Each case team is made up of three to six people from different levels of the organization. Each team is responsible for advising clients--who range from broadcast television networks, to financial services companies, to candy manufacturers--on strategic issues ranging from organizational change to marketing strategy to purchasing.

"With so many variations, even no case is really typical," Burns says.

Cases begin, he says, when a partner sells a client on a project with the firm.

"Bain then forms a team, generally from one office, consisting of a partner, managers, consultants--with graduate business degrees--and associate consultants," Burns says.

The first few weeks of a case are spent becoming an expert on the firm and its industry.

Using Bain's extensive library and any means possible, says Burns, he and other team members learn as much as possible about a firm, its market and its competitors.

Once the team has an idea of how a business works, rather than analyzing every possible solution to a problem, Burns says, the team comes up with a few likely solutions that it investigates further.

"Bain believes in an answer-first approach," Burns says. "It sounds confusing--how do you know the answer before you've done the work--but it's very hypothesis-driven."