50 Indian Management Thinkers who had an Impact on the Theory and Practice of Management in 2015: Thinkers Include Corporate Leaders, Dons from Harvard, Kellogg, IIMs and other National and International Institutions

50 Indian Management Thinkers who had an Impact on the Theory and Practice of Management in 2015: Thinkers Include Corporate Leaders, Dons from Harvard, Kellogg, IIMs and other National and International Institutions

Wednesday, December 30, 2015 4:15PM IST (10:45AM GMT)

India has released the definitive list of most influential management thinkers from India for the year 2015. The list seeks to honor and celebrate the best management thinkers from India. Thinkers50 India is a joint initiative of Institute for Competitiveness and Thinkers50 London.

The objective of Thinkers50 India is creation, expansion and enhancement of thought leadership in India. The Thinkers50 India management thinkers were selected based on their work in the domains of management, leadership, business marketing, finance, people management and corporate strategy. The basis of selection in the elite group is on the timely relevance and presentation of ideas, rigor of research, international outlook, originality and impact of ideas, business sense and power to inspire change.
 
This year’s review does an alphabetical grouping of thinkers with a view to create a group of eminent thinkers whose work has had a significant bearing on the Indian management thought. Some prominent names among the grouping include Nirmalya Kumar of Tata Sons. His contributions to the theory and practice of management include authoring six books in the domain of marketing strategy and publishing extensively in the Journal of Marketing Research and Harvard Business Review. Similarly, Ravi Venkatesan, of Social Venture Partners has had powerful bearing in recent years on management thinking especially for multinationals by publishing the much acclaimed book on how to succeed in Indian context and drawing lessons for markets elsewhere. Along with this his ideas on future of manufacturing raise timely questions for management practicioners in India and beyond.

Other thinkers on the list include dons from Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management and the all important Indian Institute of Management system and ISB, etc. These include professors who have distinguished themeselves in their chosen specializations within the broad management domains like Prof. Tarun Khanna, who has been a known expert in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Most recently he is working with the NITI Aayog for fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in India. Similarly, Prof.  Rakesh Khurana, has been at the forefront of organizational theory and leadership development and has contributed immensly to the theory and practice of management. Prof. TT Ram Mohan from IIM Ahmedabad and Prof. R. Vaidyanathan, similarly are known for their work in the areas of finance, banking and capital markets. Their seminal work has led to considerable developments in the areas of banking and finance in India.

The list further also includes independent public intellectuals and thinkers in the management domain like Gurcharan Das who has been on the instrumental in developing classical liberal ideas for business leaders today. Others in the list include the business advisor Ram Charan who has helped organizations as large and diverse as GE through his distilled insights on business strategy and leadership. Prasad Kaipa similarly has been engaged in writing and developing ideas on leadership and wisdom. Navi Radjou, similarly is engaged in understanding innovation and how frugal innovation can benefit not just developing societies but can radically improve the outcomes for developed societes as well.

Dr. Amit Kapoor, Editor-in-Chief, Thinkers and Curator of Thinkers50 India said that, “Indian has had a long history of though leadership that goes back centuries. Management as a discipline may be new but the principles of management are time tested. India has always been at the forefront of thought leadership in the domain of management. But the challenge has been in recognizing management thinking and practice. Thinkers 50 India list 2015 is an embodiment of this spirit and I hope in the coming years several pathbreaking ideas in the domain of management come from Indian Thinkers.”
 
The List of 50 management thinkers who have impacted India in 2015 and will continue to impact India in 2016 can be accessed at https://thinkers.in/leading-thinkers-management-for-2015/

About The Initiative

Thinkers50 India is a joint initiative of Institute for Competitiveness, India and Thinkers50.

Institute for Competitiveness, India is an international initiative centered in India, dedicated to enlarging and purposeful disseminating of the body of research and knowledge on competition and strategy. Institute for Competitiveness, India conducts and supports indigenous research, offers academic and executive courses, and provides advisory services to the Corporate and the Governments. The institute studies competition and its implications for company strategy; the competitiveness of nations, regions & cities and thus generates guidelines for businesses and those in governance; and suggests and provides solutions for socio-economic problems.

Created in 2001 by Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, the Thinkers50 was the first-ever global ranking of management thinkers. In the intervening decade, the scope of Thinkers50 has broadened to include a range of activities that support its mission of identifying, ranking and sharing the best management thinking in the world. Today, Thinkers50 is widely recognized as the world’s definitive ranking of the top 50 business thinkers, and the T50 Distinguished Achievement Awards are widely regarded as the “Oscars of management thinking.

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