Success Drivers Behind Aravind
William Duran
Aravind Case Study Introduction In a country plagued by curable and needless blindness, 58 year-old surgeon Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy recognized upon retirement that his 100,000 sight-restoring surgeries were not enough of an impact to fight blindness in India and cure the 12 million people affected by it. With a big dream, but no money, no business plan, and no safety net, he embarked on a journey to start an organization with a single purpose in mind: to give sight for all. Starting with a small 11-bed clinic, he went on to create the Aravind Eye Care System, today’s largest and most productive blindness-prevention organization on the planet, which sees more than 2.5 million patients a year. With the success that Aravind has had, it is undeniable that they are doing something right, and for that reason it is important to analyze them to determine what has made them such a high performance social enterprise. This analysis will provide a detailed explanation of the determining factors behind their success; especially the motivation behind Aravind, and the innovation at the core of the enterprise. The analysis will also provide a brief opinion on how their novel approach can be used to deal with problems in US healthcare. Motivation by Social Impact and Spirituality The motivation behind Dr.V’s creation of Aravind was never about profits, selfishness, or any sort of personal accolade or recognition. The main motivator was to restore people’s vision, and improve the way they live their lives coupled with “bringing higher consciousness to transform mind and body and souls of people,” including his own. Sri Aurbindo’s beliefs that “ perfection is the consciousness that surpasses any form which we can give it” is what shaped Dr.V’s own beliefs. Perfection is a concept that is ambiguous for most of us, but for Dr. V it now had a meaning. Being perfect was based on self-development, consciousness, pushing your limits, understanding your own limitations,
Aravind Case Study Introduction In a country plagued by curable and needless blindness, 58 year-old surgeon Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy recognized upon retirement that his 100,000 sight-restoring surgeries were not enough of an impact to fight blindness in India and cure the 12 million people affected by it. With a big dream, but no money, no business plan, and no safety net, he embarked on a journey to start an organization with a single purpose in mind: to give sight for all. Starting with a small 11-bed clinic, he went on to create the Aravind Eye Care System, today’s largest and most productive blindness-prevention organization on the planet, which sees more than 2.5 million patients a year. With the success that Aravind has had, it is undeniable that they are doing something right, and for that reason it is important to analyze them to determine what has made them such a high performance social enterprise. This analysis will provide a detailed explanation of the determining factors behind their success; especially the motivation behind Aravind, and the innovation at the core of the enterprise. The analysis will also provide a brief opinion on how their novel approach can be used to deal with problems in US healthcare. Motivation by Social Impact and Spirituality The motivation behind Dr.V’s creation of Aravind was never about profits, selfishness, or any sort of personal accolade or recognition. The main motivator was to restore people’s vision, and improve the way they live their lives coupled with “bringing higher consciousness to transform mind and body and souls of people,” including his own. Sri Aurbindo’s beliefs that “ perfection is the consciousness that surpasses any form which we can give it” is what shaped Dr.V’s own beliefs. Perfection is a concept that is ambiguous for most of us, but for Dr. V it now had a meaning. Being perfect was based on self-development, consciousness, pushing your limits, understanding your own limitations,