‘Prahalad remains the world number one’ by Carol Lewis, Times, October 14th

This is only a short article which lacks depth but is interesting in that it reveals the results of a recent poll to determine the 50 most influential management thinkers. One has to be suspicious of such lists which can often be poorly researched and produced to achieve headlines, but this one seems legitimate. It has been produced by the Times for many years in cooperation with London and Madrid Business Schools, and is based on a sample of 3,000 people.


There are comparisons with a similar survey two years ago so it is possible to see who are the rising and falling stars. As indicated by the headline above C.K Prahalad of the University of Michigan is seen as the most influential guru; he is best known for having introduced the concept of core competences into the management arena. His continuing influence is perhaps surprising as he has written very little since 2004 and has not come up with much that is original since his book ‘Competing for the Future’, jointly authored with Gary Hamel in 1996.

Even more surprising is the placing of Michael Porter of Harvard - famous for his ‘five forces of competitive advantage’ and number one in the 2005 survey - as only 11th, particularly when you look at some of those above him. Porter would be particularly concerned to see INSEAD’s Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne ahead at number 5, with their - compared to Porter - rather shallow concept of ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’. It perhaps shows that a good label and a few headlines can push up your ratings in any one year.

It is interesting that some of those above Porter are practising businessmen like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, which perhaps indicates a welcome move away from academic dominance. A surprising omission from the top 20 is Warren Buffet and a surprising inclusion is Richard Branson, perhaps confirming the European bias of the survey.

Another interesting development is the significant advance made by Malcolm Gladwell, author of the Tipping Point and the Outliers (as reviewed in past blogs). His advance from 8th to 2nd behind Prahalad is significant because he is neither an academic nor a businessman but instead a writer and journalist of Canadian origin. The wide publicity given to his latest book has obviously influenced his rating, together with an interest in his favourite topic - what makes people successful.

Other interesting snippets are that the top 20 contains six people of Indian origin and that the top 50 contains only five females. Much more important to us is the lack of an MTP tutor in the top ten! More seriously, we do find it surprising that Constantinos Markides of London Business School is not in the top 20; his work on the strategic aspects of innovation - ‘Fast Second’ - and another book on game changing strategies, have been very well received by managers on our courses and are certainly more valuable and practical than the work of some in this list. Perhaps it is proof that, to be influential, good PR and marketing are needed as well as original ideas.

To read this article go to

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/management/article6873407.ece