Issue tree

[2] According to professor of strategy Arnaud Chevallier, elaborating an approach used at McKinsey & Company,[3] there are two types of issue trees: diagnostic ones and solution ones.

[4] Diagnostic trees break down a "why" key question, identifying all the possible root causes for the problem.

Solution trees break down a "how" key question, identifying all the possible alternatives to fix the problem.

[6] Issue trees are used to answer questions in case interviews for management consulting positions.

[7] A quantitative type of question, the market sizing question, requires the interviewee to estimate the size of a data group such as a specific segment of a population, an amount of objects, a company's revenues, or similar.

An issue tree showing how a company can increase profitability: A profitability tree is an example of an issue tree. It looks at different ways in which a company can increase its profitability. Starting from the key question on the left, it breaks it down between revenues and costs, and break these down into further details.