1899年,他担任一家生产滚筒和滚珠轴承的公司Hyatt Roller Bearing的总裁,这家公司在20世纪初是福特汽车的轴承供应商。1916年他的公司和联合汽车公司合并,后来成为通用汽车公司的一部分。他先是担任副总裁,然后是总裁(1923),最后于1937年成了通用的董事长。1934年,在担任董事长期间成立了非营利性质的艾尔弗·斯隆基金。通用汽车的名声也因为斯隆对于经营及财务管理的操作理论像是投资报酬率计算等会计方法,而大为提升。这些管理办法一路由拥有通用汽车43%的股份杜邦公司总裁Pierre S. du Pont传承到通用汽车副总裁John J. Raskob的手上最后由Donaldson Brown引进通用公司。
整个基金会的资产大约在180亿美元左右。史隆基金会在1956年曾资助华纳兄弟的畅销卡通《Yankee Dood It(英语:Yankee Dood It)》。
经营是企业的天职。(The business of business is business.)
以各类车型满足各阶层,各种用途的需要 (A car for every purse and purpose.)(Sloan 1963, p. 438)
"I am sure we all realize that this struggle that is going on though the World is really nothing more or less than a conflict between two opposing technocracies manifesting itself to the capitalization of economic resources and products and all that sort of thing." - 1941年5月
"It seems clear that the Allies are outclassed on mechanical equipment, and it is foolish to talk about modernizing their Armies in times like these, they ought to have thought of that five years ago. There is no excuse for them not thinking of that except for the unintelligent, in fact, stupid, narrow-minded and selfish leadership which the democracies of the world are cursed with… But when some other system develops stronger leadership, works hard and long, and intelligently and aggressively - which are good traits - and, superimposed upon that, develops the instinct of a racketeer, there is nothing for the democracies to do but fold up. And that is about what it looks as if they are going to do." -1940年6月
McKenna, Christopher D. Writing the ghost-writer back in: Alfred Sloan, Alfred Chandler, John McDonald and the intellectual origins of corporate strategy. Management and Organizational History. 2006, 1 (2): pp. 107–126. 引文格式1维护:冗余文本 (link)
Pelfrey, William. Billy, Alfred and General Motors. Amacom Publishing. 2006.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Dead at 90; G.M. Leader and Philanthropist; Alfred P. Sloan Jr., Leader of General Motors, Is Dead at 90. New York Times. February 18, 1966. Alfred P. Sloan Jr., who shaped the General Motors Corporation into one of the world's largest manufacturing enterprises, died of a heart attack yesterday afternoon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center here. He was 90 years old.使用|accessdate=需要含有|url= (帮助)