Long Live CKP

Writing an obituary is always a difficult task. Especially when it is about a person whom one knows only vicariously. CK Prahalad, world-renowned management thinker passed away on 16th April. He was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished Professor of Corporate Strategy at Ross School of Business, Michigan University.

I share a special relationship with him. He is a distinguished alumnus of Loyola College (Chennai), the same college from where I secured my post graduate diploma in management. As a management student I had an opportunity to read some of the works of this management guru. Although I did not spend sufficient time to understand and reflect his ideas, still some of his ideas provoked a few thoughts in me. One of my earlier posts also talked about that. (See http://karthiksgraffiti.blogspot.com /2009/05/interview-with-ck-prahalad.html).

I still remember Prahalad's visit to LIBA early last year to give away the Mother Terasa Award for Corporate Citizen. The picture above shows Mr.Prahalad along with other dignitaries during the ceremony that took place on 23 March 2009. During this occasion he presented a talk on India@75.

Although I have been exposed to many ideas of CKP (as a part of my academic exercises), the idea that impressed me a lot was the one where CKP describes the kind of innovation that is needed in the 21st century. N=1 and R=G is the simple one-liner that he proposed. This simply meant, treat the customer as an individual and mobilise resources globally to serve him. This is a radical idea and is the best possible exposition of mass customization.

Being a management guru is all about mastering the art of abstraction. CKP is an unreputed master in that. Most of the ideas of CKP sound common-sensical. Some of us may even feel that it is the case with most of the management thinkers. It may be true. But by bringing commonplace knowledge into a framework, this management guru has helped us overcome our mental blocks which hitherto prevented us from looking at things the way we see them with the guru's framework.

Management theory, especially business strategy, is a fast evolving field of inquiry. There are many more questions to be answered and dimensions to be unearthed. More and more excellent theoreticians will make their mark in this field. But the vacuum created by CKP's demise will remain a vacuum for a long time to come. Long live CKP.