Chandler, Alfred D.

(b. 1918) Gen Mgt

U.S. academic. Pioneer of business history who established a framework and rationale for the subject and suggested that the main function of an organization is to implement strategy. In Strategy and Structure (1962), he argued that the optimum use of resources stemmed not merely from the way they were organized but, more importantly, from the organization’s strategic goals. He concluded that organizational structures are driven by the changing demands and pressures of the marketplace, and that market-driven organizations favor a loosely coupled divisional structure.