Guess-estimates and Market Sizing Questions
Market sizing questions are straightforward and should be solved within 10 minutes and 4-5 steps with 1 level of segmentation. You measure the existing market of an item in total units or total sales (Rs.) (it is important to clarify up front which one it is unless mentioned). In most market sizing cases, the interviewer has no clue of the exact solution – nor does he/she care. The emphasis is more on how you arrive at your conclusion (did you go off on a tangent? could you defend your assumptions?) rather than the conclusion itself. They are only testing your thought process.

Also, for market sizing questions, be prepared for adjustments at the end of the case – “What if the % of the population used was this? What is your most sensitive assumption?”

• What is the annual income of a pick-pocketer working in Select Citywalk Mall?
• How many marriages occur in India every year?
• What is the average monthly income of an office canteen?
• How much money is spent daily by the students (One batch) at your college to commute to and from college
• How many people travel on the yellow line every day?
• Estimate the price of an eraser 5 years from now.
• What is the total amount of mineral water in the building?
• Guess the number of medical stores in Delhi? OR Estimate the number of medical store visits in a day
• The amount (in L) of orange juice in tetra-packs sold in Delhi-NCR in one year.
• Guess the number of passengers boarding a flight from Bangalore in a day?
• How many people voted in Delhi election?
• Estimate the powdered milk market in Europe?  
• Determine the number of Tires in India.
• Determine the number of Homeopathic Doctors in India
• What is the size of the Indian market for bicycles?
• How many traffic signals are there in India?

 Logical Reasoning and Brainteasers
Brainteasers are logic puzzles and/or riddles asked by the interviewers to test analytical and creative thinking process of the interviewee. Never give the answer right away. Take some time to think and then try finding a logical solution. The interviewer is most interested in your thought process and not in the final answer.

• You have 2 light bulbs. You are in multi-story building such that if you drop a bulb from a floor of a certain height or higher the bulb will break: for ex: if the bulb will break at a minimum height of 10th floor, then the bulb will break if dropped only if dropped from a floor higher than tenth floor. It will not break if dropped from ninth floor or less. Using the two bulbs how will you figure out at which floor will the bulb break?
• How can you find 3 fastest horses among of 25 horses with 5 race tracks given to you to find out by racing them up(in minimum races)?
• Find a 10 digit number such that each digit represents the number of times the position of the digit in the number, starting from 0 up to 9, appears in the number.
• How would you be affected in particular if China was devastated by an Earthquake?
• Why are soda cans cylindrical?
• How many tennis balls can fit in a cricket stadium?
• Why are manhole covers round?
• How many times heavier than a mouse is an elephant?
• How would you determine the weight of a commercial aeroplane without a scale?
• You are in a cabin, and it is pitch black. You have one match on you. Which do you light first?
• A man pushed his white car. He stopped as soon as he reached a hotel, at which point he knew he was bankrupt. What happened?
• A woman bought something from the market and went to work. She died at work after that. Figure how?
• A man goes to a bar and asks for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says ‘Thank you’ and walks out.

Business Acumen
Business acumen questions are given to you to check your knowledge and about solving real business problems. The questions can be based on new product, market opportunity, profitability, business fraud, competitors, financials, revenue, operational efficiency, etc. It can be anything and everything. To solve these questions you can use the frameworks like Porter’s five force, Benchmarking, balances scorecard, etc. Make sure you consider all possibilities and ask questions whenever stuck.

• What can be the problems that Dominoes would face if they decide to launch burgers
• How can Colgate increase sales in the best cost-effective way
• Why did Coke introduce a smaller can at the same price?
• How did the introduction of 200 ml can affect the sales of the 300 ml can?
• Your client is a telephone company trying to reduce the costs and improve performance in the repair service operation. How do you approach the problem? How would you go about implementing your solution?
• You have been called in by a Big 5 accounting firm that is experiencing declining profitability in its auditing operation. What levers would you push to help improve profitability?
• You have an airline client who is concerned about volatile revenue streams. How would you approach this problem?
• Over the past few years, our client, a retail bank, has gone from one bank in one state to eight banks in eight states. Although some of the banks are profitable, the company as a whole is losing money. Specifically, four individual banks are losing money. How would you analyze this problem?
• Your client is a medical products division of a large healthcare company. The division, formerly the market leader with near–monopoly power, has seen its profits and market share shrink dramatically as new entrants proliferate. You are charged with stemming share loss while providing shareholder value in the division. What do you do?
• Hughes Aircraft is planning to spend $1 billion to launch a 250-channel TV satellite. Your client, a large cable TV company, is wondering if this action is a serious threat to their business. How would you go about analyzing this situation and providing your client with an answer?
• A Baby Bell company is interested in diversifying into other areas besides telecommunications. They are considering entering the market for electronic home security systems. Would you recommend that they do so?