There are different types of frameworks that you can use to tackle the business problems that you may face during interviews, for example:

• A SWOT analysis can be used to conduct an internal review of how a business is performing and how well it is positioned to take advantage of present/future opportunities and tackle any present/future challenges. 
• Profitability problems may have a quantitative focus and relate to a company’s revenue, costs and profit margins (and how these elements could be improved). The Profitability Framework may be of some use when tackling these types of problems. 
• A PESTLE analysis can help you to outline the impact that political (P), economic (E), socio-cultural (S) technological (T), legal (L) and environmental (E) factors have on a particular industry (and thus the businesses operating within that industry).  
• The Porter's Five Forces framework sets out various factors to consider when trying to understand the competitive landscape within a particular industry, with a view to supporting analysis around the attractiveness of that industry in terms of the opportunities it provides to generate profitability. 
• More conceptual problems may have a greater emphasis on qualitative issues such as risks, marketing, strategy and human capital. The Business Situation Framework can be useful when answering questions that focus on these types of issues. 

Frameworks such as those covered throughout this chapter can act as checklists to help you identify any missing information and ensure that you’re covering all relevant bases. They can also help you to process and organise the information you receive during a commercial awareness or case study interview, which in turn can enable you to structure presentations and discussions in a way that your interviewers can easily follow (i.e. coherently, without overlapping points). 

However, it's important that you carefully consider the precise questions you’re asked, and that you don’t stick too rigidly to a particular framework structure if this would involve departing from your brief or failing to structure answers in a way that makes sense in the context. In such cases, perhaps use frameworks only for inspiration and support.

Check out our "Interview case studies" course to see example case study answers.