Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

Rosabeth M. Kanter

Book | 2009

Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

Abstract

Supercorp is based on a 3-year study involving more than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the tsunami and earthquake struck India in 2006, IBM did not just write a check. It used its core competence-expertise in technology-and its skilled people to accomplish what government and relief agencies could not: an information system and supply chain that tracked and managed the flow of relief supplies. Its efforts were crucial in avoiding the all-too-familiar problem in disaster relief-chaos and mobs of desperate people. IBM's actions, as well as many others reported on by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, capture the emerging zeitgeist of business: the vanguard company simultaneously pursuing-and creating synergy between-opportunity, growth, profit, humanistic values and social good. Vanguard companies have a sense of mission enabling them to deliver what their customers want in a way that is significantly better than the competition. As a formula for the future it brings together the necessity of financial success shareholders demand and the social conscience demanded from the new generation moving up the corporate ranks.

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Opportunities; Welfare or Wellbeing;

Format: Print

Find at Harvard

Citation:

Kanter, Rosabeth M. Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good. New York: Crown Business, 2009.

From 2008-2010 Anand Piramal ran a series of pilots for his digital healthcare startup, Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS) to “democratize healthcare” in rural areas of India. PeS ran into difficulties so Anand Piramal had to decide whether to continue the organization and if so how. In 2010, an unexpected opportunity emerged that could have significant implications for PeS’s organizational structure and future prospects. Anand Piramal now faced several options for PeS. He needed to weigh the pros and cons of each option to make the best decision to fulfill his vision of providing quality healthcare services to “bottom-of-the-pyramid” populations. This case exemplifies the strategic decisions an entrepreneur must make to ensure that a social impact venture can be sustainable and scalable.

In 2010, Anand Piramal acquired the Health Management Research Institute (HMRI), a healthcare venture, and merged it with his original digital healthcare startup Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS), so that PeS became Piramal Swasthya. After acquiring HMRI, Piramal Swasthya scaled across 20 Indian states and became India’s largest private primary healthcare initiative by implementing public-private partnerships with state governments. In 2012, Anand Piramal stepped down as CEO of Piramal Swasthya, leading to organizational change and a healthcare strategy focused on improving maternal health amongst India’s most vulnerable populations. This case shows how an organization can achieve innovation at scale through cross-sector collaboration.

In the middle of a crisis, everything looks like a failure. But it’s possible to come out the other end with a strong company—and often with a plan for growth. Companies with a people-first culture can succeed by paying attention to three things: establishing clear accountability in the leadership ranks; developing a nuts-and-bolts, collaborative plan for getting through the crisis; and putting a separate group in charge of defining the “new normal,” when the worst is over.

Faculty & Research

Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author