Speed Dating at Marketing Doctoral Consortium at Alliance Uty ..

Speed dating on Day 1 for the selected doctoral students in Marketing to interact in short bursts with some of the greatest confluence of Marketing Researchers was a great opportunity for them.

Prof Kent Munroe (L) after the talk ..

View of hall and participants interacting ..

In a neatly arranged large hall with tables and chairs, about 30 Doctoral fellows ( the Marketing brains from the world including editors from top 4 Marketing Journals of the world)) and the selected Marketing doctoral students from different countries of the world interact with each other for about five minutes each randomly, in such a away that each doctoral fellow gets to briefly listen to and critically review the work individually of a minimum of ten other doctoral students and a doctoral student gets to explain and listen to critical reviews of his chosen area of working from at least ten doctoral fellows.

This was a very unique experience in the Indian context. Both the fellows and the students get to listen to rich, potential research ideas and reviews in emerging research areas. What to look out for , what to avoid, basically coming from the experience of a life time in Marketing research of a fellow. A reaffirmation of the research proposals .. A win - win for both the parties..

The inaugural speech by Prof JagdishSheth ( Jag) , Emory Uty and an invigorating talk sharing the learning and wisdom of a life time spent on research by Dr Kent Munroe, University of Illionois, was by itself worth all effort and time attending this Consortium. Some of the best intellectual discourses I have ever listened to !! Rest everything to be served during the Consortium is Bonus !!! Thanks to the brains who thought of this unique interaction !!

http://alliance.edu.in/aim/html/consortium-faculty-page2.html

Bangalore's BITTER water woes ..

Bangalore has grown as a city with people moving to this city for employment and a high quality of life. The standard of life has grown has grown over the years but has it matched with the quality of life ?

The endless commuting time from one end of the city to the other, the acute shortage of good accommodation units, the over bearing presence of real estate builders and land mafia to catch cut-throat profits and the scarcity of water staring at their face make Bangalore a difficult proposition to invest and setup businesses in the coming days .. The infusion of black money of almost 1200 crores INR into the Indian real estate industry over last year, a great proportion of it to the booming Bangalore city to catch the attention of Dept or Revenue Intelligence, Income Tax Dept are all issues that plague this city as much as it does any other in the country.

The scarcity of water is one fear that is immediately staring at the people of this city which houses the head offices of some of the biggest MNC names from within and outside the country.



In the Marathahalli and Whitefield areas ( North East Bangalore) where land is also precious and huge multiple high rises have come up, water scarcity is very acute. Some of the residential owners are even contemplating leaving their luxurious flats built by some of the finest names in real estate builders of South India and moving out to areas where Cauvery water ( South West of Bangalore city is Cauvery river) is available. These huge highrise buildings even though they have water treatment plants for sewage water treatment, have been unsuccessful in fully meeting their own recycling requirements, forget about the requirements elsewhere.

With the ever depleting water table with recharging done during the monsoon months from June to Sept.,  completely inadequate to charge up the water table to at least about 60% of the previous year, a deep sense of anxiety and fear looms large over the people of this city who have spent a fortune purchasing luxurious flats from builders falling innocent prey to their massive marketing and advertisement gimmicks and promises of access to huge reservoirs of freshwater all throughout the year.

These builders need to be taken to task for their false promises to ensure that future buyers do not get fooled any more.

Pl read this article .. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/247525/water-dearth-stares-22-lakh.html

Also it is said that the storm water drainage collection, to charge the water tables is completely inadequate in the city.

Effective water conservation strategies and cost based usage policies ( even for borewell water) for citizens across the city, coupled with strict implementation and monitoring of rain water harvesting systems across the city, effective water treatment plants in big high rises with more than 25 flats and Industries with heavy consumption of water like soft drinks bottling plants, there are a few in the city and suburbs, to treat and recycle sewage water, effectively utilising storm water drainage to charge the water table across the city and outside city limits are all matters which have to be taken up in right earnest by the civic authorities as well as the public to make Bangalore livable at least for the next ten years and beyond.

The extremely important role of NGOs along with the civic authot\rites to sensitise Industries and public of the importance of conserving water, its proper usage and recycling, monitor and sustain measures to conserve existing resources, is beyond any explanation.

Readers comments at improving this infrastructure is welcome.

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Rockefeller - the greatest philantropist of all time !!

We hear of lot of rich people in society who acquire wealth, legally , illegally, inherit from their parents, some make it fair with innovation  and so on. This article is on two individuals, one  a small fry and another a great individual..

I wish to mention of a spoilt brat from Bangalore, whose father used all dubious means including liquor to make money and who now isfacing a tough time protecting all the ill-gotten wealth.

Burdened by his lavish, glamorous lifestyle, the small time richie-rich from Bangalore, Vijay Mallya is about to sell his UB (United Breweries) Towers in the heart of the city.

His father Vithal Mallya, by manufacturing and selling liquor had made money and had grabbed prime property in different parts of the city. Quite natural, human weakness..

Now the law of nature has to catch up.. ie. the first generation innovates and makes wealth, the second generation just maintains and partly throws it off ( happening to Vijay) and the third generation squanders it and goes back to square one.

An exception is John D. Rockefeller (1839 to 1937), a teetotaller and firm believer in God ....   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller

Quote from wikipedia :
Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy with foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.

His foundations pioneered the development of medical research, and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever. He is also the founder of both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University. : unquote ..

Rockefeller made his first billion dollars in 1910, hundred years back (when there was no proper communications, transportation system, computers, Internet and comfort and convenience of today ..) and considering inflation, he is considered to be the richest person in history. ( at 2007 value his wealth is estimated to be $ 700 billion, he can buy Bill Gates and Buffet six times over..) Almost all his wealth he returned back to society. From age 58 to 98 he continued his targeted philanthropy ..

He supported India with the PL-470 programme in the late 60s and early 70s by giving free wheat, milk powder to Asia and Africa when we were faced with great famine and hunger.

A 1934 New York Times article on Rockefeller's philanthropy ..

The history of John D Rockefeller ..

The wikipedia link on John D Rockefeller .

In our society and in Kerala too, we see abkari, liquor salesmen, cashew merchants, real estate builder mafia, PWD Engineer-contractor nexus, coal mafia flaunting their newly acquired affluence, Nouveau_riche .. Law of nature has to catch up with them like it is to Vijay Mallya now..

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Meet the Henry Ford of Heart Surgery, Dr Devi Shetty .. ..

Hands that serve are more sacred than the lips that pray - Mother Teresa

Much has been said and written of this great 58 year old young surgeon from Bangalore. There is a radiance emanating from his face which is so pure and sublime.

For long it has been said that Electronic City, Bangalore is just the headquarters of Infosys and houses some of the big names of the Fortune 500 companies of India and the world. More importantly, it has the biggest cardiac hospital in the country, if not in the world and also the  biggest 1500 bed cancer hospital in the country.

From an academic point of view, this is a write up on how process innovations can make a big difference than product innovations, especially in the healthcare service sector.

Meet the Henry Ford of Heart Surgery, Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore. Henry Ford brought mass production to the world with the Model T Ford car at the beginning of the 20 th century. Dr Devi Shetty is rewriting the history of cardiac surgeries by offering a case of the cardiac medical factory of the future here in Bangalore, offering cardiac surgeries at the lowest cost anywhere in the world, at quality better than the rest of the world .. Year after year, to the ire of his detractors, he continues to amaze the rest of the world with his simplicity and steadfast commitment to the cause of serving the medical field and the people of the world at large.

In 2011, they did almost 6600 heart surgeries,(highest in the world from a single facility) half on children (paediatric cases). It is the largest paediatric heart surgery hospital in the world. A heart surgery here costs just $ 1800 ( app INR 75,000), a fraction of what it costs elsewhere, app $40,000 - $100,000 for a complicated surgery.. Low-cost factory like innovation happening in the medical sector in India is sure to change the health scenario of the world in the coming years.

It is a service Factory .. Drive huge volumes and bring economies of scale .. They offer the best service in the world at a fraction of the cost to not only the rich, but also the needy in society, catering to the bottom of the pyramid ( as late Dr C K Prahlad used to address the 50 % of world population) who cannot afford costly surgeries but need help of modern medical science and surgery. A copy of an analysis of Dr Prahlad's BOP ( Bottom of Pyramid) theory in the Strategy and Business magazine.

Aravind Eye hospitals, Madurai does it with a missionary zeal, offering 90% of surgeries for free, while Narayana Hrudayalaya offers 5 % free.. Click for Arvind Hospital TED talk here ..

Even after doing all this good for society at cheap rates, Dr Shetty has reported profits of 7.7% after taxes, more than what US hospitals do at 6.9%. There is a big businessman also hiding in Dr Devi Shetty.

And if you thought quality is the casualty, consider this figure. The mortality rates within the first 30 days of a surgery is just 1.4% in Narayana Hrudayalaya compared to 1.9 % in US hospitals, according to data gathered by a group of Chicago based surgeons.

Paediatric heart surgery is many times more complicated than adult cardiology as the child heart is just one tenth of its original size and whatever is done on it has to factor in the growth to its full size. Also unlike other surgeries, heart cannot be bypassed till the wounds and sutures heal, it has to work the moment after the surgery, else the patient dies ..what complication ..!!

I have had the good opportunity of meeting up with Dr Shetty at one of the Rotary Club meetings of the Narayana Health City  which has besides this a 1500 bed cancer hospital, eye care hospital etc.. Working on 3-4 surgeries a day, for 6 days a week, day in day out, the hospital sees that he and his group of 40 surgeons are given less administrative work so that all his time can be productively used on surgeries and patient care. Making them do more at the same salary that they are paid !! A cost cutting measure ..

With an efficient CEO Raghuvanshi and a team of 40 surgeons, Narayana Hrudayalaya is not going to lose its prominence once PadmaShri Dr Devi Shetty puts up his shoes, though he continues to be its face to the outside world. The service has to continue for posterity and the model - service factory, churning out services at low factory costs and high quality, should be the model for many a hospital in the world to emulate.

Dr Shetty says that it was a chance encounter and a chance to treat Mother Teresa till her last breath while in Kolkata that changed his life for ever !

Matching Supply and demand :

Unless there is a constant stream of patients needing the surgeries, the Hospital cannot have volumes to slash down the costs. NH has partnered with Karnataka govt by offering Yashaswini Insurance scheme which enables farmers from different parts of Karnataka to get their medical treatment at NH.

A novel micro Insurance scheme called Yeshaswini with the partnership of govt for all farmers of the state where they pay just 44 cents as annual premium  for healthcare, attracts many a poor customer to Hrudayalaya.

It is indeed heartening to note that low-cost Innovation, ( Gandhian Innovation - doing more at less cost) in the medical field too is now being driven from India ..

NH gives heavy competition to the cut-throat corporate hospitals in the country like Fortis, Apollo, Manipal a run for their money. They charge anywhere from 2.5 - 3 lakhs INR for a surgery and do just about half as much surgeries every year as Narayana Hrudayalaya does..

"Scaling operations (to reduce costs) and maintaining quality" is the crux of operations ..

There is a difference between philanthropy and squeezing the common man .. Even now only less than 10% of Indian population can afford a heart surgery .. Imagine the potential if costs are lowered even further .. ..

Here is Dr Devi Shetty at a TED talk in Mumbai ..

Here are some good articles I have compiled from the Internet for the readers.  The first and second ones are definitely the best !!

1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125875892887958111.html

2. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4493

3. http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/narayana-hrudayalaya-hospitals

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana_Hrudayalaya

5. Harvard Business School case hbr.org/product/narayana-hrudayalaya-heart-hospital-cardiac-care-f/an/505078-PDF-ENG

6. BBC calls it the "Production Line Heart Surgery" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10837726

7. The business perspective from Businessworld mag http://www.businessworld.in/businessworld/businessworld/content/Pulse-Future.html

8. Slideshow of the Bangalore facility http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/narayana-hrudayalaya-hospitals#slideshow

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsPic6PRCf4 An ABC documentary on NH ..

(photo cortesy fastcompany.com and Wharton Business School, UPenn.)

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Weblinks / Source : 

1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125875892887958111.html

2. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4493

3. http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/narayana-hrudayalaya-hospitals

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana_Hrudayalaya

5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10837726

6. http://www.businessworld.in/businessworld/businessworld/content/Pulse-Future.html

( all links accessed on 27 April 2012)

7. Interviews with the PRO and doctors at the hospitals done almost  a year back.