Management Hall of Fame: Leading Management Gurus
Igor Ansoff
Ansoff Matrix - Father of Corporate Strategy
(1918 - Present)
"Structure will become a dynamic enabler of both change and
unchanged, the ultimate model of organizational chaos." (Igor Ansoff)
Key Work
Igor Ansoff was the originator of the strategic management concept, and
was responsible for establishing strategic planning as a management
activity in its own right.
- The Ansoff Matrix, also
known as the "product-mission matrix" or the 2 x 2
growth vector component matrix," Ansoff Matrix remains a popular
tool for organizations that wish to understand the risk component of
various growth strategies including product versus market development, and
diversification.
- Publish "Corporate Strategy"
. The first text to concentrate entirely on strategy, and it remains one
of the classics of management literature.
- Strategy Decisions & The 3S model.
Ansoff identified four standard types of organizational decisions.
He developed a new classification of decision-making, and distinguished decisions as either:
- Strategy: Focused
on the areas of products and markets);
- Structure: Administrative (organizational and
resource allocating), or
- System: Operating (budgeting and directly managing).
- Strategy Components: Ansoff
identified four key strategy components:
- Product-market scope - What Product
for What Market?
- Growth vector - How to grow?
- Competitive advantage.
- Synergy - how opportunities fit the core capabilities of the
organization. Ansoff explained synergy as how the
whole is greater than the mere sum of the parts ("1 + 1 = 3")
- "Paralysis By Analysis".
He Coined the famous phrase "paralysis by analysis" to warn
against procrastination caused by excessive planning.
Books & References:
IIM Executive Education & Management Training
. New York: John Wiley/
Interscience, 1975.