IN MEMORIAM CK PRAHALAD, 1941-2010
Friday April 16, 2010 our Fellow and my dear friend CK Prahalad passed away
after a short illness.
He was only 68 years old.
We
all remember his personal and professional successes. But most of all we
remember his warm personality, the dedication to his family, his friends
and in general to people who crossed his path. He always had good advice,
was a careful listener and enthusiastically spread the knowledge and opinions
he developed.
CK was a prodigious writer and teacher. He must have given lectures to tens
of thousands of people in many different locations, industries, governments,
universities and geographies around the globe. He had the talent to be at
ease in every setting, was always meticulously prepared and responsive to
his audiences.
His writing was characterized by the breadth of the subjects he covered
and the perfect timing of broaching new topics, ahead of mainstream thinking
and therefore groundbreaking. He coined a number of new concepts that became
world famous.
He gave special attention to the developing economies, culminating in his
seminal book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid”. In
2000, I was present when CK pre-announced this book’s outline and
key concepts at the annual gathering of the alumni association of the IESE
Business School, held in Amsterdam. The audience was overwhelmed and tremendously
impacted by his lecture and to this day his speech resonates among the participants
with emotion. Maybe this is the book that history will judge as his most
important one, without undervaluing the others.
I met CK for the first time in 1987 at the SMS conference in Boston. He
had been working with Philips since the seventies, so we had a lot to talk
about. This brief meeting was the beginning of a close working relationship
and a close friendship that includes our families. We travelled together
all over the world, mostly in the company of our wives; we taught together
and wrote an article together.
We will remember CK for his outstanding personal and professional qualities
and with a lot gratitude for the way he shared his friendship and his thoughtfulness
with so many people, all of whom, I am convinced, will benefit from this
in the years to come. In one way or another many lives are and were influenced
by this remarkable man. The world is a better place because of him and I
am deeply saddened to have lost, way too early, this dear friend.
Professor Jan Oosterveld,
IESE, Business School, University of Navarra
Chancellor of the International Academy of Management