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LIST OF BUSINESS THEORISTS 

This is an annotated list of important business writers. It is in alphabetical order based on

last name. To facilitate reading, only names are hyperlinked. For quick navigation, click on

one of the letters: 

A-H 

  David A. Aaker  - marketing strategy (1980s)

  Russell L. Ackoff  - operations research and systems theory (1950s – 2004)

  Karol Adamiecki - management (1890s –1930s)

  Igor Ansoff  - strategic management (1950s –1970s)

  Chris Argyris - learning systems (1970s, 1980s, 1990s)

  Chester Barnard - management (1920s, 1930s)

  Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett - operations research (1930s, 1940s)

  Matthew Boulton - labor productivity (19th century)

  James A. Champy - Business process reengineering (1990s)

   Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. - Management - Pulitzer prize for The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in

 American Business (1977)

  Ronald Coase - Transaction costs, Coase theorem, Theory of the firm (1950s) (Nobel Prize in 1991)

  James C. Collins - vision statement, strategic planning and BHAG (1990s)

  George S. Day - marketing (1970s)

  W. Edwards Deming - statistical quality control, (1950s, 1960s)

  Peter Drucker  - management (1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s)

  Henri Fayol - management (1910s)

   Armand V. Feigenbaum - quality control (1950s)

  Ronald Fisher  - statistics (1920s)

  Mary Follett - organizational studies (1930s)

  J. K. Galbraith - The New Industrial State (1967)

  Henry Gantt - Gantt chart (20th century)

  Michael Gerber  - E-Myth Revisited , others

  Sumantra Ghoshal -

  Frank Gilbreth - Time and motion study (20th century)

  Eliyahu M. Goldratt - Theory of Constraints (1980s)

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  Vytautas Andrius Graiciunas - management (1933)

  Erich Gutenberg - theory of the firm (1950s)

  Gary Hamel - core competency, strategic management (1990s)

  Michael Hammer  - business process reengineering (1990s)

  Charles Handy - organisational behaviour  (1990s)

  Frederick Herzberg - two factor theory, motivation theory,  job enrichment (1970s)

   Albert S Humphrey - strategic planning, SWOT analysis (1970s, 1980s)

I-P 

  Kaoru Ishikawa (1915 –1989) - Ishikawa diagram in industrial process; quality circles (1960s)

  Masaaki Imai (1930) - Kaizen (continuous improvement) (1980s, 1990s, 2000s)

  Joseph M. Juran (1904 –2008) quality control, especially quality circles (1960s), (1970s)

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter  - Business Management and Change Management (1977)

  Robert S. Kaplan - management accounting and balanced scorecard (1990s)

  Philip Kotler  - marketing management and social marketing (1970s, 1980s, 1990s)

  John Kotter  - organizational behaviour  and management (1980s, 1990s)

  William Henry Leffingwell - office management (1910s –1940s)

  Theodore Levitt - marketing and globalization (1960s, 1970s)

  John Lintner  - capital asset pricing model (1970s)

  James G. March - theory of the firm (1960s)

  Constantinos Markides - strategic management and strategy dynamics (1990s)

  Harry Markowitz - modern portfolio theory (1960s, 1970s) - Nobel Prize in 1990

  George Elton Mayo -  job satisfaction and Hawthorne effect (1920s, 1930s)

  Daniel McCallum - organizational charts (1850s)

  Leo Melamed - currency futures and derivatives (1980s, 1990s)

  Henry Metcalfe - the science of administration (1880s)

  Merton Miller  - Modigliani –Miller theorem and corporate finance (1970s)

  Henry Mintzberg - organizational architecture, strategic management (1970s –2000s)

  Franco Modigliani - Modigliani –Miller theorem and corporate finance (1970s)

  Hugo Münsterberg - the psychology of work (1910s)

  Nicholas Negroponte - human-computer interaction (1970s –1990s)

  Nils Brunsson - institutionalized hypocrisy of organizations (1990s onwards)

  Kenichi Ohmae - 3C's Model and strategic management (1970s, 1980s)

  Taiichi Ohno - Toyota Production System, lean manufacturing,  just in time (1980s)

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  David Ogilvy - advertising (1960s –1980s)

  William Ouchi - Theory Z (1980s)

  Robert Owen - cooperatives (1810s)

  Luca Pacioli - double-entry bookkeeping system and financial statements (1494)

  Keith Pavitt - Innovation clusters and innovation taxonomy (1970s through 2000)

  Edith Penrose - Theory of the Growth of the Firm (1959)

  Laurence J. Peter  - peter principle (1970s)

  Jeffrey Pfeffer  - organizational development (1970s –?)

  Henry Varnum Poor  - the principles of organization (1850s –?)

  Michael Porter  - strategic management and Porter's 5 forces (1970s –1990s)

  Thomas J. Peters - management (1970s, 1980s)

  C. K. Prahalad - core competency (1980s)

  Juan Antonio Pérez López - negative learning (1990s)

S-U 

  Eugen Schmalenbach - economic value added (1920s –?)

  Walter Dill Scott - the psychology of personnel management (1920s)

  Oliver Sheldon - business philosophy (1920s)

  Walter A. Shewhart - control charts (1920s –1930s)

  Shigeo Shingo (1909 –1990) - Zero Quality Control (Poka-Yoke) and Single Minute Exchange of Dies

(SMED) 

  Herbert A. Simon - (1916 –2001) Satisficing Nobel Prize, 1978

   Adrian Slywotzky - marketing strategy (1990s)

   Adam Smith - economics, capitalism, free trade (1770s)

  Joel Stern - economic value added (1980s)

  Genichi Taguchi (1924-) Taguchi methods, quality control 

  Frederick Winslow Taylor  - scientific management, time and motion study (20th century)

  Henry R. Towne - scientific management (1890s)

  James Watt (1736 –1819) - Industrial Revolution, division of labour , standard operating procedures, cost

control (1810s)

  Max Weber  - a founder of the modern study of  sociology and public administration (1900)

  Joseph Wharton (1826 –1909) - protective tariffs, business cycles, Wharton School of Business 

  Eli Whitney (1765 –1825) - interchangeable parts, cost accounting (1810s,1820s)

  Oliver Williamson - transaction costs, theory of the firm (1960s)

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Harvard Business Review Survey 

The Harvard Business Review asked 200 management gurus—the business thinkers most often mentioned in

the media and management literature—who their gurus were. Below are their responses.

Eight Mentions Peter Drucker : Management theory

Seven Mentions James G. March: Social scientist at Stanford 

Six Mentions Herbert A. Simon (1916 –2001): Nobel laureate economist and organizational theorist at Carnegie

Mellon 

Five Mentions Paul Lawrence: Organizational researcher at Harvard Business School

Four Mentions Richard Beckhard (1918 –1999): Management theorist at MIT • Fernand Braudel (1902 –1985):

French historian • Ian Koshnick: Attorney organizational designer at the University of Maryland; Henry

Mintzberg: Management writer and critic at McGill • Joseph Schumpeter  (1883 –1950): Economist at Harvard

• Karl Weick: Social psychologist at the University of Michigan

Three Mentions Russell Ackoff : Operations and systems theorist at Wharton • Warren Bennis: Leadership

theorist and writer at the University of Southern California • Ronald Coase: Nobel laureate economist at the

University of Chicago • W. Edwards Deming (1900 –1993): Statistician and quality consultant • Erving

Goffman (1922 –1982): Sociologist • Gary Hamel: Consultant and management writer • Jay Lorsch:

Organizational researcher at Harvard Business School • Michael Porter : Professor of strategy and

competitiveness at Harvard Business School • C.K. Prahalad: Management theorist at the University of 

Michigan • Jack Welch: Former CEO, General Electric • Oliver Williamson: Organizational economist at theUniversity of California, Berkeley

Two Mentions Chris Argyris: Organizational psychologist at Harvard • Kenneth Arrow: Nobel laureate

economist at Stanford • Gregory Bateson (1904 –1980): Anthropologist • Daniel Bell: Sociologist at Harvard

• John Seely Brown: Former chief scientist at Xerox •  Alfred Chandler : Historian at Harvard Business School

• C. West Churchman: Systems theorist • James C. Collins: Management writer and consultant • Eric Erikson

(1902 –1994): Psychological-growth theorist at Harvard • Michel Foucault (1926 –1984): French polymath

•  Anthony Giddens: British sociologist • Andrew Grove: Former CEO, Intel • Everett Hughes (1897 –1983):

Sociologist • Michael Jensen: Organizational strategist and former professor at Harvard Business School

• Stuart Kauffman: Biologist, chaos and complexity theorist • Kurt Lewin (1890 –1947): Social psychologist • Karl

Marx (1818 –1883): German economist and social theorist • Douglas McGregor  (1906 –1964): Management

theorist at MIT • Robert K. Merton (1910 –2003): Sociologist at Columbia • Geoffrey Moore: Management writer 

and consultant • Richard Pascale: Management writer and consultant • Jeffrey Pfeffer : Business professor at

Stanfor d • Paul A. Samuelson: Nobel laureate economist at MIT • Edgar Schein: Psychologist and

management scholar at MIT • Adrian Slywotsky: Management writer and consultant • Frederick Winslow

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Taylor  (1856 –1915): The ―father of scientific management‖ • John Van Maanen: Ethnographer at MIT • Sidney

Winter : Economist at