C. K. Prahalad

{{short description|Indian-American Strategist, educator and author}}

{{Infobox person

| image = CK Prahalad WEForum 2009.jpg

| name = C. K. Prahalad

| caption = Prahalad at World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in 2009

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1941|08|08}}[http://www.iimusa.org/iimusa/NotableAlumni.aspx?AlumniId=3 Notable Alumni: Dr. C K Prahalad] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622142358/http://www.iimusa.org/iimusa/NotableAlumni.aspx?AlumniId=3 |date=22 June 2008 }}. IIMA USA Chapter.

|birth_place = Coimbatore, Madras Presidency, British India
(now in Tamil Nadu, India)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2010|4|16|1941|8|8}}{{cite news|title=Manifesto writer for business survival |first=Stefan |last=Stern |date=19 April 2010 |work=Financial Times |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77f4abf4-4b49-11df-a7ff-00144feab49a.html }}

|death_place = San Diego, California, U.S.

|alma_mater = Loyola College, Chennai
IIM Ahmedabad
Harvard Business School

|occupation = Professor

| nationality = American

| spouse = Gayatri

| children = Murali Krishna, Deepa Rita {{cite news|title=Management guru C K Prahalad dead|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/64381/management-guru-c-k-prahalad.html|access-date=24 April 2012|newspaper=Deccan Herald|date=17 April 2010}}

}}

Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad (8 August 1941 – 16 April 2010) was an Indian-American entrepreneur and author.

Personal life

He was born to a stay at home mother and a father who was a judge.{{Cite journal |last1=Prahalad |first1=Coimbatore Krishnarao |last2=Hart |first2=Stuart L. |date=2010-08-24 |title=The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid |journal=Revista Eletrônica de Estratégia & Negócios |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=1 |doi=10.19177/reen.v1e220081-23 |issn=1984-3372|doi-access=free }} He is married to a woman named Gayatri, and shared two children with her - a son named Murali and a daughter named Deepa.{{Citation |last1=Prahalad |first1=C.K. |title=Poverty and development |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.9774/gleaf.978-1-909493-82-7_8 |work=Landmarks for Sustainability: Events and Initiatives That Have Changed Our World |pages=56–63 |access-date=2023-11-07 |publisher=Greenleaf Publishing Limited |last2=Gandhi |first2=Mohandas K. |last3=Mandela |first3=Nelson |last4=Mandela |first4=Nelson|date=2009 |doi=10.9774/gleaf.978-1-909493-82-7_8 |isbn=978-1-909493-82-7 |url-access=subscription }} Prahalad has three grandchildren.

He was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.{{Cite web|title=C.K. Prahalad Bio|url=https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/institutes-centers-initiatives/india-initiatives/ck-prahalad-initiative/bio|access-date=2020-06-09|website=michiganross.umich.edu|language=en}}

He co-authored "Core Competence of the Corporation"{{cite journal|last1= Prahalad|first1= C.K.|last2= Hamel|first2= Gary|title= Core Competence of the Corporation|journal= Harvard Business Review|publisher= Harvard Business Publishing|date= May 1990|url= http://hbr.org/1990/05/the-core-competence-of-the-corporation/ar/1}} with Gary Hamel; and "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid"{{cite journal|last1= Prahalad|first1= C.K.|last2= Hart|first2= Stuart L.|title= The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid|journal= Strategy + Business|publisher= Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.|year= 2002|url= http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/ict4b/Fortune-BoP.pdf}} with Stuart L. Hart, about business opportunity in serving the Bottom of the Pyramid.

On 16 April 2010, Prahalad died at the age of 68 of a previously undiagnosed lung illness in San Diego, California.{{cite news |title=Manifesto writer for business survival |first=Stefan |last=Stern |date=19 April 2010 |work=Financial Times |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77f4abf4-4b49-11df-a7ff-00144feab49a.html }}

Education and Teaching

Prahalad was born in Madhwa brahmin family{{Cite web|title=Forbes India - Management Guru CK Prahalad Passes Away|url=https://www.forbesindia.com/article/web-special/management-guru-ck-prahalad-passes-away/12332/1|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Forbes India|language=en}} at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) in 1941. His father was a Tamil scholar and judge in Madras (now Chennai).{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/business/22prahalad.html|title= C. K. Prahalad, Proponent of Poor as Consumers, Dies at 68|work= The New York Times|date= 21 April 2010|access-date= 11 June 2012}}

At 19, he had finished his BSc degree in physics from Loyola College, Chennai, part of the University of Madras,{{Cite web|last=Chidan|first=Rajghatta |date=April 18, 2010|title=C K Prahalad: Guru of poverty and profit dies at 69|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/C-K-Prahalad-Guru-of-poverty-and-profit-dies-at-69/articleshow/5826769.cms|access-date=2020-06-09|website=The Times of India|language=en}} and joined Union Carbide, where he worked for four years. Four years later in 1964 he enrolled for the pioneer batch of Postgraduate Programme in Business Administration at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and graduated in 1966.{{Cite web |title=Biography of the late Professor C.K. Prahalad |url=https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/institutes-centers-initiatives/india-initiatives/ck-prahalad-initiative/bio |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=michiganross.umich.edu |language=en}}

At Harvard Business School, Prahalad wrote a doctoral thesis on multinational management in two and a half years, graduating with a DBA degree in 1975.[http://www.bus.umich.edu/Positive/POS-Research/PositiveSessions/Pos%20Links%20Prahalad%20bio.pdf Professor C.K. Prahalad] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914120027/http://www.bus.umich.edu/Positive/POS-Research/PositiveSessions/Pos%20Links%20Prahalad%20bio.pdf |date=14 September 2012 }} After graduating from Harvard, Prahalad returned to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to serve as professor before returning to US again in 1977.

He returned to the United States in 1977, with an appointment to the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business Administration. He eventually became a tenured full professor, earning the university's highest distinction, Distinguished University Professor, in 2005.

Career

In early 1990 Prahalad advised Philips' Jan Timmer on the restructuring of this electronics corporation, then on the brink of collapse.{{cite web |url=https://www.michigandaily.com/uncategorized/ross-school-business-honors-late-prof-ck-prahalad-memorial-service/ |title=Ross School of Business honors late Prof. C.K. Prahalad with memorial service |website=The Michigan Daily |date=January 27, 2010 |accessdate=January 16, 2025}} A process which was named Operation Centurion was set up, and was successful after two or three years.

Prahalad was the inspiration behind the vision of India@75. While commemorating the 60th year of India’s independence, on 23 September 2007, during the Incredible India@60 celebration at New York, he articulated the idea of holistic three dimensional development of India to acquire enough economic strength, technological vitality, and moral leadership by 2022 – the 75th year of India's independence. The Confederation of Indian Industry adopted his vision on 8 May 2008.{{cite web|url=https://indiaat75.in/about-us/genesis-vision |title=India at 75-About Us-Genesis and vision |website=www.indiaat75.in |access-date=21 October 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/features-2/india75-a-new-india-by-2022-2372541.html|title=India at 75-a new India by 2022 |website=www.moneycontrol.com|access-date=21 October 2020}} This initiative of CII has also found resonance with the Government, as in the ‘Strategy for New India@75’ document released by the NITI Aayog, Government of India in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.ciiblog.in/economy/india75-the-vision|title=India at 75 vision |website=www.ciiblog.in |date=27 March 2019 |access-date=21 October 2020}}

C. K. Prahalad is the co-author of a number of works in corporate strategy, including The Core Competence of the Corporation (with Gary Hamel, Harvard Business Review, May–June 1990) which {{As of|2010|lc=y}} was one of the most frequently reprinted articles published by the journal.{{cite news |title=The guru of the bottom of the pyramid |last=Schumpeter |date=24 April 2010 |newspaper=The Economist |url=http://www.economist.com/node/15949503?story_id=15949503}} He authored or co-authored: 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 last book, co-authored by M. S. Krishnan and published in April 2008, is The New Age of Innovation. He co-authored Innovation's Holy Grail with R.A Mashelkar, which was chosen as a Harvard Business Review Top 10 articles on Innovation and focuses on how developing nations are leading the way in innovation that focuses more on affordability and sustainability as opposed to the common premium pricing model.{{cite web|url=https://hbr.org/product/hbr-s-10-must-reads-on-innovation-with-featured-article-the-discipline-of-innovation-by-peter-f-drucker/an/11363E-KND-ENG |title=HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation (With featured article "The Discipline of Innovation," by Peter F. Drucker) |access-date=2016-11-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108133505/https://hbr.org/product/hbr-s-10-must-reads-on-innovation-with-featured-article-the-discipline-of-innovation-by-peter-f-drucker/an/11363E-KND-ENG |archive-date=8 November 2016 |df=dmy }}

Prahalad was co-founder and became chief executive officer of Praja Inc. ("Praja" from a Sanskrit word "Praja" which means "citizen" or "common people"). The company had goals of providing unrestricted access to information for people at the "bottom of the pyramid" and providing a test bed for various management ideas. It eventually laid off a third of its workforce, and was sold to TIBCO. In 2004 Prahalad co-founded management consultancy The Next Practice, to support companies in implementing the strategies outlined in The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, which continued in operation {{As of|2015|lc=y}}.{{cite web|url=http://thenextpractice.com/ |title=The Next Practice |access-date=2015-02-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009065305/http://thenextpractice.com/ |archive-date=9 October 2016 |df=dmy }} At the time of his death he was on the board of TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs. Prahalad was a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission of the United Nations on Private Sector and Development.

=Honors and awards=

He was the first recipient of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Award for contributions to Management and Public Administration presented by the President of India in 1999.

In 1994, he was presented the Maurice Holland Award from the Industrial Research Institute for an article published in Research-Technology Management titled "The Role of Core Competencies in the Corporation."Prahalad, C.K. "The Role of Core Competencies in the Corporation", Research-Technology Management, Vol. 36, No. 6 (November–December 1993), pp. 40–47.
In 2009, he was awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman.{{cite web|title=The NRIs who made India feel proud|url=http://specials.rediff.com/news/2009/jan/09slide12-pravasi-bharatiya-divas-awards-ceremony.htm|publisher=Rediff|access-date=24 April 2012}}
In 2009, he was named Padma Bhushan 'third in the hierarchy of civilian awards' by the Government of India.{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=July 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 |df=dmy }}
In 2009, he was named the world's most influential business thinker on the Thinkers50.com list.{{cite web|title=The Thinkers50 Ranking 2009|url=http://www.thinkers50.com/t50-ranking/2009-2/|publisher=Thinkers50|access-date=29 January 2015|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010021810/http://thinkers50.com/t50-ranking/2009-2/|url-status=dead}}
In 2009, he was awarded the Herbert Simon Award by the Rajk László College for Advanced Studies (Corvinus University of Budapest).
In 2010, he was posthumously awarded the Viipuri International Prize in Strategic (Technology) Management and Business Economics by Lappeenranta University of Technology.{{cite news|title=Viipuri Prize goes posthumously to world-renowned Professor C.K. Prahalad|url=http://www.lut.fi/en/lut/news/2010/pages/20101116_viipuriprize.aspx|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130213065554/http://www.lut.fi/en/lut/news/2010/pages/20101116_viipuriprize.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 February 2013|access-date=11 June 2012|publisher=Lappeenranta University of Technology|date=16 November 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lut.fi/en/business/introduction/viipuriprize/Pages/Default.aspx |title=The Viipuri Prize |publisher=Lappeenranta University of Technology |access-date=11 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405074148/http://www.lut.fi/en/business/introduction/viipuriprize/Pages/Default.aspx |archive-date=5 April 2012 }}
In 2011, the Southern Regional Headquarters of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was named as Prof C K Prahalad Center
In 2018, he was named the world's most influential business thinker on the Thinkers50.com list.{{cite news |title=2018 Hall of Fame Inductees |url=http://thinkers50.com/hall-of-fame/ |access-date=November 30, 2018 |publisher=thinkers50.com}}

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid

The "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" is a book written by C.K. Prahalad, published in 2004.{{Citation |last=Brueckner |first=Martin |title=Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (Prahalad) |date=2013 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_130 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility |pages=1149–1154 |editor-last=Idowu |editor-first=Samuel O. |access-date=2023-10-19 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_130 |isbn=978-3-642-28036-8 |editor2-last=Capaldi |editor2-first=Nicholas |editor3-last=Zu |editor3-first=Liangrong |editor4-last=Gupta |editor4-first=Ananda Das|url-access=subscription }} The primary argument of this book is that there is an untapped market that can be found in the worlds poorest populations.

Theory on Core Competence

C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review magazine titled "The Core Competence of the Corporation" in May/June 1990.{{Cite book |date=2017-07-05 |title=The Core Competence of the Corporation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781912281077 |doi=10.4324/9781912281077|isbn=978-1-912281-07-7 }}

Influence

C.K. Prahalad was ranked the number one business thinker by Thinkers 50 in 2007 and 2009. He was also initiated into their hall of fame, posthumously in 2018. Thinkers 50's "Breakthrough Idea Award" is in honor of Prahalad and named after him.{{Citation |last=Govindarajan |first=Vijay |title=Prahalad, C. K. (1941-2010) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137294678.0529 |encyclopedia=The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management |date=2015 |access-date=2023-11-07 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|doi=10.1057/9781137294678.0529 |isbn=978-1-137-29467-8 }}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090811094048/http://www.themagazinepost.tv/default.php?idf=66 Video interview on The Magazine Post]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717051433/http://www.thinkers50.com/video/33 Video interview on Thinkers 50]
[https://www.strategy-business.com/article/11518?gko=9a4ba The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid]
[https://www.strategy-business.com/article/The-New-Fortune-at-the-Bottom-of-the-Pyramid?gko=7cf21 The New Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid]

Category:Indian business theorists

Category:1941 births

Category:Harvard Business School alumni

Category:Ross School of Business faculty

Category:Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad alumni

Category:Loyola College, Chennai alumni

Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education

Category:2010 deaths

Category:Indian Tamil academics

Category:University of Madras alumni

Category:Indian emigrants to the United States

Category:American academics of Indian descent