what happens if you don't acquire all the background info in the case

Question

This topic of oil wells is new to me so I asked about the following questions:

Length of contract
Cost to pay for contract (I assumed capex cost but here it is a fixed opex cost)
cost breakdown
revenue driven by spot price

However, i did not acquire that there is a maximum of 10 rigs in each region.

what would happen in this case if this information did not come naturally to me in a real case from a non-science background since I wasn't aware of this design?

Would I receive this information after my clarifying questions, not receive this information at all etc?

Just want to hear some thoughts on what would happen and how to avoid this situation!

Answer 1

Hi,

This is a great question.

Remember that the case interview is not a test of your content - it is a test of your thinking.

Speaking in general terms - if a piece of information / variable was that critical to coming up with a robust answer, then solid logic and asking the right questions would have got you to that variable.

E.g. in this particular case, the how much money the firm can make would be dependent on the # of rigs * amount that can be extracted per rig
E.g. or if you figured out that amount of oil is driven by the rate at which oil can be extracted out of the ground, then as an interviewer I would have asked you again, ‘well what drives the amount of oil that can be extracted out of the ground’ → and the logical answer is the # of machines/equipment (which is essentially the # of rigs)

A good, MECE and logical structure will always point you in the right direction and help you to get the right information that you need. And interviewers are trained to recognize you on that.

All the best!

Answer 2

Hi there,

Ok, so it truly depends.

If there is clear logic missing, then that's a problem. As a very simple example, if they give you revenues and you don't think to ask for costs, that's bad!

But, if they give you IT costs, wage costs, and raw material costs, and you don't think to ask shipping costs, well, that's less bad.

Ultimately, you need to be thinking critically like a consultant and asking for information in a way that ensures you do not miss information. There are clever ways to do this (wording the question right, building up your critical thinking skills, etc.)

In real life, at a client site if you don't ask something that's needed, that's pretty bad right?

All that said, you still should be ok. The above is in an ideal world and for a perfect case performance.The interviewer will likely give the info to you. At the very least, they will hint at it. As long as you adjust based on that and don't get rattled, you should still be just fine in the case.

Answer 3

Hi there!

That's a great question.

Basically, when you start a case, make sure that you are clear on the information that you were provided with i.e., you noted down correctly all the data points and the question that you need to answer.

Then, reflect on whether you can already provide an emerging hypothesis. Or if there's any information that you'd additionally need in order to increase your level of confidence in that hypothesis. Then ask that question.

If not, then set up the structure that will enable you to reach a hypothesis and solve the client's problem. Prioritise the structure to start from the most important things.

This should enable you to find out everything that you need to solve the problem (in theory). In practice, the interviewer will nudge you along the way.

It's perfectly fine if you don't figure out everything from the beginning. They are not interested in a flawless performance, but in understanding how you think through the problem.

Best,
Cristian

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