Igor Ansoff biography and books

Igor Ansoff - Toolshero

Igor Ansoff (1918- 2002) was a prominent Russian American mathematician and scientist. Igor Ansoff is known as the father of strategic management and his development of the strategy model, the Ansoff matrix.

Biography

The scientific career of Igor Ansoff took off in 1937 when he started studying at the Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) after he had graduated from high school. There he received his MSc. degree in dynamics. Subsequently, Ansoff began his doctoral research in the area of applied mathematics and the theory of Elasticity and Plasticity.

After this study and his research activities, Igor Ansoff joined the UCL Senior Executive Program. He was a distinguished professor and carried out research in the area of strategic management for several institutes for 17 years.

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Ansoff is known worldwide for his research in three specific areas: the concept of environmental turbulence, the contingent strategic success paradigm, a concept that has been validated by numerous doctoral theses, and real-time strategic management.

Marketing and MBA-students are usually familiar with his Ansoff Matrix, a tool he devised to plot generic strategies for the establishment of a company via existing or new products in existing or new markets.

In addition to being a professor, Igor Ansoff was an advisor and he consulted with hundreds of multinational corporations including Philips, General Electric, IBM, Sterling and Westinghouse with respect to strategic management issues.

His work was appreciated by many and he received several awards during his career. In 1981 an award in his name has been established, the Igor Ansoff Award.

In 2002, Igor Ansoff died of complications from pneumonia in San Diego, California.

Famous Quotes

  1. “A natural companion to the competitive advantage is the synergy component of strategy. This requires that opportunities within the scope possess characteristics which will enhance synergy.”
  2. “The triplet of specifications – the product-market scope, the growth vector and the competitive advantage – describes the firm’s product-market path in the external environment.”
  3. “By searching out opportunities which match its strengths the firm can optimize the synergistic effects.”
  4. “This theory maintains that the objectives of the firm should be derived by balancing the conflicting claims of the various ‘stakeholders’ in the firm: managers, workers, stockholders, suppliers, vendors. The firm has a responsibility to all of these and must configure its objectives so as to give each a measure of satisfaction.”

Publications and books by Igor Ansoff et al.

  • 2019. Societal strategy for the business firm. In Implanting Strategic Management (pp. 285-310). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • 2018. Implanting strategic management. Springer.
  • 2007. Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
  • 2006. The secrets of strategic management: The Ansoffian approach. Ansoff Institute.
  • 2004. Strategic management of technology. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 16(2), 275-291.
  • 1993. Optimizing profitability in turbulent environments: A formula for strategic success, Journal: Long Range Planning, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 11-23.
  • 1994. Comment on Henry Mintzberg’s rethinking strategic planning.
  • 1991. Critique of Henry Mintzberg’s, ‘The design school: Reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management’, Journal: Strategic Management Journal, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 449-461.
  • 1991. Strategic management in a historical perspective. International Review of Strategic Management, 2(1), 3-69.
  • 1990. Implanting strategic management. New York: Prentice Hall.
  • 1988. The new corporate strategy. Wiley.
  • 1987. The emerging paradigm of strategic behavior. Strategic Management Journal, 8(6), 501-515.
  • 1987. Strategic Management of Technology, Journal: IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 2-13.
  • 1986. Competitive strategy analysis on the personal computer, Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 28-36.
  • 1985. Conceptual underpinnings of systematic strategic management. European Journal of operational research, 19(1), 2-19.
  • 1982. Strategic response in turbulent environments. Brussels: European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management.
  • 1980. Strategic Management of Technology, Journal: Strategic Management Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-5.
  • 1980. Strategic issue management. Strategic Management Journal, 1(2), 131-148.
  • 1977. The changing shape of the strategic problem. European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management.
  • 1977. State of practice in planning systems. Sloan Management Review, 18(2), 1-24.
  • 1976. Strategic portfolio management. Journal of General Management, 4(1), 13-29.
  • 1976. From Strategic Planning To Strategic Management. In International Conference on Strategic Management 1973: Vanderbilt University). Wiley.
  • 1975. Managing Strategic Surprise by Response to Weak Signals. California management review, 18(2).
  • 1975. Managing surprise and discontinuity: strategic response to weak signals. European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management.
  • 1973. Toward a strategic theory of the firm. Business strategy. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 11-40.
  • 1972. The concept of strategic management. Journal of Business Policy, 2(4), 2-7.
  • 1971. A language for organization design: part I. Management science, 17(12), B-705.
  • 1970. Corporate strategy: An analytic approach to business policy for growth and expansion. Penguin books.
  • 1970. Does planning pay? The effect of planning on success of acquisitions in American firms, Journal: Long Range Planning, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 2-7.
  • 1969. Business strategy: selected readings (Vol. 72). Penguin books.
  • 1968. An Appreciation of Industrial Dynamics, Journal: Management Science – Management, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 383-397.
  • 1967. Strategies for a technology-based business. Harvard business review, 45(6), 71-83.
  • 1965. The firm of the future. Harvard Business Review, 43(5), 162-178.
  • 1965. Corporate Strategy: An Analytical Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion. McGraw-Hill.
  • 1964. A Quasi-Analytic Approach to the Business Strategy Problem, Journal: Management Science – Management, vol. MT-4, no. 1, pp. 67-77.
  • 1962. Merger objectives and organization structure. Review of Economics and Business, 2(S 49).
  • 1958. A model for diversification. Management science, 4(4), 392-414.
  • 1957. Strategies for diversification. Harvard business review, 35(5), 113-124.

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Vincent van Vliet is co-founder and responsible for the content and release management. Together with the team Vincent sets the strategy and manages the content planning, go-to-market, customer experience and corporate development aspects of the company.

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