Segmentations: The 4th Way To Be MECE In Case Interviews
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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The MECE principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) is the most famous principle in management consulting.
It is used every single day by McKinsey, BCG and Bain consultants to structure their client's problems just like you see in case interviews.
When I was preparing for my case interviews I was constantly afraid I was not being MECE when solving my cases. Everyone told me that I should be MECE: Victor Cheng, Case in Point, and all the other "experts".
But one thing they did not tell me was HOW to be MECE.
In this video, I'm sharing with you The 4th Way To Be MECE: Segmentations. This means you're slicing your problem according to one or more criteria to create your MECE structure.
This video is a follow-on from another video, The 5 Ways To Be MECE, which are 5 practical techniques you can use to create your own customized frameworks.
Segmentations are both under and overutilized. How is that even possible? Well, candidates use them all the time, but not when they're actually needed!
There are a few things you need to know about segmentations to do well in McKinsey, Bain or BCG case interviews.
So, what are these things?
Through the video I'll show you that even though all proper Segmentations are Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive, there are some patterns that are vastly more insightful for specific cases than others.
I'll also show you the 3 situations in which you should use segmentations: to divide problems of different natures, to add nuance to your structures and to find problems derived from the "Mix Effects".
Tell me in the comments if you've liked this video and what you've liked about it.
Table of contents (so you can find stuff later in the future):
00:54 - Examples of Segmentations
06:34 - How to use Segmentations
07:17 - Using Segmentations to separate different problems
08:41 - Using Segmentations to add nuance to a core structure
12:21 - Using Segmentations to find "Mix Effects"
19:33 - Things to be aware of when using Segmentations
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Hope the best for your case interview preparation and I'll see you on the next video :)
Bruno
Music in the video:
"Funk Game Loop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Hi Bruno,
This is Javier a Kellogg's EMBA alumni. I watched Victor's video and yours. I have to say that I am impressed. You guys take Victor's explanation to another level. I will probably join the paid services out of respect of the work you put in. Well done and thank you!
Hey Javier, super glad to hear that we’ve been of help!
The mix effect has really got me thinking deeper on a more insightful level! Thanks
Bruno this is great video. May I suggest you to publish a book with these insights. Your way of thinking is superlative !!!!!
Thank you so much for existing. Great tips and handome presenter - you rock!
Hi Bruno, really appreciate your content out there. Today, I just discovered another use of segmentations in brainstorming, especially when one could have infinite possibilities through conventional means.
A brainstorming question included me to specify what products and services can a telco cross-sell, and I was dumbfounded, as there were literally so many opportunities, but I didn’t know how to structure it correctly.
I was constantly thinking about this specific case, and after a number of hours, I determined that segmentation regarding how telco can cross sell - felt like a surprisingly great pick.
I proceeded by segmenting the channels by customer service, physical storefronts and online channels and plan renewals. It was so evident that the kind of products that could be sold through those differed significantly (for online - customised products such as streaming services and discount vouchers as part of bundles through tracking customer data, smart devices through physical stores and cross/up sell suggestions through customer complaints). It was so amazing to see that your techniques fit so perfectly in any case, it was just difficult to recognise in the first go. I was convinced that some harder cases required something more sophisticated, and didn’t think about this technique until much later.
Again, thank you so much for your content here. I am discovering new applications of them every single day! :)
Seems like you're getting the gist of structuring and problem solving Akanksha, congrats :)
your videos are such great value, keep it up!
Thank you Bruno! This video was extremely insightful!
keep on thanks alot ✌🏻
Dear Bruno, thank you for your amazing videos. You are really helping me getting through my preparation!
I have one question regaring segmentation of a problem. Before choosing a segmentation, is it okay to ask the interviewer if this is the right path or if a segmentation is irrelevant for this case (e.g. because the market share dropped in all customer segments/regions/product categories)?
Hi Bruno,
Amazing I really appreciate this work. In some of the books I read on case interviews they suggest asking out right if there is information on segmentation. What do you think of this approach.
Edit: I read the response you made below, so I'd like to rephrase the question. Do you think it'd be smart to say "based on what I know so far here's a few ways I'd like to try segmenting, do we have any data for these segments" and if she or he says no a follow up "is there any data on segmentation I might have missed?"
I think that's a fine approach!
Victor Cheng often says in his materials that you can ask for a 'correct' segmentation from the interviewer by asking. Is this not true? Seems that would be too easy, so I am inclined to agree with your points in the video.
What has happened in the past 5+ years is that interviewers started asking what do YOU think would be the most useful segmentation patterns if you ask them that. Because of that, I think being proactive is a better approach.
After you offer a few segmentation patterns, they’ll typically tell you which one to pursue or hand you a chart that makes it obvious.
This makes a lot of sense since in real consulting you’ll have to choose how you’ll segment your data and no one wants a junior consultant who needs to constantly ask this kind of stuff and has no clue.
I think back when Victor made his materials, no one segmented (all they had was case in point), so merely asking for a segmentation was better than everyone else. Nowadays candidates are more sophisticated and everyone’s asking for segmentations - interviewers will then ask you to go a step further and suggest the most useful patterns (as I explain in the video, there ARE patterns that are more useful than others for each situation).
This is all just speculation, of course. I wasn’t around back when Victor started teaching, so I don’t really know if people really ignored segmenting back then. What I can tell is that I have never seen nor heard of an interviewer that will react positively with his prompt of “what segmentation should I use here?”
@@CraftingCases I had the same doubt! Thanks!
You mentioned that in real consulting you have to choose how you'll segment your data, but, do consultants/junior consultants usually pick only one? Or do they try a few more?
I find it weird because some data are so relevant (such as revenue of the company, e.g.) that should have "all" info in a Data Base (gender, age, region, dist channel, ....). Then, the work you would have to segment this data wouldn't be so hard using Excel or Power BI (the ones I know and use, for sure, there are other options).
Companies dont usually have this DB well structured and filled?
Thank you for this really insightful video on how to use segmentations! I have a question regarding your tips. You mentioned that I should use more than one criteria to segment a category like Customers to Age, Income, Region, ... I absolutely see the advantage in terms of better hypotheses generation. On the other hand, following the theory of MECEness, to segment a category into more than one part is not clearly mutually exclusive isn't' it? Because customers belong to a segment each. What are your thoughts on that?
Thank you in advance!
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