Kaiser Associates
Encyclopedia
Kaiser Associates is a boutique strategy consulting firm based in Washington, DC and London, England, with offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cape Town, South Africa, Toronto, Canada and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The firm was founded in 1981 as a spin-off from Strategic Planning Associates (now Oliver Wyman
) by Michael Kaiser
, currently President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
in Washington DC. The firm is noted for its benchmarking, competitive analysis, voice of customer, commercial diligence work supporting investment decisions, and other externally-driven strategic development work, developed in the 1980s through extensive work with IBM
and General Motors
and codified in a number of books including Developing Industry Strategies: A Practical Guide of Industry Analysis (1983) and Understanding the Competition: A Practical Guide of Competitive Analysis (1981), and Beating the Competition: A Practical Guide to Benchmarking. The firm's stated mission is focused on fact-driven consulting to drive value creation. Kaiser is most frequently defined by its fact-based approach, through which it helps clients incorporate externally-driven analysis into its decision making.
Kaiser's notoriety for benchmarking was continued through the late 1980s and early 1990s under Robert "Bob" Fifer
, a graduate of Harvard Business School
whose primary focus was on helping corporate CEOs improve profits through novel methods. His insights were detailed in his book Double Your Profits In Six Months or Less (1995) and The Enlightened CEO: How to Succeed at the Toughest Job in Business (2007). Fifer's departure from the firm marked a transition away from a focus on benchmarking and movement towards more traditional strategic consulting, including a wider array of strategic development and organizational management work competing with other traditional management consulting firms. Kaiser's consulting work has garnered press coverage on topics such as defining innovation metrics and impact on markets, its economic development practice, and its work developing onboarding
and new-hire orientation programs for major corporations. Mark Stein and Lilith Christiansen, authored "Successful Onboarding: Strategies to Unlock Hidden Value Within Your Organization", published by McGraw-Hill in July 2010.
and Boston Consulting Group
for its strategy development work, targeting top executives at large companies, the most lucrative segment of the management consulting market. In order to compete with these much larger firms, Kaiser is known to make greater efforts to maintain industry exclusivity for its clients.
Kaiser Associates recruits undergraduate Associate Consultants from many of the top schools in the United States and Europe, employing graduates from Harvard University
, University of Cambridge
, London School of Economics
, Dartmouth College
, Princeton University
, Yale University
, Brown University
, Cornell University
, the University of Pennsylvania
, Stanford University
, Cranfield University
, Duke University
, Georgetown University
, The George Washington University and the University of Virginia
. Additionally, Kaiser has a significant focus on recruiting from elite small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. including Occidental College
, Williams College
, Middlebury College
, Bowdoin College
, Bates College
, Tufts University
, Swarthmore College
, Haverford College
, and Bryn Mawr College
.
Unlike many of its competitors, Kaiser Associates does not force consultants to depart after 2–3 years at the firm. Instead, consultants are "groomed" to eventually serve as Vice Presidents of the firm, bringing sponsorship by Kaiser to attend business school and rejoin the company afterwards.
MBA graduates typically join as Managing Consultants, and Kaiser typically recruits from, as well as sends its employees to, a select set of business schools including Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School
, INSEAD
, the Kellogg School of Management
at Northwestern University
, Columbia Business School
, the MIT Sloan School of Management
, the Yale School of Management
, Fuqua School of Business
at Duke University
, McDonough School of Business
at Georgetown University.
There is also an opportunity to join as a Summer Associate or Summer Consultant (internship) position for 10 weeks, which for the majority of interns will result in an offer for full-time position.
Successful candidates may be passed onto the second round corresponding with a regional headquarters (Washington DC for the United States, Mexico and Canada; São Paulo for Latin America; London for Europe, Africa and Asia). The second round consists of a full day of 45 minute interviews with partners and consultants from that office, including case method interviews designed to simulate the types of problems and skills inherent in management consulting and to test the qualitative and quantitative skills deemed important for abstract thinking in a business setting.
Oliver Wyman
Oliver Wyman is an international management consulting firm. Founded in 1984, the firm adopted its current form in May 2007, when Mercer Oliver Wyman joined with Mercer Management Consulting and Mercer Delta to become one firm named Oliver Wyman. Oliver Wyman is headquartered in New York City with...
) by Michael Kaiser
Michael Kaiser
Michael M. Kaiser is president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.Dubbed "the turnaround king" for his work at such arts institutions as the Kansas City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Opera House, Kaiser has...
, currently President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington DC. The firm is noted for its benchmarking, competitive analysis, voice of customer, commercial diligence work supporting investment decisions, and other externally-driven strategic development work, developed in the 1980s through extensive work with IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
and codified in a number of books including Developing Industry Strategies: A Practical Guide of Industry Analysis (1983) and Understanding the Competition: A Practical Guide of Competitive Analysis (1981), and Beating the Competition: A Practical Guide to Benchmarking. The firm's stated mission is focused on fact-driven consulting to drive value creation. Kaiser is most frequently defined by its fact-based approach, through which it helps clients incorporate externally-driven analysis into its decision making.
Kaiser's notoriety for benchmarking was continued through the late 1980s and early 1990s under Robert "Bob" Fifer
Robert "Bob" Fifer
Robert “Bob” Fifer is an American business consultant, author and speaker. He is the president of Fifer Associates and the author of the best-seller Double Your Profits in Six Months or Less ....
, a graduate of Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
whose primary focus was on helping corporate CEOs improve profits through novel methods. His insights were detailed in his book Double Your Profits In Six Months or Less (1995) and The Enlightened CEO: How to Succeed at the Toughest Job in Business (2007). Fifer's departure from the firm marked a transition away from a focus on benchmarking and movement towards more traditional strategic consulting, including a wider array of strategic development and organizational management work competing with other traditional management consulting firms. Kaiser's consulting work has garnered press coverage on topics such as defining innovation metrics and impact on markets, its economic development practice, and its work developing onboarding
Onboarding
Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders...
and new-hire orientation programs for major corporations. Mark Stein and Lilith Christiansen, authored "Successful Onboarding: Strategies to Unlock Hidden Value Within Your Organization", published by McGraw-Hill in July 2010.
Clients
According to Vault.com, the firm's "selective and elite" stable of clients includes more than half of the Fortune 500, six of Fortune's Global 10 Most Admired Corporations; six of the top-10 in BusinessWeek's Global 1000; and seven of the EuroSTOXX 50. Return clients make up more than 80 percent of the firm's engagements. Industries served by the firm include aerospace and defense, chemicals, communications, consumer products, energy/oil and gas, financial services, health care, high tech and electronics, industrial, media and entertainment, and private equity.Competitors
Kaiser Associates competes principally with McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
and Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortunes "Best Companies to Work For" report for...
for its strategy development work, targeting top executives at large companies, the most lucrative segment of the management consulting market. In order to compete with these much larger firms, Kaiser is known to make greater efforts to maintain industry exclusivity for its clients.
Recruiting
Kaiser Associates typically hires for an Associate Consultant or Managing Consultant position. Lateral hires at the Senior Consultant, Senior Manager or VP level are possible but infrequent. On average, Kaiser hires an annual class of 10-15 new consultants from hundreds of applicants.Kaiser Associates recruits undergraduate Associate Consultants from many of the top schools in the United States and Europe, employing graduates from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, The George Washington University and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Additionally, Kaiser has a significant focus on recruiting from elite small liberal arts colleges in the U.S. including Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
, Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, Haverford College
Haverford College
Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia...
, and Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
.
Unlike many of its competitors, Kaiser Associates does not force consultants to depart after 2–3 years at the firm. Instead, consultants are "groomed" to eventually serve as Vice Presidents of the firm, bringing sponsorship by Kaiser to attend business school and rejoin the company afterwards.
MBA graduates typically join as Managing Consultants, and Kaiser typically recruits from, as well as sends its employees to, a select set of business schools including Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
, INSEAD
INSEAD
INSEAD is an international graduate business school and research institution. It has campuses in Europe , Asia , and the Middle East , as well as a research center in Israel...
, the Kellogg School of Management
Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management is the business school of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, downtown Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. Kellogg offers full-time, part-time, and executive programs, as well as partnering programs with schools in China, India, Hong Kong, Israel,...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...
, the MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
, the Yale School of Management
Yale School of Management
The Yale School of Management is the graduate business school of Yale University and is located on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The School offers Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. degree programs. As of January 2011, 454 students were enrolled in its MBA...
, Fuqua School of Business
Fuqua School of Business
The Fuqua School of Business is the business school of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It currently enrolls 1,340 students in degree-seeking programs...
at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, McDonough School of Business
McDonough School of Business
The McDonough School of Business is one of the four undergraduate and one of the five graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C...
at Georgetown University.
There is also an opportunity to join as a Summer Associate or Summer Consultant (internship) position for 10 weeks, which for the majority of interns will result in an offer for full-time position.
Interview Process
Kaiser uses both traditional and case methods to conduct interviews. The first round of interviews, typically held on a college campus, consists of a 45 minute traditional interview with Kaiser consultants.Successful candidates may be passed onto the second round corresponding with a regional headquarters (Washington DC for the United States, Mexico and Canada; São Paulo for Latin America; London for Europe, Africa and Asia). The second round consists of a full day of 45 minute interviews with partners and consultants from that office, including case method interviews designed to simulate the types of problems and skills inherent in management consulting and to test the qualitative and quantitative skills deemed important for abstract thinking in a business setting.
External links
- Official Web Site
- Business Week Article: Closing the Gap on Innovation Metrics
- Business Week Article: Don't Look to New Ideas for Growth
- Business Week Article: Metrics Madness