Thinking Indians on global list

Eight Indians figure in the list of the world's top 50 Management Thinkers this year. The Thinkers 50 list takes into account ideas and thoughts that are influencing global business and managers over a decade now. The ranking reflects personalities who may not been very well known to the lay public but are admired in the world of business for having made a mark.

VIJAY GOVINDARAJAN
Rank: 3
Professor, international business, Tuck School of Business

Vijay Govindarajan, known as VG, is the Earl C. Daum 1924 professor of international business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Govindarajan has published nine books including international bestsellers Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators and The Other Side of Innovation. Govindarajan has also worked with Jeff Immelt, chief executive officer (CEO) of GE, to produce the Harvard Business Review article 'How GE is Disrupting Itself'. The article, written with Immelt and long-term collaborator Chris Trimble, introduced the concept of reverse innovation and is rated by Harvard Business Review as one of the ten big ideas of the decade, and is the title of his forthcoming book. Govindarajan is also responsible for posing the question that sparked a global challenge to build a $300 house.

NITIN NOHRIA
Rank: 13
Dean, Harvard Business School

Nitin Nohria is the 10th and the current dean of Harvard Business School. He is also the George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, co-chair of the HBS Leadership Initiative and sits on the executive committee of the University's interfaculty initiative on advanced leadership.He has co-written or co-edited 16 books, and is author of more than 50 articles and dozens of teaching cases and notes.

NIRMALYA KUMAR
Rank: 26
Professor, London Business School

Nirmalya Kumar is currently a Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of Aditya Birla India Centre at London Business School. He has authored five books on marketing and business-related topics. He is notable for proposing the culture of "3Vs": valued customer, value proposition and value network, explained in his book Marketing as Strategy: Understanding the CEO's Agenda for Driving Growth and Innovation.

PANKAJ GHEMAWAT
Rank: 27
Professor, Iese Business School, Spain

Pankaj Ghemawat entered Harvard College at the age of 16 and was accepted to Harvard Business School's Ph.D. programme at 19, graduating three years later. After a stint at McKinsey & Company, he spent 25 years on the full-time faculty at Harvard Business School, where, in 1991, he was appointed the youngest full professor in the school's history. Since 2006, Ghemawat has been the Anselmo Rubiralta Professor of Global Strategy at IESE Business School in Barcelona.

VINEET NAYAR
Rank: 40
Chief Executive Officer, HCL Technologies

Vineet Nayar started his journey with HCL in 1985 after completing his Engineering and Management Degree. After spending seven years in Engineering, Product management, Sales, and Marketing positions at HCL, he founded HCL Comnet in 1994, to provide IT infrastructure and many networking services. Nayar was appointed president of HCL Technologies in April 2005 by HCL Chairman and Founder Shiv Nadar. He went on to reshape the organisation with his 'Employee First, Customer Second' philosophy, which placed the needs of the employee before those of the customer. The strategy was created to drive an inverted organisation structure, create transparency and accountability within the organization and encourage a value-driven culture. Nayar was later appointed as CEO of the company in October 2007.

RAKESH KHURANA
Rank: 41
Professor, Harvard Business School

Rakesh Khurana is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development in organisational behavior at Harvard Business School. He is also the co-Master of Cabot House at Harvard University. His research focuses on managerial labour markets and the processes by which elites are selected and socialised.

SHEENA IYENGAR
Rank: 48
Professor, Columbia Business School

Sheena Iyengar is the inaugural S.T. Lee Professor of Business in the Management Division at Columbia Business School and the Research Director at the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business. She is known for her research on choice.

Subir Chowdhury is the eight Indian who features in the list of the world's top 50 Management Thinkers and is at number 50. He is chairman and CEO of ASI Consulting Group and a globally respected quality expert and strategist. He advises CEOs and senior leaders of Fortune 100 companies as well as organizations in the public, private and not-for profit sectors all over the world, helping them make quality a part of their business culture.