Consulting Parlour

They say the ‘pen is mightier than the sword’. The power of words is so intense it can cut through systems, strategies, operations and perception of masses. That’s the force of verbal expression. When words are expressed with clarity, vision and profound perceptions they evolve into management thoughts and principles. People with this gift then become what we have phrased ‘Management Gurus’. Internationally there are renowned personalities known for their management concepts and practices. The likes of such ‘management celebrities’ are Tom Peters, Edward DeBono, Philip Kotler, Peter Senge, Bob Watermann, Stephen Covey and many more. Micro-scoping on India, we too have prominent ‘Management Gurus’, from legends to contemporary trend setters. But before we delve into our journey on their works, a noticeable fact is that these business thinkers have studied, travelled, worked, operated, managed and made their presence felt in many parts of the globe.

(1) C.K. Prahalad
If you wish to refer to one of the greatest Indian business thinkers, C.K.
Prahalad should be on the top of your list. He needs no introduction;
every management student in India and internationally knows the name C.K.
Prahalad. He is known not only for his prolific works also for his
management perceptions and strategies.
CK Prahalad is a professor, researcher, speaker, author and prominent
consultant. Business Week has called him “a brilliant teacher at the
University of Michigan” and also described him as “maybe the most
influential thinker on business strategy today.”
In addition to serving as the Harvey C. Freuhauf Professor of Business
Administration at the University Of Michigan Business School, Prahalad
specializes in corporate strategy and the role of top management in large,
diversified, multinational corporations.
In 1994 he co-authored the bestseller, Competing for the Future, with Gary
Hamel. Translated into 14 languages, it was named the Best Selling
Business Book of the Year in 1994. Prahalad is particularly well known for
the work he has conducted with fellow strategy expert Gary Hamel. This
includes the articles The Core Competence of the Corporation (Harvard
Business Review, May-June, 1990), Competing in the New Economy: Managing
Out of Bounds (Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3, March, 1996)
as well as the bestselling book Competing for the Future: Breakthrough
Strategies for Seizing Control of Your Industry and Creating the Markets
of Tomorrow (1994).
He has won numerous awards. The most recent include the McKinsey Prize
three times, the SMR-PWC award, and the ANBAR Electronic Citation of
Excellence.
A prominent world-class guru, Professor Prahalad has consulted with the
world's foremost companies, such as Ahlstrom, AT&T, Cargill, Citicorp,
Eastman Chemical, Kodak, Oracle, Philips, Quantum, Revlon, Steelcase, and
Unilever. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of NCR
Corporation, Hindustan Lever Limited and the World Resources Institute and
services on the Board of Directors of NCR Corporation, Hindustan Lever
Limited and the World Resources Institute.
His latest book, ‘The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating
Poverty Through Profits’, proves that the future will develop from serving
the poor, because the innovations that are developed are superior-- top
quality, low price, high volume and world-scale. Only the best innovations
will work for both sides of the equation, those in poverty and those in
the “developed” countries.
Books by C.K. Prahalad
The fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid (August 25, 2004)
Competing for the future (Co-authored with Gary Hamel)
The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers (2004
- co-authored with Venkat Ramaswamy)
In search of excellence
Multinational Mission: Balancing Local Demands and Global Vision (1987)
C.K. Prahalad is also the author of numerous award-winning articles.
Harvard Business Review awarded the McKinsey Prize to him three times for
the following articles:-
"The End of Corporate Imperialism", co-authored with Kenneth Lieberthal
(1998)
"The Core Competence of the Corporation", co-authored with Gary Hamel
(1990)
"Strategic Intent", also co-authored with Gary Hamel (1989)
"The New Frontier of Experience Innovation" published in Sloan
Management Review won the SMR-PWC award for the best paper published in
2003
"Weak Signals vs. Strong Paradigms", published in the Journal of
Marketing Research (1995) was awarded the 1997 ANBAR Electronic Citation
of Excellence
"The Dominant Logic: A New Linkage between Diversity and Performance"
(1986), co-authored with Richard Bettis, was selected the Best Article
published in the Strategic Management Journal for the period 1980-88
"The Role of Core Competencies in the Corporation" (1993) received the
1994 Maurice Holland Award as the Best Paper published in Research
Technology Management in 1993
"A Strategy for Growth: The Role of Core Competence in the Corporation"
won the European Foundation for Management Award in 1993
(2) Gita Piramal
More often than not, a journalist’s viewpoint is considered to be
critical, biased and dynamic. But a journalist with a PhD in business
history is a potentially intense combination. This profile describes, Gita
Piramal an author who has written for many years on the corporate sector
for leading Indian and international publications such as the Financial
Times and the Economic Times, and is a consulting editor of the World
Executive’s Digest. She also has been involved in the making of television
programmes on Indian business for the BBC and Plus Channel. In 1986, she
co-authored India’s Industrialists, and in 1991 contributed to Business
and Politics in India—A historical perspective, published by the Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She divides her time between London
and Mumbai.
Through her works, she describes the Indian corporate sector with Indian
historical and political references as the foundation. How earlier systems
have an influence on contemporary operations and radical changes or
‘Business Mantras’ required to keep abreast in this dynamic environment.
Gita Piramal is one of India’s foremost business writers. She is now the
managing editor of The Smart Manager, India’s first world-class management
magazine.
Books by Gita Piramal
World Class in India: A Casebook of Companies in
Transformation(4/15/2002)
Business Legends(4/1/1999)
Managing Radical Change(co-authored with Sumantra Ghoshal).
Business Mantras
Business Maharajas
(3) Sumantra Ghoushal
If you attempt to visualize a mentor, an author and a consultant in one
being you are sure to find one personality, Sumantra Ghoushal. Born in
India, educated in the US and currently living in Europe, he is a teacher,
author and consultant in the field of international management. He is also
founding dean of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, a new venture
jointly sponsored by Northwestern University and the London Business
School.
He has published eight books, over forty-five articles and several
award-winning case studies. The book “Managing across Borders: The
Transnational Solution”, co-authored with Christopher A. Bartlett, has
been listed as one of the fifty most influential management books and they
have become one of the world's most respected business thinkers.
His most recent work focuses on the need to develop strategy which
encompasses people. He has been critical of the current fad for knowledge
management.
Books by Sumantra Ghoushal
A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower,
Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Timepublished on 7/1/2004
World Class in India: A Casebook of Companies in Transformationpublished
on 4/15/2002
Managing Across Borders : The Transnational Solution (1988)*
Transnational Management (1990)*
Organization Theory and the Multinational Corporation (1993)*
The Individualized Corporation (1997)*
World Class in India: A Casebook of Companies in Transformation
Managing Radical Change(co-authored with Gita Piramal)
* (co-authored with Christopher A. Bartlett)
(4) Ram Charan
If you want to know how to strip down a concept to its core meaning and
then put it into action, you should consider the works of Ram Charan. He
is a highly acclaimed business advisor, speaker, and author. Ram has
coached some of the world's most successful CEOs. For 35 years, he has
worked behind the scenes at companies like GE, KLM, Bank of America,
DuPont, Novartis, EMC, Home Depot and Verizon.
Ram is a favourite among executive educators. He won the Bell Ringer (best
teacher) award at GE's famous Crotonville Institute. He won similar awards
at Wharton and Northwestern. He was among Business Week's top ten
resources for in-house executive development programs.
Apart from authoring fine books, he also tailors his books for specific
client companies such as Gateway, Ford, and EDS. His articles have been
published in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Time, Information Week,
Leader to Leader, Director's Monthly, Directorship, The Corporate Board
and USA Today. Ram is a director of Austin Industries and The Six Sigma
Academy. He was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Human
Resources. He serves as a co-host for the Fortune Forum on Corporate
Governance and also serves on the National Association of Corporate
Directors' Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance.
He is known for his practical, real world perspective. His expertise
entails areas of business like: Profitable Growth, Business Acumen,
Leadership, Execution: Discipline of Getting Things Done, Tools for
Changing a Social System, Global Matrix Organization, Innovation,
Corporate Governance, Succession & Leadership Pipeline, Building Top
Management Teams.
Books by Ram Charan
Confronting Reality (October 2004)
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. Execution reached
number one on the Wall Street Journal list, and has been on the New York
Time's best seller list for more than fifty weeks.
What the CEO Wants You to Know
Boards at Work
Every Business Is a Growth Business and Profitable Growth.
Profitable growth is everyone’s business
(5) Arindham Chaudhuri
Speaking of contemporary business thinkers, another fine entrepreneur,
educator, author and enterprising personality is Arindham Chaudhuri
Professor Chaudhuri is the Dean, Centre for Economic Research & Advanced
Studies at IIPM (The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New
Delhi). In the year 1996 he founded Planman Consulting which is now one of
the fastest growing Indian Management Consulting Firms. After being
associated with the production and marketing of two Bengali movies, in the
year 2001 he formally launched Planman Life: A fully dedicated production
and communications venture.
His latest book ‘Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch’ for which he got
an unprecedented seven figure record advance has created a new benchmark
in India by selling more than 80,000 copies in just 8 months! It has been
in all national best seller lists from the first week of inception, till
date.
As a management consultant he specializes in the areas of Strategic
Vision, Leadership, Social Sector Consulting, Comparative Management
Techniques and Global Opportunities & Threat Analysis.
His contribution to the field of management studies in India can be found
in the iconoclastic “Theory ‘ i ’ Management” which he has developed for
India Inc. “Theory ‘i’ Management” is about India centric management
ideas. For the last few years he has been conducting workshops on
Leadership and Strategic Vision exclusively for CEOs, MDs, Directors and
Presidents from the corporate sector. From the Managing Director of Hero
Motors to the President of Tata Chemicals, from the Executive President of
A.V. Birla Group to the CEO of Ernst & Young… have all taken leadership
training workshops from him. As a celebrated speaker he is regularly
invited to speak at various annual conferences and national conventions.
He also happens to be highest paid speaker in the country.
An economist by passion and education, during Bill Clinton’s historic
visit to India he launched his Great Indian Dream -: India can beat
America, a series of seminars for every Indian. Held in all the metros of
India, these seminars had thousands of people pouring in from all walks of
life. In these seminar’s he not only highlights the inherent strengths of
the Indian culture but also talks about an alternative resource
mobilization and allocation package for an Indian turnaround. To
facilitate social activities based on this he has started the Great Indian
Dream Foundation in memory of his brother Aurobindo Chaudhuri.
He was recently rated as one of the 50 leading thinkers in South Asia by
Wilton Park (an organisation supported by the European Commission and
British foreign office).
Further, he was awarded the Academic Gold Medal while completing the Post
Graduate Diploma in Planning and Management from IIPM. Prof. Chaudhuri was
awarded “Management Guru 2000 Award” by Chennai based Om Venkatesa Society
which annually honours management experts.
Books by Arindham Chaudhuri
Count your chickens before they hatch
The Great Indian Dream
(6) Promod Batra
Have you ever been in a situation when your need a trigger to propel those
business thoughts? The answer lies in a think tank that provides distilled
wisdom of finest minds, ‘Management Thoughts’. This book was written by
Promod Batra, which was a new concept in 1991 and the first of its kind in
the world. It is a collection of simple management thoughts, supplemented
with full page illustrations by Mickey Patel, a cartoonist of repute. It
has sold over 2,00,000 copies in India and abroad a record by itself.
Promod Batra got his professional training with General Mills Inc.,
Minneapolis , Minnesota, and the Soyabean Council of America. On return to
India he joined Escorts Limited in 1963, and retired as Chief General
Manager in 1996. His tenure with the Escorts Group included his assignment
as Chief Administrator at Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre for
six years. He is now devoting full time to writing, publishing and selling
books on Management of Self, Family Employees and Customers, and
conducting Attitudinal Seminars based on his books
A co-author with Promod Batra is Vijay Batra, the first non-Japanese to
join Kankaku Securities as a lifetime employee. In 1994, he was promoted
to Vice President of the New York branch. During his tenure with Kankaku
Securities, he was directly involved with various Japanese and American
companies. From 1997 to 1998, he returned to India for a one year period
to study the Indian situation with the objective to create seminar and
training programmes suitable for Indian professionals. Vijay Batra has
succeeded in creating a relationship with PHP, a think tank affiliated
with Matsushita Electric Industry. The relationship with PHP will allow
Think Inc. to introduce fundamentals of Japanese management to Indian
professionals.
Books by Promod Batra
Management Thoughts
Born to be Happy
Born to Win
Cows Don’t Give Milk
The Family
Management Articles
Management Ides in Action
Management Think Tank
Management Wisdom
Pearls of Wisdom for Managers
Pearls of Wisdom for Happy Living
Selling is a Noble Profession
Simple ways to manage stress
When the customer has a problem
Simple ways to make your boss succeed
Management Thought Starters (co-authored with Vijay Batra)
Profitable Passion discovers the spy (co-authored with Vijay Batra)
(7) Shiv Khera
In this dog-eat-dog business world, if you are not self motivated, self
confident and unique, you WILL be trampled over. At such times look into
the works of the distinguished management guru and motivator, Shiv Khera.
His gospel:- "Winners don’t do different things, they do things
differently”
Shiv Khera is the founder of Qualified Learning Systems Inc. An educator,
business consultant, a much sought after speaker and a successful
entrepreneur. He has taken his dynamic personal message around the world.
Shiv has been recognized as a "Louis Marchesi Fellow" by the Round Table
Foundation. His client list includes the who’s who of the corporate world.
He has authored three bestsellers, amongst other books. His first book
“You Can Win”, which came out in 1998, has sold over a million copies
worldwide. His second book “Living With Honour” hit the stands in August
2003, becoming an instant bestseller. Then within a span of six months in
February 2004, his third book “Freedom Is Not Free” was released, also to
become a bestseller.
His first two books are on an individualistic level, where he defines the
winning edge as achieving excellence rather than perfection, as excellence
paves the way for progress. He also conveys that it is better to be
honourable than to be honoured. His work offers direction for living with
pride in a cluttered environment. His latest book concentrates on society.
Here he firmly believes that a progressive society is the basis for
individual progress of its people.
Transforming his years of experience as a motivator into a practical tool,
he has developed a core program/workshop known as the Blueprint for
Success (BPS). This program motivates people to recognize their true
potential and gain success - personally and professionally.
Books by Shiv Khera
You Can Win (1998)
Living With Honour (August 2003)
Freedom Is Not Free (February 2004)
Attitude Determines Altitude
Attitude – the key to success
Discipline your way to freedom
Ethics of Values
Winner’s Edge
Winning Strategies
Apart from the prominent business thinkers mentioned above, India also
presents other management thinkers who have a substantial influence on
business minds and operations. To name a few:-
(8) Venkatram Ramaswamy
Co-opting Customer Competence (co-authored with C.K. Prahalad)
(9) Vijay Vishwanath
The Art of Developing Leaders at Kraft
(10) Partha Bose
Alexander the Great’s Art of Strategy
(11) Rita Bhimani
Corporate Peacock
Face Up!
(12) Jeetendra Jain
Sack the CEO!
(13) Ashwath Damodaran
Corporate Finance
Damodaran on Valuation
Investment Valuation
The phrase “Management Guru’ describes a person who is intellectual,
experienced, ingenious and a person who develops business perspectives
that provide beneficial outlooks and practices. With reference to the
adage ‘An idea is only a thought until it is materialised’, the most
successful Business Thinkers are those who have ensured the successful
implementation of their thoughts.
In the past, the benefit of such resourceful business practices was
limited to only those people who were privileged to have communication
links with knowledgeable business tycoons. But currently in India, the
exposure has broadened. Perspectives and practices of Indian business
personalities are now made available to almost anyone in the form of
workshops and seminars. So with an open mind, think ‘WOW’, act now and pay
attention and participate with our Management Personalities who are
willing to impart their knowledge.