Alfred Chandler
Alfred Chandler was born in 1918 and was a Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School. During his studies of industries that had developed in the 19th Century he realised the great importance of making sure that the different aspects of management were coordinated under one overall strategy. It was not uncommon in the early 1950’s that managers of an organisation tended to work separately with little interaction with each other. Communication between departmental managers was usually handled by a boundary position that would relay the information.
Chandler’s other contribution to the development of strategic management was that he made it clear that organisations should be planning for the long term. He stressed that the long term strategy which was coordinated would give the organisation direction, focus and structure.