A Business Education Reckoning: Michigan Ross Prof Andrew Hoffman’s Call To Reimagine Capitalism

In an era marked by climate crisis, widening inequality, and deepening distrust in institutions, Andrew J. Hoffman is urging business schools to confront a sobering reality: shareholder capitalism is failing society. 

In his forthcoming book, Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market: Correcting the Systemic Failures of Shareholder Capitalism, scheduled for publication by Stanford University Press this month, the University of Michigan Ross School of Business professor outlines a bold vision for change — starting with business education itself.

Hoffman contends that the traditional B-school focus on shareholder primacy has created a system that produces environmental destruction and social fragmentation — not as unfortunate byproducts, but as designed outcomes. “These are not externalities,” he says. “These are the product of the system as it’s built.” 

‘THE PATIENT IS TERMINAL’

Rather than continue offering climate or ethics electives as afterthoughts to a profit-maximizing curriculum, argues Hoffman, the Ross School’s Holcim (US), Inc. professor of sustainable enterprise, schools must embed purpose, responsibility, and systems thinking into the heart of the MBA experience.

The book is a culmination of years of work and reflection, much of it galvanized during a year-long fellowship at Harvard. There, Hoffman found not just time to write, but space to step outside institutional constraints and say what he truly thinks. 

“I just let it all hang out,” he says. “This book is my magnum opus — for now.” He’s quick to note that his goal isn’t to win agreement but to provoke necessary dialogue: “The patient is terminal. I may not be right, but we need to have the conversation.”

In both his writing and teaching, Hoffman pushes students to think deeply about the purpose of business and their place within it. His course, Reexamining Capitalism, opens with a deceptively simple question — What is capitalism? — and draws from classical economists to contemporary thinkers. The course isn’t graded on rote memorization but on students’ ability to engage in sophisticated conversation: “Find yourself at a dinner party, and someone brings up Citizens United—can you hold your own in that discussion?”

‘BUSINESS SCHOOLS ARE BROKEN — BUT GO ANYWAY’  

Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market hits shelves April 8, but its themes are already sparking conversations within the business education world. A recent Financial Times article notes the mounting pressure on top B-schools to infuse sustainability and responsible business practices into their core offerings, often led by student demand and wider societal expectations. Hoffman’s book could serve as a manifesto for that movement — articulate, urgent, and unapologetically idealistic. 

He sees real opportunity in this moment of flux. “Change only happens in periods of confusion and uncertainty,” he says. “This is the perfect time to step back and ask: ‘What are we doing, and who are we doing it for?’”

The answer, for Hoffman, lies in reframing business as a calling. 

“I tell students: yes, business schools are broken — but go anyway,” he says. “Because business has enormous potential to change the world. Just don’t sit back and passively consume your education. Own it. Use it. Shape it.”

Pre-order Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market here.

DON’T MISS MICHIGAN PROF’S NEW PROGRAM: HELPING STUDENTS DECIDE WHETHER BUSINESS IS THEIR ‘CALLING’