Seven Indian-origin management gurus among Thinkers50

Seven Indian-origin academics figure among Thinkers50, described as the Oscars of management thinking published every two years with Indian-born thinker Vijay Govindarajan, known as VG, ranked fifth.

Pankaj Ghemawat (11), Nirmalya Kumar (20), Nitin Nohria (21), Subir Chowdhury (40), Anil K. Gupta (44) and Rakesh Khurana (46) are the six other Indian-origin management gurus figuring in the rankings announced Monday in London.
"Management thinking is no longer the preserve of the West," said Thinkers50 co-founder Stuart Crainer.

"The last few rankings have seen an Asian invasion with the arrival of the Indian thinkers."

Govindarajan, Earl C. Daum 1924 professor of international business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is described as "one of the world's leading experts on strategy and innovation".

With co-author Chris Trimble, he coined the phrase "Reverse Innovation" to describe products and services designed for emerging markets and then imported into western economies.

Govindarajan is also responsible for posing the question that sparked a global challenge to build a $300 house, which earned him the Thinkers50 CK Prahalad Breakthrough Idea Award in 2011.

In 2013, he was shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Innovation Award.

Nominated for the 2013 Thinkers50 Global Solutions Award for his Global Connectedness Index, Ghemawat (11) is based at New York's Stern school and IESE Business School in Spain. Prior to that he was the youngest full professor at Harvard Business School. His 2011 book "World 3.0" won the Thinkers50 Book Award.

Nirmalya Kumar (20) is the recently appointed director of strategy at Tata Group. He was previously professor of marketing at London Business School and is the author of Private Label Strategy and India Inside, among others.

"Prolific and insightful" Nitin Nohria (21), is the dean of Harvard Business School. His books include "Driven: How Human Nature Shapes our Choices" (2001); "The Arc of Ambition" (with Jim Champy, 2000.

Subir Chowdhury (40) is chairman and CEO of ASI Consulting Group. Tagged "The Quality Prophet" by Business Week, Chowdhury is author of "The Power of Six Sigma: An Inspiring Tale of How Six Sigma is Transforming the Way We Work" (2001), and, most recently, of "The Power of LEO: The Revolutionary Process for Achieving Extraordinary Business Results" (2011).

Anil K. Gupta (44) is the Michael D. Dingman Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Smith School of Business, the University of Maryland and a visiting professor at INSEAD.

He is also chief advisor to the China India Institute, a Washington D.C.-based research and consulting firm.

Rakesh Khurana (46), the Marvin Bower professor of leadership development at Harvard Business School, Khurana is probably best known for "Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs" (2002) and his 2007 book "From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the "Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession".