From 1991 to 1994, he was assistant professor of marketing at The Pennsylvania State University. From 1995 to 2003, he was professor of marketing at International Institute for Management Development. From 2003 to 2013, he was professor of marketing at London Business School. From 2013 to 2016, he was a member-group executive council and head of strategy at the Tata Group. He was fired from this role in 2016. From 2017, he is the Lee Kong Chian professor of marketing at Singapore Management University and a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute. He has authored nine books, besides nine appearances in Harvard Business Review, 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. He has appeared on the lists of Thinkers50, World's Best B-School Professors, 50 Most Influential Business School Professors. In 2011, he received the Global Village Award by Thinkers50 for the person who contributed most to the business community's understanding of globalization and the new frontiers established by emerging markets. Following six Case Centre awards for best selling cases, in 2014, Kumar received their prestigious 'Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method' Award In 2017, he was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame for making a lasting and vital impact on how organisations are led and managed. Being a prolific case writer, Kumar has also featured among the top 40 case authors consistently, since the list was first published in 2016 by The Case Centre. He ranked 23rd In 2018/19, 33rd in 2017/18, 34th in 2016/17 and 27th in 2015/16.
Custodian of Art
Work
Nirmalya Kumar is a passionate supporter of Indian Art. Previously a patron of the British Museum, he has also served on the South Asian Acquisition Committee for Tate Modern. Kumar has over the last 30 years amassed an important collection of paintings from Bengal 1900-1947, especially of the artists Hemendranath Mazumdar, Jamini Roy, and Rabindranath Tagore. He has put together the largest collection of Jamini Roy paintings outside India. Taking the perspective of a custodian, the London collection is open for viewing by appointment. Nirmalya is a frequent speaker and writer on Jamini Roy as well as lends his works to various exhibitions. The collection is also used to host charity events. In 2014, BBC radio 4 aired a 30-minutes documentary on his collection entitled ‘From Bengal to Baker Street’.in 2015, the Museo Delle Culture in Lugano, Switzerland hosted a single collector exhibition with 70+ works from his collection. Selections from his collection have been borrowed for exhibitions by Asia House London, Bauhaus Museum in Dessau Germany, Museo delle Culture Lugano in Switzerland, National Gallery Singapore, and Tate Britain. In 2012, he received an honorary fellowship from School of Oriental and African Studies for his support of South Asian art.
