C. K. Prahalad (1941-2010)

19 April 2010 at 1:40 pm Peter G. Klein 2 comments

| Peter Klein |

C. K. Prahalad died Friday at the age of 68. He’s best known for his “guru” work with Gary Hamel, but had turned his attention more recently to economic development , particularly the “bottom-of-the-pyramid” approach to poverty reduction. Here are thoughts and reminiscences from the WSJ, HBR, Ross Emmett, and the Ross School. HBR has already set up a Prahalad page. Here are previous O&M mentions. I last saw him at the 2009 SMS conference in Washington, D.C. where he spoke with Yves Doz on “The Future of Strategy.”

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Management Theory, People, Strategic Management.

Quoted in the WSJ, Kinda Sorta ICC Special Issue on Alfred Chandler

2 Comments Add your own

1. C. K. Prahalad (1941-2010) | Mauricio Serafim - Blog Educacional | 19 April 2010 at 6:50 pm

[…] links com obituários sobre Prahalad podem ser acessados aqui. […]
2. David Hoopes | 20 April 2010 at 8:39 pm

I suppose we’re a bit outside C.K.’s circle because no one has said anything. The only time I “met” him was when he came up to Dick Rumelt while the two of us were talking. He seemed like quite a nice person. I suppose that doesn’t mean much but my guess is he was a very decent sort. What merits some mention, in my mind at least, is the work he did with Yves Doz (e.g. the Multinational Mission). Their work addressed issues similarly covered by Porter, Bartlett and Ghoshal, and Bruce Kogut. However, they had some important aspects to their work. It certainly tied back to previous work in international business better than most. They began with issues of political risk and and how multinationals handled themselves as citizens in foreign countries. Back in the 80s when the book was written, when the clumsiness (a gross understatement) of U.S. multinationals was fresh in everyone’s mind these were salient issues. Further, their work anticipated many of the difficulties multinationals would face in the coming years as they grew larger, as markets became more competitive, and as firm-specific and nation specific advantages faded or become less solid.

Anyway, I’m sorry he moved on so young and I’m very sorry for his family and our friends with whom he was close.