Dr. V of Aravind Eye Hospital: A 'Level 5' Leader

<< Previous

"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.¹

"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.²

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 cataract3 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$ 10.4 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%.⁷

Dr. V of Aravind Eye Hospital: A 'Level 5' Leader - Next Page>>

---

Custom Search

---

Economics for Managers Textbook Textbooks Collection	Economics for Managers Workbook ICMR books Collection	Case Studies in Business Strategy Volume VI Case Study Volumes Collection

1] William McDonough, How much can we give for all we get? MBDC Monthly feature, May 2003.

2] Harriet Rubin, The perfect vision of Dr. V, Fast Company, Issue 43, February 2001.

3] Cataract is a condition where the lens of the eye becomes cloudy and opaque due to old age or diabetes, thus failing to transmit light to the retina. The clouded lens leads to blindness. In a cataract surgery cataract is removed and an intra-ocular lens (IOL) is implanted in its place to restore vision.

4] Aravind eye hospitals, Social Entrepreneurship, Greenblue.org.

5] The IOL is a tiny, transparent, convex lens made of polymethyl methacrylate, a harmless plastic substance. IOL is extremely beneficial for a cataract patient as it eliminates the use of heavy spectacles with thick lenses after the operation. An IOL assures clearer vision without any distortion. It also facilitates speedy recovery of the patient after an operation.

6] Pravir Malik, Emergence of the fractal savant, Business Line, December 30, 2003.

7] William McDonough, How much can we give for all we get? MBDC Monthly feature, May 2003.