C.K. Prahalad is a world-renowned speaker, educator and consultant whose insights on business strategy are sought by leading companies around the globe. He is the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and is a consultant and board member for numerous leading global corporations.
Background
C.K. Prahalad was born in 1941 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. His father was a well-known Sanskrit scholar and judge in Chennai. At 19, he joined Union Carbide, he was recruited by the manager of the local Union Carbide battery plant after completing his degree in Physics from Loyola College, Chennai, part of the University of Madras. He worked there for four years. Prahalad then went to the Indian Institute of Management, where he fell in love with Gayatri, a young psychology student at a nearby university. After five years spent trying to win their families' approval, the couple married and left for Harvard, where Prahalad wrote a PhD thesis on multinational management.
Career
His career has started with entering Harvard University. At Harvard Business School, Prahalad wrote a doctoral thesis on multinational management in just two and a half years, graduating with a Doctor of Buisiness Administration degree in 1975. After graduating from Harvard, Prahalad returned to his master's degree alma mater, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. But he soon returned to the United States, when in 1977, he was hired by the University of Michigan's School of Business Administration, where he advanced to the top tenured appointment as a full professor. In 2005, Prahalad earned the university's highest distinction, Distinguished University Professor.