Most Influential Living Management Thinkers
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI * TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2007
TIMES BUSINESS | TIMES MANAGING SPECIAL
2007 THINKERS 50
23
In association with Suntop Media, TOI exclusively brings you the findings of this year’s Thinkers 50 rankings. For the first time in the history of this annual ranking of management thinkers, an Indian—C K Prahalad—has been named the most influential management thinker alive. How have the others fared? Whose ideas are in vogue today? Who has dropped off the charts? Read on…
THE MANAGEMENT THINKERS’
Des Dearlove & Stuart Crainer
W
ho is the world’s most influential living management thinker? That was the simple question that inspired the original Thinkers 50 in 2001. The result was the first ever global ranking of business gurus. The all-new Thinkers 50 2007 (www.thinkers50.com) is the most comprehensive and fascinating ranking yet. Produced by Suntop Media, in association with Skillsoft, it is the definitive bi-annual guide to which thinkers and ideas are in—and which are past their corporate ‘sell by’ date. Which business books the aspiring corporate careerist should display on their bookshelves, and which can be safely discarded. So what do the 2007 rankings show? Who are the most influential management thinkers in an increasingly global business world? And who, among them, is the No 1? In 2005, Harvard heavyweight Michael Porter inherited the crown from the late great Peter Drucker. But would he keep his place at the top in this year’s Thinkers 50? Now we know. GURU AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID The most influential living management guru in the world is C K Prahalad. Prahalad is the first Indianborn thinker to claim the title. Best known for his work with Gary Hamel (ranked 5th) on resourcebased strategy which gave rise to the , term ‘core competences’, more recently, Prahalad has turned his attention to the plight of the world’s poor. In The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, his 2004 book, he argues that capitalism can be the
TIMES BUSINESS | TIMES MANAGING SPECIAL
2007 THINKERS 50
23
In association with Suntop Media, TOI exclusively brings you the findings of this year’s Thinkers 50 rankings. For the first time in the history of this annual ranking of management thinkers, an Indian—C K Prahalad—has been named the most influential management thinker alive. How have the others fared? Whose ideas are in vogue today? Who has dropped off the charts? Read on…
THE MANAGEMENT THINKERS’
Des Dearlove & Stuart Crainer
W
ho is the world’s most influential living management thinker? That was the simple question that inspired the original Thinkers 50 in 2001. The result was the first ever global ranking of business gurus. The all-new Thinkers 50 2007 (www.thinkers50.com) is the most comprehensive and fascinating ranking yet. Produced by Suntop Media, in association with Skillsoft, it is the definitive bi-annual guide to which thinkers and ideas are in—and which are past their corporate ‘sell by’ date. Which business books the aspiring corporate careerist should display on their bookshelves, and which can be safely discarded. So what do the 2007 rankings show? Who are the most influential management thinkers in an increasingly global business world? And who, among them, is the No 1? In 2005, Harvard heavyweight Michael Porter inherited the crown from the late great Peter Drucker. But would he keep his place at the top in this year’s Thinkers 50? Now we know. GURU AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID The most influential living management guru in the world is C K Prahalad. Prahalad is the first Indianborn thinker to claim the title. Best known for his work with Gary Hamel (ranked 5th) on resourcebased strategy which gave rise to the , term ‘core competences’, more recently, Prahalad has turned his attention to the plight of the world’s poor. In The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, his 2004 book, he argues that capitalism can be the