C.K. Prahalad’s Lasting Legacy Celebrated at 2010 Indian Business Conference
ANN ARBOR Mich. — India’s transforming economy and fast-changing market environment motivated much of the groundbreaking work produced by world-renowned management guru C.K. Prahalad.
Prahalad’s daughter Deepa Prahalad Abhyankar opened the event with an overview of her father’s vision. He imagined universal literacy in a country that would be home to 200 million college graduates and 500 million trained workers she said. He also foresaw a culture known for progressive and prolific art literature and science. And he positioned India as a leading moral voice for people around the world.
Prahalad the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished Professor of Corporate Strategy was eager to force innovation his daughter said. And he chose specific goals for India in 2022 that would require an inclusive approach allow the nation to have a credible voice on the world stage and preserve and strengthen its democratic system.
Tarun Das president of the Aspen Institute India demonstrated how Prahalad’s vision for India at 75 continues to inform the country’s trajectory. Das who also is the former chief mentor of the Confederation of Indian Industry CII explained that Prahalad’s push for skill development was vital to the formation of the National Skills Foundation of India. The nonprofit is focused on skill-building and vocational opportunities for India’s workforce.
To exemplify this Das gave the example of former GE CEO Jack Welch’s initial reluctance to do business in India. Today the country represents one of GE’s most important markets around three billion dollars. It all started with C.K. Das said.
The India Business Conference at Ross continues to strengthen Ross and U-M’s connection to India. Other speakers included Jamshyd Godrej managing director of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Venkat Ramaswamy professor of marketing Alok Mishra vice president of Johnson & Johnson Medical Asia Pacific South Asia Anand Raghuraman partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group Prasad Ram director of engineering at Google Gunjan Bagla founder and managing director of Amritt Ventures and author of Doing Business in 21st Century India and Vikramaditya Khanna professor of law at U-M.
Other events at the conference included a demonstration of Google’s Gooru product a web-based teaching tool that promises to support the curiosity creativity and commitment of students a fireside chat featuring Sam Pitroda and Tarun Das called India: Competing in the Global Economy Now and in the Future a panel titled Doing Business in India: How Are Global Corporations Succeeding? and a keynote address by Ross professor Ramaswamy on the power of co-creation.
—Leah Sipher-Mann
Last updated: July 9th, 2024
