Harry Igor Ansoff (, 12 December 1918– 14 July 2002) was a
Russian American
Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United Stat ...
applied mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...
.
He is known as one of the fathers of
strategic management.
Biography
Early life
Igor Ansoff was born in
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
, Russia, on December 12, 1918.
His father was an American-born Russian from
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...
and his mother was a Russian from
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
.
At the time of Igor's birth, Ansoff, Sr., was secretary to the American
Consul General
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
in Moscow,
David R. Francis, and had just completed a cross-Siberian trip on behalf of the
American Red Cross, examining living conditions in prisoner of war camps. This concluded with a trip to
Japan in 1918, after which the family moved to Vladivostok. The United States had a large military and industrial presence in the
Far East of Russia, with more than 3,000 troops on the ground under the command of
General William S. Graves. During the six years that it took for the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
to make its way to Vladivostok, US embassies were slowly being shut down and their contents moved east. Many strategic records ended up in Tokyo and were destroyed in an earthquake and fire. Most of the remaining embassy documents made their way to Vladivostok.
The Ansoffs lived in Vladivostok until the US Embassy closed in 1924, whereupon they returned to Moscow, with Ansoff, Sr., now a Soviet citizen. They travelled the 9,000 km (5592.3 mi) on the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
, crossing
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
in the middle of winter in a place where temperatures of -35 Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit) are common. The cattle cars of the trans-siberian were heated by coal burning stoves and the occupants slept on straw laid out on timber bunks.
With his father's American origin and his mother's "
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
" background (her father had owned a small
samovar factory in the town of
Tula some hundred miles south of Moscow), the Ansoffs were suspected members of the
bourgeoisie, a group assumed to harbor "counterrevolutionary" hopes and tendencies.
Igor's life in Moscow engendered in him a distrust of any system (political or organizational) that claimed to be too perfect or too tidy. This spirit
"expressed itself through my inability to join other 'systems' in which I lived, studied, and worked. It reinforced my drive to excel in order to force the system to recognize and reward me. And perversely, it also drove me to excel through making innovative contributions which challenged the systems cultures."
From 1932-1933, two major events occurred in Soviet society: first, a massive and destructive
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
, followed by the commencement of the
Great Purge
The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...
. In 1933 there was also a thawing of relations between the USA and the Soviet Union, which led to the re-opening of the
US embassy in Moscow under Ambassador
William Bullit.
With the reestablishment of the American Embassy in Moscow, Ansoff, Sr., was able to get a clerical job and apply for restoration of his
American citizenship.
The Ansoffs left Russia through
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in September 1936 on a small freighter, which accommodated a dozen passengers. The ship took two weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean, finally docking in New York.
A
Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
priest took Igor, who was then 17 years old, to the
Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan, which was one of two premier high schools in New York City. With the aid of the priest, Igor's grades were translated into American equivalents which made it possible for him to graduate after only one year.
In 1937, Igor graduated with the highest honors at the end of the year, which guaranteed him a four-year scholarship with all expenses paid in the
New York State University system. He was also offered a scholarship at the
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...
in
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
, one of the best and most expensive engineering schools in the country. The scholarship was for one year and its continuation was contingent on performing in the upper 10% of his class. Contrary to his parents' advice, who were still financially struggling, he went to Stevens.
Five years after arriving in New York, Igor graduated at the top of his class from Stevens Institute of Technology. He had also reached the conclusion that he did not want to practice engineering.
Career
Seeking a broader perspective, he received a
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
Modern Physics.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
intervened, and in 1946 he went to
Brown University to get a
Doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
in
Applied Mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...
. His formal education was completed in 1948 when he was 30 years old.
He was married the day after defending his dissertation to his wife Skip, and then traveled to
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
, where he joined
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
in the Senior Executive Program.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he was a member of the
U.S. Naval Reserve, and served as a
Liaison
Liaison means communication between two or more groups, or co-operation or working together.
Liaison or liaisons may refer to:
General usage
* Affair, an unfaithful sexual relationship
* Collaboration
* Co-operation
Arts and entertainment
* Li ...
with the
Russian Navy and as an instructor in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at the
U.S. Naval Academy.
In California, he was offered a job in the Mathematics Department of the
RAND Corporation. Moving laterally within RAND, Igor become a Project Manager in the large-scale project activity focused on making recommendations to the U.S. Air Force on technology and weapon systems acquisition. His second major study at RAND addressed the vulnerability of
NATO Air Forces. The inclusion of "soft metrics" was treated with disdain by RAND and the airforce, and Igor learned his first lesson in organizational myopia, which was to become one of his primary concerns some 20 years later.
In 1957 Igor left RAND to join the Corporate Planning Department of the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. At Lockheed he became Vice President of Planning and Director of Diversification. His experience at Lockheed focused his attention and trained him to deal with the problem of managing organizations in the face of environmental discontinuities which became the central focus of his attention during the following 30 years.
One morning while shaving Igor realized that he had no idea of what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. While on vacation at
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
he developed a long-term plan to take early retirement from Lockheed and find a job in a school of management. Within a year he was approached by
The Graduate School of Industrial Administration at the
Carnegie Mellon University about joining the GSIA faculty. When he entered GSIA he was allowed a year free from teaching to enable him to finish his book, Corporate Strategy, which was published in 1965 and was an immediate success. He served as Professor of Industrial Administration in the Graduate School at Carnegie Mellon University from 1963 until 1968.
In 1969 he accepted a position as Founding Dean of the new
Owen Graduate School of Management
The Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1969, Owen awards six degrees: a standard 2-year Master of Business Administ ...
at
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
. He accepted the position under the condition that the school would specialize in educating change agents, a type of manager which was badly needed in industry and not produced by any U.S. school of business at that time. He worked as a Professor of Management there until 1973.
In 1983 he joined the
U.S. International University
United States International University (USIU) was a nonprofit university based in San Diego, California that was accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. At its peak, it had two additional American campuses and three interna ...
(USIU, now Alliant International University) where he created the school's strategic management program.
Professionally, he is known worldwide for his research in three specific areas:
*The concept of environmental turbulence;
[Ansoff, I.H. and McDonnell, E.J. (1990), "Implanting Strategic Management", 2nd Ed., Cambridge, Great Britain: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.]
*The contingent strategic success paradigm, a concept that has been validated by numerous doctoral dissertations;
*Real-time
strategic management.
Marketing and MBA students are usually familiar with his
Ansoff Matrix, a tool he created to plot generic strategies for growing a business, via existing or new products, in existing or new markets.
He has consulted with hundreds of multinational corporations including,
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
,
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
,
Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...
,
IBM,
Sterling Airlines and
Westinghouse.
To honor his body of work, the prestigious Igor Ansoff Award was established in 1981 in
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. The award is given for
research
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
and
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includ ...
in the study of Strategic Planning and Management. The Japan Strategic Management Society has also established an annual award in his name and
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
has established an Ansoff MBA scholarship.
He was awarded five honorary doctorate degrees over the years.
Igor retired from USIU two years before his death as a distinguished professor emeritus.
Death
He died of complications from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, on July 14, 2002. Survivors of his death included his wife; three sons, Rick, Chris, and Peter; and two grandchildren.
Works
*''The New Corporate Strategy'' (1988)
*''Implanting Strategic Management'' (1984, second edition 1990)
*''Strategic Management'' (1979)
*''Acquisition Behavior of U.S. Manufacturing Firms, 1946-1965'' (1971)
*''Business Strategy: Selected Readings'' (1969)
*''Corporate Strategy: An Analytic Approach to Business Policy for Growth and Expansion'' (1965)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansoff, Igor
1918 births
2002 deaths
People from Moscow
Soviet emigrants to the United States
American people of Russian descent
Economists from New York (state)
20th-century American mathematicians
Brown University alumni
Stevens Institute of Technology alumni
Stuyvesant High School alumni
Alliant International University
Stockholm School of Economics faculty
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Mathematicians from New York (state)
20th-century American economists
RAND Corporation people