List of business theorists

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 (born 1941) - management

Niclas Adler (born 1971) - Swedish organizational theorist

Charles Constance César Joseph Matthieu d'Agoult

Yoji Akao

Ali Akdemir

Mark Albion (born 1951) - values-based business

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 (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

Rama Bijapurkar

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

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

Dave Crenshaw - multitasking, time management (2000s, 2010s)

Philip B. Crosby

Richard Cyert

Barbara Czarniawska

D

Robert Dahlstrom (born 1958) - American organizational theorist, works on international marketing

David Dale

Thomas H. Davenport

Scott Davis - branding consultant

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 - management (1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s) 1909–2005

Anna Dubois (born 1962) - Swedish organizational theorist

Peter Dunn

E

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

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

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

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

Stephen G. Haines

Noel Frederick Hall

Brian Halligan

Gary Hamel - core competency, strategic management (1990s) born 1954

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

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

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

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)

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 (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 (born 1939) - Finnish organisational theorist

James Alexander Lyons (1861–1920) - American accountancy author

N

Peter Naudé - marketing and business networks

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

Kjell A. Nordström

Arne Nygaard (born 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)

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

T

Genichi Taguchi (born 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

Yoichi Ueno

Werner Ulrich

Lyndall Urwick

V

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

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, 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

Candace A. Yano

Z

Udo Zander (born 1959) - Swedish organizational theorist