Kevin Kaiser
Professor of Management Practice. Director, ABN AMRO Managing for Value Research Fund at INSEAD Business School
Adjunct Full Professor of Finance at The Wharton School
Schools
- The Wharton School
- INSEAD Business School
- Amsterdam Institute of Finance
Expertise
Links
Biography
INSEAD Business School
Kevin Kaiser joined the finance faculty at INSEAD in 1992 where he is currently Professor of Management Practice and Director of the Transition to General Management programme. Kevin is also Director of the ABN Amro Managing for Value Research Fund at INSEAD, and is active in conducting and sharing research and insight into how managers can better orient themselves and their organizations around value creation for long-term success. Kevin’s research has appeared in academic and practitioner journals and newspapers, and his two recently released books, The Blue Line Imperative, co-authored with David Young, and Becoming a Top Manager, co-authored with Michael Pich and I.J. Schecter, present the core insights around managing for value, along with practical ideas to help managers make it happen in addition to how to navigate the transition to a role in general management. Kevin Kaiser directs the Transition to General Management Programme.
Kevin teaches extensively in the executive and MBA programmes at INSEAD and is an eight-time recipient of the MBA award for Best Teacher for Electives, Fontainebleau campus, and a three-time recipient of the EMBA award for Best Teacher for Electives. In 2013, Kevin was short-listed as one of the four finalists for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s world-wide Business Professor of the Year competition. Kevin directs several executive education programs, including Transition to General Management, Advanced Valuation, and several company specific programmes for a variety of corporate clients. He also teaches at various institutes and for private clients throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Kevin was Visiting Adjunct Professor of Finance at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (1995-96, summer 2005, and summer 2006).
In the classroom, Kevin combines his deep knowledge of academic theory together with the first-hand practical knowledge he has gained through real-world experience. Kevin worked in the Corporate Finance and Strategy practice of McKinsey & Co., based in Amsterdam and Paris from 1997-1999, and was a principal in bfinance.com, a venture capital-financed marketplace for business finance which began in 1999 and continues to prosper and grow.
Kevin holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from The University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
PUBLICATIONS
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Managing for Value 2.0 - Journal of Applied Corporate Finance
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Blue Line Imperative: A Radical New Approach to Value-Based Leadership - European Business Review
- BOOKS - The Blue Line Imperative: What Managing for Value Really Means - Wiley
- WORKING PAPERS - Value Creation in the Private Equity: and Venture Capital Industry
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Need Cash? Look Inside your Company - Harvard Business Review
- WORKING PAPERS - Blue Line Management: What Value Creation Really Means
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Agency Costs and Strategic Considerations behind Sell-offs: The UK Evidence - European Financial Management
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Reversing Corporate Diversification and the Use of the Proceeds from Asset Sales: The Case of Thorn EMI - Financial Management
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Bankruptcy Laws in Industrialized Countries
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - European Bankruptcy Laws: Implications for Corporations Facing Financial Distress - Financial Management
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - Value Creation through Corporate Restructuring: European Divestitures - European Management Journal
- WORKING PAPERS - Prospects for Reorganisation Within European Bankruptcy Laws
- CASE STUDIES - Guiness Peat Aviation (GPA) - The Flotation
- CASE STUDIES - Meteorage Franklin: Managing in a Lightning Storm
- JOURNAL ARTICLES - The Hazards of Growth - Journal of Applied Corporate Finance
- BOOKS - Becoming A Top Manager: Tools and Lessons in Transitioning to General Management - Wiley
RESEARCH AREAS
Corporate Finance, Management of Financial Distress, Value Creation in Corporate Restructuring, Value-Based Management
TEACHING AREAS
Corporate Finance, Value Creation in Corporate Restructuring, Value-Based Management
The Wharton School
Kevin Kaiser is Senior Director of the Harris Family Alternative Investments Program and Adjunct Full Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was Professor of Management Practice and on the finance faculty at INSEAD since 1992. Kevin holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from The University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Kevin’s research has focused on private equity, corporate restructuring and financial distress, more recently oriented around corporate governance and management for value creation. In addition to his research in academic and practitioner journals and newspapers, he has co-authored two books, The Blue Line Imperative, with David Young, and Becoming a Top Manager, with Michael Pich and I.J. Schecter.
Kevin teaches extensively in executive and degree programmes. He joined Wharton in 2017 from INSEAD where he was an eight-time recipient of the MBA award for Best Teacher for Electives, a three-time recipient of the EMBA award for Best Teacher for Electives and in 2016 received INSEAD’s award for Outstanding Contribution to Executive Education. In 2013, Kevin was a finalist for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s world-wide Business Professor of the Year competition. He brings to the classroom his deep knowledge of academic theory together with his real-world experience working in the Corporate Finance and Strategy practice of McKinsey & Co. (1997-1999), and as a principal in bfinance.com, a venture capital-financed marketplace for business finance (1999-2002).
Awards and Honors
- INSEAD – Outstanding Teacher of Elective Courses
- INSEAD Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Teaching
- INSEAD – Teaching Excellence in Executive Education
- INSEAD – Programme Direction Excellence in Executive Education
Videos
INSEAD Professors Kevin Kaiser and S. David Young on cash and working capital
Program Profile: Advanced Valuation with Kevin Kaiser
Value Creation with Kevin Kaiser
AIF - Advanced Valuation with Professor Kevin Kaiser
Distressed Asset Investing and Corporate Restructuring
Veeam & CDW Partnership with Kevin Kaiser
The value creation imperative
Courses Taught
Distressed Investing and Advisory
Amsterdam Institute of Finance
Online
Private Equity: Investing and Creating Value
The Wharton School
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Feb 2, 2025
Distressed Asset Investing and Corporate Restructuring
The Wharton School
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Feb 10, 2025
Venture Capital
The Wharton School
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Mar 23, 2025
Shareholder Activism and Corporate Governance
The Wharton School
Online
Advanced Valuation
Amsterdam Institute of Finance
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jun 23, 2025
Advanced Valuation
Amsterdam Institute of Finance
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jun 23, 2025
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