Honory doctorates 2002

Prof. dr. C.K. (Coimbatore) Prahalad

Honorary supervisor Prof. Dr. Philip Naert - 2006 –Tias Business School

Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad (San Diego, 1941–2010) was an Indian-American professor at the University of Michigan Business School in the American city of Ann Arbor.

C.K. Prahalad

He specialized in business strategy. He is best known for the work he developed with Gary Hamel on core competencies. This work initiated the trend of outsourcing in business and played an important role in the rise of the so-called “resource-based view.” Prahalad was a key advisor to Jan Timmer, top-level executive of Philips at that time (and a member of the university's Board of Governors) who was responsible for the Centurion change operation.

Prahalad was also one of the people behind the concept of empowering the poorest of the poor by treating them as consumers. Together with Stuart L. Hart, he wrote The fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid under the motto "eradicating poverty through profit." This refers to the four billion poorest of the poor who live on a few euros a day. Prahalad wanted companies to develop products for this (consumer) group. This idea was not only emulated by corporations but also in the academic world, among others.

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