Title: Aravind Eye Hospital

Authors: Poonam Sharma; Asha Kakoti

Addresses: Jaipuria Institute of Management, A32A, sector 62, Noida, India. ' Jaipuria Institute of Management, A32A, sector 62, Noida, India

Abstract: "That's a half full glass" ... "No, that's a half empty glass". Different views on the same object have existed since the beginning of time. Instead of lamenting on the problems in the world, there are only a handful of entrepreneurs who view these problems as business opportunity. Aravind Eye Hospital, based in South India is a venture of such an entrepreneur - Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy. He went beyond sympathising with the poor and saw in them a huge base of value conscious customers. Taking a leaf out of McDonald's standard products across franchisees, Aravind established a cost effective revenue model where thousands of blind poor can be operated on free or nearly free. Today, Aravind treats 2.4 million outpatients and does 286,000 cataracts surgeries every year. The elite medical schools of the globe come here to study its innovative methods.

Keywords: healthcare innovation; social entrepreneurship; social marketing; mass marketing; brand differentiation; India; business opportunities; Aravind Eye Hospital; cost effective revenue models; cataracts; cataract surgery; poverty; blind poor; sight loss.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSB.2012.049274

International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 2012 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.334 - 341

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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