by prabodh on April 18, 2010
Professor C.K.Prahalad’s passing away is sad news. Distinguished Professor in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, he was a worldwide authority on management and the originator of at least three important concepts in management:
- Core Competence
- Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, and
- Co-creation
He grew up in Chennai and graduated from the Loyola College. After briefly teaching at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad he moved to the United States. A brilliant academician, prolific author and consultant to major international companies of the likes of AT&T, Sony, Philips and Tata. For example, Ginger Hotels, the Tata group’s hotel chain says that “The concept was developed in association with renowned corporate strategy thinker, Dr. C. K. Prahalad”. A Padma Bhushan awardee, his name has been included in every major top ten list of management thinkers worldwide.
Here’s a link to an interesting series of videos in which he speaks on competing for the future.
by prabodh on April 14, 2010
What is it about robots of any kind that simultaneously inspires fear and awe? While there is an understandable fear of the unknown, in the case of robots there’s the science-fiction-inspired fear of whether these mechanical monsters (marvels, anyone?) will take over the world.
Modern robots represent man’s highest achievements in invention, imagination, enterprise, and technological skills. Robots are presently being used in many applications, from surgery to arc welding to defusing of explosives. Individuals, companies and governments all over the world are working on various developing kinds of robots.
Honda has developed the ASIMO, which it states is an abbreviation of Advanced Step in Innovative MObility, and is not a reference to the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
I’m reminded here of “The Robots“, a single by the influential German electronic music pioneers, Kraftwerk, released in 1978.
In the article “Robo Spiders Are Multilegged Mechanical Marvels“, Wired magazine has included a gallery of images and videos of “the most amazing, mind-bending mechanical spiders ever to emerge from the fevered brains of roboticists”. In it you’ll find the 50-foot La Princesse (partly seen in the screenshot on top), the 10 cms Military Micro-Spider Bot, a tree climbing variety, and more.
Oh, here they come.
