List of business theorists
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
This is an annotated list of important business writers.[1] 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
- David Aaker (born 1938) - marketing, brand strategy
- Wil van der Aalst
- James Abegglen (1926–2007) - management and business in Japan
- Bodo Abel
- Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) – operations research, organizational theory
- John Adair (born 1934) - leadership
- Karol Adamiecki (1866 – 1933) – management
- Rex Adams (b. 1941) - management
- Niclas Adler (b. 1971), Swedish organizational theorist
- Charles Constance César Joseph Matthieu d'Agoult
- Yoji Akao
- Howard E. Aldrich (born 1940s), American sociologist and organizational theorist
- Tim Ambler (born 1938) - marketing effectiveness
- Ali Akdemir
- Mark Albion (born 1951) - values-based business
- Leon P. Alford (1877–1942) - scientific management
- Igor Ansoff (1918–2002)– strategic management
- Ingeman Arbnor
- Chris Argyris (1923–2013) – learning systems, learning organization
- Horace Lucian Arnold (died 1915)
- Neal Ashkanasy
B
- Stephen R. Barley (born 1953) technology, organizational change, organizational culture.
- Chester Barnard (1886–1961) – management
- Gary S. Becker
- Charles Bedaux (1886–1944) - scientific management
- Warren Bennis (born 1925) - leadership studies
- Per Olof Berg (born 1946), Swedish organizational theorist
- Manfred Berliner
- Björn Bjerke
- Ken Blanchard
- Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett (1897–1974) – operations research
- Marvin Bower
- Richard Boyatzis (born 1946) - emotional intelligence, behavior change, and competence
- Forrest Breyfogle (born 1946) - business management and quality
- Leland Lawrence Briggs (1893-1975), American accounting scholar
- Charles Bosanquet
- Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) – labor productivity
- John Seely Brown
- Wilfred Brown, Baron Brown
- Nils Brunsson (born 1946) – institutionalized hypocrisy of organizations
- Lawton Burns (born ca 1950) - Health Care Systems
- Rama Bijapurkar
C
- Noel Capon
- Jean-Luc Cerdin
- 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)
- Charles U. Carpenter
- Clayton M. Christensen
- Alexander Hamilton Church – industrial management (1900s–1910s)
- C. West Churchman
- Stewart Clegg
- 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)
- Morris Llewellyn Cooke
- Cary Cooper
- Stephen Covey
- Dave Crenshaw – Multitasking, time management (2000s, 2010s)
- Philip B. Crosby
- Richard Cyert
- Barbara Czarniawska
D
- Peter J. Daniels
- Robert Dahlstrom (b. 1958), American organizational theorist, who works on international marketing.
- David Dale
- Scott Davis (branding consultant)
- George S. Day – marketing (1970s)
- Jeff DeGraff
- Morris H. DeGroot
- Thomas H. Davenport
- W. Edwards Deming – statistical quality control, (1950s, 1960s)
- Daniel R. Denison
- Eric Dent
- Hugo Diemer - Industrial engineering (1910s)
- Jan Dietz
- Patrick Dixon
- Henk van Dongen
- Sytse Douma
- Wiebe Draijer
- Peter Drucker – management (1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s) 1909–2005
- Anna Dubois (b. 1962), Swedish organizational theorist
- Peter Dunn (author)
E
- Andrew S. C. Ehrenberg
- Michael Eisner
- Chester Elton
- Tunç Erem
- Richard F. Ericson
- Hans-Erik Eriksson (b. 1961), Swedish computer scientist and organizational theorist
- Agner Krarup Erlang
- Hamid Etemad
F
- Henri Fayol – management (1910s)
- Armand V. Feigenbaum – quality control (1950s)
- Tim Ferriss
- Harry Anson Finney (1886-1966), American accountancy author
- Ronald Fisher – statistics (1920s)
- Mary Follett – organizational studies (1930s)
- Nicolai J. Foss
- R. Edward Freeman
- Mike L. Fry
- Adrian Furnham
G
- John Kenneth Galbraith – The New Industrial State (1967)
- Henry Gantt – Gantt chart (20th century)
- Burleigh B. Gardner (1902-1985) - motivation research
- Michael Gerber – E-Myth Revisited, others
- Jamshid Gharajedaghi (b. 1940), American organizational theorist, management consultant, and Adjunct Professor of Systems thinking
- Sumantra Ghoshal
- John P. van Gigch
- Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr.
- Frank Gilbreth – Time and motion study (20th century)
- Seth Godin
- Eliyahu M. Goldratt – Theory of Constraints (1980s)
- Marshall Goldsmith
- Daniel Goleman
- Vytautas Andrius Graiciunas – management (1933)
- Lynda Gratton
- C. Jackson Grayson
- Danny Greefhorst (b. 1972), Dutch enterprise architect
- Miriam Green
- James Bray Griffith (1871-1937), American business theorist
- William H. Gruber (born 1935), American organizational theorist
- Erich Gutenberg – theory of the firm (1950s)
H
- Stephan H. Haeckel
- Sven A. Haugland (b. 1948), Norwegian organizational theorist
- Gary Hamel – core competency, strategic management (1990s) born 1954
- Michael Hammer – business process reengineering (1990s)
- Stephen G. Haines
- Noel Frederick Hall
- Brian Halligan
- Michael Hammer
- Charles Handy – organisational behaviour (1990s)
- Umair Haque
- Paul Harmon (management author)
- G. Charter Harrison (1881-1959), Anglo-American management consultant and cost account pioneer
- David L. Hawk
- Igor Hawryszkiewycz, (b. 1948), American computer scientist and organizational theorist.
- Robert Heller
- Frederick Herzberg – two factor theory, motivation theory, job enrichment (1970s)
- Steen Hildebrandt
- Charles DeLano Hine
- Geert Hofstede
- Kenneth Hopper
- Yasheng Huang
- Albert S Humphrey – strategic planning, SWOT analysis (1970s, 1980s)
- Shelby D. Hunt
- Walter Hunziker
I
- Masaaki Imai
- Kaoru Ishikawa (1915–1989) – Ishikawa diagram in industrial process; quality circles (1960s)
- Masaaki Imai (1930) – Kaizen (continuous improvement) (1980s, 1990s, 2000s)
J
- Mike Jackson (systems scientist)
- Lars Jaeger
- John Jantsch
- Dave Jenks
- Anita Jose
- Joseph M. Juran (1904–2008) – quality control, especially quality circles (1960s), (1970s)
K
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Business Management and Change Management (1977)
- Robert S. Kaplan – management accounting and balanced scorecard (1990s)
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- Avinash Kaushik
- Dexter Keezer
- Kevin Lane Keller
- John Kenagy
- Roy B. Kester (1882-1965), American accountancy scholar
- Tarun Khanna
- Walter Kickert (b. 1950), Dutch academic and Professor of Public Management
- John Warren Kindt
- Charles Edward Knoeppel
- Richard Koch
- Lars Kolind
- Monika Kostera
- Philip Kotler – marketing management and social marketing (1970s, 1980s, 1990s)
- John Kotter – organizational behaviour and management (1980s, 1990s)
L
- John Christian Langli
- Jean-Claude Larréché
- Kyoung Jun Lee
- William Henry Leffingwell – office management (1910s–1940s)
- Paul Leonardi
- Harry Levinson
- Theodore Levitt – marketing and globalization (1960s, 1970s)
- Michael Lewis
- Peter Lindgren (b. 1961) is a Danish organizational theorist
- John Lintner – capital asset pricing model (1970s)
- Ted London
- Juan Antonio Pérez López
- Jay Lorsch
- Michael Lounsbury
- Randi Lunnan (b. 1963), Norwegian organizational theorist works on strategic alliances.
- Reijo Luostarinen (b. 1939), Finnish organisational theorist
- James Alexander Lyons (1861-1920), American accountancy author
M
- John Van Maanen
- Kenneth D. Mackenzie
- Teemu Malmi (b. 1965), Finnish organizational theorist
- Vincent Mangematin
- 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
- Perry Marshall
- Martti Saario (1906 - 1988), Finnish organizational theorist and Professor of Accounting
- Elton Mayo – job satisfaction and Hawthorne effect (1920s, 1930s)
- John C. Maxwell - leadership (1990s, 2000s, 2010s)
- John H. McArthur
- Daniel McCallum – organizational charts (1850s)
- Douglas McGregor
- James MacGregor Burns
- Dalton McGuinty, Sr.'
- Geoff Meeks, (b. 1949), British accounting scholar
- Leo Melamed – currency futures and derivatives (1980s, 1990s)
- Gary Metcalf
- Henry C. Metcalf – the science of administration (1920s)
- Henry Metcalfe – the science of administration (1880s)
- Lucas Meijs
- Gerald Midgley
- Danny Miller (economist)
- Merton Miller – Modigliani–Miller theorem and corporate finance (1970s)
- Henry Mintzberg – organizational architecture, strategic management (1970s–2000s) born 1939
- Franco Modigliani – Modigliani–Miller theorem and corporate finance (1970s)
- Geoffrey Moore
- Richard Moran (author)
- Gareth Morgan (author)
- Gerry Morgan
- Silvina Moschini
- Hugo Münsterberg – the psychology of work (1910s)
- J. Keith Murnighan
- Christa Muth
N
- Peter Naudé - marketing and business networks
- Nicholas Negroponte – human-computer interaction (1970s–1990s)
- Kjell A. Nordström
- Arne Nygaard (b. 1957), Norwegian organizational theorist
O
- Kenichi Ohmae – 3C's Model and strategic management (1970s, 1980s)
- Taiichi Ohno – Toyota Production System, lean manufacturing, just in time (1980s)
- David Ogilvy – advertising (1960s–1980s)
- William Ouchi – Theory Z (1980s)
- Robert Owen – cooperatives (1810s)
P
- Luca Pacioli – double-entry bookkeeping system and financial statements (1494)
- Krishna Palepu
- Scott Patterson (author)
- Keith Pavitt – Innovation clusters and innovation taxonomy (1970s through 2000)
- Don Peppers
- Oscar E. Perrigo - Shop management (1900s)
- Edith Penrose – Theory of the Growth of the Firm (1959)
- Laurence J. Peter – peter principle (1970s)
- Tom Peters
- Jeffrey Pfeffer – organizational development (1970s–?)
- Robert Allen Phillips
- Rebecca Piekkari (b. 1967), Finnish organizational theorist
- 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) 1941-2010
- Juan Antonio Pérez López – negative learning (1990s)
- Derek S. Pugh
R
- J. Donald R. de Raadt
- Navi Radjou
- N. Ravichandaran
- Jeffrey Rayport
- W. Charles Redding
- Robert Reich
- Fred Reichheld
- Reg Revans
- Jeremy Rifkin
- Fritz Roethlisberger
- Georges Romme
- Mike Rother
S
- Kenan Sahin
- Jason Saul
- August-Wilhelm Scheer
- Edgar Schein
- Eugen Schmalenbach – economic value added (1920s–?)
- Hein Schreuder
- David Meerman Scott (1961– ) – inbound marketing and PR in the Internet era (2008-)
- Walter Dill Scott – the psychology of personnel management (1920s)
- Peter Scott-Morgan
- Esbjörn Segelod (b. 1951), Swedish organizational theorist
- Peter Senge
- Dorian Shainin
- Stanley J. Shapiro
- Seena Sharp
- 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)
- Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui
- Herbert A. Simon – (1916–2001) Satisficing Nobel Prize, 1978
- Ibrahim Sirkeci
- Adrian Slywotzky – marketing strategy (1990s)
- Linda Smircich
- Adam Smith – economics, capitalism, free trade (1770s)
- Ivan Snehota (b. 1946), Italian organizational theorist
- Henk G. Sol
- Rolf Solli
- Thomas J. Stanley
- Andy Stefanovich
- Victor Hermann Stempf (1893-1946), American accountant
- Joel Stern – economic value added (1980s)
- Rosemary Stewart (business theorist)
- Antonio Strati
- Robert I. Sutton
- G. A. Swanson
- Richard A. Swanson
- William R. Synnott
T
- Genichi Taguchi (1924–) Taguchi methods, quality control
- Don Tapscott
- Frederick Winslow Taylor – scientific management, time and motion study (20th century)
- Sridhar Tayur
- David Teece
- Vern Terpstra
- Jacques Thomassen (born 1945), Dutch organizational theorist
- C. Bertrand Thompson
- Alvin Toffler
- Thomas Thorburn (1913-2003), Swedish Professor of Business Administration
- Jean-Marie Toulouse
- Phil Town
- Henry R. Towne – scientific management (1890s)
- John Tregoning - factory management (1890s)
- Jack Trout
- John Tschohl
- Josiah Tucker
- Dominique Turpin
U
V
- Peter Vaill
- Jan Vanthienen
- Hal Varian
- Antoaneta Vassileva
- Andrew H. Van de Ven
- Henrik Virkkunen (1917-1963), Finnish organizational theorist and Professor of Accounting
- Henk Volberda
- Victor Vroom
W
- André de Waal
- Jean-Baptiste Waldner - Computer-integrated manufacturing
- Alexandra Waluszewski (b. 1956), Swedish organizational theorist
- James Watt (1736–1819) – Industrial Revolution, division of labour, standard operating procedures, cost control (1810s)
- Karl E. Weick
- Max Weber – a founder of the modern study of sociology and public administration (1900)
- Frank E. Webner (1865-1940s), American consulting cost accountant
- Lawrence Welch (b. 1945), Australian organisational theorist
- Joseph Wharton (1826–1909) – protective tariffs, business cycles, Wharton School of Business
- Alasdair A. K. White
- John Whitmore (c. 1870-1937), American accountant, who contributed to standard costing
- Eli Whitney (1765–1825) – interchangeable parts, cost accounting (1810s,1820s)
- Jennifer Wilby
- Thomas Williams of Llanidan
- Oliver E. Williamson – transaction costs, theory of the firm (1960s)
- Mark W. Willis
- Pieter Winsemius
- Clinton Edgar Woods (1863 - c. 1930) factory organization (1900s)
Y
Z
- Udo Zander (b. 1959), Swedish organizational theorist
