Maldovian Coffins

Case Prompt

Our client is a coffin maker in the Eastern European country of Moldova. He has seen substantial change in his market in recent years and is contemplating the future of his business.

Up until now, he has been in the business of building high-quality, hand-crafted coffins largely by hand with a skilled labor force. Recently, however, he has become aware of technology that would allow him to build machine-made coffins with much less labor.

He wants to know if he should invest in this new technology and if he should even remain in the coffin business in the first place.

What strategic alternatives should the owner consider?

Case Overview

This interviewer led case is heavy on the quantitative side. Make sure you are proficient in your mental math!

The case involves a coffin maker in Moldova. The client is considering the future of the coffin business in the country. Your job is to study the market to determine if the client should remain in the coffin industry (keeping profitability in mind).

The Market Study Framework will aid you as you build a structure to solve the interviewer led case. Don’t limit yourself to any 1 structure – use your business smarts and knowledge of the basic frameworks to build a custom structure tailored to the specifics of the case.

This is an advanced case study (qualitative difficulty: 3/4) that you would see in a McKinsey final round. The case has no math exhibits, but has a high degree of math difficulty.

McKinsey Interview Tips

McKinsey values the ability to be structured in its future consultants.

Your challenge in this will be to maintain structure throughout the entirety of the interviewer led case. Find more McKinsey interview tips here!

To squeeze the most out of the case, do these 2 things:

• Emphasize your communication – is it clear and concise?
• Time yourself as you walk through the case study: 2min to build structure and 2min to present it; 2min each for a brainstorming question; 2min for final recommendation

Schedule a session with an ex-MBB coach to help prepare you for your case interview.