About Alfred Marcus

Professor Marcus, is the author, co-author, or editor of many books and academic articles in journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Organization Science. He has won the outstanding teacher of the year awards twice at the Carlson School of Management University of Minnesota.. In 2022, the Academy of Management ONE Division awarded him its Distinguished Scholar Award. Six years earlier, his book, Innovations in Sustainability: Fuel and Food published by Cambridge University Press, in 2015, was named the Outstanding Book of the Year by this division. While at the Carlson School Professor Marcus also held a faculty position in the Technological Leadership Institute (TLI) in the College of Science and Engineering. He published Managing Strategic Uncertainty: Booms and Busts in the Energy Industry with Cambridge University Press in 2019. From 1995-2001, he was chair of the Carlson School's Strategic Management and Organization Department. His Ph.D. is from Harvard University and he has bachelor and master's degrees from the University of Chicago. Other books he has published are: Demography and the Global Business Environment (Edgar Elgar, 2021, with M. Islam), Managing Business Ethics (Sage Press, 2021 with T. Hargrave), and The Future of Technology Management and the Business Environment: Lessons on Innovation, Disruption, and Strategy Execution (Pearson Press, 2016).
As the Edson Spencer Professor at the Carlson School, I’ve spent my career helping students, scholars, and executives understand how companies succeed, why they fail, and how they can rise again. I’ve authored over 20 books and numerous articles in leading journals. My writings span immigrant entrepreneurship, demography, corporate turnarounds, and sustainability among other topics. My latest book explores how firms like Dell and Best Buy reinvented themselves. It is called Comeback: Can Great Firms Rise Again? It is published by the University of Toronto Press and will be available at the end of March.
Alfred's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Alfred:

Dovev Lavie, "The Cooperative Economy: A Solution to Societal Grand Challenges" (Routledge, 2023)

March 27, 2026

The Cooperative Economy

Dovev Lavie
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Societal grand challenges have taken a toll on humanity, which finds itself at a crossroads. The concentration of wealth and economic inequality, the …

J. S. Nelson, "Business Ethics: What Everyone Needs to Know" (Oxford UP, 2021)

March 24, 2026

Business Ethics

J. S. Nelson
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

The book places special emphasis on the relationship between corporations, managers, and shareholders. Drawing on Lynn Stout’s influential work on cor…

Pepper Culpepper and Taeku Lee, "Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How it Could Save Democracy" (Bloomsbury, 2026) 

March 14, 2026

Billionaire Backlash

Pepper Culpepper and Taeku Lee
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Giant companies, launch rockets into space, control satellite communication and develop era-defining AI technologies. But they are also seen as promot…

Howard Langer, "The Last Dekrepitzer" (Cresheim Press, 2025)

February 26, 2026

The Last Dekrepitzer

Howard Langer
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

The Last Dekrepitzer follows the life and spiritual quest of Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher a/k/a Sam Lightup, from his isolated shtetl in the mountains of …

Seamus McElearney with Barbara Finkelstein, "Flipping Capo: How the FBI Dismantled the Real Sopranos" (Chicago Review Press, 2025)

February 26, 2026

Flipping Capo

Seamus McElearney with Barbara Finkelstein
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Séamus McElearney's early days on an FBI organized crime squad were full of grunt work. For months he was mired in administrative tasks, including th…

Paolo Zannoni, "Money and Promises: Seven Deals That Changed the World" (Columbia Business School, 2024)

February 24, 2026

Money and Promises

Paolo Zannoni
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In Money and Promises: Seven Deals That Changed the World, the distinguished banker, executive, and historian Paolo Zannoni examines the complex relat…

Donald Chew, "The Making of Modern Corporate Finance: A History of the Ideas and How They Help Build the Wealth of Nations" (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2025)

February 18, 2026

The Making of Modern Corporate Finance

Donald Chew
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In The Making of Modern Corporate Finance: A History of the Ideas and How They Help Build the Wealth of Nations (Columbia Business School Publishing, …

David Obst, "Saving Ourselves from Big Car" (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2025)

February 17, 2026

Saving Ourselves from Big Car

David Obst
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Streetwise: Saving Ourselves from Big Car (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2025) exposes how “Big Car”―the complex of companies in the automobile…

Robert E. Siegel, "The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies" (Random House, 2025)

February 9, 2026

The Systems Leader

Robert E. Siegel
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Since the start of this century, businesses have confronted a series of extreme and constant disruptions, including technological upheavals, a pandemi…

Edward Amoroso, "Reaching the Chasm: How to Drive Your Early-Stage Start-Up to Scale" (Columbia Business School Publishing, 2025)

February 3, 2026

Reaching the Chasm

Edward Amoroso
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

One of the greatest challenges facing any start-up is “crossing the chasm”: bridging the gap between early adopters and mass-market buyers. Yet many p…

Jens Ludwig, "Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

February 2, 2026

Unforgiving Places

Jens Ludwig
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Disproving the popular narrative that shootings are the calculated acts of malicious or desperate people, Ludwig shows how most shootings actually gro…

Colin Mayer, "Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix Them" (Oxford UP, 2024)

January 22, 2026

Capitalism and Crises

Colin Mayer
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

The world is encountering multiple crises - climate, droughts, floods, energy, food, and pandemics, to name a few. Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix T…

Aija Leiponen, "Digital Innovation Strategy" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

January 14, 2026

Digital Innovation Strategy

Aija Leiponen
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Based on applied economics and from the perspective of an innovator seeking to develop a new digital business, Digital Innovation Strategy (Cambridge …

Megan Tobias Neely, "Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street" (U California Press, 2022)

December 16, 2025

Hedged Out

Megan Tobias Neely
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In Hedged Out: Inequality and Insecurity on Wall Street (U California Press, 2022) Megan Tobias Neely, a former hedge fund worker takes an ethnographi…

Jack Wertheimer, "Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the Shaping of American Jewish Life" (NYU Press, 2025)

December 10, 2025

Jewish Giving

Jack Wertheimer
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

The American Jewish philanthropic enterprise is unparalleled in scope, dynamism, and the diversity of funders and the causes they support. Yet even as…

Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis, "Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022)

December 5, 2025

Both/And Thinking

Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Life is full of paradoxes. How can we each express our individuality while also being a team player? How do we balance work and life? How can we impro…

Loic De Canniere, "The Future of Employment in Africa: Demography, Labour Markets and Welfare" (Anthem, 2025)

November 4, 2025

The Future of Employment in Africa

Loic De Canniere
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

The Future of Employment in Africa: Demography, Labor Markets and Welfare explores the major trends that will define the face of the sub-Saharan conti…

Peter McAteer, "Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation" (Anthem Press, 2025)

November 2, 2025

Leading the Sustainable Organization

Peter McAteer
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Never before have we been presented with the prospect of redesigning business at scale to create a more sustainable future for our planet and the peop…

Maxim Sytch, "The Influence Economy: Decoding Supplier-Induced Demand" (Oxford UP, 2025)

November 1, 2025

The Influence Economy

Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In The Influence Economy: Decoding Supplier-Induced Demand (Oxford UP, 2025), Maxim Sytch reveals how professional services--consulting, marketing, ba…

Scott D. Anthony, "Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World" (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025)

October 24, 2025

Epic Disruptions

Scott D. Anthony
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Epic Disruptions: 11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025) arrives at the perfect moment as artificial intell…

Robert C. Bird, "Legal Knowledge in Organizations: A Source of Strategic and Competitive Advantage" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

October 23, 2025

Legal Knowledge in Organizations

Robert C. Bird
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Legal Knowledge in Organizations: A Source of Strategic and Competitive Advantage (Cambridge UP, 2025) offers a step-by-step guide on how to utilize t…

Stuart Hart, "Beyond Shareholder Primacy: Remaking Capitalism for a Sustainable Future" (Stanford Business Books, 2024)

October 22, 2025

Beyond Shareholder Primacy

Stuart Hart
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

In Beyond Shareholder Primacy: Remaking Capitalism for a Sustainable Future (Stanford Business Books, 2024) Hart argues that the current Milton Friedm…

Ethan A. Everett, "The Investment Philosophers: Financial Lessons from the Great Thinkers" (Columbia Business School, 2025)

October 13, 2025

The Investment Philosophers

Ethan A. Everett
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

What do Warren Buffett and Friedrich Nietzsche have in common? Why does Baruch Spinoza’s understanding of irrational emotions help explain financial m…

Edward Fishman, "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare" (Portfolio, 2025)

September 23, 2025

Chokepoints

Edward Fishman
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

“The acme of skill,” Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, is not “to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles,” but “to subdue the enemy without f…