Alfred Marcus

Professor, Edson Spencer Endowed Chair in Strategy and Technological Leadership Strategic Mgmt/Entrepreneurship

Education

BA 1971
Modern European History University of Chicago

MA 1973
Political Science University of Chicago

PhD 1977
Government Harvard University

Expertise

• Business regulation
• Competition
• Food industry
• Automotive industry
• Oil and natural gas industry
• Electric utility industry
• Computer industry
• Global economy
• International security
• Corporate social responsibility
• Ethics, fraud, and white collar crime
• Government regulation
• Environmental and energy policies
• Sustainability
• Future planning
• Population aging
• Demographics
• Scenarios

ALFRED MARCUS is the author of Innovations in Sustainability: Fuel and Food, Cambridge University Press in 2015, which won the Academy of Management ONE 2016 Outstanding Book Award.  In 2016 he published The Future of Technology Management and the Business Environment: Lessons on Innovation, Disruption, and Strategy Execution with Pearson Press. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of 17 books.  From 19952001, he was chair of the Strategic Management and Organization Department at the Carlson School.  He has consulted with numerous major corporations and has received grants from government agencies. In 2005, he won the outstanding teacher of the year award in the Carlson School parttime MBA program. Since 2006 he also has taught in the MBA program of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.  His Bachelor''s and Master''s Degrees are from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. is from Harvard University.  

Selected Works

Management Strategy: Sustaining Competitive Advantage, A. Marcus and A.Cohen (McGraw Hill/Irwin, 3rd edition 2017).

The Future of Technology Management and the Business Environment" Lessons on Innovation, Disruption, and Strategy, A. Marcus (Pearson, 2016)

Innovations in Sustainability: Fuel and Food, A. Marcus (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

"Managing Shifting Goal Consensus and Task Ambiguity in Implementing Corporate Sustainable Projects,” A.Marcus and A. Van de Ven, H. Gulati, O. Tushman (eds.), Change and Sustainability (Oxford University Press, 2015)

Strategic Foresight: A New Look at Scenerios, A. Marcus (Palgrave MacMillan, 2009).

Big Winners and Big Losers: The Four Secrets of LongTerm Business Success and Failure, A. Marcus (Wharton School Press, 2005).

Reinventing Environmental Regulation: Lessons from Project XL, Resources for the Future, A. Marcus, D. Geffen and K. Sexton (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002).

The Adversary Economy, A. Marcus (Quorum, 1984).

“The Natural Environmental Strategies Of International Firms: Old Controversies And New Evidence On Performance And Disclosure,” J. Alberto AragonCorrea, A. Marcus, HurtadoTorres, N, Academy of Management Perspectives (2016)

"Public Policies in a Regulated Entrepreneurial Setting," A. Marcus and Cohen, S, Business and Politics (2015).

"The Promise and Pitfalls of Venture Capital as an Asset Class for Clean Energy Investment: Research Questions for Organization and Natural Environment Scholars," A. Marcus, Malen, J., and Ellis, S (Organization & Environment 2013)

"Firms, Regulatory Uncertainty, and the Natural Environment," A.Marcus, J.AragonCorrea, and J. Pinske, California Management Review, (2011).

"Green Management Matters Regardless," A. Marcus and A. Fremeth, Academy of Management Perspectives (2009).

"Youth Bulges, Busts, and Doing Business in ViolenceProne Nations," A. Marcus, M. Islam, and J. Moloney, Business and Politics (2009).

"The Effects of Administrative Innovation Implementation on Performance: An Organizational Learning Approach," E. Naveh, O. Meilich, and A. Marcus, Strategic Organization (2006).

"A General Dynamic Capability: Does it Propagate Business and Social Competencies in the Retail Food Industry," A. Marcus and M. Anderson, Journal of Management Studies (2006).

"Embeddedness and the Acquisition of Competitive Capabilities," W. McEvily and A. Marcus, Strategic Management Journal (2005).

"Rules Versus Discretion: The Productivity Consequences of Flexible Regulation," S. Majumdar and A. Marcus, Academy of Management Journal (2001).

"On the Edge: Heeding the Warning of Unusual Events," A. Marcus and M. Nichols, Organizational Science (1999).

"The Dialectics of Competency Acquisition: Pollution Prevention in Electric Generation," A. Marcus and D. Geffen, Strategic Management Journal (1998).

"The Causes and Consequences of Management Buyouts," I. Fox and A. Marcus, Academy of Management Review (1992).

"Victims and Shareholders," A. Marcus and R. Goodman, Academy of Management Journal (1991).

"The Market Deterrent to Dubious Behavior," A. Marcus and P. Bromiley, Strategic Management Journal (1989).

"Implementing ExternallyInduced Innovations: A Comparison of RuleBound and Autonomous Approaches," A. Marcus, Academy of Management Journal (1988).

"Responses to ExternallyInduced Innovations: Their Effects on Organizational Performance," A. Marcus, Strategic Management Journal (1988).

"Policy Uncertainty and Technological Innovation," A. Marcus, Academy of Management Review (1981).

“Promoting Clean Energy Technology Entrepreneurship: The Role of External Context,” J. Malen and A. Marcus, Energy Policy, 2016

“The Role of Governance Systems and Rules in Wind Energy Development: Evidence from Minnesota and Texas,” A. Fremeth, and A. Marcus, Business and Politics, 2016.

Current Activities

Current Research

A major question Professor Marcus has addressed in his recent research is when does the market economy open up a space for sustainability.  Factors he considers are the role of government policies and grants, corporate disclosure and transparency, and clean energy investing. His Cambridge University Press published book, _Innovations in Sustainabilit_y, examines how competitive rivalries between firms can stimulate sustainable innovation. Among the rivalries he analyzes are those between: Khosla Ventures and KPCB and Intel Capital and Google Ventures in the financing of sustainable innovation; First Solar and Suntech and Better Place and Tesla in the development of sustainable business models; Toyota and GM and Vestas and GE in adapting to shifts in the external environment for sustainability; General Mills and Kellogg’s and Pepsi and Coke in finding sustainable customers; and Whole Foods and WalMart and Monsanto and DuPont in competing as mission and nonmission based firms.