Pick and bend a framework · How to use this page

Start from the eight tiles; each skeleton lists the question every bucket answers and the trap. The last section shows a skeleton bent to a real prompt. The framework library holds the industry lenses and sourced terms.

CASE LOG · FRAMEWORK INDEX

Eight skeletons, one rule for bending them

A skeleton is the three or four areas a case type usually needs and the one question each area answers. The prompt decides which skeleton to reach for; the clarifying questions decide how to bend it. The worked example below shows one bend from the workshop, then the eight skeletons follow in compact form.

Each tile opens its skeleton below: the question it answers, its areas, the prompt phrases that point to it, the numbers it usually needs, and the trap.

How the caser bent a skeleton

From the workshop: Caesars asks whether to re-sign Penn and Teller for another year at the Rio. The clarifying questions fixed the objective as total bottom-line profit and the horizon as one year. The caser bent the investment skeleton into three areas and read them in about a minute thirty. The left column is the investment or acquisition skeleton; the right column is what went on the page.

Read across then down in under two minutes

Name the areas left to right first, so the interviewer hears the whole shape before any detail. Then go down each one in bullets, not sentences. The caser spends about a minute thirty here in a real interview, and the breakout facilitators put the ceiling at two minutes. In the room, say areas or segments rather than buckets; the interview goes the way the practice went.

The skeletonWhat the caser wrote

Current economics

What does the target earn on its own today?

Financials of the act

  • Revenue from tickets: seats, capacity filled, price
  • Revenue from concessions and other sources
  • Revenue connected to the rest of the property: hotel, gaming
  • Cost of the contract with the act
  • Variable cost per show: stagehands, utilities, cleaning
  • Fixed cost: marketing, SG&A

Why this shape. Revenue and cost kept in one area. The caser said splitting them is a matter of preference; one area kept the page to three columns and left room for the alternative.

The alternative

What does the same money or space earn elsewhere, once the cost of switching is counted?

Alternatives to the act

  • Other shows and their profitability
  • Switching costs
  • Repurposing the space: hotel, gaming, arena

Why this shape. Kept short on purpose. Most of its questions mirror the first area, so the caser named only the differences and moved on. The payback arithmetic later lived here.

Risks and fit

What would change the answer: demand, people, brand, regulation?

Other considerations

  • Brand, for both the casino and the act
  • Whether the duo retires soon, and the need for a new act beyond the one-year window
  • Customer preferences and how they are shifting

Why this shape. A catch-all for risks and benefits that do not fit the arithmetic. The last point was added just before the framework was read out, which the facilitators said is fine; a framework is a plan, not a contract.

What the prompt changed

  • The one-year horizon from the clarifying questions made payback the deciding number, so the alternative area only needed one-time cost, ongoing cost and years to recover.
  • The objective was purely profit, so there was no area for why the casino might prefer the other act; a second objective would have added one.
  • Three areas instead of the skeleton's three-plus-risks split: risks moved into the catch-all rather than getting a column of their own.

Profitability

Why did profit change, and what would bring it back?

Revenue

Did price, volume or mix move, and when did it start?

Costs

Did fixed or variable costs move, per unit or in total?

Drivers

Is the cause the customer, a competitor or the operation itself?

Response

Which fix recovers the most profit soonest?

Prompt signals
  • profits have declined
  • margins are shrinking
  • revenue is flat while costs rise
Numbers it needs
Revenue by product or segment over time; unit price and units sold; the fixed and variable cost split; contribution per unit.
The trap
Counting a market change twice, once in volume and again as a separate cause. A ten percent sales drop can cut profit far more when costs stay put; say that before the arithmetic.

Market entry

Should the client enter this market, and how?

Market

Is the demand large, growing and reachable?

Economics

Does the entry pay back inside the horizon?

Ability to win

Why would customers choose the client over the incumbents?

Entry mode

Build, partner or buy?

Prompt signals
  • should we enter
  • expand into a new country or segment
  • a market we are not in yet
Numbers it needs
Addressable demand and its growth; reachable share and the ramp; upfront investment and fixed cost; contribution per unit and break-even volume.
The trap
Treating a large market as a reachable one. The size estimate is not a sales forecast; apply share and ramp as separate steps.

Investment or acquisition

Is this asset, deal or contract worth the money on the client's horizon?

Current economics

What does the target earn on its own today?

The alternative

What does the same money or space earn elsewhere, once the cost of switching is counted?

Risks and fit

What would change the answer: demand, people, brand, regulation?

Prompt signals
  • should we invest, acquire or buy
  • whether to re-sign, renew or keep
  • is the price fair
Numbers it needs
Annual profit of the target; one-time and ongoing cost of the alternative; payback in years; the horizon the client cares about.
The trap
Comparing a recurring gain against a one-time cost without naming payback. An alternative that looks better on paper can still lose inside a one-year window.

Pricing

What price, or pricing model, should the client set?

Customer value

What is each segment willing to pay, and what are its alternatives?

Economics

What does a unit cost, and where is break-even at each price?

Competition and rollout

How will rivals and channels react, and can the change be tested first?

Prompt signals
  • how should we price
  • a competitor undercut us
  • a shift to subscription or bundles
Numbers it needs
Willingness to pay by segment; variable cost per unit; the volume response to a price change; competitor prices.
The trap
Testing price and volume separately. A higher price lifts margin and lowers volume at the same time; the answer is the product of the two.

New product

Should the client launch this product, and what has to be true for it to work?

Demand

Who needs it, how many, and what do they use today?

Economics

Do price, cost and volume cover the launch spend inside the horizon?

Delivery

Can the client build, sell and support it, and in what order?

Cannibalization

How much of the new volume comes out of the client's existing sales?

Prompt signals
  • launch a new product
  • a new line or feature
  • extend the brand
Numbers it needs
Target customers and the adoption rate; price and variable cost; development and marketing spend; existing product sales at risk.
The trap
Counting every new sale as incremental. Subtract what the existing product loses before claiming the gain.

Operations and cost

How can the client produce more, faster or cheaper?

Process

Where is the bottleneck, and how long does each step take?

Capacity and cost

How much of the capacity is used, and what does the next unit cost?

Fix

Which lever moves the constraint: schedule, staffing, quality, outsourcing or investment?

Prompt signals
  • costs are rising
  • capacity, backlog or wait times
  • service levels have slipped
Numbers it needs
Demand against capacity, in the same units and period; utilization; cycle time per step; cost per unit, split fixed and variable.
The trap
Speeding up a step that is not the bottleneck. Output does not rise until the constraint moves.

Growth

Where should the client find profitable growth?

Core

More customers, more purchases per customer, or more per purchase?

Adjacencies

Which new segment, product, channel or geography sits closest to what the client already does?

Prioritize

Which option adds the most profit for the least capital and risk, and how soon?

Prompt signals
  • revenue is flat while the market grows
  • double in five years
  • where should we grow next
Numbers it needs
Customers, frequency and average spend; market growth against client growth; incremental contribution per option; the capital each option needs.
The trap
Chasing revenue that costs more than it earns. Discounts, acquisition spend and working capital can turn growth into a loss.

Public sector or nonprofit

How does the organization deliver the most mission for the resources it has?

Objective

Which outcome is being maximized, and for whom, since it is not profit?

Resources

What funding, people and rules bound the choice?

Options and trade-offs

Which program delivers the most outcome per dollar, and who bears the cost of each choice?

Stakeholders

Who has to agree, and what would they object to?

Prompt signals
  • a city, agency or school district
  • a nonprofit or foundation
  • improve outcomes within a budget
Numbers it needs
People served and cost per person served; budget by source and its restrictions; the outcome measure the funder uses; the timeline the mandate sets.
The trap
Importing a profit objective. Say the outcome metric out loud first, then treat money as the constraint rather than the goal.

Elsewhere on Harper

Industry lenses and the sourced word bank live in the framework and industry library. The Case atlas starts from the business problem rather than the case type, and the Case generator produces a fresh prompt to bend a skeleton against.

Framework and industry library →Case atlas →Case generator →Opening drills →