Alfred Marcus

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 Sustainability, 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 Wal-Mart and Monsanto and DuPont in competing as mission and non-mission based firms. His forthcoming Cambridge University Press book Managing Strategic Uncertainty: Booms and Busts in the Energy Industry  deals with the predicament that decision makers face when they must commit scarce organizational resources to future outcomes when conditions in the future are largely uncertainties. This book explores how decision makers in the energy industry made choices in the face of such uncertainties. Specifically, it deals with two major uncertainties they confronted in the 2012-2018 period -- that is price volatility and climate change. He is currently working on a book on ethical decision making in business for Sage Press.