Case Interviews
Can market attractiveness be its own bucket in an M&A case framework?
For M&A cases I tend to look at market appeal, the target company, synergies, the transaction economics and risks. My market section covers size, growth and profitability. I then saw a different framework that put the market under the target's standalone value and said a separate market bucket wasn't answer-focused. Is my approach wrong, or can both structures make sense?
Ian’s Answer
This is a super super nuanced question that, honestly, is pretty difficult to talk through via a Q&A.
The short answer is: It depends. Just like how a soccer team can organize themselves and score goals in different ways, consultants can solve problems in different ways.
There are wrong ways and there are right ways. There are more wrong than right….but there are multiple right ways to do things.
As long as you have a clear, objective-driven, MECE structure that explains the why+how of your approach, then you have a strong framework.
All said: I generally like/approve of your Market Appeal bucket as a standalone bucket (depends on the case, of course)