C. K. Prahalad
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| C. K. Prahalad | |
| Born | 1941[1] |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Author, Professional speaker, Consultant, Management expert |
| Website www.ckprahalad.com/ |
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Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad (pronounced as: Pra-lad) (b. 1941[1], Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India[2]) is a management consultant, author, and the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. His current work addresses a complex emerging market, the world's poor and the innovative business models that will help end world poverty.
The name "Prahalad" is actually the variation of Prahlad or Prahlada that over the years changed due to translations and different dialects which comes from the Hindu mythology of one of the strongest devotees of God Vishnu and plays a prominent part in Hinduism. It is also important to note that "C.K." is the last name and Prahalad is the first name. Due to the usage of initials in some parts of India, C.K. is sometimes credited as Prahalad's first name.
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[edit] Early life
Prahalad is one of nine children. His father was a well-known Sanskrit scholar and judge in Madras (now Chennai). When he was 19, Prahalad was recruited by the manager of the local Union Carbide battery plant. He worked there for four years. Prahalad calls his Union Carbide experience a major inflection point in his life.
Prahalad then went to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), where he fell in love with a student at a nearby university[citation needed]. It took five years for their families' approval[citation needed], the couple married and then left for Harvard Business School. There Prahalad wrote a doctoral thesis on multinational management in just two and a half years, graduating with a D.B.A. degree in 1975.[3]
He then returned to India, where he taught at the IIM-A. But his ideas on global business were under constant attack from nationalists in India. He decided to return to the United States, as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
[edit] Education
Loyola College, Chennai / University of Madras (B.Sc. 1960), Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (Post Grad Diploma in Business Administration 1966), Harvard Business School (D.B.A. 1975).[3]
[edit] Writings, interests, and business experience
C. K. Prahalad is the author of a number of well known works in corporate strategy including The Core Competence of the Corporation (Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1990). He is also an author of the international bestsellers "Competing for the Future"(with Gary Hamel), 1994, "The Future of Competition," (with Venkat Ramaswamy), 2004 and "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits," Wharton School Publishing, 2004. His new book with co-author M. S. Krishnan is called The New Age of Innovation (http://www.newageofinnovation.com).
His latest interests are in the area of serving the poor's needs profitably, referred by him as the "bottom of the pyramid". He is on the board of TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs and coined the phrases "bottom of the pyramid" and "strategic intent."
He was co-founder and became CEO of Praja Inc ("Praja" from a Sanskrit word "Praja" which means "citizen" or "common people"). The goals of the company ranged from allowing common people to access information without restriction (this theme is related to the "bottom of pyramid" or BOP philosophy) to providing a testbed for various management ideas. The company eventually laid off 1/3rd of its workforce and was sold to TIBCO. C. K. Prahalad put this down to bad timing but said he learned a lot from it.
Prahalad has been a top ten management thinker in every major survey for over ten years. Business Week said of him: "a brilliant teacher at the University of Michigan, he may well be the most influential thinker on business strategy today." He is a member of the blue ribbon commission of the United Nations on Private Sector and Development. He is the first recipient of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Award for contributions to Management and Public Administration presented by the President of India in 2000.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Notable Alumni: Dr. C K Prahalad. IIMA USA Chapter.
- ^ Biography: CK PRAHALAD. Thinkers50.
- ^ a b Professor C.K. Prahalad
[edit] External links
- Faculty page at the University of Michigan
- CK Prahalad Biography from Global Leaders
- Business Week Article on his ideas
- Can C.K. Prahalad Pass the Test?, Fast Company, August 2001
- The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, The: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits
- How strategy guru C.K. Prahalad is changing the way CEOs think
- The Indus Entrepreneurs
- Home page of TIBCO, the company that bought Praja
- C.K Prahalad, Emerging Hi-Tech Ecosystems, Software 2006 Conference, April 4, 2006
