Dr. V of Aravind Eye Hospital: A 'Level 5' Leader
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Case Code: BSTR100 Case Length: 16 Pages Period: 1997 - 2004 Pub Date: 2004 Teaching Note: Not Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: Aravind Eye Hospital Industry: Service Countries : India Themes: - |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
"In America, there are powerful marketing devices to sell products like Coca-Cola and hamburgers. All I want to sell is good eyesight, and there are millions of people who need it."
- Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (Dr. V), Founder of Aravind Eye Hospital.
"Leadership is a personal quest you undertake, one based on a mission that troubles your heart."
- Harriet Rubin, a senior writer at Fast Company, referring to Dr V.
Introduction
Imagine an organization giving eyesight to 13 million people, an organization performing nearly 1.8 million surgeries in a span of 26 years. The organization in question is the Madurai (a town in Southern India)-based Aravind Eye Hospital (Aravind). (Refer Exhibit I for locations of Aravind hospitals). This organization was the single largest cataract surgery provider in the world in 2003. While a cataract surgery costs US$ 1650 in a US hospital, Aravind performed the same quality surgery in India, at US$ 10. The manufacturing division of the hospital, Aurolab, was one of the leading manufacturers of intraocular lenses5 (IOLs) in the world. In 2003, the division held a 10 percent share of the global market in IOLs.
While other manufacturers such as American Ophthalmic Laboratories, US IOL Inc sold these lens at $100-$150 a piece, Aurolab sold the same quality of lens at US$4 - $6 per lens. Though Aravind offered free service to nearly 70 percent6 of its patients, it was still able to maintain profit margins of 40%. At Aravind, the third (1/3) of the patients who could afford to pay for the services they received subsidized the rest (2/3) of the patients who could not. This was a revolutionary concept in the field of health care. Aravind did not intend to limit its model to India alone. It had plans to establish hospitals in southeast Asia and Africa. Aravind's avowed fight seemed to be with blindness - wherever it was, and whatever it took. The man behind the success of this hospital was its founder - Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy, reverentially called Dr. V (Refer Exhibits II & III for a list of his major research, clinical and management contributions, and awards and honors offered in recognition of his services).
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