Tuesday, May 29, 2007

BOP Debate: CKP vs Karnani and the rest

Aneel Karnani and CK Prahalad are both reputed Professors of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. CKP is the author of the now very famous BOP theory.

Here are a few times he has had to explain himself since the study was published three years ago.
CKP's response to Aneel's controversial paper"Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage" is here
CKP's interview in Fast Company

Also, Al Hammond's (Vice President for Innovation and Special Projects at the World Resources Institute) response to Aneel is here

Although intellectual wars are common in the academic world, the title for the paper chosen by Aneel is a cheap trick to gain attention and leverage upon that to push his idea (its obvious he doesnt command the same stature as CKP whose work was "fresh and real"). Although he does make a valid point, its more like biased television channels that pluck just a line or two from a whole speech and try to focus coverage on that. I think CKP presented a very convincing response to convey this message across subtly, while also substantiating the validity and relevance of his work.

I hate to take sides in these cases, but I think Aneel played a very cheap trick that reduces my respect for him. I would like to read his paper as it supposedly has a rich data set that can be used by businesses to implement emerging markets strategies quickly. Mmm...