The Hindu Business Line : ‘India’s current financial success may be hiding its true potential’

Delivering the keynote address at the tenth Annual Convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, the noted management guru, Dr C.K. Prahalad, said: “India’s current financial success may be hiding its true potential.” Stressing that it is time for India to accelerate its growth by reducing costs and improving quality, he said that the biggest worry for the country is the growing income inequality due to the rapid economic growth. Unless India embraces new ways of thinking, it cannot achieve its full growth potential.

He advised the 176-member class of 2008 to tread the path of innovation and entrepreneurship with morality and honesty and transform their ideas into action.

The students were awarded the Post Graduate Diploma in Management by Dr A.C. Muthaiah, Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIMK. The IIMK Director, Prof Krishna Kumar, highlighted the achievements of the institute and said that international distance learning programme pioneered by IIMK has been a resounding success and the institute would increase the scope of the programme further.

He added, “We are the fastest growing IIM in the country and have achieved the target of Rs 50 crore in revenues set by the Central Government in just three years.” Interacting with the students earlier in the day, Dr Prahalad dwelt on a plethora of general topics. Speaking on corruption, he said that if there was anything that would bring the nation down, it would be corruption. And as managers, the onus will be on the young students to take a tough stance on corruption.

Answering a query on entrepreneurship he noted that no one is ever ready for entrepreneurship. Likening it to a form of self-expression, he added that the entrepreneur is always lonely and, hence, his self-commitment is very critical.

Complimenting the dabbawallahs of Mumbai on their efficiency, he observed that there are many other similar cases which are the epitome of efficiency but have not been researched and cited the rural beedi distribution networks as a similar case. It is up to us to learn the finer nuances of management from them. As a parting remark, Dr Prahalad said, “Create the best practice but do not worry about the best practice.”

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