Aravind Critical Analysis

"do not belong to the past dawns, but to the noons of the future" – Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo's

words can be used as universal guidelines in many aspects of one's life. Today, they resonate with

one of the most important qualities a social enterprise should have. Taking the issues of the past

and looking to the present and future for its solutions. How do you define a good social

enterprise? In professor's own words it is "a venture that efficiently and sustainably pursues

social impact (solving a social problem) as its mission. Profit and income are just fine for social

enterprises, so long as profit isn't chased at the expense of social mission, and that profit as a

means to an end doesn't exploit those who are the intended beneficiaries of the enterprise (in

other words and most often, poor people). It doesn't matter if the enterprise is for profit, not for

profit or a combination of each (a so-called hybrid), what matters is that it's a sustainable and

efficient way to solve real problems in partnership with real people." This is the framework

around which we will critically analyze Aravind.

Motivation

A man with a mission. That's a five-word succinct description amongst many of a man who will

go on to change the face of curable blindness in India if not the world. Dr. V the creator and

molder of Aravind. To say that Aravind embodies everything this man was is an understatement.

Now, why would Dr. V want to eliminate curable blindness? For him empathy was not just

another quality humans should have it was a principal to live by. "Severe pain has been my

companion and it has never left me," he once said, in a rare admission" –Infinite Vision. He

strongly believed in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo which often require complete selflessness to

feel the pain of the others. Dr. V believed in doing something bigger than oneself to help others.

Perhaps after watching family members die because of no availability of doctors in villages in a
young age, psoriasis making his school life difficult yet showing zest to overcome where he lacked

physically and contracting rheumatoid arthritis but still returning to medical school, a deep sense

of empathy was set into his blood. There was no personal gain in this for him. The whole structure

of Aravind was established to eliminate curable blindness at all roots it could reach. His passion

can be seen from his journal entries where he talks about how Buddha spread his religion in his

day, how disciples of Christ spread their mission around the world. These figures are the epitome

of selflessness and serving the humankind without any gain for oneself and that is what Dr. V

embodied.

Local Empowerment and Partnerships

Arvind from the beginning knew the importance of the community it was serving. From removing

blindness form "the bottom of the pyramid" as C.K. Prahalad puts it, to empower the community

by employing them in its organization Aravind's foundation is its community. Since the start word

of mouth was the largest form of advertisement that Aravind had. Outreach programs sought the

help of the village heads and community leaders. Patients who saw the quality of work raved

about it to their communities and thus more people in need sought for Aravinds help. Once the

patients started pouring in they started employing freshly educated high school women as

trained nurses who form the backbone of Aravind. The nurses were not only trained for the work

at the organization but were enrolled in programs and career paths that would take them

forward in life. Dr. V wanted all of its patients to feel at home and the nurses played a huge part

in this. The nurses were hired from a value fit rather than skill fit approach. Compassion being a

given. Dr. V believed firmly that the skills can be taught but the values that run Aravind are what
make this place what it is. One of his journal reads "The ordinary man must feel at home" –Infinite

Vision.

Business Model and Sustainability

Time and again in the book Infinite Vision we are reminded that Aravind's priority has always

been to give free or highly subsidized services to the people who need it without any compromise

in quality. Aravind's remarkable business model can be most closely compared to the fast food

industry rather than healthcare institutions. Simply put it's getting the same product no matter

the location and getting it fast. Its business model similar to a self-sustaining organization. They

never relied on any donations and the revenue keeps on growing. With almost 60 percent of its

patients getting free services. Taking the money made from the paying customers and using it to

run the free programs sounds too good to be true. Aravind creates its own market for the services

it wants to provide. The eye care camps help bring in more and more customers each day. One

would worry about taking such risks but Dr. V always had bigger plans in mind. He used to say,

"do the work and the money will come" – Infinite Vision. Sri Aurobindo put it best "but though

hast come and all will surely change.". Overall, we see that Aravind has operational, financial and

environmental sustainability.

Innovation

Aravind is no short of social innovations. When its customers needed Intra Ocular Lenses and

they were too expensive in the market, Aravind started making its own. Providing a high-end

product to a low-end market had a disruptive impact on the market. They created the standards

for others to follow. Its main focus to reach as many people it can serve, they implemented

technology to reach people who could not come to the hospitals. LAICO providing training and
consultation not just for its staff but sharing its insight with the world. All this for the sole purpose

of helping the poor.

Transparency, Measurement, and Evaluation of Social Impact

Dr. V believed that in the developing countries losing one's eyesight meant losing one's life.

Measurement and evaluation of their impact from the beginning have been the of the utmost

importance. Numbers are like gold for them. It is and always has been about the numbers at

Aravind. Everything at Aravind is accountable down to each penny. How many people are they

reaching, how many patients are being treated, how many operations are being done in a day,

how can these numbers be increased. Dr. V writes these questions with a period instead of a

question mark. Always in the search for making things better. The design of the system which

leads to red flags anywhere a discrepancy is seen helps identify and solve each problem quickly.

The founders pay close attention to detail and evaluate to improve the system on a daily basis.

There are no hidden costs in any of the services at Aravind. Every service offered since the

beginning has been accounted for and open for anyone to inquire about it. This kind of strict

evaluation leads to systems growing at each step of the ladder. This has led Aravind to serve

millions of people since it started. A number not to be taken lightly.

Scalable and Replicable

Aravind is a self-sustaining organization yet it provides services to all classes. Its efficiently

organized structure which stresses the maximum use of all resources makes it a great model to

be scaled and replicated. A project that started with 11 beds now has 10 fully functioning

hospitals around India. With its services reaching out to the world. Eliminating non-beneficial

activities and wait time, having standardized protocols, clinical procedures and administrative
measures make the system reduce errors and make it more efficient. Having doctors and other

administrative staff as different values in an equation and giving each its full potential makes for

a highly effective outcome. Once over the political, administrative and operational constraints

this system can be applied anywhere. Dr. Bruce Spivey, President of the International Council of

Ophthalmology on Aravinds model working in the US explains it very clearly "Will it work exactly

the same as in India? Of course not…But the basic premise is so clear, I believe it should work

anywhere" – Infinite Vision. It has already shown tremendous promise in developing countries

where the same fee structure can be applied and the labor is inexpensive. Through more research

into the transferring the skills to the states and other developed nations, Dr. V's dream of

eliminating curable blindness may finally come a step closer.

Conclusion

The Aravind model is a prime example present in our world today of a great social enterprise. It

passes the framework with flying colors. But every model does come with some drawbacks. The

system is closely tied to the number of customers it serves. Money from the paying customers

leads to all the work that Aravind is able to provide for free. So, it's very critical to keep the

numbers growing in order to go forward with their mission. The high influx of customers also

requires for the staff to work harder. Aravind can't match the money offered by private industry

for less work. Another point of note is the location of Aravind model. One of its strengths is its

employees who are hired locally. If the quality of service provided by these individuals goes down

the whole system suffers. These issues are solvable and can be overcome with more evaluation

and applying new strategies. As Sri Aurobindo says "By our stumbling the world is perfected.".
Attributions

1) https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1360359-savitri-a-legend-and-a-symbol

2) https://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/social-enterprise-business-models/

3) http://www.aravind.org/default/clinicscontent/hospitals