Innovation for Healthcare - A Strategic Priority

“Embrace Infant Warmer” is an innovative, affordable infant warmer that doesn’t require a constant supply of electricity and costs less than 1% of the USD 20,000 that traditional incubators cost. With about 25 million low-birth-weight and premature babies being given birth every year around the world (primarily in developing countries) and about four million babies dieing within the first 28 days of life (nearly 450 babies every hour)1, the Embrace Infant Warmer is a life saver for the millions of vulnerable newborns in the developing and underdeveloped countries. GE Healthcare, the developer of the product, also offers the USD 500 MACi cardiology device for India, which allows physicians to give scans for the cost of a bottle of water.

With the center of global economic activity shifting from the west to the east, emerging economies such as China and India with a significantly large pool of under-served patients represent the next big opportunity for growth and profitability for the healthcare industry. The good news – the customer base is way too large; the bad news – lack of universal health insurance resulting in low affordability.

Clearly, the only way out is to design products and services that are affordable and easily accessible. Innovation, thus, has to be strategic priority and not just one of the long-term initiatives. GE Healthcare’s is an amazing case study of the power of reverse innovation—a new model of product development that empowers local teams to develop technologies in their country, for their country—to address local needs and enable access to technology where it may never have been available before.

And the success stories are not limited to products. The Aravind Eye Care System in the state of Tamilnadu and the Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore, India provide compelling case studies of making quality healthcare services available by containing costs. Aravind’s business proposition is simple – volume brings down the cost and ensures the viability of the enterprise. Volume in turn is ensured by the combination of low cost, high quality and efficient procedures, as well as the appropriate use of technology. Narayana Hrudayalaya, on the other hand, has contained costs by tweaking processes, driving hard bargains and negotiating creative partnership deals.

The fact that the next phase of demand is going to be driven by consumers who can not be served using the traditional business models makes it imperative for global organizations to make “Innovation”, the engine of their growth strategy. China remains the world’s most populous country and is consequently home to a large patient base. The country is home to more than 120 million people who are aged 65 or older—a population in continuous need of medical care. India, the second most populous country globally, is home to 1.2 billion people, approximately 5% of which are aged 65 or older. It’s estimated that shortly after 2020, India’s population will surpass China, making it the most populous country in the world. As the population continues to grow and people continue to age, the underlying demand for healthcare is also expected to increase.

The winners will be the ones with “Innovation” as the center and these 3As – Affordability, Access, and Awareness – as the spokes of their wheel of growth.

The 3rd World War has begun. It’s the war for talent

I am back and I had to be back. It’s been almost two years since I last blogged. The sabbatical was definitely not intentional nor did I plan it that way. It’s just that I had nothing to write. I became less of an observer and failed to prioritize objectives, both on the personal and the professional front. I made bad investment decisions, made wrong choices and started to live with many more long-distance relationships as many of my closest pals moved on in their lives and career.

But I am back!! I know no one reads what I vent in my blog but something happened very recently, something that motivated me to break my long sabbatical and be back in action. Read On….

It was a usual but a pleasant morning. A wakeup alarm is one thing that you hate to sleep with but sleep with every day. As expected, it proves its loyalty once again and rings as if the world is going to fall apart. It’s 9’o clock in the morning and I know I am already late for office. A super-quick shower (characterized with more spray of a deodorant than that of water) and I am off to the streets to catch an auto rickshaw. A brief struggle and I manage to hop into one.

It’s quarter to 10 and I am at my desk. Two days to go to the New Year’s Eve and the entire world seems to be on a vacation. My outlook reads only 12 unread emails as against the 60-70 that I have to go through on an average morning. The day was important for another reason. After almost a year of struggle and countless telephonic discussions, the time has come when I can write to my boss saying that my team is in full strength now and we have filled-in all the vacant positions. All I need is an email from my colleague in the human resources (HR) department confirming the acceptance of offer by one of the candidates.

And that’s what I am looking for in my inbox. Suddenly, my phone rings and it’s the HR person on line. She tells me that the candidate wants to talk to me before accepting the offer that we have made. I say “OK”, put the receiver down and pause for a while. I don’t know whether it’s somewhat of a norm in other organizations but I find it unusual.

It’s 5 o’clock in the evening and I am back at my desk after a tea break. I decide to make a call to the candidate. I dial in the number and she picks up the call in no time. I had interviewed her earlier and so I didn’t need to introduce myself. After a brief HI and HELLO type discussion, she throws a bouncer and drags the earth from under my feet.

“Why Should I join you?”, she asks. “What is it that you offer me that other organizations don’t?”

It’s my sixth year in the professional services industry and all I have asked and have been asked is “Why should we hire you and what is it that you’ll bring to the table”. I had to take a long pause before proceeding on to the discussion. I won’t reveal whether I managed to answer all her questions and whether she joined us. That’s not the motive behind this blog post.

What seems like a very simple and basic question that a prospective employee asks an employer is a reflection of a significant development that organizations not just in India but also in other parts of the world have started to realize.

“The 3rd World War has begun. It’s the war for talent”

And it’s not a war that’s being fought in corporate boardrooms to be the market leader. There is no battleground here. It’s being fought anywhere and everywhere – in universities and business schools, in professional and social networking portals and even within companies. The war is to hire and retain the best talent. The war is to build an arsenal for the war to be the leading corporation of the world.

As more and more emerging market companies start to realize their global aspirations and as many more of their multinational counterparts embrace globalization as a means to increase growth and profitability, the war for talent is going to intensify. The winners will be those who are quicker in identifying, hiring and retaining the right talent at the right place and at the right time.

It’s not going to be about existing skills and experience any more. It’ll be about identifying people with the attitude to learn and the aptitude to apply the learning.

The irony is that the best talent out there in the market is less averse to taking risks then the companies with million of dollars in their coffers. “Entrepreneurship” and “Out-of-the box thinking” are not fancy buzzwords anymore. Go to any Ivy League university and you’ll be flooded with ideas with mind-blowing commercial potential. Startups of today are able to acquire and retain more talent than their super-large competitors. It’s time; the global organizations take notice of the long term implications of the war they are fighting. It’s high time, they react and fight back.

To all of them: Explore the most unusual profiles and you’ll be pleasantly shocked with the outcome. Look for unique perspectives and cross-industry best practices. You never now what’s in store in avenues beyond your industry boundaries. Respect talent. They are not just “resources”, they are human capital, they are knowledge powerhouses and they are going to decide whether you exist or perish. They are going to make the move and they are going to call the shots.

To the educated youth of this world. Take a bow my friends. You are the future. Go and win!!!!!!