Faculty Spotlight: Alexander Davidson

The Mike Ilitch School of Business welcomed Alexander Davidson, assistant professor of marketing, to the faculty this fall. 
Davidson earned his Ph.D. in marketing from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where he spent time researching consumer behavior. 


“My research interests are primarily concerned with how consumers adopt and are adopting nontraditional ways of doing business,” he said. “As result of the Great Recession, consumers started looking at other means, like Airbnb and Uber, which are two classic examples.”


“Right now is a very exciting time to be exploring these topics—what is going to happen in the next 10-15 years? Ways of doing business are going to become more decentralized. Consumers are going to get more power,” he added.


Davidson said he’s excited to explore his research interests at the Ilitch School and to be working in the heart of the city. 


“When I started researching Wayne State and the Mike Ilitch School of Business, I was really impressed with the faculty and what the business school has accomplished. Joining the faculty is a great opportunity to be a part a school that’s only getting better and better,” he said. “Detroit is a very exciting place to be right now. When I look at my career in the next few years, what really motivates me is bettering the lives of students, helping out in the community, and being a part of the university and the city as well.”


Having grown up in Montreal, a multicultural and bilingual city, Davidson said Detroit’s diversity was a huge selling point. 


“I grew up in a very diverse culture and I spent 10 years working in the service industry,” he said. “I learned how to interact with all different backgrounds and cultures. Detroit is another diverse city that welcomes people from all over the world, and that’s a very important aspect of this job—I get to work here in a city that has such diversity and different people.” 


Davidson said he’s looking forward to adapting marketing strategies for a changing field that increasingly relies on technology and analytics.


“As a young new faculty member, I’m approaching topics in marketing that have been taught in the same format for the same 50, 60 or 70 years. I’m looking forward to adapting them to the current and future economic climate,” he said. “The business world is very different today. The use of tech has changed a lot of things.”

“I’m excited to be part of the transformation in the way we help students understand marketing and how it's going to evolve in the future.”
 
 

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