C. K. Prahalad

Prahalad studied at Loyola College, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Harvard Business School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is economics. Residence is recorded at India. Employment is recorded with University of Michigan. Distinctions recorded are Padma Bhushan, Herbert Simon Award and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman.

• Name — C. K. Prahalad • Born — 8 August 1941 • Birthplace — Coimbatore, Madras Presidency, British India (now in Tamil Nadu, India) • Died — 16 April 2010 • Place of death — San Diego, California, U.S. • Education — Loyola College, Chennai IIM Ahmedabad Harvard Business School • Occupation — Professor • Spouse — Gayatri • Children — Murali Krishna, Deepa Rita

In early 1990 Prahalad advised Philips' Jan Timmer on the restructuring of this electronics corporation, then on the brink of collapse. A process which was named Operation Centurion was set up, and was successful after two or three years. He was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business. 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. 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. 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 was one of the most frequently reprinted articles published by the journal. 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. 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. 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.

He was born to a stay at home mother and a father who was a judge. He is married to a woman named Gayatri, and shared two children with her - a son named Murali and a daughter named Deepa. Prahalad has three grandchildren. On 16 April 2010, Prahalad died at the age of 68 of a previously undiagnosed lung illness in San Diego, California.

"The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" is a book written by C.K. Prahalad and Stuart L. Hart, published in 2004. The primary argument of this book is that there is an untapped market that can be found in the worlds poorest populations.