List of business theorists

This is an annotated list of important business writers.^[1] It is in alphabetical order based on last name. For quick navigation, click on one of the letters:

A[edit]

• 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
• Ichak Adizes
• Niclas Adler (born 1971) - Swedish organizational theorist
• Charles Constance César Joseph Matthieu d'Agoult
• Yoji Akao
• Ali Akdemir
• Howard E. Aldrich (born 1940s) - American sociologist and organizational theorist
• Leon P. Alford (1877–1942) - scientific management
• Tim Ambler (born 1938) - marketing effectiveness
• Igor Ansoff (1918–2002) - strategic management
• Ingeman Arbnor
• Chris Argyris (1923–2013) - learning systems, learning organization
• Horace Lucian Arnold (1837–1915)
• Neal Ashkanasy

B[edit]

• 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 (1925–2014) - leadership studies
• Per Olof Berg (born 1946) - Swedish organizational theorist
• Manfred Berliner
• Björn Bjerke
• Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett (1897–1974) - operations research
• Ken Blanchard
• Charles Bosanquet
• Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) - labor productivity
• Marvin Bower
• Richard Boyatzis (born 1946) - emotional intelligence, behavior change, and competence
• Leland Lawrence Briggs (1893–1975) - American accounting scholar
• John Seely Brown
• Wilfred Brown, Baron Brown
• Nils Brunsson (born 1946) - institutionalized hypocrisy of organizations
• Lawton Burns (born c. 1950) - health care systems

C[edit]

• Noel Capon
• Charles U. Carpenter
• 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)
• 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
• Philip B. Crosby
• Richard Cyert
• Barbara Czarniawska

D[edit]

• Robert Dahlstrom (born 1958) - American organizational theorist, works on international marketing
• David Dale
• Thomas H. Davenport
• George S. Day - marketing (1970s)
• Jeff DeGraff
• Morris H. DeGroot
• 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 (1909–2005) - management (1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s)
• Anna Dubois (born 1962) - Swedish organizational theorist
• Peter Dunn

E[edit]

• Andrew S.C. Ehrenberg
• Michael Eisner
• Chester Elton
• Tunç Erem
• Richard F. Ericson
• Hans-Erik Eriksson (born 1961) - Swedish computer scientist and organizational theorist
• Agner Krarup Erlang
• Hamid Etemad

F[edit]

• 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[edit]

• 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
• Jamshid Gharajedaghi (born 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 (born 1972) - Dutch enterprise architect
• James Bray Griffith (1871–1937) - American business theorist
• William H. Gruber (born 1935) - American organizational theorist
• Erich Gutenberg - theory of the firm (1950s)

H[edit]

• Stephan H. Haeckel
• Stephen G. Haines
• Noel Frederick Hall
• Brian Halligan
• Gary Hamel (born 1954) - core competency, strategic management (1990s)
• Michael Hammer - business process reengineering (1990s)
• Charles Handy - organisational behaviour (1990s)
• Paul Harmon - management author
• G. Charter Harrison (1881–1959) - Anglo-American management consultant and cost account pioneer
• Sven A. Haugland (born 1948) - Norwegian organizational theorist
• David L. Hawk
• Igor Hawryszkiewycz (born 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[edit]

• Masaaki Imai (born 1930) - Kaizen (continuous improvement) (1980s, 1990s, 2000s)
• Anders Indset (born 1978)
• Kaoru Ishikawa (1915–1989) - Ishikawa diagram in industrial process; quality circles (1960s)

J[edit]

• 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[edit]

• Rosabeth Moss Kanter - business management and change management (1977)
• Robert S. Kaplan - management accounting and balanced scorecard (1990s)
• Dexter Keezer
• Kevin Lane Keller
• Roy B. Kester (1882–1965) - American accountancy scholar
• Tarun Khanna
• Walter Kickert (born 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)
• Vladimir Kvint - strategy

L[edit]

• 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 (born 1961) - Danish organizational theorist
• John Lintner - capital asset pricing model (1970s)
• Ted London
• Juan Antonio Pérez López
• Jay Lorsch
• Michael Lounsbury
• Randi Lunnan (born 1963) - Norwegian organizational theorist, works on strategic alliances
• Reijo Luostarinen (1939–2017) - Finnish organisational theorist
• James Alexander Lyons (1861–1920) - American accountancy author

M[edit]

N[edit]

• Peter Naudé - marketing and business networks
• Nicholas Negroponte - human-computer interaction (1970s–1990s)
• Nobuo Noda - Japanese business scholar
• Kjell A. Nordström
• Arne Nygaard (born 1957) - Norwegian organizational theorist

O[edit]

• George S. Odiorne - management by objectives
• 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)
• Sharon Oster
• William Ouchi - Theory Z (1980s)
• Robert Owen - cooperatives (1810s)

P[edit]

R[edit]

• 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[edit]

T[edit]

• Genichi Taguchi (1924–2012) - 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
• Josiah Tucker
• Bruce Tuckman - stages of team development
• Dominique Turpin

U[edit]

• Yoichi Ueno
• Werner Ulrich
• Lyndall Urwick

V[edit]

• Peter Vaill
• Andrew H. Van de Ven
• Jan Vanthienen
• Hal Varian
• Antoaneta Vassileva
• Henrik Virkkunen (1917–1963) - Finnish organizational theorist and professor of accounting
• Henk Volberda
• Victor Vroom

W[edit]

• André de Waal
• Jean-Baptiste Waldner - computer-integrated manufacturing
• Alexandra Waluszewski (born 1956) - Swedish organizational theorist
• 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)
• Frank E. Webner (1865–1940s) - American consulting cost accountant
• Karl E. Weick
• Lawrence Welch (born 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, 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[edit]

• Candace A. Yano

Z[edit]

• Udo Zander (born 1959) - Swedish organizational theorist

See also[edit]

• List of economists

References[edit]