Gas and Groceries

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Case Prompt

Your client is a gas company that operates in a town with a population of 1,000. There is only one other gas company in this town, and it is 1 mile away.

The other nearest gas stations are outside town, and they are 20 miles away.

Recently, our client was approached by a supermarket with the idea of selling groceries in the gas station. Our client has hired us to evaluate this proposal.

How would you structure your approach?

Case Study Overview

In this case from the BCG case library, the client is a gas station that has hired you to evaluate a proposal by a supermarket that wants to sell groceries in the gas station.

We recommend using the Profitability Framework to create your structure for approaching the problem. Don’t limit yourself to the basic frameworks only; the best casers blend frameworks and their own business experience and understanding in order to create a custom framework tailored to the case.

With a qualitative difficulty score of 3/4, this is a case study you would most likely see in a BCG second round. There are no math diagrams in the case.

BCG Interview Tips

What does BCG value in its interview candidates? Excellent communication and structuring abilities.

In this case, focus on a couple of things:

• Creating a structure that is MECE
• Communicating your structure in a clear and concise manner

For out-loud case practice, book a session with an ex-MBB interview coach.

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