Jan-Benedict Steenkamp
Knox Massey Distinguished Professor of Marketing
Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp specializes in global marketing, branding, strategy and leadership.
He is the author of the six books, including “Warrior, Queen, Scientist, Activist: Gritty Women Who Bent the Arc of History” (Xlibris, 2024) and “Time to Lead: Lessons for Today’s Leaders from Bold Decisions that Changed History (Fast Company Press, 2020).
He also wrote “Retail Disruptors: The Spectacular Rise and Impact of the Hard Discounters” (Kogan Page, 2019); “Global Brand Strategy: World-Wise Marketing in the Age of Branding” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), which won the Len Berry award for impact on marketing practice; “Brand Breakout: How Emerging Market Brands Will Go Global” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), a best business book in globalization by Booz & Co.’s Strategy + Business; and “Private Label Strategy: How to Meet the Store Brand Challenge” (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
Dr. Steenkamp has written 11 cases, including three on inspired leadership. An award-winning researcher, he also has written over 150 scholarly publications, including articles in top journals in marketing, management and strategy, as well as Harvard Business Review. His work has received over 65,000 citations. He is ranked No. 5 in marketingworldwide, and in the top 0.1% across all sciences worldwide on scientific impact.
He is co-founder and executive chairman of AiMark, a global center involving Fortune 500 companies that spearheads the BG 20 project uncovering drivers of sustainable brand growth.
One of the world’s leading thinkers on global strategy and branding, Dr. Steenkamp has taught, consulted and given executive seminars on all continents, at the U.S. Military Academy West Point, the Naval Postgraduate School and the U.S. Air Force. He has taught at universities in Austria, Belgium, China, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, U.K. and the U.S.
His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and newspapers in Europe, China, India and South Korea. He has been interviewed on TV and radio in the U.S., Europe, South Africa, India and China.
He has worked on international lawsuits and trade disputes involving branding and private labels with the Brattle Group and the international law firms King & Spalding LLP, Sidley & Austin LLP, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, Womble Bond Dickinson LLP and Jones Day LLP.
He received his PhD, master’s and bachelor’s degrees, all summa cum laude, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and a Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) from Aarhus University, Denmark.
