This commentary announces the launch of the Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System. The Commission is an ambitious, cross-sectoral effort to develop a citizens’ roadmap to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in India in the next decade. Unlike previous reports, the Commission is guided by the principle that structural change towards UHC must be attained through consultative and participatory engagement with the diverse sectors involved in health care and, most importantly, with India’s citizenry. While the Commission will build on the vast existing literature on healthcare in India, it is set apart by a unprecedented effort to represent the diverse perspectives of India’s 1.3 billion citizens through nation-wide surveys and focus groups with those who deliver and receive healthcare. The Commission’s interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in its composition—with members including doctors, public health professionals, economists, financial scholars, consumer behavior experts, and social welfare workers—as well as in its growing partnerships with research institutes and independent organizations in India and abroad. The recommendations will be based on insights gathered through this consultative effort and published on the Lancet on Aug 15, 2022, when India will have completed its 75th year as an independent nation.
India headquartered Mahindra Group is a multibillion-dollar federation of companies operating across the globe. It is ahead of its time in articulating its purpose and mapping its values, something it had first done at inception and then refreshed yet again as ‘Rise’ in 2011. Over the past decade, it has cascaded the essence of ‘Rise’ as a purpose through the organization. The idea was to “challenge conventional thinking and innovatively use all their resources to drive positive change in the lives of stakeholders and communities across the world to enable them to Rise.” As its senior leadership team contemplate Mahindra’s future, they wonder how they should balance the ‘Rise’ philosophy with a focus on financial returns that is critical for the group, especially in the aftermath of the health and economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and a leadership transition at the group.
We study relational contracts among managers using a unique dataset that tracks transfers of workers across teams in Indian ready-made garment factories. We focus on how relational contracts help managers cope with worker absenteeism shocks, which are frequent, often large, weakly correlated across teams, and have substantial negative impacts on team productivity. Together these facts imply gains from sharing workers. We show that managers respond to shocks by lending and borrowing workers in a manner consistent with relational contracting, but many potentially beneficial transfers are unrealized. This is because managers’ primary relationships are with a very small subset of potential partners. Counterfactual simulations reveal large gains to forming additional relationships among managers.
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Anjali Raina is the Executive Director of the Harvard Business School India Research Centre. In her leadership role at the IRC, Anjali focuses on building and maintaining relationships with senior business leaders in the region to facilitate the work of the center in research, educational programs, community building and faculty development.
Under her leadership, the IRC has facilitated the writing of over 168 case studies on Indian Business Practice and supported half a dozen research projects. Anjali has co-authored several case studies such as Aadhaar: India’s ‘Unique Identification’ System, TeamLease: Putting India to Work (II) Legally; Pratham – Every Child in School and Learning Well; Naina Lal Kidwai: Investing in Her Country; Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A); HN Agri Serve : Growing Prosperity as well as an HBR Article on The Ordinary Heroes of the Taj.
Anjali wears several additional hats. She is a Director on the Board of Harvard Business Publishing, India, the Regional President (Western Region) of NHRDN, an Advisor to The Akanksha Foundation, Trustee to LIFE Trust, an Advisory Member on the Board of HBS Club of India, and on the Advisory Board of the Indian Business School.
Prior to joining HBS IRC Anjali spent 15 years with Citigroup India, most recently as Country Director, before which she worked for more than a decade with ANZ Grindlays Bank PLC. Anjali holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, a bachelor's degree (Eng. Hons) from Loreto College and is an alumnus of HBS having completed the Advanced Management Program.