Stafford Beer should be considered a core theorist in the field of management cybernetics. He presents innovative and original views on cybernetic technology in his written works, not to say that he has not been influenced by others in general systems and cybernetics. Primarily, W. Ross Ashby has had the greatest impact on Beer. Throughout Beer's books, he presents views held by Ashby and sometimes Beer gives him credit for those views. He also makes limited references to Weiner and Bertalanffy. So, I would conclude that Beer stands alone but has been heavily influenced by Ashby.