C K Prahalad to visit SJMSOM

‘Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought’- it’s indeed a privilege of Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay to have one such thinker inaugurate its annual international B-school festival, AVENUES 2007 this Saturday, 27^th of Oct.

Prof. C K Prahalad is the globally-renowned management guru whose words have the power so intense that it can cut through systems, strategies, operations and perception of the masses; words which splinter existing rationalities and pave the way for new ideas. Words which decorate the lexicon of management jargon in the form of terms such as ‘Core Competency’ and ‘Strategic Intent.’ The author of the best-seller, ‘Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid’ Prof. Prahalad is a PhD from Harvard University. He has taught both in India and United States, eventually joining as the faculty at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan where he holds the Harvey C. Fruehauf Chair of Business Administration and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Prof. Prahalad is a researcher, speaker, author and prominent consultant.

An amazing strategist that he is, Prof Prahalad has consulted with the world's foremost companies such as AT&T, Cargill, Citicorp, Oracle, Philips, Revlon, and Unilever to name a few. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of NCR Corporation, Hindustan Unilever Limited and the World Resources Institute. He has also received honorary doctorates from the University of London in Economics, Stevens Institute of Technology and University of Abertay, Dundee.

Prof Prahalad has been amongst the top ten management thinkers in every major survey for over ten years now. Most recently Prof Prahalad earned the third spot on Suntop Media's 2005 ‘Thinkers 50’ list rubbing his shoulders against Harvard strategy specialist, Michael Porter, and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates. The inaugural address of this laureate is a much awaited event at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay by the students of management education in particular and media and others in general. It is in fact such interactions that make an MBA so global in its reach and holistic in its perspective.

- Avinav Goel
Batch of 2009