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A similar example that can be cited in the US context is of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care that faced opposition from their own doctors while they tried to practice market segmentation of their patients, a practice which is normally followed by FMCG companies.¹

Bias for Action

Perfection is not always beneficial. Particularly when you are initiating a new change in your organization, it's always advisable to go ahead with incremental innovations rather than a sudden spurt of multiple applications of new ideas aiming to achieve total perfection.

Aravind never initiated an idea to be implemented with full perfection. It was clear about its target process. So, over a period of years, it kept on introducing new operational innovations that helped in bringing down its costs incrementally and, thus, adding to better efficiency.

It can be considered very similar to the principle followed by Schneider Company - "70% and Go" - develop a solution that provides most but not all desired capabilities, get in the field quickly, and then enhance it over time³. This kind of methodology ensures proper time to test the concept, followed by building credibility, and for the moment, delivers few results which are enough to convince the people about the potential of your operational innovation. Over the long run, it is bound to give you a definite competitive advantage over your nearest competitors.

Aravind now performs more than 5% of all eye-surgeries done in India every year, and its surgeons perform more than 2000 surgeries compared to the country average of 220. It's not surprising that around 51% of the revenues generated by Aravind act as a surplus.²

Additional References

http://www.project-impact.net/foldables.htm

Concluded.

1. Michael Hammer, "Deep Change - How Operational Innovation can Transform Your Company", in Harvard Business Review, April 2004, Pp 4-12
2. www.aravind.org
3. Michael Hammer, "Making Operational Innovation Work", in Harvard Business Review Supply Chain Strategy Newsletter, 2005, Pp 1-4

* Contributed by: -
Dr. Shreyas Goswami is a II Year Business Management student at XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is an MBBS doctor from B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, and had extensive work experience in the Healthcare Sector prior to joining XLRI.
This Paper was adjudged one of the Best 8 Papers in "Ashwamedh Paper Writing Contest" organized by XIMB.