1、BCG面試實(shí)例 在管理咨詢公司的面試中, 通常有一種被稱為“商務(wù)問題”的面試方法，您的考官向您提供一種場(chǎng)景，然后要您提出解決問題的建議。您需要像一個(gè)顧問一樣向考官文一些關(guān)鍵問題，通過這些關(guān)鍵問題反映您的思維邏輯，同時(shí)通過這些問題發(fā)現(xiàn)解決方案。 下面是一個(gè)實(shí)例，請(qǐng)注意：同樣的一個(gè)場(chǎng)景，基于您分析問題的邏輯將有無數(shù)種進(jìn)展方式，絕對(duì)沒有統(tǒng)一的答案或問題。場(chǎng)景Your client is the largest discount retailer in Canada, with 500 stores spread throughout the country. Lets call it “Canada

2、Co.” For several years running, Canada Co has surpassed the second largest Canadian retailer (300 stores) in both relative market share and profitability.CanadaCo是加拿大最大的折扣零售集團(tuán)，擁有遍及全國的500家連鎖店。經(jīng)過幾年的運(yùn)營，它在市場(chǎng)占有率及盈利方面都已遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了擁有300家連鎖店的第二大零售公司。它是本公司的客戶之一。The largest discount retailer in the United States, U

3、S Co, however, has just bought out Canada Cos competition and is planning to convert all 300 stores to USCo stores. The CEO of CanadaCo is quite perturbed by this turn of events, and asks you the following questions: Should I be worried? How should I react? How would you advise the CEO? US Co是美國最大的折

4、扣零售集團(tuán)。它收購了第二大的零售公司，準(zhǔn)備將其擁有的300家店全部改造成US Co連鎖店的形式。 CanadaCo集團(tuán)的CEO對(duì)此深感憂慮，他向你這樣問到：“我應(yīng)該對(duì)事態(tài)的發(fā)展擔(dān)憂嗎？應(yīng)該如何應(yīng)對(duì)呢”你怎樣向這位CEO提出你的建議呢？（應(yīng)聘者）：Well, before I can advise the CEO I need some more information about the situation. First of all, Im not sure I understand what a discount retailer is! （考官）：A discount retailer

5、sells a large variety of consumer goods at discounted prices, generally carrying everything from housewares and appliances to clothing. Kmart, Woolworth, and Wal-Mart are prime examples in the U.S. （應(yīng)聘者）： 在我向他提出建議之前，我必須對(duì)情況作進(jìn)一步的了解。首先，我不太明白什么是“折扣零售店”。（考官）： “折扣零售店” 以折扣價(jià)格銷售各種各樣的商品，包括家庭用具、服裝等等，象美國的沃爾瑪超市就

6、是這樣的例子。：Oh, I see. Then I think it makes sense to structure the problem this way: First, lets understand the competition in the Canadian market and how CanadaCo has e the market leader. Then lets look at the U.S. to understand how USCo has achieved its position. At the end, we can merge the two disc

7、ussions to understand whether USCos strength in the U.S. is transferable to the Canadian market. ：That sounds fine. Lets start, then, with the Canadian discount retail market. What would you like to know?Q：我知道了。我認(rèn)為問題接下來應(yīng)該這樣分析：首先，我們應(yīng)了解加拿大市場(chǎng)的競(jìng)爭情況，以及CanadaCo是如何成為這個(gè)市場(chǎng)的領(lǐng)先者的 ；其次，分析美國市場(chǎng)及USCo的情況；最后，我們將二者結(jié)合起

8、來分析，看USCo在美國成功的經(jīng)驗(yàn)及其優(yōu)勢(shì)是否能移植到加拿大市場(chǎng)來。A：對(duì)加拿大折扣零售市場(chǎng)，你希望了解一些什么情況呢？Q：Are CanadaCos 500 stores close to the competitions 300 stores, or do they serve different geographic areas? ：The stores are located in similar geographic regions. In fact, you might even see a CanadaCo store on one corner, and the competi

9、tion on the very next corner. Q： CanadaCo的500家連鎖店與其競(jìng)爭對(duì)手的300家店是位于不同的地區(qū)還是相距很近呢？：兩個(gè)集團(tuán)的零售店基本上位于相同的地區(qū)，甚至你在某個(gè)角落里看見CanadaCo的商店，就會(huì)在不遠(yuǎn)處發(fā)現(xiàn)其競(jìng)爭對(duì)手的零售店。：Do CanadaCo and the competition sell a similar product mix? ：Yes. CanadaCos stores tend to have a wider variety of brand names, but by and large, the product mix

10、 is similar. ：Are CanadaCos prices significantly lower than the competitions? ：No. For certain items CanadaCo is less expensive, and for others the competition is less expensive, but the average price level is similar.： CanadaCo與其競(jìng)爭對(duì)手銷售同樣的商品組合嗎？：是的。 CanadaCo銷售的部分商品含有更多的品牌，但總體上，兩家公司銷售的商品組合是相同的。： Cana

11、daCo銷售商品的價(jià)格比起競(jìng)爭對(duì)手低很多嗎？：不。有的商品價(jià)格便宜一些，有的也高一些。在總體價(jià)格水平上同競(jìng)爭對(duì)手是相當(dāng)?shù)摹＃篒s CanadaCo more profitable just because it has more stores, or does it have higher profits per store? ：It actually has higher profits than the competition on a per-store basis.：Well, higher profits could be the result of lower costs or h

12、igher revenues. Are the higher per-store profits due to lower costs than the competitions or the result of higher per-store sales? ：CanadaCos cost structure isnt any lower than the competitions. Its higher per-store profits are due to higher per-store sales. ： CanadaCo的盈利超過對(duì)手，僅僅是因?yàn)樗鼡碛懈嗟倪B鎖店呢還是因?yàn)槊考业甑?/p>

13、利潤都更高？：實(shí)際是因?yàn)樗考业甑挠芰Χ急葘?duì)手強(qiáng)。：較高的利潤里意味著較低的成本或較高的收益。那我們是在哪方面優(yōu)于競(jìng)爭對(duì)手呢？： CanadaCo的成本結(jié)構(gòu)并不占優(yōu)勢(shì)。每家零售店的高利潤來自于較大的銷售量。：Is that because it has bigger stores? ：No. CanadaCos average store size is approximately the same as that of the competition. ：If theyre selling similar products at similar prices in similar-siz

14、ed stores in similar locations, why are CanadaCos per-store sales higher than the competitions? ：Its your job to figure that out! ：那適應(yīng)為它的店面更大嗎？：不是， CanadaCo零售店的平均規(guī)模與其競(jìng)爭對(duì)手不相上下。：那它們?cè)谙嗤牡攸c(diǎn)、以同樣的價(jià)格出售相同的商品，為什么CanadaCo的銷售量更大呢？：這正是你的任務(wù)吶！：Is CanadaCo better managed than the competition? ：I dont know that Can

15、adaCo as a company is necessarily better managed, but I can tell you that its management model for individual stores is significantly different. ：How so? ：The competitors stores are centrally owned by the company, while CanadaCo uses a franchise model in which each individual store is owned and mana

16、ged by a franchisee who has invested in the store and retains part of the profit. ：是 CanadaCo 管理得更好嗎？：我不知道作為一個(gè)集團(tuán)，CanadaCo的管理是否更好，但它對(duì)零售店的管理模式是與競(jìng)爭對(duì)手完全不同的。與競(jìng)爭對(duì)其連鎖店的集中管理不同， CanadaCo 采取的是特許經(jīng)營的方式，誰投資誰經(jīng)營，誰享有利潤分享權(quán)。：In that case, I would guess that the CanadaCo stores are probably better managed, since the i

17、ndividual storeowners have a greater incentive to maximize profit. ：You are exactly right. It turns out that CanadaCos higher sales are due primarily to a significantly higher level of customer service. The stores are cleaner, more attractive, better stocked, and so on. The company discovered this t

18、hrough a series of customer surveys it administered last year. I think youve sufficiently covered the Canadian marketlets move now to a discussion of the U.S. market. ：那我認(rèn)為CanadaCo 的零售店應(yīng)該管理得更好，因?yàn)槊總€(gè)店主都會(huì)擁有更強(qiáng)烈的利潤最大化的動(dòng)機(jī)。：正是如此。 CanadaCo連鎖店更大的銷售量主要來源于優(yōu)質(zhì)的顧客服務(wù)水平 ，它們店面整潔，商品排列有序。這些結(jié)論都是通過去年進(jìn)行的一系列顧客調(diào)查獲得的。我想你對(duì)加拿

19、大市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)獲得了足夠的了解，讓我們可以轉(zhuǎn)到美國市場(chǎng)吧。：How many stores does USCo own in the U.S., and how many does the second largest discount retailer own? ：USCo owns 4,000 stores and the second largest competitor owns approximately 1,000 stores. ：Are USCo stores bigger than those of the typical discount retailer in the U.S

20、.? ：Yes. USCo stores average 200,000 square feet, whereas the typical discount retail store is approximately 100,000 square feet. ： USCo 在美國擁有多少家連鎖店？第二大的集團(tuán)呢？： USCo 有4000家零售店，位于第二位的它的最大的競(jìng)爭者有1000家商店。： USCo 的零售店比一般的折扣零售店更大嗎？：是的。 它們的零售店平均有200000平米，而一般的只有100000平米大小。. ：Those numbers suggest that USCo shou

21、ld be selling roughly eight times the volume of the nearest U.S. competitor! ：Close. USCos sales are approximately $5 billion, whereas the nearest competitor sells about $1 billion worth of merchandise：I would think that sales of that size give USCo significant clout with suppliers. Does it have a l

22、ower cost of goods than the competition? ：In fact, its cost of goods is approximately 15 percent less than that of the competition. ：這些數(shù)據(jù)是否意味著USCo的銷售量使其最大的競(jìng)爭對(duì)手的8倍?。翰畈欢?。 USCo 的銷售額為50億美元，而其最大的競(jìng)爭對(duì)手為10億。：我想如此大的規(guī)模使USCo 在于其供應(yīng)商的關(guān)系中處于非常有利的地位。它的金或成本是不是比起競(jìng)爭對(duì)手低呢？：低15%。：So it probably has lower prices. ：Right a

23、gain. Its prices are on average about ten percent lower than those of the competition. &：So it seems that USCo has been so successful primarily because it has lower prices than its competitors. ：Thats partly right. Its success probably also has something to do with a larger selection of products, gi

24、ven the larger average store size.：那么它出售的商品價(jià)格就較低。：對(duì)，價(jià)格低10%左右。：那就是說USCo的成功主要在于它提供的較低的價(jià)格。： 這是一部分原因。還有就是它的店面更大，商品的種類也更多。：How did USCo get so much bigger than the competition? A：It started by building superstores in rural markets served mainly by mom-and-pop stores and small discount retailers. USCo bet

25、 that people would be willing to buy from it, and it was right. As it grew and developed more clout with suppliers, it began to buy out other discount retailers and convert their stores to the USCo format. ：So whenever USCo buys out a competing store, it also physically expands it? ：Not necessarily.

26、 Sometimes it does, but when I said it converted it to the USCo format, I meant that it carries the same brands at prices that are on average ten percent lower than the competitions. ： USCo的規(guī)模為什么能這么大？A：它最早是在鄉(xiāng)村地區(qū)開辦超市，之前這些地區(qū)只有一些小的零售點(diǎn)和家庭小賣部。 USCo認(rèn)為這些地區(qū)的人會(huì)愿意從超市購買商品，后來證明這一判斷是正確的。USCo開始擴(kuò)張，與供應(yīng)商建立聯(lián)盟，逐漸購并了其它

27、的一些零售商，將它們歸入U(xiǎn)SCo旗下。： 是不是每次USCo收購了一家競(jìng)爭者的商店，都會(huì)將它擴(kuò)充？A：并不是每次都需要這樣。對(duì)于收購過來的有些商店，它只需要以低于競(jìng)爭對(duì)手10%的價(jià)格出售商品，并貫上自己的品牌就可以了。：What criteria does USCo use in deciding whether it should physically expand a store its just bought out? ：It depends on a lot of factors, such as the size of the existing store, local market

28、 competition, local real estate costs, and so on, but I dont think we need to go into that here. ：Well, I thought it might be relevant in terms of predicting what it will do with the 300 stores that it bought in Canada. ：Lets just assume that it doesnt plan to expand the Canadian stores beyond their

29、 current size. ：那它在決定哪些商店需要擴(kuò)充、哪些只是收購過來的時(shí)候，有什么標(biāo)準(zhǔn)呢？：這取決于很多種因素，比如商店已有的規(guī)模、當(dāng)?shù)厥袌?chǎng)的競(jìng)爭情況、地產(chǎn)的價(jià)格等等。我認(rèn)為這些對(duì)我們的問題不重要。：我是覺得這些有助于我們預(yù)測(cè)它將會(huì)對(duì)收購的這300家商店做怎樣的安排。：我們就假定它不會(huì)擴(kuò)充這些商店的規(guī)模。：OK. I think Ive learned enough about USCo. Id like to ask a few questions about USCos ability to succeed in the Canadian market. Does USCo hav

30、e a strong brand name in Canada? ：No. Although members of the Canadian business community are certainly familiar with the company because of its U.S. success, the Canadian consumer is basically unaware of USCos existence. ：那我已經(jīng)對(duì)USCo有了足夠的了解了。我想在為幾個(gè)關(guān)于USCo是否具有在加拿大市場(chǎng)成功的能力的問題。 USCo在加拿大擁有很強(qiáng)的品牌嗎？：不。雖然加拿大一些

31、商業(yè)企業(yè)知道它在美國市場(chǎng)成功，但加拿大的消費(fèi)者并不知道這個(gè)公司。：Does USCo carry products similar to USCos, or does the Canadian consumer expect different products and brands than the U.S. discount retail consumer? ：The two companies carry similar products, although the CanadaCo stores lean more heavily toward Canadian suppliers.

32、：How much volume does CanadaCo actually sell? ：About $750 million worth of goods annually. ： USCo 出售商品的品牌和USCo一樣嗎？或者加拿大的消費(fèi)者喜歡一些與美國的小給這不同的產(chǎn)品和品牌？： 雖然CanadaCo更傾向于選擇加拿大的供應(yīng)商，但兩個(gè)公司賣同樣品牌的商品。： CanadaCo的銷售量是多少？：每年75億美元左右。：Is there any reason to think that the costs of doing business for USCo will be higher i

33、n the Canadian market? ：Can you be more specific? ：I mean, for example, are labor or leasing costs higher in Canada than in the U. S.? ：Canada does have significantly higher labor costs, and Im not sure about the costs of leasing space. But what are you driving at? ：有沒有什么原因會(huì)使 USCo在加拿大營業(yè)的成本會(huì)更高呢？：能具體一

34、點(diǎn)嗎？：比如勞動(dòng)力成本及租金等會(huì)比在美國高？：加拿大的勞動(dòng)力成本要高得多，租金則不一定。問這些是要得出什么結(jié)論呢？：I was thinking that if theres a higher cost of doing business in Canada, perhaps USCo will have to charge higher prices than it does in the U.S. to cover its costs. ：Thats probably true, but remember, CanadaCo must also cope with the same hig

35、h labor costs. Can you think of additional costs incurred by USCos Canada operations that would not be incurred by CanadaCo? ：我想如果USCo在加拿大的運(yùn)營成本較高的話，它對(duì)商品的定價(jià)也會(huì)比在美國高一些。：也許。但CanadaCo也需要承受這些更高的運(yùn)營成本吶。你能不能想到USCo在有些成本方面會(huì)比CanadaCo高一些呢？：USCo might incur higher distribution costs than CanadaCo because it will

36、have to ship product from its U.S. warehouses up to Canada. ：You are partially right. CanadaCo is advantaged in distribution costs, since its network spans less geographic area and it gets more product from Canadian suppliers. However, since CanadaCo continues to get a good deal of product from the

37、U.S., the actual advantage to CanadaCo is not greatonly about two percent of overall costs. ： USCo在運(yùn)輸成本上可能會(huì)比CanadaCo高，因?yàn)樗枰獜奈挥诿绹膫}庫運(yùn)貨來加拿大。：你只對(duì)了一半。 CanadaCo在運(yùn)輸成本方面會(huì)有一些優(yōu)勢(shì)，因?yàn)樗N售網(wǎng)絡(luò)的地域跨越性較小，它也較多的從加拿大的供應(yīng)商處進(jìn)貨。 但是，CanadaCo也有很多商品來自美國。因此，她的總成本只有2%的優(yōu)勢(shì)。：All this suggests that USCo will be able to retain a signi

38、ficant price advantage over CanadaCos stores: if not ten percent, then at least seven to eight percent. ：I would agree with that conclusion.：這意味著USCo 會(huì)比CanadaCo的零售店擁有價(jià)格上的優(yōu)勢(shì)，即使達(dá)不到10%，也大概會(huì)有7-8%。：我同意你的結(jié)論。：Then I would tell the CEO the following: In the near term, you might be safe. Your stores have a m

39、uch stronger brand name in Canada than USCos, and they seem to be well managed. However, as consumers get used to seeing prices that are consistently seven to eight percent less at USCo, they will realize that shopping at USCo means significant savings over the course of the year. Although some cons

40、umers will remain loyal out of habit or because of your high level of service, it is reasonable to expect the discount shopper to shop where prices are lowest. Moreover, over time your brand-name advantage will erode as USCo es more familiar to Canadian consumers. You certainly have to worry about l

41、osing significant share to USCo stores in the long term. You should probably do something about it now, before its too late. ：我會(huì)這樣建議這位CEO：公司在短期不會(huì)有什么問題。在加拿大它擁有比USCo更好的品牌，而且它的運(yùn)營情況也不錯(cuò)。但是，一旦消費(fèi)者看到USCo的商品總是更低（7-8%），他們會(huì)知道在USCo 購物會(huì)在長期內(nèi)省很多錢。雖然一部分會(huì)消費(fèi)者會(huì)由于你們提供的高質(zhì)量的服務(wù)而對(duì)公司保持忠誠，但這些購買打折商品的消費(fèi)者會(huì)更注重價(jià)格的高低。隨著人們對(duì)USCo的逐漸熟

42、悉，你們的品牌效應(yīng)也會(huì)削弱。你卻是應(yīng)為公司的市場(chǎng)占有率被USCo奪走而擔(dān)憂，并及時(shí)采取適當(dāng)?shù)男袆?dòng)扭轉(zhuǎn)這種趨勢(shì)。：Can you suggest possible strategies for CanadaCo? ：Maybe it can find ways to cut costs and make the organization more efficient, so it can keep prices low even if its cost of goods is higher. ：Anything else? ：It might consider instituting something like a frequent shopper program, where consumers accumulate points that entitle them to future discounts on merchandise. ：你能給出一些戰(zhàn)略上的建議嗎？：可以通過削減成本、精簡機(jī)構(gòu)來