CK Prahalad

Posted: Apr 17 2010

Jaipur Rugs Company mourns the demise of CK Prahalad, the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Strategy at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business who passed away on April 16 after a brief illness.

The philosophy outlined by Prahalad, that businesses stop thinking of the poor as victims and instead start seeing them as value-demanding consumers, in his seminal work "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits,” is a philosophy that Jaipur Rugs Company shares. He was able to see the sincerity of our efforts to bring happy smiles on the faces of thousands of marginalized weavers and artisans from the remotest villages in India. He identified so much with us that he worked closely with Jaipur Rugs Company by holding our hands, walking with us and bringing our vision and effort to the global arena through the latest edition of his path-breaking work which featured a complete section on Jaipur Rugs Company.

His views on India and its society were powerful and proud. “800 million Indians live in poverty. You could ask the question- should business worry about this issue? Can business use this as an extraordinary opportunity for doing well and doing good? Can the poor become an extraordinary source of productivity, innovation and growth?” he said. “I think India is slowly proving that it can.”

In the words of our founder Shri N.K. Chaudhary, “I find it hard to believe that my dear friend has passed away. He changed the fortunes of our company by taking us to the global arena and telling the world that we exist. He understood the travails and needs of the poor and gave a new meaning to social responsibility and social entrepreneurship.”

We hope that more and more businesses will take upon the challenge and opportunity that Professor CK Prahalad has thrust upon us and give life to his philosophy of “Eradicating Poverty Through Profits”.