Bob Hartley is Professor Emeritus at Cleveland State University's College of Business Administration. There he taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in management, marketing, and ethics. Prior to that, he taught at the University of Minnesota and George Washington University. His MBA and Ph.D. are from the University of Minnesota, with a BBA from Drake University.

Before coming into academia, he spent thirteen years in retailing with the predecessor of Kmart (S. S. Kresge), JC Penney, and Dayton-Hudson and its Target subsidiary. He held positions in store management, central buying, and merchandise management.

His first textbook, Marketing: Management and Social Change, was published in 1972. It was ahead of its time in introducing social and environmental issues to the study of marketing. Other books, Marketing Fundamentals, Retailing, Sales Management, and Marketing Research, followed.

In 1976 the first Marketing Mistakes book was published and brought a new approach to case studies, making them student-friendly and more relevant to career enhancement than existing books. In 1983, Management Mistakes was published. These books are now in the eleventh and ninth editions, respectively, and have been widely translated. In 1992 Professor Hartley wrote Business Ethics: Violations of the Public Trust. Business Ethics Mistakes and Successes was published in 2005. He is listed in Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.