Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion by Pavithra K. Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy

1. INFINITE VISION

2. Reach

3. Replicate

4. Individual Potential + Collective Possibility

5. Authors
Suchitra Shenoy
Pavithra K. Mehta

6. The 5-Minute, $15 Cure
On Efficiency and Blindness

7. Of Burgers and Blindness
NHS – UK vs Aravind
Volume
Cost
Factors
• National
Health Service
– UK :
10,00,000 (1
million)
surgeries
annually
• Aravind :
500,000 (5
million)
• Less than 1%
of Britain’s cost
• NHS spends
1.6 Billion
Pounds
• Aravind
spends 13.8
million pounds
• External
• Regional
economies
• Regulations
• Cultural
Expectations
• Internal
• Efficiency
• Clinical Processes
• Cost-control
measures

8. Of Burgers and Blindness
The tripod mantra
• High Volume
• High Quality
• Affordable Cost
McD
• Standardisation
• Product
Recognition
• Accessibility
• Scale
Hospital-as-Factory
• StreamlinedWorkflowEfficiency
• Task RepetitionCompetence
• ParaprofessionalsIndividualised
Attention, Reduced
prices

9. When Free is not Enough
“a mouth with no hands”
Barriers
Solution
USP
• Avg. Life expectancy after
blindness in India : 2.5 –
3 years
• 12 million Indians are
blind
• Fear, superstition, cultural
indifference
• The Beggar story
• Ride to base hospital
• Accommodation
• Food
• Postoperative Medication
• Return Transport
• Follow-up visit
• Acceptance rate of
surgery: 5 to 80%
• Target Group - Designed for Free
• Self sustaining
• Outreach Program
• Community Model
• WOM marketing
• Philip Kotler – Market Devlopment

10. The Case won’t fly
Coke got her , Why can’t we?
•
•
•
•
•
Collective Failure
The bottom line will take care of itself
Post-op repeat visit data analysis
In Service for Sight
Conversion of the need into an active demand

11. Do the work and Money will Follow
On Sustainability and Selflessness

12. The Sheer Accident
Get Less, Do More
• We must be the change we wish to see in the world
• House mortgage + life saving
The Power of Creative Constraints
• Innovation is linked to constraints
• We cannot turn anyone away
• We cannot compromise on quality
• We must be self-reliant

13. The Power of Creative Constraints
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Careful attention to pricing structure
Effective resource utilisation – reuse and recycle
Standardisation – Fixed salary stucture
Cost-conscious Leadership – No Downtime
Paying-to-free ratio – Subspeciality
Money – Neither obsession nor obscenity
Smoothening of demand patterns, seasonality
You don’t find people, you build them
• Values-fit over Skill-fit
• In-house training – nurses as well as doctors
• Women employment

14. A Vast Surrender
On Innovation and Inner Transformation

15. Human kind is work in progress



“On inner values hangs the outer plan” – Sri
Aurovindo
Sri Aurovindo & Mirra Alfassa (The Mother)’s
Influence
Spiritual backbone of Aravind:



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Soul --- Volume
Stillness --- Quality
Surrender --- Affordable cost
Dr. V – a stern disciplinarian
How to make this work a field for inner growth and
perfection.

16. Dr. V’s Practice of Perfect Vision


Simple Routine – Structure & Discipline
Dr. v’s inquiring mind

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The Bhagavad Gita approach
Sri Aurovindo’s teachings in Dr. V’s practice:
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Frankfurt airport with Dr. Ramachandra
Discussion with housekeepers in hotels
Aspiration – a sincere dedication toward realising truth &
perfection in all aspects of life
Rejection – a diligent refutation of any hindrances
Surrender – unconditional opening to influence and will of
highest nature
Spiritual warrior with practical techniques

17. Manufacturing a Revolution
• Aphakic surgery vs Intraocular Lens (IOL)
• Precision Machinery, Sterilized
Environment, Quality Control
• Technical know-how – IOL International, Florida
• Aurolab – internationally certified manufacturing
unit
• Partial Funding
• Self Reliance
• From $150 – $300 to $10 to $2
• Ophthalmic
Pharmaceutical, Sutures, Ophthalmic
equipment

18. Maximize Service not Profit
• Exports
• Non reliance on Aravind sales
The flip side of a Visionary
• Intuitive decision making
• Not trusting others to make independent decisions
• Communication gap

19. Training your competition
On Replication and Self-Awareness

20. How do you retire a Saint
On Change and Integrity

21. The Upside-Down Business Model
On out-of-the-book insights

22. Upside-Down Business Model
• Service for All
• Rip the price tag off a sight seeing surgery
• Design for Dignity
• Let patients decide whether they pay or not
• High Quality is Free
• Regardless of paying capacity
• Broaden the Pie
• Prioritize marketing to the person who can’t pay you
• Own the Barriers
• Take your service to them if they cannot get you
• Model after McDonalds
• Provide standardised easy-access, affordable, scalable service
• Be Self-Reliant
• Carry a minset of sufficiency & avoid external dependencies that
compromise mission

23. Local Model, Global Effect
The International Business perspective

24. “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own action.
– Dalai Lama