Sandra Brown Goes Digital

Rosabeth Moss Kanter; Jonathan  Cohen

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2018

Sandra Brown Goes Digital

by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Abstract

As a middle manager at a biotechnology company, Sandra Brown harnessed digital tools and social media to engage others and build campaigns for change in the company. This Teaching Note presents strategies for teaching the Sandra Brown case series, which follows Brown's career at NIN Biotech and describes the challenges she faced as a change agent, working to promote gender equality and improve quality within the company and build a movement around a new drug developed to fight cancer externally. Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 318-082, 318-083, and 318-084.

Keywords: change leadership; change management; digital; engagement; stakeholder engagement; grassroots movement; Organizational Change and Adaptation; quality; health care industry; management; career path; innovation; Leading Change; Management; Innovation and Management; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Quality;

Language: English

Format: Print

21 pages

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Citation:

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sandra Brown Goes Digital." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 318-156, June 2018.

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.

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