C.K. Prahalad
C.K. Prahalad, for those who don't know, is a business guru -- or a Business Prophet, as BusinessWeek recently declared. The University of Michigan professor and business strategy consultant, is originally from India, but now works, lives and operates out of the US. He and colleague Gary Hamel coined the idea of "core competence," and lectured on its importance to business. If you've ever used the phrase -- or ever had your fill of hearing it used, misused and abused in business meetings, you now know who to thank. Prahalad has also been lecturing on the new face of innovation -- innovation that occurs when those within the walls of the corporation turn to their customers to "co-create" products. This idea goes beyond just making something and then polling folks to see if they'd buy it. It suggests a deeper relationship with customers -- getting intimate and becoming partners.
Recently, Prahalad has been increasingly vocal on another front -- the dismissed masses at the bottom of the pyramid. Where most see poverty and the lack of a market, Prahalad, and other like-minded thinkers see a vast untapped market, teeming with populations of unrecognized potential, creativity, innovation and hunger. The underserved are striving to serve themselves, and in the process, are concocting business models totally foreign to today's multinationals. Weened on a starvation diet, these innovators are serving the underserved with efficiencies unreachable by global conglomerates -- and making a healthy profit, even while they give some services away to those who can't afford them. And guess what? The underserved market is much, much greater than the markets served by conglomerates. Simply put: there are a whole lot more poor people than there are rich, and those pennies add up. Those innovators serving those at the bottom of the pyramid are doing more than just eking out an existence -- they are successful -- and slowing they just might be changing the face of the multinational conglomerate. That's globalization for you.
What is perhaps most important to know about Prahalad is that he's a man originally from one of those backwards developing economies -- and he's a firm believer in globalization. This would come as a shock to most of those anti-globalization wackos that haven't an inkling of what economics means -- and would rather preserve the pristine poverty of the developing economies so they can go there for vacation and enjoy the temporary pretence of being a native. It would come as a shock to find out that the poor have aspirations -- they want all the trappings that we take for granted -- including the creation of their own multinationals that will one day redefine what globalization really means.
Recently, Prahalad has been increasingly vocal on another front -- the dismissed masses at the bottom of the pyramid. Where most see poverty and the lack of a market, Prahalad, and other like-minded thinkers see a vast untapped market, teeming with populations of unrecognized potential, creativity, innovation and hunger. The underserved are striving to serve themselves, and in the process, are concocting business models totally foreign to today's multinationals. Weened on a starvation diet, these innovators are serving the underserved with efficiencies unreachable by global conglomerates -- and making a healthy profit, even while they give some services away to those who can't afford them. And guess what? The underserved market is much, much greater than the markets served by conglomerates. Simply put: there are a whole lot more poor people than there are rich, and those pennies add up. Those innovators serving those at the bottom of the pyramid are doing more than just eking out an existence -- they are successful -- and slowing they just might be changing the face of the multinational conglomerate. That's globalization for you.
What is perhaps most important to know about Prahalad is that he's a man originally from one of those backwards developing economies -- and he's a firm believer in globalization. This would come as a shock to most of those anti-globalization wackos that haven't an inkling of what economics means -- and would rather preserve the pristine poverty of the developing economies so they can go there for vacation and enjoy the temporary pretence of being a native. It would come as a shock to find out that the poor have aspirations -- they want all the trappings that we take for granted -- including the creation of their own multinationals that will one day redefine what globalization really means.
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