-expert-level-tech-case-240

Here's some advice/reading regarding case prep: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

And here's some advice/reading regarding fit prep:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Hello!

Even for such an specific interview, I would ensure that you can defend yourself on the following:

1. Profitability cases- basic profitability framework.

2. Idea generation cases: for any specif issue

3. Growth cases: market penetration, new product launch, product mix change, etc.

4. Pricing cases

5. M&A cases

6. Valuation cases

7. Value chain cases

On top of that, make sure you deep dive in M&A cases. Feel free to reach out for some M&A examples and frameworks, it´s one of my favs since I did a lot in McKinsey. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

You should expect cases on evaluating an investment. 

Therefore, I suggest that you should do the following:

• Have a basic understanding of how private equity investments work (i.e., how does a PE fund make money?) 
• Search on the internet for commercial due diligence material and info memos to read and study
• Run cases on revenue growth
• Analyze companies (e.g., which are the market risks and opportunities, which are the company-specific risks and opportunities, and is this firm fitting with other ones in the PE portfolio?)

Best