Michael
International business major
Jan. 9, 2007

 Day 9, our busiest day of the trip so far, started off with a visit to our recovering comrade at Apollo Hospital, and that was coincidentally the site of one of two corporate visits for the day.  As the third-largest provider of healthcare in world, Apollo extends to many sectors of the healthcare industry.  It provides immediate healthcare services at hospitals and clinics throughout South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; performs clinical trials; conducts health education, does IT work, and provides health insurance; and is the recipient of various outsourcing processes.  We spoke there with an American man who was the director of the hospital.   

The hospital itself was aesthetically very impressive, and in the opinion of our sick student, the care was also very good.  From what I could understand, the hospital conditions at Apollo are a far cry from those of many other hospitals in India.  In the process of getting our student immediate healthcare when she initially fell ill, Paul and Boyd took her to one hospital that they finally chose to leave because the wait was so long, and they drove an hour to another where the conditions were horrendous. 

Apollo’s goal is to become “the corner drugstore” of India, in addition to avoiding the U.S. system of high healthcare costs, so that they can provide low-cost services to all people.  Thirty percent of all the beds in the hospital are reserved for free treatment. I wonder what “free” means.  Nothing in business is free. 

Apollo faces problems of attrition in which employees stay with them for only two years and then leave for countries like the U.S., where they can earn higher salaries. Apollo is addressing this dilemma with an intense education program through which they can continuously generate new workers to replace the old ones.  In India, there is obviously the humanpower to do the work, so that is a good form of capital to have.

Another company we visited, about an hour-and-a-half drive from Apollo, was Exl.  It is a telecommunications company that was established in 1999 by two American businessmen.  Exl is involved in many business activities like BPO, insurance, banking, financial services, consulting, and research and analytic services.  Its market is currently focused in the U.S. (60%) and the U.K. (40%).  The company has seven locations and 7,900 employees. 

Although all of the corporate visits have been extremely impressive in many ways, Exl impressed the group through the ways in which it caters to the needs of its employees and creates a corporate culture that is appealing to work in.  The facility was very beautiful, with bright colors and a sleek design.  The internal design was very modern and high- tech.  An Exl representative explained that the company wanted to make the facility feel like a home away from home for its employees.   With a top-of-the-line workout room, high-tech living rooms, pool rooms, and other in-house services, the office seems to supply amenities that most employees don’t have at home.  It provides subsidized housing for employees, as well as a “whatever you need” service.  If you need your kids picked up or a movie rented, and if the company can do this for you to allow you to stay at work, it will.  Nonetheless, employees are still given 51 paid days of vacation every year.