C.K. Prahalad

Core Competence of the Corporation, Bottom of the Pyramid

Prahalad was Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business until his death in 2010. With Gary Hamel, he reframed competitive strategy around a firm's distinctive internal capabilities in a landmark 1990 Harvard Business Review article. He later argued, in 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid' (2004), that the world's poorest four billion people represent a substantial untapped commercial market.