Day 17, Mumbai (Team 6: Moore, Bilsten, Zarcone, Kirk)

June 18th, 2008

Today we began our final day of company visits under stormy skies.

We left the hotel just after 8:00 am and headed to our first company visit at Wockhardt Hospital. We arrived at Wockhardt around 9:30 and our hosts brought us into the conference room on the first floor to give us a presentation outlining the details of their operation. During the presentation, which lasted about half an hour, we learned that the hospital currently has 16 different locations across India and expects to bring this number up to 31 by the end of 2010. The Mumbai hospital where we met today currently has space to serve 220 patients overnight with and expansion in construction to increase this number to almost 600.

The presentation highlighted some of the difficulties of the health care industry in India. These include labor shortages for nurses and doctors as well as a low level of insurance coverage across the country. The expanding middle and upper class in India as well as an increasing literacy rate are only putting more pressure on the hospital and health care industry to expand. There are 1.1 hospital beds per 1000 in India which is very low compared to more developed countries. The European Union has 8 beds per 1000 in the population.

One of the more interesting discussion topics of the meeting centered on medical tourism and the current and forecasted effect it might have on the hospital. Currently medical tourism accounts for .9% of total revenue at the location we visited but this figure is forecasted to be 2.5% by 2012. Wockhardt is attractive to foreigners for care because they offer lower prices for procedures and experienced doctors. The video we watched included testimonials from several foreigners expressing their satisfaction with their stay in India.

After the briefing we received in the conference room we were invited to tour the facility. The tour began in the billing where the hospital helps process between 450 and 500 patients per day. Our next stop was the outpatient facility on the first floor where we learned about the rotation of doctors and viewed an outpatient room- each of which we equipped with a computer. Upstairs we were shown both a typical Indian room (usually 1-5 night stay) and then an international room for medical tourists (usually a 20 night stay). The international rooms were much nicer. They offer a comfortable space for patients to receive medical care. Space is provided for a family member to sleep with the patient and internet access is also provided. The tour of the hospital as well as the presentation gave us a better understanding of the similarities and differences between health care in the United Sates and India.

The bus ride today proved to be quite interesting with the local MBA students as our guides. They gave us a quick lesson in speaking the Hindi language which included common sayings such as ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ as well as the proper way to count to ten. We then played an interactive bus game to keep us entertained on our way to the next company. The second firm visit of the day was with Mandhana Ind. Ltd. The meeting started out with a fantastic expression of hospitality when Mandhana gave each of us a personalized writing pen.

Mandhana is a multi-divisional textile company spread out over many geographical locations. They have grown from a small shop in 1984 into one of the fastest growing textile manufacturers in India, as well as having plants spread out over roughly 30 countries. Today they incorporate long chains of workers into every manufacturing process required by the textile industry including: designing, weaving, dying, and processing. The products that they provide mostly cater to Asian and European countries but they will soon expand into the United States market, specifically New York.  Mandhana specializes in high-end textiles and garments.

Certain aspects of Manhana that contribute to their success include product variety and quality. They offer innovative products with qualities like water proof, mosquito repellant, and quick dry. Additionally, they have a very quick production rate from converting raw materials into the finalized product. In order to ensure their image of excellence they have quality processes in all of their manufacturing processes. Proof of their success can be seen by the numerous awards they have won for numerous achievements including exceptional growth in exports. It is obvious that Manhana is a highly desirable company to work for since they have one of the lowest employee turnaround rates in the country. The typical employee stays with the company for about six or seven years.

This company visit ended with an interesting tour of their offices. The rooms that we visited included: merchandising, style, board rooms, textiles, and then finally the lunch café. The superiority of their product design was displayed perfectly in their artistically designed offices. After a quick lunch we headed back to the bus and continued on with the day.

The final company visit of the trip was The Times Group which is responsible for circulating the most popular newspaper in the world The India Times which currently has 3.5 million papers (37% market share) in circulation daily. In addition to the flagship newspaper, The Times Group also publishes the 2nd most popular business newspaper, The Economic Times (750,000 in circulation – 84% market share). This paper is 2nd in the world only to the Wall Street Journal in the business market.

The opening of our presentation focused on the difficulty of marketing in the modern day due to the fragmentation of media. There are so many sources for news that newspapers are competing not only with other newspapers but for the customer’s time. We learned a little bit about newer trends in marketing and advertising. Newer ads are becoming shorter and faster which takes up less time of a potential consumer’s day. We were taught a little more about marketing from a distinct perspective that was straightforward and easy to understand. The value of the presentation goes beyond its application at The Times Group and will be useful as we all set out to brand and differentiate ourselves or our companies in the future.

The concept of experiential marketing was also presented. Customers today are bombarded with multimedia throughout the day. Marketing efforts that resonate with the consumer and provide an experience will be more effective in creating the engaged reach desired. The Times Group long ago decided that their primary focus for revenue would be advertising in place of circulation revenue. For this reason the paper can be purchased in 2008 daily for 4 rupees (about 10 cents).

Current advertising spending annually in India is $3.6 billion annually. This is much smaller than the $162 billion in the United States but is expected to increase over the next few years due to increasing literacy rates. The company is promoting reading education in schools by providing newspapers to the classrooms. Overall the presentation provided a nice bookend to the company visits for the trip.

There are many business lessons from all the presentations today that will be useful as we move through our professional careers.

Following our final company visit we stopped at the Gateway to India, a monument created several centuries ago to welcome the Queen of England (Queen Mary) to India for her first visit to this British Empire oupost.  The group stopped to take some group pictures and mingle and enjoy the end of our final day of company visits for Chindia 2008. 

Entry Filed under: India, Mumbai