8/23/07

the one!

it feels as though i've been waiting for this book all my life. i haven't really, but it feels that way, for it addresses the very questions that have been preying on my mind this last month. today, at a meeting with n, the md handed me this book so i could find use in one of its chapters. when i started reading the preface, i was awe-struck. euphoria unlimited.

the book is called the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and is written by c. k. prahalad.

6 comments:

Adu said...

hmm...what questions have been preying on ur mind this past month?

8&20 said...

hmm, i don't think i could list them all. the biggest one, since the beginning of the month (when i attended the conference) has been on how, and is it even possible, to create inclusive capitalism.

prahalad's written a book to answer this very question. i'd never imagined i would find such fundamental excitement in reading every page of a non-fiction book such as this!

Gaurav said...

i have always been cynical of companies which claim to benefit the poor. are companies ruled by anything but profits? do they really care about the under-privileged?

in response to my concern, a friend sent me an article by prahalad by the same title. i havent been able to bring myself to read it yet. maybe i dont want to change my opinion about the 'bad' corporations :D

8&20 said...

i agree with the first half of your comment, gaurav. i don't think companies really give a damn about anything but profit. the conference got me thinking (incidentally, that was a speech by the chairman of sbi, who i was reasonably impressed by) about whether corporations could find someway to earn their profit yet do good work.

prahalad thinks it's possible, and as i read some of the case studies... (i am reading quite slowly, and trying to let every word seep through :)) i have also begun to believe the same.

it is heartening, isn't it? i believe there is a place for idealism in capitalism. it fills me with elation :D.

Adu said...

something like microcredit?

8&20 said...

micro-credit is one of many things, yes. i'll tell you more about my project when we meet... but i'm glad it's making me explore all these things. to work with someone who recommended this book... i have huge respect for him already!