How a great case is actually run.
Twelve moves, in the order they happen — from the second the prompt starts to the final recommendation, all threaded through one running case: Harborline Coffee Roasters. This is the positive mirror of the scoring system: every move here is one interviewers reward. Learn the sequence, then go make it a habit.
Listen & capture
The interviewer reads the prompt
"Your client is Harborline Coffee Roasters, a mid-size regional coffee roaster. Over the past two years its operating margin has fallen from 18% to 11%, while revenue has stayed roughly flat. The CEO wants to know why margins are declining — and what to do about it."
Set the page up before the case even starts: framework space up top, a numbers column with labels, and a margin for questions. Labeled numbers ("op margin: 18% → 11%") beat floating digits every time — future-you will thank present-you mid-math.
Play it back
Interviewer — the Harborline prompt
You — own words, one breath
Synthesize, don't parrot. Reading your notes back word-for-word signals stenography; compressing them signals understanding. If the interviewer corrects your playback — perfect. That correction just saved you the whole case.
Ask 1-3 sharp clarifying questions
The best clarifier is one whose answer would change your structure. "How many SKUs does Harborline sell?" is data-fishing; "did anything change two years ago when the margin slide began?" reshapes the whole tree. One great question beats three mediocre ones.
Take a minute, build the tree
Deliver it titles-first: name your three buckets up front — "I'd look at three things: price and mix, cost structure, and the competitive market" — so the interviewer has the map. Then walk into each one a level deeper: "on price and mix, I'd check net price realization and channel mix…". Headlines first, then depth — the interviewer should be able to draw your tree from your words alone.
Lead with a hypothesis
"My hypothesis: Harborline's slide is cost-led— green-coffee input prices have risen faster than we've passed through in price."
The test:"Could we look at cost per pound over the two years? If it's flat, I'm wrong — and I'd move to price and mix."
Reactive
"What data do you have?" — waiting to be led, hoping the answer surfaces.
Hypothesis-led
"I expect X because Y — can we check Z?" — every request has a reason.
Anchor the hypothesis in something — a fact from the prompt, a clarifier answer, industry logic. "I'd guess costs" is a coin flip; "Harborline's margin fell seven points while revenue held, so something on the cost side moved" is reasoning. Same bucket, very different score.
Quant, done cleanly
Price
$10
per lb
Volume
10M
lb / yr
Revenue
$100M
per year
Costs
$89M
$8.90 / lb
Profit
$11M
11% margin
A driver tree is your friend: break the target number into its drivers before computing anything, and the arithmetic becomes a walk down the tree. Round aggressively but say so ("call it $90M of cost") — clean approximate math beats messy precision, and a stated approach means a small slip costs you little.
Read the exhibit like a consultant
Describe
“Cost per pound, three components, two years apart.”
Read
“Labor and freight are flat…”
Key insight
“…green coffee is up $0.70 / lb — that IS the whole $8.20 → $8.90 rise, and price never moved.”
Implication
“So Harborline's case turns on pricing pass-through and procurement, not operations.”
Ten seconds of silent scanning is completely fine — say "let me take a moment with this" and use it. Then say the headline before drilling in. Reaching the insight unaided is the top rung; if you need a nudge, taking it gracefully and running with it is the next best thing.
Business judgment & creativity
Solid
Pass part of the $0.70 through — start with retail bags, where price sensitivity is lowest.
Solid
Forward-buy and hedge green coffee to cap next year's input swings.
Non-obvious · bonus
Turn the pricier bean lots into a 'Roaster's Reserve' line at a premium — margin from the problem itself.
Test creative ideas out loud against the constraints before proposing them — "the Reserve line adds margin without cheapening the beans, so the premium positioning holds." An impractical "creative" idea costs you judgment points; a practical one earns you both.
Handle pushback with poise
Interviewer — pushing
When you're right — defend
"It's Harborline's landed cost per pound, not the index — specialty-grade lots, freight and FX all sit in that line. The exhibit supports that: let me re-walk it."
When it's new info — update
"If half the $0.70 is a deliberate shift to pricier specialty lots, that's a choice, not the market — the structural gap is nearer $3.5M, and pricing should carry more of the fix."
Hints and steers are collaboration, not defeat — take them gracefully and build on them fast. The candidates who score highest treat the interviewer as a teammate with extra information, not an adversary to outlast.
Prioritize ruthlessly
"Park it" is a power move, not a dodge: naming a minor driver and consciously deferring it shows you saw the whole board and chose. Silently ignoring it looks like a gap; chasing it looks like poor judgment.
The recommendation: answer first
1 · The answer — first, committed
"I recommend Harborline pass the $0.70 bean-cost rise through in price and lock forward contracts on green coffee — that wins back most of the seven lost margin points within 18 months."
Key reasons
“Three reasons: green coffee is the entire cost rise; our price hasn't moved in two years while competitors took increases; and the premium brand gives us the room.”
Risks & mitigations
“Biggest risk is volume loss in wholesale — mitigate by phasing the increase and protecting the top accounts with volume contracts.”
Next steps
“First 90 days: reprice the retail bag lines, open renegotiation with the top-10 wholesale accounts, and hedge next year's bean purchases.”
Notice the shape: the conclusion leads and everything after it supports. If you only remember one thing from this page, make it this — start your final answer with the answer.
The golden threads
Signpost everything
Headline where you're going before you go: “three buckets — price, cost, market. Starting with cost.”
Stay concise
Make the point, land the so-what, stop. Rambling is a scored detractor.
Calm confidence
Minimal hedging, steady pace, commit to your calls. Poise reads as competence.
Own the clock
Move with purpose; know which sections deserve your minutes and which don't.
Organized paper
A framework up top, labeled numbers, math that reads top-to-bottom. Your notes get seen.
These threads are why two candidates with identical frameworks can score twenty points apart. Drill them until they're unconscious — then all your attention is free for the actual problem.
How this maps to your score
Problem-Solving
Structure, hypothesis, quant, exhibits, judgment, prioritization, synthesis — chapters 1 to 11 are this family.
Communication & Presence
Signposting, conciseness, poise, adaptability, collaboration — the golden threads live here.
Performance
Speed of thought and the organization of your paper — the always-on delivery layer.
You know the blueprint. Now run it.
Reading the moves is 10% of it — the other 90% is reps under real pressure, with a debrief that tells you exactly which stage to drill next.
Start a case