Case Name :      Building a Women’s Hospital in Coimbatore, India

Authors :           Gaurab Bhardwaj

Source:              Babson College

Case ID:             BAB701

Discipline :        Entrepreneurship

Case Length :    35 pages

Solution sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

The case relates an entrepreneurial effort by Dr. M. Govindarajan and her son Jay Govindarajan to build a high-quality hospital focused on women’s health in Coimbatore, a mid-sized city in India. Despite its recent economic growth, India remains a lower-middle-income country with a poor state of health care for a majority of its people. The entrepreneurs abandon their initial desire to target low-income women, as it proves to be economically unviable. Their focus shifts to higher-income women. With no success in raising funds, the family invests almost all its wealth in the new venture. A chance meeting leads Jay to open a fertility clinic in a neighboring city to generate revenue with plans to open more such clinics in other cities. Dr. Govindarajan expresses an interest in starting a blood bank and a specialized ambulance service. The case ends in June 2011 with the hospital opening delayed by several months. Meanwhile, a competitor has emerged with a name similar to theirs, having hired away some of their medical and paramedical professionals. In response, Jay considers acquiring an expensive machine based on a new technology to gain a competitive edge. Should he buy this machine? Given the larger contextual changes in the economy and the health-care sector, what other decisions should he make?