William Ouchi is an American professor of business management who has worked at the Stanford business school and the Anderson School of Management at the University of California for many years. He first came to prominence in 1981 for his work on bridging the gap between American management, then in decline, and Japanese management, then riding a boom. His belief that American business could learn from the management beliefs of Japanese industry led to his idea of Theory Z and his first book, "Theory Z: How American Management Can Beat the Japanese Challenge". The book became a New York Times best-seller and today ranks as the 7th most widely-read business book in all US libraries. His theory is now regarded as influencing the management style of major organisations such as IBM, Procter and Gamble and Hewlett Packard.