George Albert Smith, Jr.

Who was George Albert Smith, Jr.?

George Albert Smith, Jr. was a professor at Harvard Business School who wrote several books on management practice and other issues.

Smith was the son of George Albert Smith, who would eventually serve as the eighth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife Lucy Woodruff Smith. Lucy was the daughter of Wilford Woodruff, Jr., one of the sons of Wilford Woodruff, who was the fourth president of the LDS Church.

As a young man, Smith was a missionary for the LDS Church in Switzerland and Germany.

Smith received his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and a graduate degree in business administration from Harvard University. From 1934 on, he was a professor at the Harvard Business School. During the 1950s he was one of the main proponents of sizing a businesses competitive strategy in light of the general trends in its specific market. He is also credited as one of the principal developers of SWOT analysis.

In July 1935, Smith married Ruth Nowell in the Salt Lake Temple.

Smith wrote three books, they were Policy Formulation and Administration, Managing Geographically Decentralized Companies, and Business, Society, and the Individual.