bain and company case study examples

47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

• McKinsey examples
• BCG examples
• Bain examples
• Deloitte examples
• Other firms' examples
• Case books from consulting clubs
• Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

• Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
• Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
• Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
• GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
• National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
• Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
• Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
• Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
• McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

• Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
• Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
• BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

• CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
• FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
• Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Written case interview tips (Bain website)
• Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
• Digital transformation case with ex-Bain consultant
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

• Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
• Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
• Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
• Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
• Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

• Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
• Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

• Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
• Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

• Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

• Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
• Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
• AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

• Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
• Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
• Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

• Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
• Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
• Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

12. EY Parthenon case interview examples

• Candidate-led case example with feedback (by IGotAnOffer)

14. Consulting clubs case interview examples

• Berkeley case book (2006)
• Columbia case book (2006)
• Darden case book (2012)
• Darden case book (2018)
• Duke case book (2010)
• Duke case book (2014)
• ESADE case book (2011)
• Goizueta case book (2006)
• Illinois case book (2015)
• LBS case book (2006)
• MIT case book (2001)
• Notre Dame case book (2017)
• Ross case book (2010)
• Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

Related articles:

Hacking the Case Interview

We’ve compiled 50 case interview examples and organized them by industry, function, and consulting firm to give you the best, free case interview practice. Use these case interview examples for practice as you prepare for your consulting interviews.

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

Case Interview Examples Organized by Industry

Below, we’ve linked all of the case interview examples we could find from consulting firm websites and YouTube videos and organized them by industry. This will be helpful for your case interview practice if there is a specific consulting industry role that you are interviewing for that you need more practice in.

Aerospace, Defense, & Government Case Interview Examples

• Agency V (Deloitte)
• The Agency (Deloitte)
• Federal Finance Agency (Deloitte)
• Federal Civil Cargo Protection Bureau (Deloitte)

Consumer Products & Retail Case Interview Examples

• Electro-light (McKinsey)
• Beautify (McKinsey)
• Shops Corporation (McKinsey)
• Climate Case (BCG)
• Foods Inc. (BCG) *scroll to bottom of page
• Chateau Boomerang (BCG) *written case interview
• PrintCo (Bain)
• Coffee Co. (Bain)
• Fashion Co. (Bain)
• Recreation Unlimited (Deloitte)
• Footlose (Deloitte)
• National Grocery and Drug Store (Kearney)
• Whisky Co. (OC&C)
• Dry Cleaners (Accenture) *scroll to page 15
• UK Grocery Retail (Strategy&) *scroll to page 24
• Ice Cream Co. (Capital One)

Healthcare & Life Sciences Case Interview Examples

• GlobaPharm (McKinsey)
• GenCo (BCG) *scroll to middle of page
• PrevenT (BCG)
• MedX (Deloitte)
• Medical Consumables (LEK)
• Medicine Company (HackingTheCaseInterview)
• Pharma Company (Indian Institute of Management)

Manufacturing & Production Case Interview Examples

• Aqualine (Oliver Wyman)
• 3D Printed Hip Implants (Roland Berger)
• Talbot Trucks (McKinsey)
• Playworks (Yale School of Management)

Social & Non-Profit Case Interview Examples

• Diconsa (McKinsey)
• National Education (McKinsey)
• Conservation Forever (McKinsey)
• Federal Health Agency (Deloitte)
• Robinson Philanthropy (Bridgespan)
• Home Nurses for New Families (Bridgespan)
• Reach for the Stars (Bridgespan)
• Venture Philanthropy (Bridgespan)

Technology, Media, & Telecom Case Interview Examples

• NextGen Tech (Bain)
• Smart Phone Introduction (Simon-Kucher)
• MicroTechnos (HackingTheCaseInterview)

Transportation Case Interview Examples

• Low Cost Carrier Airline (BCG)
• Transit Oriented Development (Roland Berger)
• Northeast Airlines (HackingTheCaseInterview)
• A+ Airline Co. (Yale School of Management)
• Ryder (HackingTheCaseInterview)

Travel & Entertainment Case Interview Examples

• Wumbleworld (Oliver Wyman)
• Theater Co. (LEK)
• Hotel and Casino Co. (OC&C)

Case Interview Examples Organized by Function

Below, we’ve taken the same cases listed in the “Case Interview Examples Organized by Industry” section and organized them by function instead. This will be helpful for your case interview practice if there is a specific type of case interview that you need more practice with.

Profitability Case Interview Examples

To learn how to solve profitability case interviews, check out our video below:

Market Entry Case Interview Examples

Merger & acquisition case interview examples.

Growth Strategy Case Interview Examples

Pricing case interview examples.

New Product Launch Case Interview Examples

Market sizing case interview examples.

To learn how to solve market sizing case interviews, check out our video below:

Operations Case Interview Examples

Other case interview examples.

These are cases that don’t quite fit into any of the above categories. These cases are the more unusual, atypical, and nontraditional cases out there.

Case Interview Examples Organized by Consulting Firm

Below, we’ve taken the same cases listed previously and organized them by company instead. This will be helpful for your case interview practice if there is a specific company that you are interviewing with.

McKinsey Case Interview Examples

BCG Case Interview Examples

Bain Case Interview Examples

Deloitte Case Interview Examples

Lek case interview examples, kearney case interview examples, oliver wyman case interview examples, roland berger case interview examples, oc&c case interview  examples, bridgespan case interview examples, strategy& case interview examples, accenture case interview examples, simon kutcher case interview examples, capital one case interview examples, case interview examples from mba casebooks.

For more case interview examples, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases . There additional cases created by MBA consulting clubs that make for great case interview practice. For your convenience, we’ve listed some of the best MBA consulting casebooks below:

• Australian Graduate School of Management (2002)
• Booth (2005)
• Columbia (2007)
• Darden (2019)
• ESADE (2011)
• Fuqua (2018)
• Goizueta (2006)
• Haas (2019)
• Harvard Business School (2012)
• Illinois (2015)
• INSEAD (2011)
• Johnson (2003)
• Kellogg (2012)
• London Business School (2013)
• McCombs (2018)
• Notre Dame (2017)
• Queens (2019)
• Ross (2010)
• Sloan (2015)
• Stern (2018)
• Tuck (2009)
• Wharton (2017)
• Yale (2013)

Consulting casebooks are documents that MBA consulting clubs put together to help their members prepare for consulting case interviews. Consulting casebooks provide some case interview strategies and tips, but they mostly contain case interview practice cases.

While consulting casebooks contain tons of practice cases, there is quite a bit of variety in the sources and formats of these cases.

Some practice cases are taken from actual consulting interviews given by consulting firms. These are the best types of cases to practice with because they closely simulate the length and difficulty of an actual case interview. Other practice cases may be written by the consulting club’s officers. These cases are less realistic, but can still offer great practice.

The formats of the practice cases in consulting casebooks also vary significantly.

Some practice cases are written in a question and answer format. This type of format makes it easy to practice the case by yourself, without a case partner. Other practices cases are written in a dialogue format. These cases are better for practicing with a case interview partner.

MBA consulting casebooks can be a great resource because they are free and provide tons of practice cases to hone your case interview skills. However, there are several caveats that you should be aware of.

• Similarity to real case interviews : Some cases in MBA consulting casebooks are not representative of actual case interviews because they are written by consulting club officers instead of interviewers from consulting firms
• Quality of sample answers : While consulting casebooks provide sample solutions, these answers are often not the best or highest quality answers
• Ease of use : Consulting casebooks are all written in different formats and by different people. Therefore, it can be challenging to find cases that you can consistently use to practice cases by yourself or with a partner

Therefore, we recommend that you first use the case interview examples listed in this article and wait until you’ve exhausted all of them before using MBA consulting casebooks.

Case Interview Examples from HackingTheCaseInterview

Below, we've pulled together several of our very own case interview examples. You can use these case interview examples for your case interview practice.

1. Tech retailer profitability case interview

2. Airline profitability case interview

3. Ride sharing app market entry

4. Increasing Drug Adoption

How to Use Case Interview Examples to Practice Case Interviews

To get the most out of these case interview examples and maximize your time spent on case interview practice, follow these three steps.

1. Understand the case interview structure beforehand

If case interviews are something new to you, we recommend watching the following video to learn the basics of case interviews in under 30 minutes.

Know that there are seven major steps of a case interview.

• Understanding the case background : Take note while the interviewer gives you the case background information. Afterwards, provide a concise synthesis to confirm your understanding of the situation and objective
• Asking clarifying questions : Ask questions to better understand the case background and objective
• Structuring a framework : Lay out a framework of what areas you want to look into in order to answer or solve the case
• Kicking off the case : Propose an area of your framework that you would like to dive deeper into 
• Solving quantitative problems : Solve a variety of different quantitative problems, such as market sizing questions and profitability questions. You may also be given charts and graphs to analyze or interpret
• Answering qualitative questions : You may be asked to brainstorm ideas or be asked to give your business opinion on a particular issue or topic
• Delivering a recommendation : Summarize the key takeaways from the case to deliver a firm and concise recommendation

2. Learn how to practice case interviews by yourself 

There are 6 steps to practice case interviews by yourself. The goal of these steps is to simulate a real case interview as closely as you can so that you practice the same skills and techniques that you are going to use in a real case interview.

• Synthesize the case background information out loud : Start the practice case interview by reading the case background information. Then, just as you would do in a live case interview, summarize the case background information out loud
• Ask clarifying questions out loud : Just as you would do in a live case interview, ask clarifying questions out loud. Although you do not have a case partner that can answer your questions, it is important to practice identifying the critical questions that need to be asked to fully understand the case
• Structure a framework and present it out loud : Pretend that you are in an actual interview in which you’ll only have a few minutes to put together a comprehensive and coherent framework. Replicate the stress that you will feel in an interview when you are practicing case interviews on your own by giving yourself time pressure.

When you have finished creating your framework, turn your paper around to face an imaginary interviewer and walk through the framework out loud. You will need to get good at presenting your framework concisely and in an easy to understand way.

• Propose an area to start the case : Propose an area of your framework to start the case. Make sure to say out loud the reasons why you want to start with that particular area
• Answer each case question out loud : If the question is a quantitative problem, create a structure and walk the interviewer through how you would solve the problem. When doing math, do your calculations out loud and explain the steps that you are taking.

If the question is qualitative, structure your thinking and then brainstorm your ideas out loud. Walk the interviewer through your ideas and opinions.

• Deliver a recommendation out loud : Just as you would do in a real case interview, ask for a brief moment to collect your thoughts and review your notes. Once you have decided on a recommendation, present your recommendation to the interviewer.

3. Follow best practices while practicing case interviews :    

You’ll most likely be watching, reading, or working through these case interview examples by yourself. To get the most practice and learnings out of each case interview example, follow these tips: 

• Don’t have notes or a calculator out when you are practicing since you won’t have these in your actual interview
• Don’t take breaks in the middle of a mock case interview
• Don’t read the case answer until you completely finish answering each question
• Talk through everything out loud as if there were an interviewer in the room
• Occasionally record yourself to understand what you look like and sound like when you speak

4. Identify improvement areas to work on

When the case is completed, review your framework and answers and compare them to the model answers that the case provides. Reflect on how you could have made your framework or answers stronger.

Also, take the time to reflect on what parts of the case you could have done better. Could your case synthesis be more concise? Was your framework mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive? Could your math calculations be done more smoothly? Was your recommendation structured enough?

This is the most important part of practicing case interviews by yourself. Since you have no partner to provide you feedback, you will need to be introspective and identify your own improvement areas.

At the end of each practice case interview, you should have a list of new things that you have learned and a list of improvement areas to work on in future practice cases. You’ll continue to work on your improvement areas in future practice cases either by yourself or with a partner.

5. Eventually find a case partner to practice with

You can only do so many practice case interviews by yourself before your learning will start to plateau. Eventually, you should be practicing case interviews with a case partner.

Practicing with a case partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner:

• Driving the direction of the case
• Asking for more information
• Collaborating to get the right approach or structure
• Answering follow-up questions

If you are practicing with a case partner, decide who is going to be giving the case and who is going to be receiving the case.

If you are giving the case, read the entire case information carefully. It may be helpful to read through everything twice so that you are familiar with all of the information and can answer any question that your partner asks you to clarify.

As the person giving the case, you need to be the case expert.

You should become familiar with the overall direction of the case. In other words, you should know what the major questions of the case are and what the major areas of investigation are. This will help you run the mock case interview more smoothly.  

Depending on whether you want the case interview to be interviewer-led or candidate-led, you will need to decide how much you want to steer the direction of the case.

If your partner gets stuck and is taking a long time, you may need to step in and provide suggestions or hints. If your partner is proceeding down a wrong direction, you will need to direct them towards the right direction.

Where to Find More Case Interview Examples

To find more case interview examples, you can use a variety of different case interview prep books, online courses, and coaching. We'll cover each of these different categories of resources for more case interview practice in more detail.

Case Interview Prep Books

Case interview prep books are great resources to use because they are fairly inexpensive, only costing $20 to $30. They contain a tremendous amount of information that you can read, digest, and re-read at your own pace.

Based on our comprehensive review of the 12 popular case interview prep books , we ranked nearly all of the case prep books in the market.

The three case interview prep books we recommend using are:

• Hacking the Case Interview : In this book, learn exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. This is the perfect book for beginners that are looking to learn the basics of case interviews quickly.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook : In this book, hone your case interview skills through 65+ problems tailored towards each type of question asked in case interviews and 15 full-length practice cases. This book is great for intermediates looking to get quality practice.
• Case Interview Secrets : This book provides great explanations of essential case interview concepts and fundamentals. The stories and anecdotes that the author provides are entertaining and help paint a clear picture of what to expect in a case interview, what interviewers are looking for, and how to solve a case interview.

Case Interview Courses

Case interview courses are more expensive to use than case interview prep books, but offer more efficient and effective learning. You’ll learn much more quickly from watching someone teach you the material, provide examples, and then walk through practice problems than from reading a book by yourself.

Courses typically cost anywhere between $200 to $400.

If you are looking for a single resource to learn the best case interview strategies in the most efficient way possible, enroll in our comprehensive case interview course .

Through 70+ concise video lessons and 20 full-length practice cases based on real interviews from top-tier consulting firms, you’ll learn step-by-step how to crush your case interview.

We’ve had students pass their consulting first round interview with just a week of preparation, but know that your success depends on the amount of effort you put in and your starting capabilities.

Case Interview Coaching

With case interview coaching, you’ll pay anywhere between $100 to $300 for a 40- to 60-minute mock case interview session with a case coach. Typically, case coaches are former consultants or interviewers that have worked at top-tier consulting firms.

Although very expensive, case interview coaching can provide you with high quality feedback that can significantly improve your case interview performance. By working with a case coach, you will be practicing high quality cases with an expert. You’ll get detailed feedback that ordinary case interview partners are not able to provide.

Know that you do not need to purchase case interview coaching to receive a consulting job offer. The vast majority of candidates that receive offers from top firms did not purchase case interview coaching. By purchasing case interview coaching, you are essentially purchasing convenience and learning efficiency.

Case interview coaching is best for those that have already learned as much as they can about case interviews on their own and feel that they have reached a plateau in their learning. For case interview beginners and intermediates, it may be a better use of their money to first purchase a case interview course or case interview prep book before purchasing expensive coaching sessions.

If you do decide to eventually use a case interview coach, consider using our case coaching service .

There is a wide range of quality among coaches, so ensure that you are working with someone that is invested in your development and success. If possible, ask for reviews from previous candidates that your coach has worked with.

Summary of the Best Case Interview Resources

To prepare for consulting case interviews, we recommend the following resources to find more case interview examples and practice:

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.
• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with former consulting interviewers
• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer
• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple interviews

Land Multiple Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

Bain Case Interview: Process, Criteria & Preparation (2024)

Bain & Company are among the  top three largest and most prestigious management consulting firms  and  ranked as the best consulting firm to work  in by Glassdoor. To land the desirable offer from Bain&Co, the candidates must pass the stressful yet compelling consulting interviews known as the  Bain case interview .

In this article, we willl walk you through the fundamentals, techniques, tips and tricks you can use to ace the Bain case interview in an effective way.

What is Bain case interview?

Bain case interview is a screening tool used in Bain interviews to evaluate a candidate's problem-solving and analytical skills . It is used to predict how well the candidate may perform as a consultant if they are hired. This assessment typically takes 40 to 60 minutes and can consist of multiple cases.

Bain case interviews are candidate-led . In this format, candidates are expected to lead the case by breaking down problems, hypothesizing the root causes , and collecting data from the interviewer to test their hypotheses. Candidate-led case interviews, therefore, are less structured than McKinsey’s interviewer-led , in which the candidate must answer given questions instead of deciding their own approach.

To gain a better understanding of the Bain case interview format, here are some important features of candidate-led case interviews to keep in mind:

• Candidate-led cases focus on one big problem . In these cases, you solve the problem as a whole, instead of addressing it through each question like in interviewer-led cases.
• Candidate-led cases are more flexible : You are free to analyse the problem in the way you think is best.
• Candidate-led cases focus less on giving the right answer : There is a large margin of errors allowed as you have very little assistance from the interviewer.

Another consulting firm using the candidate-led case interviews is BCG. Learn more about this interesting case interview format in our Complete Guide to BCG Case Interview .

When does Bain case interview take place?

Bain case interviews are the third stage of the company's hiring process. The hiring procedure is divided into three stages: Application ⇒ Online tests ⇒ Interviews . The whole process usually takes between 4 and 6 weeks, with usually 14 days between phases. Each level of Bain's selection is described briefly below:

Stage 1: Application

The first stage of Bain’s hiring process is resume and cover letter screening . Usually, candidates can apply via Bain online application form , allowing them to collect all the data quickly and easily, as well as submit any necessary documents. Check out Bain's FAQs for more credible information about the application round.

The resume and cover letter should showcase your consulting attributes, and qualities Bain looks for, apart from educational background or work history. You can equip yourself with guidelines and templates for a perfect consulting resume with our Complete Guide to Consulting Resume .

Stage 2: Online tests

After submitting your application form, you will progress to Bain Online Tests. The Bain Online Test, sometimes known as the Bain Online Assessment, is a set of pre-interview screening tests used by Bain & Company, assessing skills and traits necessary for consulting work: cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, or cultural fit.

Bain Online Tests is not uniform across offices worldwide. The question types, format, and design can vary from place to place. Fortunately, most tests' format and underlying purposes at different Bain offices are similar. The common tests are:

• Aptitude test
• Analytical test
• Business case test
• Personality test
• One-way video interview

You can dive deeply into the fundamentals of each one and practice common question types in our Bain Online Test Overview .

Stage 3: Interviews

Typically, the Bain Interview process consists of 2 interview rounds : the first conducted by junior consultants or managers, and the second carried out by Bain partners to make a final decision. Both rounds include 2 common types of interviews:

• Fit interview : often lasts 10-15 minutes, assessing a candidate’s experience, competencies, motivations as well as personality fit.
• Case interview : often lasts 30-45 minutes each, up to 6 case interviews, and usually divided into 2 rounds.

What does Bain & Co look for in a candidate?

According to the Bain official website, the 4 qualities that the company seeks in a candidate are:

Problem-solving skills

This is one of the core values of a Bainee, yet a consultant in general, as they constantly find pragmatic solutions for clients. Therefore, the company is trying to find a candidate with the ability to analyze problems and resolve any problem efficiently and systematically.

The ability to lead

Bain employees must be able to manage individuals from diverse backgrounds and create a sense of belonging where everyone can perform to their full potential. When applying to Bain, emphasize how you've been a leader in the past, whether at work, school, or via extracurricular activities.

Results delivery

Bain is proud of its legacy of offering solutions that have a positive, quantifiable impact on our customers' objectives and reputations. Thus, they want to hear how you've made an impact in your previous work, along with significant results to an organization, project or team's success.

Candidates who push themselves to be exceptional and have the ability to motivate others are sought after by Bain. Throughout the selection, you should showcase your enthusiasm for the job, willingness to contribute, and entrepreneurial drive spirit.

Five steps to approach a Bain case interview

Though the question types in Bain case interviews might vary, there is a standard process that you can apply for any case you encounter: Taking notes ⇒ Clarifying ⇒ Structuring ⇒ Hypothesizing ⇒ Pitching .

Taking notes

You will be given the case background at the beginning of a case interview. Make sure you pay attention to every piece of information interviewers give you, and t ake careful notes of key details about the client, the problem they are facing, and the objective they want to achieve. Moreover, keep your notes neat and organized to ease the storing and arranging information.

To get a case interview going in the right direction, it's crucial to ask the appropriate clarifying questions . If you skip this important step, you can misinterpret the objective, the business context, or technical terms. Make sure there is nothing unclear or unfamiliar before attempting to solve any case.

Structuring 

In a case interview, structuring is breaking down a complex business problem into smaller components , allowing you to solve it more efficiently and professionally. Below are several helpful techniques to stay organized:

• Keep the map habit : The map habit means regularly and explicitly checking where you are and where you're doing next. It also makes you sound structured and organized, which is a defining characteristic of a consultant and will immensely impress the interviewer. One helpful trick is to pause at each step.
• Number your items : Numbering each item is a simple and efficient method to make your pitches sound organized. The formula is straightforward: "There are the items I want to discuss, they are: No.1... No.2... No.3...". This habit also creates an impression of MECE , a key principle in solving case interviews.
• F ocus on the big problem : If you feel like you're "derailing," check your progress on the issue tree and get back on track right away. Make sure that whatever you do, doesn't deviate from the main problem.

To learn more about how to keep structured, and different frameworks to approach case interviews, check out our Case Interview Guidebook .

Hypothesizing

To solve the client's issue, you must now develop a working hypothesis , which is an educated guess based on evidence and available data. Since you will be gathering information and testing your idea continuously, it need not be the final, definite solution to the problem. Along the way, your hypothesis will be refined and most answers the question.

A closing pitch is the summary of all your findings and delivery of recommendations to the client CEO. Your final pitch, regardless of the wording, must include these 4 factors:

• Introduction / Lead-in
• Summary of the root causes
• Summary of the solutions

Throughout the solving process, you can apply some helpful tips below to optimize your performance:

Bain case interview practice example

To excel in Bain case interview, you should familiarize yourself with common question types, especially candidate-led case interviews. Below is a comprehensive candidate-led example case from our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program , which thoroughly examines sample cases and uncovers step-by-step guidelines!

Bain also provides official case interview practice materials in their website. Let’s try out some of examples from the company:

• Coffee Shop Co.
• Associate Consultant Mock video

If you want to practice more example cases, discover instant-result tips and techniques for Bain case interviews, check out our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program . Besides mock cases and video guides, we also provide fundamental theory and intuition exercises to develop your case interview expertise!

Bain written case interview

Bain written case interview is an extension of the regular case interview. In this case interview, you will be given 20+ powerpoint slides that provide a client's situation. Before the interview begins, there will be about 55 minutes to review the slides, highlight key information, and script your suggestion(s) into slides. Then you'll have about 40 minutes to pitch your ideas.

Bain written case interview is required for applicants to specific roles . Bain uses this case interview format to assess your comprehension of written information , as a large amount of clients' data is in the form of reports and documents. Also, a written case interview requires you to summarize your results in slides and then deliver them logically , which are parts of consulting work.

How to prepare for Bain case interview

Familiarize with candidate-led case examples.

To become familiar with Bain candidate-led case interviews, you can watch official examples from Bain itself,

or practice further examples with MConsultingPrep’s coaching service. Book a mock case interview with former consultants from MBB and other prestige consulting firms. Our experts will provide you "quality" practice with reliable case interview resources and actionable feedback to help you ace every case!

Practice consulting math

Consultants need to deal with a huge amount of quantitative data, so consulting math skill is a must. Here are some tried-and-true methods for making math practice easier and producing better outcomes:

• Use Your Head : Do all your daily calculations mentally unless an EXACT answer is required.
• Flatten the Learning Curve : At the start, a piece of scratch paper and a 5% margin of error really help; once you are confident, discard the paper and narrow down the margin.
• Establish a Routine : Allocate some time for daily practice this may seem hard at first, but once you’ve overcome the inertia, you can literally feel the improvement.

Develop business intuition

Having business intuition makes you a much better candidate for case interviews. Improving business intuition is a gradual process; start early, practice every day and be patient. Step by step, these business insights will become ingrained in your instinct. There are 2 ways to sharpen your business intuition:

• Written Sources : It's a good idea to read business papers every day. You can also find excellent articles on the McKinsey , Bain , and BCG websites. Be careful, though, because the important thing is not how many pages you read but what you learn from them.
• First-hand Experience and Observations : Don't just show up to work; try to figure out what the senior managers are doing, the reasoning behind each decision they made, and how it has affected the organization.

Learn the basics and frameworks

To ace Bain case interviews, it is crucial to have a good grasp of the basics and structured approaches. Case interview principles like hypotheses , MECE , issue tree , and other frameworks are the backbone of any case, so make sure you master the use of those fundamental knowledge.

Equip yourself with basic terms, concepts, and problem-solving fundamentals in our in-depth Case Interview Guidebook .

Perform mock interviews

To familiarize yourself with common question types and improve your performance in case interviews, one proven way is to practice as many mock cases as possible. Find a former consultant to support your practice; they've been through numerous case interviews, both real and mock, so apparently understand what's expected of a candidate. Book a coach now to ease up your practice process!

During your practice, take time to study and review your cases thoroughly. Along the way, ask consulting experts for reliable feedback on your performance, take careful notes of your coach’s comments, and focus on the areas of improvement.

Bain Fit interview

What is bain fit interview.

Bain fit interview covers a wide range of questions designed to assess a candidate’s experience, skills, motivations as well as personality fit . The questions are divided into 2 types: traditional resume questions to better understand the candidates, and behavioral questions examining past experiences and how candidates handled them.

Long ago, consulting fit interviews were viewed as "just procedure" by interviewers and were only a small component of the consulting recruitment process. However, Bain fit interview is now drawing a lot of attention as it can demonstrate personal motivations and soft skills , the secret ingredients of a successful consultant.

Bain fit interview questions

Bain fit interview questions are classified into 2 common types: Why-our-firm questions and Personality questions . Let's look at several samples and learn how to ace each question type!

Why-our-firm questions

This question type can be asked under the form of:

• Why are you joining the consulting industry?
• Why are you interested in Bain?

Almost any employer, not just consulting firms, would ask you something like that. They want to ensure you won't leave once you've become helpful to the company. The ideal response should cover 4 characteristics: unique, specific, authentic, and appropriate . You can check out our comprehensive article about Bain Fit Interview to learn how to best demonstrate each factor.

Personality questions

Personality questions is the least predictable and can vary from interview to interview; however, there are 3 topics that do come up repeatedly: Hobbies and interests; Workplace preferences; and Values & plans/traits & skills . Below is a table including examples and suggested approaches for each topic:

Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

The scoring mechanism in the McKinsey Digital Assessment

Related product

Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program

Elevate your case interview skills with a well-rounded preparation package

The Bain SOVA test is a tailored aptitude test used by UK/EU Bain offices to measure numerical, verbal, and logical reasoning, as well as your personality

The Bain Online Test is a collection of unrelated pre-interview tests used by Bain & Company, most of which are standardized tests with varying difficulties.

At Bain & Company, entry-level consultants may earn up to $120,000/year, while senior ones have salaries up to $230,000 (bonuses and profit sharing included)

The Bain Case Interview: Everything You Need to Know to Pass

• Last Updated January, 2024

Former Bain Consultant, Founder of My Consulting Offer

Bain is one of the consulting firms that our case prep clients are most interested in working with and for good reason. The company tackles some of the toughest business problems for top global corporations and has a significant presence in the private equity market. But passing the Bain case interview and the personal experience interview is tough.

As a former Bain consultant, I can tell you what the Bain interview process looks like and what their interviewers look for in candidates. Read more to find out how to prepare so you have the best shot possible at landing that Bain offer!

In this article, we’ll discuss:

• What sets Bain apart?
• What does Bain look for?
• The Bain interview process.
• The Bain case interview, including a case interview example.
• The Bain personal experience interview.
• The Bain written case.
• 5 tips for passing your Bain interview.

Let’s get started!

What Does Bain Look for in Candidates?

A bain case interview example, the bain interview process.

The Bain Fit Interview

The Bain Case Interview

5 tips for passing your bain interview, what sets bain apart.

Though Bain is the youngest and smallest of the top 3 strategy consulting firms (referred to as MBB which is short for McKinsey, BCG, and Bain), it has managed to set itself apart and is rated as one of the best places to work .

Relentless focus on delivering results. Bain aims to “set new standards of excellence” in their clients’ industries through the work they do. As a Bain consultant, you’ll be taught to drive your clients to a decision and to take action, not to just provide them with nice research and fancy charts.

Strong work and professional relationships. At Bain, people help each other out, within and outside peer groups. An unofficial Bain philosophy is “ A Bainie never lets another Bainie fail. ” This means if you are up late debugging your model and need help, someone will answer your call whether from within your team or outside your team. Regular training led exclusively by fellow Bainies around the world and firm-wide events like the Bain World Cup (the annual global soccer tournament) build a strong firm culture.

Local staffing model. At Bain, you work largely with people from your home office. This can make it easier to build tight, long-term relationships. This is distinct from McKinsey’s global staffing model or BCG’s regional model.

Growth & development opportunities. Bain has a generalist staffing model. Consultants typically don’t specialize in a particular sector or function until well after business school, though if you are especially interested in one area there may still be an opportunity to dig in, especially if your home office serves that industry. This generalist approach provides an opportunity to learn to crack any problem in any industry, function area, and business model.

Because of this, if you are set on focusing on a specific sector or function, have a candid conversation with your recruiter to see if that is realistic to expect in the office you are recruiting into. Also keep note that due to the local staffing model, you will likely be serving the industries in your region, so make sure the region you select is aligned to your interests.

Strong Private Equity practice. Getting exposure to Private Equity is easy as a Bainie.  A rotation in the Private Equity practice will provide you with hands-on experience and sharpen your business and research fundamentals super fast. Bain is also known for having great exit opportunities and can help you springboard into private equity or investing.

For more information on what sets Bain apart read Why Bain? What Bain’s Culture Is Like & Why Work There . For more information about Bain’s culture check out Bain’s Career website .

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

Similar to the other top management consulting firms, Bain hires people who are passionate about solving transformative challenges for industry leaders and disruptors. Bain generally looks for candidates who possess analytical , interpersonal , creative thinking , business management, and leadership skills .

If you want your application to stand out, ensure that you highlight the following skills that Bain specifically looks for.

• Entrepreneurial spirit: You don’t have to have started your own business venture while attending college, but you do need to be relentless in your pursuit of “the answer” and maybe a little scrappy when the data’s not available. A great way to demonstrate this in an interview is to tell a story of when you led a team through uncertainty or had to make a timely decision with limited information.
• Ability to lead and work with a team: Bainies invest a lot in ensuring team members understand each others’ working styles and are set up to support each others’ success. They want to see that you’ve been an involved member of your community, ideally in a leadership role. This does not have to be a business leadership role. It can be a university sports team or club.Bainies look to hire folks they genuinely want to spend time with and they are known for building lasting friendships outside of work. They look for people who are smart and hardworking AND well rounded — candidates who excel in their studies and other interests.
• “Nose for value”: Bain looks for candidates who can spot the critical path issues, and know when the information is sufficient to make a decision or recommendation. You should possess analytical skills but know when “good enough is good enough” and understand when to stop and transition to synthesis and recommendation.
• Results/impact-oriented: Candidates should be able to infer the “so what” of any conclusion for the client. As you generate interim insights on your cases, tie them back to what that implies for the emerging answer and therefore for what you might expect to recommend to the client when the case wraps up.

Bain’s interviews are designed to stimulate productive discussions and help your interviewers get a better sense of you as a candidate. The type and number of interviews will vary depending on the office. Typically, Bain’s interview process consists of 2 – 3 rounds of interviews:

• First round: 2 back-to-back interviews with consultants
• Second round: 2-3 back-to-back case interviews with partners

There is sometimes a third round of interviews that’s comprised of one interview with a partner.

These interviews consist of case interviews, experience interviews, and in some offices, Written Case Interviews . In the following sections, you will get insight on how to prepare for each of these interviews. 

At Bain, all consulting role candidates (and some non-consulting roles) can expect a case interview, regardless of which office they apply to. The Bain case interview is an open conversation around real issues facing their clients. It provides your interviewer an opportunity to understand your approach to problem-solving and how you communicate your ideas.

Bain case interviews are challenging and to pass them, you’ll need to start practicing early. Bain is less focused on getting the “right answer” and more focused on having a structured approach to solving the problem. This is because with a structured approach, you can solve any problem.

Here are 4 steps to help you structure your approach to case interviews:

• Step 1: Opening – Understand the client’s problem. If you do not understand the client’s business and the problem they are trying to solve from the start, you may spend a lot of time answering the wrong question. Repeat the case problem to your interviewer after they have described the case to ensure that you understand it. Ask initial questions to deepen your understanding.
• Step 2: Structure – Outline your approach to solving the problem. Take a moment to consider your approach to solving the case and use this time to write down any additional information you’ll need. You can leverage business frameworks or, better yet, develop your own structure for solving the problem. Share your approach with the interviewer. Suggest an area of your approach to focus on first and seek your interviewer’s feedback on that starting point. Listen for feedback from them on any other part of your approach as well.
• Step 3: Analysis – Drill down on issues in your structured approach & do case math. Start your analysis by going through the issues you outlined in step 2 one by one. Ask questions of your interviewer and identify insights based on the information you receive. Be proactive, driving towards a solution to the client’s problem.
• Step 4: Recommendation – Summarize your recommendation for the client Conclude the interview with a logical summary outlining the case problem, the synthesis or “so what” from your analysis, and your key conclusions. Remember that you have to convince your interviewer that these conclusions will solve the client’s problem or provide an opportunity, so be persuasive and use the case information.

For more information on preparing for a case interview, read our Comprehensive Guide to Case Interview Prep .

Key Characteristics of Bain Case Interviews

Bain case interviews are interviewee-led (or candidate-led). The interviewer presents an open-ended case situation to the candidate and the candidate drives the approach to solving the case in a structured manner. You’ll be expected to structure the key topics to be analyzed, then pick where to start the analysis (unless the interviewer suggests a different start point), and drive the case all the way to final recommendations.

Read more about interviewee-led case interviews in our article, Interviewer vs. Interviewee-Led Case Interviews: What’s Different?

Additionally, Bain case interviews have a quantitative focus and typically involve market entry or profitability.

Client background: Your client is a Private Equity firm that specializes in investing in eCommerce primarily in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. They are interested in expanding into Africa due to the growth in the number of eCommerce firms in the region and customer demand. In particular, they’re considering acquiring the third-largest general eCommerce company in the region. The African market shows a lot of potential but there is uncertainty about profitability in the market and the growth potential.

Bain Case Interview Step 1: Opening

Repeat your understanding of the client’s business and problem to the interviewer. Make sure to ask any clarifying questions, for example:

• “ What countries in Africa would the firm want to look at? ”
• “ What is the target company’s business model and what countries does it do business in? ”
• “ What does success look like for entering the regional market ? For the acquisition? ”
• “ Other than uncertainty about profitability in the market and potential for growth, are there any other concerns? ”

Bain Case Interview Step 2: Structure

Take a moment to think about your approach and how you would structure your analysis of this problem. Before reading ahead, write down your approach and compare it to our solution.

Here’s one potential approach:

Strategic considerations

• Current market size
• Historical growth
• Projected growth (projected market size)
• Is the market fragmented vs concentrated?
• Is there a way to clearly differentiate yourself?
• Other trends (e.g., delivery infrastructure, consumer preferences, penetration of credit cards/debit cards/mobile money)
• Historical trends
• Are product(s) differentiated vs competitors on aspects customers care most about?
• Does the customer base view the products favorably?
• Is the customer base sticky (high switching costs)?
• Is it positioned well in the most attractive African markets?
• What is our exit strategy and potential ROI?
• Is there a strategic reason to bring them into our portfolio?
• Do we have specific expertise that can drive value from this acquisition?
• Are there any synergies with other companies already in our portfolio?
• Is this a sector we want to learn something specific about?
• e.g., regulatory, macro-economic, etc.

You typically only have a few minutes to come up with and lay out your structure and it’s not expected that you cover all aspects. However, it is good to demonstrate that you have covered the most important ones in a structured manner.

Bain Case Interview Step 3: Analysis

After you’ve laid out your structure, the interviewer will prompt you to dive deeper into the various strategic considerations you’ve mentioned. Ask relevant questions, make logical assumptions about the market, and tie back what you learn to the main question you’re trying to answer. While it’s not necessary to have industry-specific knowledge to pass Bain interviews, if you do have content knowledge that can help you draw relevant conclusions, do draw on it. (E.g., “I know that in a lot of emerging markets, credit card penetration is low, but I’ve also read that Africa has a high adoption of mobile money. For this reason, I would expect the consumer behavior trends to be in our client’s favor.”)

Remember, you are driving the interview. Once the interviewer is happy with your structure, move on to the next logical step. In this case, it is to analyze how big the market is. You can ask the interviewer if they have any data on the market.

Suppose your interviewer tells you that total household consumption in Africa is $1.5 trillion and asks you to size the market for eCommerce purchases in Nigeria, Egypt, and East Africa based on that. Before you look at the answer, take a moment to consider how you would approach this calculation.

There are different ways to calculate the current market size and the above is just an illustration. The key thing is to remember to have a methodical and structured approach to your analysis and to verbally “show your work.”

A potential follow-up analysis could look at the target eCommerce company’s attractiveness and map its operations to the countries where the African eCommerce market is growing.

Bain Case Interview Step 4: Conclusion

Say that from further analysis you identify that the African eCommerce market will have an annual growth rate of 15%, that the client’s target company is attractive, and that the target operates in two of the three countries where eCommerce is growing most quickly. So what? When your client comes back and asks you about your findings and recommendations, what will you tell them?

Your conclusion should start with your recommendation to the client and provide evidence from your analysis that supports that recommendation. You should also consider any risks of pursuing this course of action that the client should be aware of as well as next steps to pursue this path.

A sample conclusion could sound like this:

“I recommend that assuming favorable deal terms, you invest in this target to expand into Africa, specifically into Nigeria, Egypt, and East Africa initially, because those are the largest economies, before expanding to the rest of the continent. The target is attractive because it has a growing market share and a highly-differentiated product. The market is attractive because the expected growth of eCommerce is 15% in these three regions and the target is well-positioned in the strongest country-level markets. There is potential for even higher growth given that household consumption and internet penetration are low and expected to grow at a very fast rate due to the growing middle class.

“One risk to be aware of is that last-mile logistics infrastructure in the region is more nascent than in many of the markets where our client has invested in the past. A next step I would focus on is the target’s operating model and whether they have an approach that serves customers well in the local context and has the flexibility and creativity to deliver in markets where infrastructure is still being built.”

The Bain Fit Interview (a.k.a Bain Experience Interview)

Bain’s fit interview provides an opportunity for the interviewer to learn about your accomplishments, understand your motivations and passions, and understand why you want to be a consultant at Bain. Bain wants to understand who you are so that they can assess whether you will fit in with the organization and succeed as a consultant.

Here are some tips for preparing for Bain’s experience interview:

• Read their website to find out what they look for in candidates, view consultant profiles, and go through the sample Bain experience questions.
• Prepare your stories to answer common experience questions before your interview.
• Keep a healthy balance between talking about “me” and talking about “the team” in questions about team results. It’s important to show where you led the work, but equally important to show you are happy to work as a team and share credit where it’s due.
• Expect follow-up questions to your stories. Be prepared to go into deeper detail.
• Practice your stories to ensure they are tight, that your answers are structured, and that you are confident in your storytelling.

For common experience interview questions and more details on how to prepare, read our article The Bain Experience Interview .

The Bain Written Case

At Bain, several offices use written case interviews as part of the consultant and summer associate interview process. They’re used mainly in European and Asian offices, not in North America. They are used for final round interviews and not first round interviews.

The written case interview is an extension of the traditional interview; you’ll receive key questions, facts about the case, and be given some time to develop your recommendations before you meet with your interviewer.

• Bain will provide you with 20-30 PowerPoint slides describing a client’s situation.
• You will have ~55 minutes to identify key insights and write recommendation(s) before the interview.
• You will have 40 minutes to present and discuss your recommendation(s) with your interviewer.

Similar to a traditional case interview, the interviewer may challenge your assumptions or interpretation of the facts in order to see how you might handle a real client situation.

Read our article on Written Case Interviews for more information. You can also visit Bain’s career website .

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Your Own Structure

Don’t use rote case structures to solve Bain case interviews. Bain interviewers like to see a little original thinking and creativity, so be sure to tailor your framework to the case. A Bain interviewer would rather see a simple framework that shows you thought about this case specifically than something “fancy” you memorized from a book. Read our article on Case Interview Frameworks for tips on using and developing frameworks.

2. Be Authentic

Bainies care about who their colleagues are outside of work. During your experience interviews, don’t be shy about speaking about your non-academic accomplishments and interests. Be sure to be friendly and collegial with the interviewer. (This can actually help calm nerves.) They are looking not only for poise and polish but also whether you will be an enjoyable, positive teammate – even if you have to pull an unexpected late evening in the team room. And Bain interviewers really want to see candidates succeed. Going in with that knowledge also builds confidence.

3. Make Sure You’re at the Bar on Each Part of the Bain Interview

Always ask your case partners for detailed feedback on the various parts of the case and act on that feedback. Review past cases you’ve done and rehearse with a live partner. Practice! Practice! Practice! Get comfortable doing math fast and accurately, reading exhibits, and coming up with structured answers on the go.

4. Embody a Bain Consultant

Demonstrate your ability to solve a business problem in collaboration with someone. During your interview, walk your interviewer through your thought process and any assumptions you make. Imagine that this is a real-life consulting project and act as though they are your teammate.

5. Consider “80/20”

Don’t be so detail-oriented or perfectionistic that it slows you down. When time and information are limited, an important skill is to know what information is most important and invest your limited time in digging for that. Feel empowered to round numbers where you need to, make assumptions, and take your interviewer through them. Remember you don’t “need to boil the ocean” find a sound answer or approach.

  – – – – –

In this article, we’ve covered:

• Bain’s unique culture, growth and development opportunities, and client focus set the firm apart from other management consulting firms.
• Skills that Bain is looking for in candidates.
• Bain’s interview process, including the traditional case, written case interview, and experience or fit interview.
• MCO’s top 5 tips on acing your Bain case interview.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about the Bain case interview, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

Other people prepping for the Bain interview process found the following pages helpful:

• Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep .
• Bain Online Assessment .
• The Bain Experience Interview .
• Answering the “Why Bain?” Question .
• Written Case Interviews .
• Extensive Q&A with Davis Nguyen, MCO Founder, about His Bain Experience .

Help with Case Study Interview Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on the Bain case interview. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 85% of the people we’ve worked with to get a job in management consulting. We want you to be successful in your consulting interviews too. For example, here is how Arjun was able to get his offer from Bain & Company.

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Bain interviews: the ultimate overview (2024)

In recent years, Bain has made some significant changes to its interview formats. Here, we provide an overview of these changes and the reasons behind them. We also explain how to prepare successfully for an interview at Bain.

Key takeaways

• Bain’s case interviews are now standardized and interviewer-led. These interviews include multi-pronged questions, as well as digital and sustainability content.
• Fit interviews are no longer part of the consulting interview format at Bain. Instead, candidates are given a separate ‘behavioral’ interview in which they are assessed on four soft skills.
• In the behavioral interview, candidates are asked eight scripted questions, which require them to consider a mix of backward-looking and forward-focused scenarios.
• Bain bases its hiring decisions on how candidates perform in both the case interview and the behavioral interview. The case interview dimensions it assesses are similar to those assessed by other top consulting firms, with an emphasis on recommendations that are both practical and commercially sound.
• If you’re getting ready to interview at Bain, the video lectures, sample interviews, case material, and practice tools in our Interview Prep Course can help you prepare. We can also connect you with practice partners and coaches who can help you accelerate your preparation , many of whom are Bain alumni.

The Bain case interview

Interviewer-led cases.

Historically, Bain interviewers developed their own case material, and interviews were typically candidate-led. This meant that the candidate suggested different aspects of the problem to explore, analyzed additional information provided by the interviewer, and suggested next steps to reach the answer.

Bain now uses a set of standardized, interviewer-led cases that have been developed by a central team. While the candidate suggests different aspects of the problem to explore in interviewer-led cases, the interviewer may interrupt and ask the candidate to focus on a specific question or aspect of the case. The candidate then explores this particular area and suggests the next steps to get to the answer.

Bain’s ultimate goal in making these changes is to make better hiring decisions by assessing candidates in a consistent and calibrated fashion. That being said, some offices and many senior interviewers (who most often conduct final-round interviews) continue to use their own material and the legacy candidate-led approach.

Multi-pronged questions

Bain’s standardized, interviewer-led cases may include a main question and several sub-questions, which the interviewer shares upfront as part of the case prompt.

The first part of the case is inevitably about structuring the main question. Candidates should identify either how the interviewer’s sub-questions fit into their overall structure, or how they would tackle each sub-question separately.

The interviewer then guides the candidate through the case and asks them to conduct specific analyses or investigate new questions. However, this doesn’t mean they should take a back seat! It’s essential for candidates to demonstrate case leadership by showing initiative, putting forward hypotheses to test, and suggesting next steps – even when the interviewer is following a pre-set plan. You can see examples of strong case leadership in these case interview videos .

Digital and sustainability content

To reflect the work that Bain does today, most offices’ cases include both a digital and sustainability angle. It’s therefore a good idea for candidates to familiarize themselves with these topics.

Additionally, Bain includes an ethical challenge in every candidate’s first or second-round case interview. The firm does this to test each candidate’s ability to identify ethical issues and respond with integrity.

The Bain behavioral interview

The elimination of the fit interview.

To reduce unconscious bias, foster diversity, and give everyone the same fair shot at joining Bain, the firm has asked its offices to eliminate the fit interview from their process. This means that case interviews at Bain – at just 45 minutes in length – are now shorter than they are at other top consulting firms. They only include the case and time for the candidate to ask questions.

In the spirit of reducing unconscious bias, some of Bain’s offices have stopped sharing candidates’ resumes with interviewers. However, some interviewers might look candidates up on LinkedIn ahead of their interviews. Candidates should therefore ensure that their profile on the platform is both up to date and reflective of their key achievements.

A full behavioral interview

Instead of conducting a short fit interview, Bain now takes candidates through a separate ‘behavioral interview’. This is a 45-minute one-on-one discussion between the candidate and either a manager, senior consultant, or senior member of the HR team.

In this interview, candidates are asked a total of eight scripted questions across the following four dimensions:

• Listening and empathy
• Humility and teamwork
• Growth orientation

Two questions are asked to assess each dimension. These questions consist of backward-looking scenarios, which are about past experiences, and forward-focused scenarios, in which the candidate is asked to consider a hypothetical situation.

Because the questions are scripted, with no link between them, the behavioral interview at Bain can feel a little transactional or mechanical at times. Candidates should also be prepared for the possibility of their interviewer interrupting them to ensure that all eight questions are covered.

How Bain assesses candidates’ performance

Bain bases its hiring decisions on how candidates perform in both the case interview and the behavioral interview.

Like other top consulting firms, Bain assesses candidates’ case interview performance against problem-solving dimensions such as structuring , case math , and synthesis . It places an emphasis on recommendations that are both practical and commercially sound.

Bain assesses candidates in an additional dimension called ‘Maintaining Ethical True North’ through its inclusion of an ethical challenge in at least one case interview.

How to prepare for an interview at Bain

If you’re getting ready to interview at Bain, be sure to ask your recruiter at the firm what kind of interviews to expect for your target office and role.

Then, use CaseCoach to prepare. Our Interview Prep Course contains all the video lectures, sample interviews, case material, and practice tools you’ll need to ace Bain’s case interviews.

In our experience, most candidates who go on to receive an offer from a top consulting firm practice at least 25 live cases with a partner before their interview. We can connect you with a diverse community of fellow candidates who are all available for case interview practice in our Practice Room .

Finally, you might want to consider supplementing your practice further by practicing cases with a coach who has previously been an interviewer at Bain. Consulting interview coaches can help accelerate your preparation by gauging your level of performance and helping you identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can book a coaching session with a Bain alum on CaseCoach .

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• The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview
• Consulting Career Secrets
• Cover Letter & Resume
• McKinsey Solve Game (Imbellus)
• BCG Online Case (+ Pymetrics, Spark Hire)
• Bain Aptitude Tests (SOVA, Pymetrics, HireVue)
• Kearney Recruitment Test
• BCG Cognitive Test Practice
• All-in-One Case Interview Preparation
• Industry Cheat Sheets
• Structuring & Brainstorming
• Data & Chart Interpretation
• Case Math Mastery
• McKinsey Interview Academy
• Brainteasers

Case Interview Examples (2024): A Collection from McKinsey and Others

Last Updated on January 11, 2024

Whenever you prepare for case interviews, you have to practice as realistically as possible and mimic the real case study interview at McKinsey , BCG , Bain , and others. One way to do this and make your preparation more effective is to practice real cases provided by the firms you apply to.

It will help you to understand what the differences are across firms, how they structure and approach their cases, what dimensions are important to them, and what solutions they consider to be strong.

Below is a steadily expanding selection of real case interview examples provided by different management consulting firms.

Before wasting your money on case interview collection books that use generic cases, use original cases first. Additionally, use professional case coaches, who interviewed for the top firms , to mimic the real interview experience and get real, actionable feedback to improve.

Please be aware that cases are just one part of a typical consulting interview. It is equally important to prepare for behavioral and fit interview questions .

McKinsey Case Interview Examples

• Loravia – Transforming a national education system
• SuperSoda – Electro-light product launch
• GlobaPharm – Pharma R&D
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Diconsa financial services offering
• Beautify – Customer approach
• Shops – DEI strategy
• Talbot Trucks – Electric truck development
• Conservation Forever – Nature conservation

We have written a detailed article on the McKinsey application process, the McKinsey interview timeline, the typical McKinsey case interview, and the McKinsey Personal Experience interview here . You can expect similar cases regardless of your position (e.g. in a McKinsey phone case interview or interviewing for a McKinsey internship as well as a full-time BA, Associate, or Engagement Manager role).

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Case interview Examples

• Consumer Goods – Climate strategy
• Banking – Client satisfaction
• Consumer Goods – IT strategy
• Chateau Boomerang – Written case

Bain and Company case interview examples

• NextGen Tech
• FashionCo .

Ace the case interview with our dedicated preparation packages.

Deloitte Case Interview Examples

• Federal Agency – Engagement strategy
• Federal Benefits Provider – Strategic vision
• Apparel – Declining market share
• Federal Finance Agency – Architecture strategy
• MedX – Smart pill bottle
• Federal Healthy Agency – Finance strategy
• LeadAuto – Market expansion
• Federal Bureau – Talent management

Strategy& Case Interview Examples

• Strategy& tips and examples  (case examples included )

Accenture Case Interview Examples

• Accenture interview tips and examples (case examples included )

Kearney Case Interview Examples

• Promotional planning

Roland Berger Case Interview Examples

• Transit-oriented development Part 1
• Transit-oriented development Part 2
• 3D printed hip implants Part 1
• 3D printed hip implants Part 2

Oliver Wyman Case Interview Examples

• Wumbleworld – theme park
• Aqualine – boats

LEK Case Interview Examples

• Video case interview example (currently unavailable)
• Market sizing video example
• Brainteaser (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Simon Kucher Case Interview Examples

• Smart phone pricing

OC&C Case Interview Examples

• Imported whiskey in an emerging market – business strategy
• Leisure clubs – data interpretation

Capital One Case Interview Examples

• How to crack case interviews with Capital One (includes case examples)

Bridgespan Case Interview Examples

• Robinson Philanthropy – Strategy
• Reach for the Stars – Student success
• Home Nurses for New Families – Expansion strategy
• Venture Philanthropy – Charity

Consulting Clubs Case Interview Books

Contact us at [email protected] for a collection of consulting club case interview books (from Harvard, ESADE, LBS, Columbia, etc.).

How We Help You Ace Your Case Interviews

We have specialized in placing people from all walks of life with different backgrounds into top consulting firms both as generalist hires as well as specialized hires and experts. As former McKinsey consultants and interview experts, we help you by

• tailoring your resume and cover letter to meet consulting firms’ highest standards
• showing you how to pass the different online assessments and tests for McKinsey , BCG , and Bain
• showing you how to ace McKinsey interviews and the PEI with our video academy
• coaching you in our 1-on-1 sessions to become an excellent case solver and impress with your fit answers (90% success rate after 5 sessions)
• preparing your math to be bulletproof for every case interview
• helping you structure creative and complex case interviews
• teaching you how to interpret charts and exhibits like a consultant
• providing you with cheat sheets and overviews for 27 industries .

Reach out to us if you have any questions! We are happy to help and offer a tailored program to help you break into consulting.

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Florian spent 5 years with McKinsey as a senior consultant. He is an experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach, having interviewed 100s of candidates in real and mock interviews. He started StrategyCase.com to make top-tier consulting firms more accessible for top talent, using tailored and up-to-date know-how about their recruiting. He ranks as the most successful consulting case and fit interview coach, generating more than 500 offers with MBB, tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms through direct coaching of his clients over the last 3.5 years. His books “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview” and “Consulting Career Secrets” are available via Amazon.

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Bain Case Interviews: A Comprehensive Preparation Guide

Are you preparing for a Bain case interview? Look no further! Our comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know to ace your interview and land your dream job at Bain.

Posted June 12, 2023

Featuring Timothy F.

How to Nail MBB Case Interviews

Starting friday, june 21.

10:00 PM UTC · 60 minutes

Table of Contents

If you're looking to land a consulting job at Bain, you're likely aware of the importance of case interviews. In fact, you could say that they're the bread and butter of the entire interview process. That's why it's essential to prepare for these types of interviews. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Bain case interviews, from the structure to common mistakes to how to build a framework, so you can approach them with confidence.

What are Bain Case Interviews?

Bain case interviews are a specific type of interview used to assess problem-solving skills and other competencies relevant to consulting. They involve being presented with a scenario or problem and being asked to work through it with the interviewer in a structured and logical way. These interviews are typically conducted in-person and can last anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.

During a Bain case interview, the interviewer may also be assessing your ability to communicate effectively, think creatively, and work collaboratively. It is important to not only demonstrate your problem-solving skills but also your ability to explain your thought process and work well with others. Additionally, Bain case interviews may include both quantitative and qualitative components, so it is important to be comfortable with both types of analysis.

Why Bain Case Interviews are Important for Consulting Jobs?

Case interviews are the primary way that consulting firms assess candidates' problem-solving abilities and other skills necessary for consulting jobs. In a consulting career, your ability to solve complex problems and provide innovative solutions is essential. These skills are tested in Bain case interviews to see how well you can apply theoretical knowledge to real-world business situations.

Moreover, Bain case interviews also evaluate your communication and interpersonal skills. As a consultant, you will be working with clients from diverse backgrounds and industries. Therefore, it is crucial to demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively and build relationships with clients during the case interview process.

Additionally, Bain case interviews provide a glimpse into the consulting firm's culture and values. The case interview process allows candidates to interact with current consultants and understand the firm's approach to problem-solving and client management. This insight can help candidates determine if Bain is the right fit for their career goals and aspirations.

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The Structure of Bain Case Interviews

The structure of a Bain case interview typically involves three main parts: introduction, analysis, and conclusion. The introduction sets the stage for the problem at hand, the analysis is where you work through the problem, and the conclusion is where you present your findings and recommendations.

During the introduction, the interviewer will provide you with a brief overview of the case and the problem that needs to be solved. This is your opportunity to ask any clarifying questions and to make sure you fully understand the problem before moving on to the analysis phase.

The analysis phase is where you will spend the majority of your time in the case interview. This is where you will use your problem-solving skills to break down the problem into smaller, more manageable parts. You will need to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis to come up with a solution to the problem.

How to Prepare for Bain Case Interviews?

To prepare for Bain case interviews, you must have a deep understanding of business concepts, analytical thinking, and problem-solving. You can prepare for these types of interviews by practicing with case studies, working on your math and communication skills, and building your business knowledge. It's also a good idea to understand the interview format and structure so you can prepare effectively.

One effective way to prepare for Bain case interviews is to seek guidance from experienced professionals in the field. You can reach out to alumni or current employees of Bain to gain insights into the interview process and learn about their experiences. Additionally, attending networking events and career fairs can provide you with opportunities to connect with professionals and gain valuable advice.

Another important aspect of preparing for Bain case interviews is to stay up-to-date with current events and industry trends. This can help you to develop a broader perspective on business issues and demonstrate your ability to think critically and creatively. Reading business publications, attending conferences, and participating in online forums can all be helpful in staying informed and building your knowledge base.

Although not directly pertaining to case interviews, you should also be able to answer the question "Why Bain?" Take a look at this article to craft a strategic, yet genuine response that captures your passion for the firm and experience in an impactful way.

Bain Case Interview Tips and Tricks

When it comes to case interviews, there are a few tips and tricks you can use to be successful. For example, always clarify the problem before diving into a solution. Make sure to break down the problem into smaller pieces to make it more manageable and clear up any ambiguity. Also, be sure to communicate your thought process and assumptions with the interviewer.

Another important tip is to use frameworks to structure your analysis. Frameworks provide a systematic approach to problem-solving and help you organize your thoughts. It's also important to prioritize your analysis and focus on the most critical issues first. This will help you make the most impact in the limited time you have.

Lastly, don't forget to practice, practice, practice! The more case interviews you do, the more comfortable you will become with the format and the better you will perform. You can practice with friends, colleagues, or even online resources. Remember, preparation is key to success in case interviews.

Common Mistakes to Avoid During Bain Case Interviews

There are a few common mistakes that candidates make during Bain case interviews that can hurt their chances of success. For example, rushing through the problem, not asking clarifying questions, and failing to communicate effectively can all negatively impact your performance. It's essential to be aware of these mistakes and take steps to avoid them.

Another common mistake that candidates make during Bain case interviews is not structuring their approach to the problem. It's important to take a structured approach to the problem, breaking it down into smaller parts and analyzing each part systematically. This will help you to identify the key issues and develop a clear and logical solution. Additionally, candidates often fail to demonstrate their problem-solving skills effectively. It's important to explain your thought process and reasoning behind your solutions, as this will demonstrate your analytical abilities and help you to stand out from other candidates.

How to Build a Framework for Bain Cases

A framework is a structured approach to breaking down a problem and analyzing it effectively. To build a framework for Bain cases, you should start by clarifying the problem and then breaking it down into smaller pieces. From there, you can work through each piece individually to ensure that you're covering all aspects of the problem thoroughly.

It's important to keep in mind that your framework should be flexible and adaptable to different types of cases. You should also consider incorporating relevant data and industry knowledge into your analysis. Additionally, it's helpful to practice building frameworks for different types of cases to improve your skills and efficiency in case interviews.

Analyzing the Information in Bain Cases

To analyze information in Bain cases effectively, you need to be able to identify relevant information, prioritize it, and use it to develop a hypothesis about the problem at hand. It's essential to approach the problem logically and systematically, breaking it down into smaller pieces and analyzing each piece individually.

Additionally, it's important to consider the context in which the problem arose. Understanding the industry, market trends, and competitive landscape can provide valuable insights into the root cause of the problem. It's also helpful to gather data and conduct research to support your hypothesis and validate your findings. By taking a comprehensive approach to analyzing information in Bain cases, you can develop effective solutions that address the underlying issues and drive meaningful results.

Solving Quantitative Problems in Bain Cases

Quantitative problems often arise in Bain cases, and the ability to solve these types of problems is essential for success. To solve quantitative problems in Bain cases, you need a strong foundation in math and critical thinking, as well as the ability to apply these skills in a practical way to the given problem.

It is also important to have a clear understanding of the problem and the data provided. This involves breaking down the problem into smaller, more manageable parts and identifying any relevant information that can be used to solve the problem. Additionally, it is important to check your work and ensure that your solution makes sense in the context of the problem.

Developing Recommendations in Bain Cases

Once you've analyzed the problem, you need to develop recommendations based on your findings. To do this effectively, you should consider the potential outcomes of each solution and weigh the pros and cons. It's also essential to communicate your recommendations clearly and logically.

When developing recommendations in Bain cases, it's important to keep in mind the client's goals and objectives. Your recommendations should align with their overall strategy and vision for the company. Additionally, it's crucial to consider any potential risks or challenges that may arise from implementing your recommendations and have a plan in place to address them. By taking these factors into account, you can ensure that your recommendations are not only effective but also feasible for the client to implement.

The Role of Communication Skills in Bain Case Interviews

Communication skills are critical in Bain case interviews. Effective communication shows the interviewer that you're able to break down complex concepts and explain them in a clear and concise way. It also demonstrates your ability to listen actively and engage in a discussion.

Navigating Ambiguity and Uncertainty in Bain Cases

Bain cases are designed to simulate real-world business problems, which can be complex, ambiguous, and uncertain. To navigate ambiguity and uncertainty in Bain cases, it's important to be comfortable with incomplete information, be flexible in your thinking, and avoid making assumptions. Clarifying questions can also help you gather more information and clarify the problem.

Preparing for Behavioral Questions in Bain Interviews

Behavioral questions are commonly used in Bain interviews to assess your work experience, problem-solving skills, and other competencies. To prepare for behavioral questions, you should prepare specific examples that demonstrate your skills and competencies, and be able to communicate them effectively in an interview setting.

Practice Makes Perfect: Resources for Preparing for Bain Cases

There are many resources available to help you prepare for Bain cases, from online case studies to consulting books. It's important to practice different case types and study the solutions to understand how to approach them effectively.

What to Expect During the Actual Interview Day?

On the actual interview day, you can expect to have one-on-one interviews with Bain consultants or managers. These interviews will likely consist of case interviews and behavioral questions. It's essential to arrive early, dress appropriately, and be prepared to present your skills and competencies effectively.

In conclusion, Bain case interviews are an essential part of the consulting interview process, and it's crucial to prepare for them effectively. By understanding the structure, avoiding common mistakes, building a framework, and practicing effectively, you can approach these interviews with confidence and increase your chances of success.

For more expert tips on how to ace your next management consulting interview or position, delve into these resources:

• How to Prepare for IBM Management Consulting Case Interviews?
• Best 30 Free Resources to Get Into Management Consulting
• Five Tips to Break Into Management Consulting
• A Day in the Life of a Management Consulting Consultant
• How to Prepare for KPMG Management Consulting Behavioral Interviews

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100+ Real Consulting Presentations from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and More

By Paul Moss

We’ve gathered presentations from top consulting firms that you can use to inspire your own slide making.

For this post we’ve gathered 100+ real presentations from top consulting firms around the internet for you to review, analyze, and learn from. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and each provides a different look into how top quality consulting presentations get created and delivered to clients. 

After finishing this article, make sure you check out our advanced courses to see how you can learn to build your own high-quality, consulting-style slides from scratch.

The Internet's Best Slides

Search through our curated library of REAL slides to find inspiration for your next presentation

• Reshaping NYCHA support functions   (BCG)
•   Loose dogs in Dallas: Strategic Recommendations to Improve Public Safety and Animal Welfare   (BCG)
•   Melbourne as a Global Cultural Destination   (BCG)
•   The Open Education Resources ecosystem   (BCG)
•   The True-Luxury Global Consumer Insight (7th Edition) (BCG)
•   Evaluating NYC media sector development and setting the stage for future growth   (BCG)
•   The Electric Car Tipping Point   (BCG)
•   Projecting US Mail volumes to 2020   (BCG)
•   Next Generation Manufacturing (2016)   (BCG)
•   Corporate Ventures in Sweden (2016)   (BCG)
•   Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program – March 2008   (BCG)
•   USPS Future Business Model   (McKinsey)
•   Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future   (McKinsey)
•   Outperformers: High-growth emerging economies and the companies that propel them   (McKinsey)
•   Technology’s role in mineral criticality (World Materials Forum)   (McKinsey)
•   Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?   (McKinsey)
•   Modelling the potential of digitally-enabled processes, transparency and participation in the NHS   (McKinsey)
•   Addressing the Global Affordable Housing Challenge (2016)   (McKinsey)
•   Capturing the Full Electrical Efficiency Potential of the UK (2012)   (McKinsey)
•   Digital Luxury Experience (2017)   (McKinsey)
•   Digitally-Enabled Processes in the NHS (2014)   (McKinsey)
•   How Companies can Capture the Veteran Opportunity (2012)   (McKinsey)
•   Insurance Trends and Growth Opportunities for Poland (2015)   (McKinsey)
•   Laying the Foundations for a Financially Sound Industry (2013)   (McKinsey)
•   From Poverty to Empowerment (2014)   (McKinsey)
•   Consumer privacy in retail   (Deloitte)
•   TMT Outlook 2017: A new wave of advances offer opportunities and challenges   (Deloitte)
• Deloitte SEA CFO Forum Southeast Asia Business Outlook   (Deloitte)
• Deloitte Kenya Budget 2022/23 Webinar   (Deloitte)
• The Shopping Centre Handbook 4.0   (Deloitte)

Bain & Co.

•   2011 China Luxury Market Study   (Bain)
•   Bain & UC Berkley Operational Excellence (2010)   (Bain)
•   Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation   (Accenture)
•   Shaping the Sustainable Organization   (Accenture)
•   The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action   (Accenture)
•   Fueling the Energy Future   (Accenture)
•   Cracking the Code on Consumer Fraud   (Accenture)
•   Right Cloud Mindset: Survey Results Hospitality   (Accenture)
•   Unleashing Competitiveness on the Cloud Continuum   (Accenture)
•   Whole Brain Leadership: New Rules of Engagement for the C-Suite   (Accenture)
•   Federal Technology Vision 2021: Full U.S. Federal Survey Findings   (Accenture)
•   Accenture Consumer Behavior Research: The value shake-up   (Accenture)
•   Tech Adoption and Strategy for Innovation & Growth   (Accenture)
•   Intelligent Operations for Future-Ready Businesses   (Accenture)
•   When, Where & How AI Will Boost Federal Workforce Productivity   (Accenture)
•   How fit is your allocation strategy?   (EY)
•   European Banking Barometer (2015)   (EY)
•   EY Price Point: global oil and gas market outlook, Q2 | April 2022   (EY)
•   IBOR transition: Opportunities and challenges for the asset management industry (EY)
•   Global Capital Confidence Barometer 21st edition   (EY)
•   Power transactions and trends Q2 2019   (EY)
•   MAPS2018 Keynote address on EY report: Life Sciences 4.0 – Securing value through data-driven platforms   (EY)
•   EY Germany FinTech Landscape   (EY)

PwC / Strategy&

•   Project Management: Improving performance, reducing risk   (PwC)
•   World Economic Forum: The power of analytics for better and faster decisions by Dan DiFilippo   (PwC)
•   Apache Hadoop Summit 2016: The Future of Apache Hadoop an Enterprise Architecture View   (PwC)
•   Turning big data into big revenue   (PwC)
•   Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017   (PwC)
•   PwC’s new Golden Age Index – how well are countries harnessing the power of older workers?   (PwC)
•   PwC’s Global Technology IPO Review — Q1 2015   (PwC)
•   PwC Trends in the workforce   (PwC)
•   18th Annual Global CEO Survey – Technology industry key findings   (PwC)
•   The FDA and industry: A recipe for collaborating in the New Health Economy   (PwC)
•   Making zero-emission trucking a reality   (Strategy&)
•   Sustainability strategies for Oil and Gas   (Strategy&)
•   Driving the sustainability agenda on C-level   (Strategy&)
• The Diversity Imperative: 14th Annual Australian Chief Executive Study   (Strategy&)
•   Creating a Winning Recipe for a Meal Kits Program   (LEK)
•   The 4th Annual New Mobility Study 2019   (LEK)
•   2019 APAC Hospital Priority Study Overview    (LEK)
•   Rail industry cost and revenue sharing (2011)   (LEK)
•   2019 Media and Entertainment Study   (LEK)
•   Navigating a digital-first home furnishings market   (LEK)
•   5 Opportunities in the Nutritional Supplements Industry   (LEK)
•   Infrastructure Victoria – AZ/ZEV International Scan   (LEK)
•   The Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Meal Kits and E-commerce in Food & Beverage   (LEK)
•   Top 8 Insights From the 2018 Beauty, Health & Wellness Survey   (LEK)
•   2018 Brand Owner Packaging Survey   (LEK)
•   2016 Strategic Hospital Priorities Study   (LEK)
•   The Merchandising Evolution (and why NDC Matters)   (LEK)
•   Infrastructure beyond COVID-19   (LEK)
•   China Exit or Co-Investment Opportunities for German PE Investors   (LEK)
•   Strategy Study 2014   ( AT Kearney)
•   Australia: Taking Bigger Steps   ( AT Kearney)
•   Lifting the Barriers to Retail Innovation in ASEAN   ( AT Kearney)
•   The Future of Commercial Vehicle Powertrains (2012)   ( AT Kearney)
•   A.T. Kearney 2017 State of Logistics Report: Accelerating into Uncertainty   ( AT Kearney)
•   Pursuing Customer Inspired Growth   ( AT Kearney)
•   The Accelerating Growth of Frictionless Commerce   ( AT Kearney)
•   Consolidation of the US Banking Industry   ( AT Kearney)
• Covid-19 and Effects on Turkey   ( AT Kearney)

Booz Allen Hamilton, Alvarez & Marsal and others

•   European Distressed Credit Watch List   (Alvarez & Marsal)
•   Corporate Headquarters Study 2018   (Roland Berger)
• The Lithium-Ion (EV) battery market and supply chain   (Roland Berger)
•   IP Theft   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Booz Allen Hamilton and Market Connections: C4ISR Survey Report   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Joining Forces: Interagency Collaboration and “Smart Power”   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
• Booz Allen at a glance   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
• Investor Presentation Deck   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Responding to Covid-19 (2021)   (Oliver Wyman)
•   C ovid-19 Special Primer (2020)   (Oliver Wyman)
• Building Up Immunity of the Financial Sector   (Oliver Wyman)
• Customer Experience: The 14BN Risk Noted for Discussion   (Oliver Wyman)

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Reshaping NYCHA support functions

Good:  Realistic client presentation, clear slide structure, complete storyline

Not Good:  Outdated, long and dense

Download this Presentation

Loose dogs in Dallas: Strategic Recommendations to Improve Public Safety and Animal Welfare

Good: Realistic client presentation, clear slide structure, insightful and clear charts

Not Good: Outdated, long and dense

Melbourne as a Global Cultural Destination

Good: Realistic client presentation, good structure, slides “guide” audience to insights

Not Good: Outdated design

The Open Education Resources ecosystem

Good: Clearly structured slides, good visuals, good illustrative charts

Not Good: Relatively short, slightly older, incomplete storyline

The True-Luxury Global Consumer Insight (7th Edition)

Good: Recent presentation, nice looking visuals, clear charts

Not Good: Not a client presentation, too much focus on design

Evaluating NYC media sector development and setting the stage for future growth

Good: Complete presentation (intro, exec. summary, etc.), good examples of subtitles

Not Good: Lacks clear recommendations

The Electric Car Tipping Point

Good: Clear and insightful charts, clutter-free slides, good titles

Not Good: Relatively short, not a client presentation

Projecting US Mail volumes to 2020

Good: Easy to understand, good insights and analysis, contrasts with McKinsey presentation on the same topic

Not Good: Old presentation

Next Generation Manufacturing (2016)

Good: Nice clean design, excellent visuals

Not Good: Not a client deliverable

Corporate Ventures in Sweden (2016)

Good: Strong overall flow, good visualization s

Not Good: Relatively short

Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program – March 2008

Good: Realistic slides and presentation, good structure

Not Good: Short

USPS Future Business Model

Good:  Clear structure and analysis, insightful charts

Not Good:  Outdated, lackluster design

Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future

Good: Variety of charts, good titles

Not Good: Over designed, not a client presentation

Outperformers: High-growth emerging economies and the companies that propel them

Good: Variety of charts, qualitative visuals, clear titles

Not Good: Poor use of color, minimal footnotes

Technology’s role in mineral criticality (World Materials Forum)

Good: Clear storyline, well-structured slides, good titles and subtitles

Not Good: Overuse of visuals, relatively short

Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?

Good: Complex explanations made simple, variety of visual types

Not Good: Inconsistent titles, some unprofessional visuals (clipart, etc.)

Modelling the potential of digitally-enabled processes, transparency and participation in the NHS

Good: Realistic client slides, data heavy

Not Good: Cluttered, incomplete storyline

Addressing the Global Affordable Housing Challenge (2016)

Good: Realistic slide structure, good charts, great slide titles

Not Good: Strange slide formatting, mediocre design

Capturing the Full Electrical Efficiency Potential of the UK (2012)

Good: Realistic client deliverable (full deck, dense slides, proper deck structure)

Digital Luxury Experience (2017)

Good: Variety of charts, good use of icons

Not Good: Short presentation, light on content, not a client deliverable

How Companies can Capture the Veteran Opportunity

Good: Examples of text-heavy slides, good action titles

Not Good: Minimal charts, unrealistic structure, repetitive slides

Insurance Trends and Growth Opportunities for Poland

Good: Well organized presentation, clear takeaways

Not Good: Old formatting, short presentation

Laying the Foundations for a Financially Sound Industry

Good: Multiple chart examples (waterfall, line, dot, column)

Not Good: Short presentation, “conference-style” presentation

From Poverty to Empowerment (2014)

Good: Good variety of data visualizations

Not Good: Unattractive formatting and style

Consumer privacy in retail

Good: Clear titles, good use of icons and color to show insights

Not Good: Short, not a client presentation

TMT Outlook 2017: A new wave of advances offer opportunities and challenges

Good: Survey insights highlighted well, good use of color, clear charts and visuals

Not Good: Not a client presentation, heavy focus on survey data

Deloitte SEA CFO Forum Southeast Asia Business Outlook

Good: Line chart examples

Not Good: Poor titles, strange use of black

Deloitte Kenya Budget 2022/23 Webinar

Good: Consistent design, good colors

Not Good: Simple titles, meant for live presentation

The Shopping Centre Handbook 4.0

Good: Some insights

Not Good: Too many graphics, strange design

2011 China Luxury Market Study

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Bain & UC Berkley Operational Excellence (2010)

Good: Realistic presentation, lots of slides

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Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation

Good: Simple and clear slide design, good structure, insightful charts

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Shaping the Sustainable Organization

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The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action

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Cracking the Code on Consumer Fraud

Good: Mix of charts and numbers

Right Cloud Mindset: Survey Results Hospitality

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Unleashing Competitiveness on the Cloud Continuum

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Whole Brain Leadership: New Rules of Engagement for the C-Suite

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Federal Technology Vision 2021: Full U.S. Federal Survey Findings

Good: Clear survey results, nice bar charts

Accenture Consumer Behavior Research: The value shake-up

Good: Color design, focus on insights

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Tech Adoption and Strategy for Innovation & Growth

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Intelligent Operations for Future-Ready Businesses

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When, Where & How AI Will Boost Federal Workforce Productivity

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European Banking Barometer (2015)

Good: Nice titles and takeaways, good variety of charts

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EY Price Point: global oil and gas market outlook, Q2 | April 2022

Good: Insightful charts and tables

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IBOR transition: Opportunities and challenges for the asset management industry

Good: Formatting

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Global Capital Confidence Barometer 21st edition

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Power transactions and trends Q2 2019

Good: Insightful charts

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MAPS2018 Keynote address on EY report: Life Sciences 4.0 – Securing value through data-driven platforms

Good: Realistic slides, clear titles, good formatting

EY Germany FinTech Landscape

Good: Formatting and structure, insightful charts

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Project Management: Improving performance, reducing risk

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World Economic Forum: The power of analytics for better and faster decisions by Dan DiFilippo

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Apache Hadoop Summit 2016: The Future of Apache Hadoop an Enterprise Architecture View

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Turning big data into big revenue

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Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017

PwC’s new Golden Age Index – how well are countries harnessing the power of older workers?

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PwC’s Global Technology IPO Review — Q1 2015

Good: Combination and column charts

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18th Annual Global CEO Survey – Technology industry key findings

Good: Visualized data

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The FDA and industry: A recipe for collaborating in the New Health Economy

Good: Simple and clear titles

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Making zero-emission trucking a reality

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The 4th Annual New Mobility Study 2019

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Booz Allen Hamilton, Alvarez & Marsal and others

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What is omnichannel marketing?

Picture this: you’re browsing online for some new work clothes, and you add something to your virtual cart but ultimately decide not to buy it. Then later, you see an ad on social media for the abandoned garment. Some scratch their heads at this, but it’s actually an example of omnichannel marketing.

The prefix “omni” means “all,” and “channel” is a reference to the many ways customers might interact with a company—in physical stores, by surfing the web, on social media, and in emails, apps, SMS, and other digital spaces. And this omnichannel approach can be a powerful way to meet your customers where they are, providing them good service in line with their preferences and needs. (Note that, in this article, we use the terms “customers,” “consumers,” and “shoppers” interchangeably in referring to omnichannel marketing in both B2B and B2C contexts.)

More and more, customers move across all channels—in person, online, and beyond—to get what they want. But not every customer is looking for the same thing, and omnichannel marketing acknowledges that. Some people want more services for certain transactions; others prefer low-touch, 24/7 interactions. Effective omnichannel marketing , then, happens when companies provide a set of seamlessly integrated channels, catering to customer preferences, and steer them to the most efficient solutions.

So why is omnichannel marketing important? Research on the omnichannel experience  shows more than half of B2C customers engage with three to five channels each time they make a purchase or resolve a request. And the average customer looking to make a single reservation for accommodations (like a hotel room) online switched nearly six times between websites and mobile channels. If these customers encounter inconsistent information or can’t get what they need, they may lose interest in a brand’s products or services.

And this can translate into business outcomes. Omnichannel customers shop 1.7 times more than shoppers who use a single channel. They also spend more.

Sometimes the term omnichannel is used in the context of customer service or customer experience . And it’s also used as a descriptor of other elements that go into supporting an organization’s omnichannel efforts—for instance, omnichannel supply chains , which is shorthand for an approach in which companies ensure that their supply chains are optimally set up to support omnichannel marketing efforts.

What are examples of omnichannel?

Omnichannel approaches are commonly used in retail  (both B2B  and B2C ), but you’ll also find it in healthcare and other spaces. Medtech companies , for instance, use a variety of channels including digital marketing, inside sales, portal and e-commerce, and hybrid sales-rep interactions to engage with healthcare professionals.

Several omnichannel examples  can illustrate various approaches:

• Best Buy typically focuses on commerce (both in store and online), but boosted its in-store experience by creating offerings for customers to explore smart home-technology solutions, pairing them with free in-home advisory services. And its mobile app lets customers “scan to shop” from catalogs and curbside, or buy online and pick up merchandise in the store itself, smoothing the end-to-end journey for customers with the 24/7 tech support from its Geek Squad. Best Buy’s Totaltech support offer was compelling to customers—it launched with 200,000 memberships in 2018, which climbed to two million within a year.
• Beauty retailer Sephora emphasizes omnichannel personalization, relying on rich in-app messaging, personalized push notifications, and easy ways for customers to book in-person consultations. Its in-store technology is a powerful complement that allows employees to access customer favorites and suggest products they might try next. Its loyalty program also plays an important role. The efforts are already driving value for Sephora: data showed that customers visiting the retail website within 24 hours of visiting a store were three times more likely to make a purchase, and orders were 13 percent higher than for other customers.
• Nike takes an ecosystems view of omnichannel, extending the brand experience and offering customers an ever-growing platform of content, offers, and community interactions. Its SNKRS and Run Club apps, for example, facilitate in-person meetups, running groups, and events. It also has an app for delivering individual workouts and fitness programs, creating experiences that go far beyond shoe and apparel lines to meet customers in their day-to-day routines.

Learn more about our Retail  and Growth, Marketing & Sales  practices.

How has omnichannel been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Omnichannel rose during the COVID-19 pandemic as more consumers turned to e-commerce. Due to the increased demand for contactless shopping during the height of the pandemic, US grocery stores saw 20 to 30 percent of their business shift to online . Before the pandemic, e-commerce accounted for just 3 to 4 percent of total sales for grocers.

The shifts made during the pandemic are likely to persist . In the pandemic, people gravitated to curbside pickup, “buy online, pay in store” models, and self-checkout at higher rates than in the past. And recent research indicates these behaviors are “sticky”—indeed, about 70 percent of people who first tried self-checkout in the pandemic say they’ll use it again.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

What do customers want out of the omnichannel experience.

Customers want a compelling and personalized omnichannel user experience with robust digital capabilities, both online and offline. About 60 to 70 percent of consumers research and shop both in stores and online . More concretely, over one-third of Americans  made omnichannel features—think buying online and picking up in store or curbside—part of their regular shopping routines since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. Nearly two-thirds of those individuals plan to continue doing so. And younger buyers, like Gen Zers, embrace omnichannel enthusiastically; these customers don’t think in terms of traditional channel boundaries, and they expect brands and retailers to provide a seamless experience, no matter where they are.

In a sense, all customers are omnichannel customers now, McKinsey partner Tiffany Burns  explains in an episode of the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast :

“Many retailers still think, ‘There are omnichannel interactions and store interactions, and I’m optimizing those two things separately. I have two different teams working on and thinking about those experiences.’ But as a consumer, when I go on the retailer’s website or app, I expect to see availability, a connection to what’s in the store, and a way to order things that I can pick up in store. I also expect to be able to stand in the aisle in the store and research a product. Today, consumers are figuring out workarounds to do all those things: they’re switching over from the app to Google, looking up the product, and searching for reviews.”

Organizations that make shopping a seamless omnichannel experience , or provide an app that helps customers find their way or see what’s in stock in the store, are already creating experiences that are a win for omnichannel customers .

Is omnichannel the same thing as phygital? And what is phygital, anyway?

Omnichannel is a business strategy, while “phygital” (a portmanteau that combines the word “physical” and “digital”) refers to the integration of the physical and digital worlds.

The term suggests a completely connected world that is both physical and digital at the same time . While fewer consumers are visiting brick-and-mortar stores and choosing to use e-commerce instead, more than 80 percent of retail sales still occur in a physical location . By 2030, the shopping experience will be highly personalized , and some activities may even take place in the metaverse . According to a recent survey, 80 percent of US adults  want personalization from retailers with multiple, personalized touchpoints , which can include a mobile app, digital displays, interactive screens, tech-enabled associates, and point of sale.

What about omnichannel vs multichannel?

When it comes to omnichannel vs multichannel, the key difference is the focus at the center of all efforts. Omnichannel is a customer-centric approach in which all channels are integrated so the customer has a unified and consistent experience whether they are at a physical store, using an app, or on a website. Multichannel, in contrast, tends to revolve around products instead of customers. It aims to inform as many people as possible about the product or brand, and the channels are not linked, so the customer experience is often different for each channel.

An interview with an insurance executive, Eric Gewirtzman of BOLT , makes that distinction relatable: “Insurance customers are already moving between various channels,” Gewirtzman says. “But there’s a big difference between being multichannel and being omnichannel. Just because carriers have, say, an exclusive agent channel, an independent agent channel, and a website, doesn’t mean they’re omnichannel. Too often, consumers will get a different experience and different results depending on which channel they use. This has to change. If there is no awareness between the channels, sales are lost.”

Learn more about our Financial Services practice.

What is omnichannel personalization?

Omnichannel personalization refers to the way organizations might tailor the customer experience for individuals across physical and digital channels. This includes multiple touchpoints that cater to the customer’s preferences pre-visit, during the visit, and post-visit. Customers receive products, offers, and communications that are unique to them as individuals.

Efforts to personalize the omnichannel market can have a big payoff. Indeed, getting omnichannel personalization right  could help companies increase revenue by 5 to 15 percent across the full customer base.

While companies recognize the power of omnichannel personalization, they may face roadblocks in implementing these efforts for a variety of reasons:

• Omnichannel personalization requires a lot of investment in technology  (both software and hardware). Personalizing physical spaces often starts from scratch because it requires enabling digital touchpoints such as screens, kiosks, or tablets for store associates, which may not exist.
• It is difficult to deliver a seamless customer experience and train employees. The front line needs training to understand and reinforce the customer journey.
• Traditionally, companies operate their digital and physical channels independently. Omnichannel personalization requires companies to rethink their organizational structure across both the digital and physical parts of the business .

These barriers, however, can be overcome. Five steps can help companies achieve omnichannel personalization :

• Define the omnichannel personalization strategy and learning agenda. It’s crucial to develop a clear view on key moments of influence in the customer journey , and then identify what outcomes are desired at each step of that journey. Finally, an organization needs to prioritize use cases to test, looking at their ability to deliver business benefits and value to customers.
• Address five digital touchpoints to activate personalized experiences in physical environments. Companies need to connect digital and physical footprints to drive omnichannel personalization, especially at touchpoints where these worlds converge. Five are particularly important: mobile apps, digital displays, interactive screens, tech-enabled associates, and point of sale.
• Use an omnichannel “ decisioning engine ” to deliver experiences and measure performance. This can help organizations identify, quickly and accurately, the next best action to take with each customer.
• Implement agile operating practices. Personalized marketing goes beyond mere technology; it requires new ways of working, and agile marketing teams  can help in this regard.
• Activate omnichannel personalization in the field. To bring all these elements together, a company’s sales force must be fully aligned and well trained. In-person teams could make your customer’s day, so frontline personnel need to support personalization efforts, understand their value, and use digital tools to deliver the complete experience.

What is omnichannel strategy?

An omnichannel strategy for marketing is a way of ensuring that your efforts drive tangible business value. Rather than rushing blindly into the space, or haphazardly approaching it, organizations should step back and think about underlying business value drivers. Excelling in omnichannel depends on a laser focus on value creation, looking at both strategic and customer priorities to craft the omnichannel strategy that will be most effective for their unique circumstances.

The most successful companies set their omnichannel strategy by leading with their strategic ambition and aspirations for customer experience. There are three primary omnichannel strategies :

• Commerce. This prioritizes cross-channel shopping experience both in store and online.
• Personalization. This strategy focuses on tailored, targeted, and relevant cross-channel engagement at scale.
• Ecosystem. Here, the strategy aims to provide rich cross-channel platforms integrated with consumer needs and lifestyles.

Learn more about our Growth, Marketing & Sales  practice.

What’s involved in omnichannel operations?

Organizations can build leading omnichannel operations , spanning a variety of areas. By strengthening the foundation of your omnichannel operations and focusing on strategy, structure, and processes, you could gain a performance edge.

Topics to explore include mastering omnichannel supply chains , creating a customer-centric supply chain strategy , designing the omnichannel distribution network of the future , reimagining the role of physical stores , and more.

What should I know about B2B omnichannel?

Omnichannel has become a permanent part of B2B sales , with e-commerce, face-to-face, and remote videoconference sales all a necessary part of buyers’ experience. According to a 2021 McKinsey survey of US-based B2B decision makers, 94 percent of respondents view today’s B2B omnichannel reality  as being as effective or more effective than before COVID-19. The findings also revealed that B2B customers regularly use ten or more channels to interact with suppliers, up from five in 2016.

B2B omnichannel efforts can be a path to grow an organization’s market share, but loyalty is up for grabs, with customers more willing than ever to switch suppliers for a better omnichannel experience. B2B decision makers use more channels than ever before to interact with suppliers, and being attuned to those channels will be important.

There are five must-dos for B2B companies seeking to retain customer loyalty and succeed in omnichannel:

• offer a performance guarantee (nearly 80 percent of B2B customers say it’s crucial)
• show product availability online
• enable purchases over any channel
• provide customer service in real time
• ensure the customer experience is consistent as buyers toggle between channels

While B2C omnichannel efforts might be the first to spring to mind, omnichannel experience is crucial to giving all customers a better and more seamless journey.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on marketing and sales —and check out omnichannel-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ The new B2B growth equation ,” February 23, 2022, Arun Arora , Liz Harrison , Max Magni, Candace Lun Plotkin , and Jennifer Stanley
• “ Omnichannel: The path to value ,” April 30, 2021, Holly Briedis, Brian Gregg , Kevin Heidenreich, and Wei Wei Liu
• “ Omnichannel shopping in 2030 ,” April 9, 2021, Praveen Adhi , Eric Hazan , Sajal Kohli , and Kelsey Robinson
• “ Redefine the omnichannel approach: Focus on what truly matters ,” June 22, 2020, Jorge Amar , Raelyn Jacobson , Becca Kleinstein, and Allison Shi
• “ The end of shopping’s boundaries: Omnichannel personalization ,” February 10, 2020, Gal Gitter, Meg Raymond, Kelsey Robinson , and Jamie Wilkie

Want to know more about omnichannel marketing?

Related articles.

Omnichannel: The path to value

The new B2B growth equation

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Onboarding New Employees in a Hybrid Workplace

• Dawn Klinghoffer,
• Karen Kocher,
• Natalie Luna

New research from Microsoft on how much time new hires should spend in the office during their first 90 days.

As you’re navigating hybrid work, it’s a good moment to assess how your onboarding processes enable or empower your new hires to thrive. Researchers at Microsoft have conducted and identified studies that suggest that onboarding to a new role, team, or company is a key moment for building connections with the new manager and team and doing so a few days in person provides unique benefits. But just requiring newcomers to be onsite full time doesn’t guarantee success. The authors explain and offer examples of how onboarding that truly helps new employees thrive in the modern workplace is less about face time and more about intention, structure, and resources.

During the pandemic, companies around the world explored new ways of working that challenged long-held assumptions and beliefs about where work gets done. Many companies, including Microsoft , saw the benefits of flexible work and wanted to offer employees a chance to continue to work in a hybrid environment, while balancing the needs of the organization.

• Dawn Klinghoffer is the head of people analytics at Microsoft.
• KK Karen Kocher leads the future of work, workforce of the future and talent & learning experiences at Microsoft.
• NL Natalie Luna is on Microsoft’s employee listening team, leading employee lifecycle and daily surveys, and researching onboarding, culture and hybrid ways of working.

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Searching for Momentum: Private Equity Midyear Report 2024

The industry appears to have finally found its footing. Now comes the hard part.

By Hugh MacArthur, Rebecca Burack, Emilio Domingo, Alexander De Mol, and Brenda Rainey

• June 03, 2024

At a Glance

• Private equity’s two-year slide in deals, exits, and funds closed slowed in the first half of 2024, but activity remained tentative and momentum scarce.
• Limited partners, meanwhile, continue to press for an increased pace of distributions and are focusing new commitments on a narrow swath of favored funds.
• General partners who can’t shepherd portfolio companies to attractive outcomes may face a shakeout. But there are practical ways to get the wheel spinning again.

Has private equity dealmaking finally bottomed out?

Based on data through May 15, the answer would be a tentative yes—though we’ve yet to see anything resembling a “normal” pace of investments and exits.

The industry’s precipitous decline in deal count over the past two years leveled off in early 2024, and buyout funds globally are now on track to finish the year essentially flat vs. 2023’s count total. While exits also appear to have arrested their freefall, activity has landed at a very low level. And as limited partners (LPs) wait for distributions to pick up, most funds are still struggling to raise fresh capital (see Figure 1).

Dealmaking, exits, and fund-raising all remained sluggish through mid-May

Given that 2024 deal value will likely approach that of the buoyant years preceding 2021’s anomalous postpandemic spike, it’s tempting to assume that normal isn’t so far off. But activity relative to the mountain of dry powder available remains stunted by historical standards. For comparison, 2024 deal value is on track to roughly match 2018’s total, yet there is more than 1.5 times as much buyout dry powder today as there was back then. With the exception of very large headline deals like the $15.5 billion acquisition of Truist Insurance led by Stone Point Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice or Permira’s $6.9 billion bid to take Squarespace private, there’s little empirical evidence that the market is truly on the upswing.  

How soon that might change is the million-dollar question.

When Bain & Company surveyed more than 1,400 market participants in March to find out when they expected dealmaking activity to bounce back, around 30% said they don’t expect any pickup until the fourth quarter, and close to 40% predicted it would take until 2025 or beyond (see Figure 2). Yet informal discussions with general partners (GPs) globally suggest that deal pipelines are already starting to refill, and many see the green shoots of a recovery beginning to poke through.

Almost 40% of general partners surveyed expect little improvement in the deal market before 2025

The bigger issue is the industry’s persistently low levels of distributed to paid-in capital (DPI). The prolonged slump in exits is having a measurable impact on funds’ ability to raise new capital and keep their LPs satisfied. Finding ways to generate DPI strategically across the portfolio is rapidly becoming a point of competitive differentiation. It may determine which funds meet their fund-raising goals in the years ahead and which fall by the wayside.

The macro environment—which Karen Harris, managing director of Bain’s Macro Trends Group, described in a recent Dry Powder podcast as “calm, but not stable”—is probably the biggest hurdle to closing transactions.

Although the Federal Reserve has held steady for almost a year, interest rates haven’t retreated as expected in 2024. And while the US economy appears to be defying gravity, the yield curve is still inverted, inflation-driven prices are still too high (way too high if you factor in financing costs ), and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, Ukraine, and China continues to rattle nerves. The looming US presidential election, meanwhile, only dials up the uncertainty.

In Europe, slow (or no) growth will likely induce the European Central Bank to follow Switzerland and ease rates this year. And though that may spark consumer spending, especially in markets where adjustable-rate mortgages predominate, Europe’s elevated public spending requirements (defense, infrastructure, the debt brake in Germany) remain an anchor. Overall, the growth picture will likely be muted.

Added to the challenge of managing rate-related issues within existing portfolios, this broad-based macro uncertainty has left dealmakers distracted and wary on either side of any transaction. Through May, that caution was playing out across the value-creation cycle. Here’s a closer look at the implications.

Investments

Momentum in private equity means more and bigger deals getting done, and by the first measure, momentum has been absent so far this year. Buyout deal count through May 15 was tracking down 4% globally on an annualized basis compared with 2023. And while global deal value is on pace to finish the year at $521 billion, an 18% increase over the $442 billion tallied in 2023, the gain is attributable to a higher average deal size (up from $758 million to $916 million), not more deals.

Regionally, early results were mixed. North America set a pace to increase deal value by 67% in 2024 on a 4% drop in deal count. A few big transactions buoyed early results, and sectors across the board did a little bit better. Those results, however, were counterbalanced by sharp declines in Europe and Asia, where economic lethargy weighed most heavily (see Figure 3).

Global buyout deal count is down 4% compared with last year, but deal value is on track to improve

The market is clearly still getting used to the notion that interest rates may stay higher for longer and that valuations derived amid much friendlier monetary policy will ultimately have to be adjusted. Anecdotal evidence suggests that buyers and sellers are feeling each other out, albeit slowly, and trying to find creative ways to break the stalemate over price expectations. Existing data suffers from a small sample size, but deal multiples appear to be easing somewhat as investors focus on company performance and business fundamentals. Any lingering hope that simple multiple expansion will carry a deal to a strong return has receded sharply.

The first-half bump up in deal value, however, suggests that a thaw may be in its early stages. And GPs still face plenty of heat to do deals given the $3.9 trillion in dry powder sitting in their coffers ($1.1 trillion in buyout funds). GPs flush with capital earning fees are under mounting pressure to justify those fees by putting money to work.

The pressure on the exit side is even greater. The total number of buyout-backed exits is essentially tracking flat on an annualized basis while exit value is trending to finish at $361 billion, a 17% increase from the 2023 total (see Figure 4). Although that’s certainly a move in the right direction, 2024 is still shaping up to be the second-worst year for exit value since 2016.

While exit deal count remains dormant, exit value is on track to scratch out some gains in 2024

A bright spot is the reopening of the initial public offering market, sparked by the surge in public equities over the past six months or so. That has produced several large exits in Europe, most notably EQT’s $2.6 billion IPO of Galderma Group, but the channel still represents just a sliver of the exit total. The major exit channels—corporate deals and sponsor-to-sponsor transactions—were largely flat.

The overall exit slowdown is making life increasingly uncomfortable for GPs in several ways.

Among them is a sharp rise in the number of active portfolio companies over the past several years—a result of dealmaking outpacing exits and funds holding assets for longer. An analysis of fund series at 25 of the largest buyout firms shows that the number of portfolio companies they manage has doubled over the last decade, leaving sponsors with twice as many claims on their limited resources and bandwidth (see Figure 5).

The average number of companies in portfolios has grown markedly, stretching thin management time and resources

At the same time, the interest rate spike has raised the stakes of holding an asset longer. Not only are balance sheets under pressure from the rising cost of adjustable-rate loans, but the outlook for many assets has become less certain in the inflationary environment. Getting a clear picture of how much strain portfolios might be under has gotten more difficult as private debt plays an ever greater role in financing buyouts. But anecdotal evidence suggests that, while red lights aren’t flashing among the big private lenders, portfolio managers are spending a lot more of their day negotiating with lenders and overseeing operational issues.

Fighting fires within portfolios consumes the time, energy, and confidence of both operating and senior investment professionals, which tends to check new activity. Funds continue to find buyers for their shiniest assets. But for everything else, sponsors are quietly shopping things around under the radar, testing the market and seeing whether hoped-for valuations might fly.

The fear is that a formal process launched in this environment may fall short and leave the firm with a potentially tainted asset. Yet each day of waiting begs a crucial set of questions: Is scratching for the next turn of multiple really worth the risk of alienating LPs who are increasingly starved for distributions? How will that affect the relationship and our ability to raise the next fund?

Fund-raising

To some extent, the run-up in public equities over the last year has eased some of the liquidity pressure on LPs. Many large GPs are also sitting at a relatively comfortable place in the fund-raising cycle, at least when it comes to their bigger vehicles. Of the top 50 buyout funds in the US and Europe, over 60% have closed a flagship since 2022. Another quarter are on the road now (see Figure 6).

More than 60% of top buyout managers have closed a flagship in the past three years, meaning they won’t be on the road again soon

None of this, however, suggests that the industry’s current level of inactivity is sustainable over the long term or that LPs aren’t losing patience with the pace of distributions. Indeed, only a small minority of the respondents in a recent poll by the Institutional Limited Partners Association said they were satisfied with the urgency GPs are placing on increasing liquidity (see Figure 7).

Few limited partners are happy with the pace of distributions

Meanwhile, the fund-raising environment remains a tale of haves and have-nots. Through May 15, the global industry raised $422 billion, vs. $438 billion over the same period a year earlier. That suggests an annualized total of $1.1 trillion in 2024, which would be a 15% drop from 2023 (see Figure 8). Buyout funds dominated with $199 billion raised, and the category is setting up to post $531 billion by year-end, representing a 6% increase from the 2023 total.

With exit markets squeezed and little capital coming back to limited partners, fund-raising continues to drag

All that looks relatively robust until you dive a little deeper. For the industry broadly, and in the buyout category especially, the number of funds closed continues to drop precipitously as LPs focus new commitments on a narrowing swath of favored fund managers (see Figure 9). In buyouts, the 10 largest funds closed took in 64% of total capital raised, and the largest of those (the $24 billion EQT X fund) accounted for 12%.

The number of funds closed is down sharply as limited partners favor the largest, most experienced funds with their capital

As the great preponderance of buyout funds battles over the remaining 36% of capital available, the industry’s extended exit overhang is coming home to roost. Today, at least one in five buyout funds is closing under its target (a ratio that is likely to go up before it comes down), and it’s not uncommon for funds to miss those objectives by over 20%.

Against this backdrop, GPs are getting creative with strategies like coinvestments and continuation funds to buy time and wait for a better environment to raise new capital. But if history is any guide, the wait may be a long one. Fund-raising doesn’t bounce back immediately when exits and distributions improve. It typically takes 12 months or more for a boost in exits to produce a turnaround in fund-raising totals. That means, even if dealmaking picks up this year, it could take until 2026 before the fund-raising environment really improves.

Adjusting to a new normal

And even then, it’s not likely to be any easier for a fund to stand out in a hotly competitive market for capital. For funds that have struggled to meet their objectives this time around, it’s safe to assume that going back out on the road with a similar narrative a year or two from now will likely produce the same result.

The imperative, then, is to change the narrative—to use this time to understand how LPs really see your fund and then translate those insights into stronger performance and more competitive market positioning.

This isn’t an exercise in simply stepping up investor relations or making a few small cosmetic adjustments. To borrow a phrase from Jeff Bezos, it’s a process undertaken “step by step, ferociously” to drive performance in the ways that matter most to key investors—and those key investors you’ve yet to win over. Let’s break it down into four broad areas of focus.

Looking in the mirror. The critical first step is a clear-eyed assessment of how you come across in the market: not what your LPs say to you (polite is their default) but what they really think of you. To understand what needs fixing, firms need to know what landed well with LPs and what didn’t the last time around. They need sharp insights into what strategic investors really care about in choosing a fund and which proof points will catch and hold their attention.

Putting the portfolio first. These insights lay the foundation for a comprehensive, portfolio-wide plan to deliver on those proof points , whether they include a specific objective for internal rate of return, a defined level of DPI within a given time frame, a more repeatable approach to value creation, or maybe all of the above. Leaders need to analyze where the value sits within their portfolio and where investing scarce resources (or cutting losses when necessary) will drive the best performance against LP expectations. While sponsors are generally adept at assessing assets from the bottom up, what’s best for an individual company may not be best for the portfolio. You need to take a detailed, top-down look at how these individual actions add up across the portfolio and whether the sum of the parts is delivering on the specific metrics LPs value. It’s also critical to put the right governance in place to make decisions across the portfolio regarding things like exit timing or allocation of resources.

Sharpening value creation. Now is also the time to reevaluate the firm’s value-creation model. For better or worse, multiple expansion has been a key driver of portfolio company performance for years. But in a high-rate environment, the premium will be on producing margin and revenue growth. What is the firm’s secret sauce, and will it still work in a repeatable way? How effective are operating teams at working with management to drive performance? Do teams have the right resources and capabilities to succeed, and, if not, where will you get them? Effective portfolio monitoring and governance are also critical here to track performance holistically and make decisions that balance the best interests of the firm overall.

Rebooting investor relations. As we’ve written before, fund-raising is no longer a handshake-over-lunch affair. The firms out-raising others are building commercial organizations to match their ambition . Like any first-class B2B company in the portfolio, firms need to develop the right commercial motions to sell their narrative. That involves segmenting the market by “customer,” determining potential commitment levels, and devising targeted strategies to win share of wallet. Do you know how much capital will come from your existing LPs for the next raise and how you’ll fill the gap? A good re-up rate is around 75%, so even for top funds, there is almost always a gap to fill and a need to win over new LPs. Is your team right-sized to succeed? Is there clarity on where senior firm leadership time is best spent? Have you pressure tested your revised narrative to see how it’s resonating with LPs?

The priority in today’s market is to demonstrate to LPs that your firm is a responsible steward of capital with a disciplined, unemotional plan for generating returns and distributing capital on time. There’s no upside in expecting the fund-raising market to get any easier as private equity eventually emerges from its doldrums. Raising the next fund will depend on a plan to get more competitive and prove it to investors.

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