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9B14M144 VISIONSPRING IN INDIA: ENABLING AFFORDABLE EYEGLASSES FOR THE POOR Sandeep Goyal and Amit Kapoor wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) [email protected]; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2015, Management Development Institute Gurgaon and Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2015-04-21 VisionSpring enabled access to affordable eye care for low-income individuals suffering from vision impairment in developing economies. Established in the United States as a social enterprise in 2001, the company started operations in India in 2005. By 2014, it sold more than two million pairs of eyeglasses globally, which included approximately one million pairs of eyeglasses sold in India. Despite achieving this scale, VisionSpring felt that there was a long way to go considering the estimated 300 million people in India requiring eyeglasses for vision correction. Realizing this as a huge unmet opportunity, the company set a goal of achieving eight times its annual sales volume in India from 2014 to 2018. This was not an easy task considering the socio-economic dynamics of the base of the pyramid segment, and market challenges in peri-urban and rural India. The plan required a paradigm shift in the overall business model of VisionSpring in India. Anshu Taneja, country director of VisionSpring, prepared a blueprint comprising the key challenges and potential strategic choices for undertaking the business model transformation to realize this goal. He had a discussion lined up with the organization’s global chief executive officer (CEO) to get his approval for going ahead with the implementation. VISION POVERTY — GLOBAL AND INDIA STATISTICS According to the World Health Organization, 1 there were an estimated 703 million people suffering from vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error in 2007. According to an AMD Alliance International Study in 2010, this was expected to increase to 826 million by 2015, and 929 million by 2020. 2 The majority of these individuals could have their vision restored with a pair of eyeglasses; however, most of them resided in the developing economies and did not have access to the adequate vision correction measures. Eye examinations and eyeglasses had been demonstrated to be one of the most efficient and cost-effective blindness prevention mechanisms. Conversely, uncorrected refractive error resulted in decreased job productivity, diminished quality of life and financial instability for the affected individuals and their households. 1 T.R. Fricke, B.A. Holden, D.A. Wilson, G. Schlenther, K.S. Naidoo, S. Resnikoff and K.D. Fricke, “Global Cost of Correcting Vision Impairment from Uncorrected Refractive Error,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90, 2012, pp. 728-738. 2 Adam Gordois, Lynne Pezzullo and Henry Cutler, “The Global Economic Cost of Visual Impairment,” Access Economics Pty Limited, www.icoph.org/dynamic/attachments/resources/globalcostofvi_finalreport.pdf, accessed December 2, 2014. This complimentary copy has been provided by Ivey Publishing. Any form of reproduction is a copyright violation.

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9B14M144

VISIONSPRING IN INDIA: ENABLING AFFORDABLE EYEGLASSES FOR THE POOR

Sandeep Goyal and Amit Kapoor wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) [email protected]; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2015, Management Development Institute Gurgaon and Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2015-04-21

VisionSpring enabled access to affordable eye care for low-income individuals suffering from vision impairment in developing economies. Established in the United States as a social enterprise in 2001, the company started operations in India in 2005. By 2014, it sold more than two million pairs of eyeglasses globally, which included approximately one million pairs of eyeglasses sold in India. Despite achieving this scale, VisionSpring felt that there was a long way to go considering the estimated 300 million people in India requiring eyeglasses for vision correction. Realizing this as a huge unmet opportunity, the company set a goal of achieving eight times its annual sales volume in India from 2014 to 2018. This was not an easy task considering the socio-economic dynamics of the base of the pyramid segment, and market challenges in peri-urban and rural India. The plan required a paradigm shift in the overall business model of VisionSpring in India. Anshu Taneja, country director of VisionSpring, prepared a blueprint comprising the key challenges and potential strategic choices for undertaking the business model transformation to realize this goal. He had a discussion lined up with the organization’s global chief executive officer (CEO) to get his approval for going ahead with the implementation. VISION POVERTY — GLOBAL AND INDIA STATISTICS According to the World Health Organization,1 there were an estimated 703 million people suffering from vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error in 2007. According to an AMD Alliance International Study in 2010, this was expected to increase to 826 million by 2015, and 929 million by 2020.2 The majority of these individuals could have their vision restored with a pair of eyeglasses; however, most of them resided in the developing economies and did not have access to the adequate vision correction measures. Eye examinations and eyeglasses had been demonstrated to be one of the most efficient and cost-effective blindness prevention mechanisms. Conversely, uncorrected refractive error resulted in decreased job productivity, diminished quality of life and financial instability for the affected individuals and their households. 1 T.R. Fricke, B.A. Holden, D.A. Wilson, G. Schlenther, K.S. Naidoo, S. Resnikoff and K.D. Fricke, “Global Cost of Correcting Vision Impairment from Uncorrected Refractive Error,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 90, 2012, pp. 728-738. 2 Adam Gordois, Lynne Pezzullo and Henry Cutler, “The Global Economic Cost of Visual Impairment,” Access Economics Pty Limited, www.icoph.org/dynamic/attachments/resources/globalcostofvi_finalreport.pdf, accessed December 2, 2014.

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Page 2 9B14M144 It was estimated that 90 per cent of the individuals with uncorrected refractive error lived in the less and least developed regions of the world.3 The majority of this population lived in peri-urban and rural areas and lacked awareness and access to the formal market ecosystem for affordable eye care. Access to corrective lenses across the peri-urban and rural areas was limited by the insufficient number of skilled healthcare professionals, lack of last-mile delivery channels for affordable spectacles and inefficient public healthcare and distribution systems. India had an estimated count of 300 million people requiring eyeglasses (near vision and distance vision) for vision restoration.4 Approximately 200 million of these people lived in rural and semi-urban areas and lacked awareness and accessibility to the formal market ecosystem for affordable eye care. THE ORIGIN OF VISIONSPRING The idea for VisionSpring struck Dr. Jordan Kassalow during his time at medical school as an optometry student. He participated in eye clinics in Latin America and realized the social and economic transformation that eyeglasses could have in the lives of the people requiring vision correction. Kassalow took this idea forward and partnered with Scott Berrie to create the Scojo Foundation in 2001, a not-for-profit organization selling inexpensive eyeglasses to low-income populations in developing economies. Scojo Foundation was renamed as VisionSpring in 2008 and operated as a social enterprise. VisionSpring started its operations in El Salvador in 2002, followed by India in 2005, and later expanded to Bangladesh, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, South Africa and other developing countries through its own offices as well as franchise partners. During 2003, VisionSpring sold 800 pairs of eyeglasses to underserved populations earning less than US$8 per day. By 2014, VisionSpring sold more than two million pairs of eyeglasses in 20 developing countries across Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As per the statistical impact measurements, enabling access to eye screening and eyeglasses led to 35 per cent increase in productivity and 20 per cent increase in monthly income for the impacted individuals. MISSION, LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL SETUP VisionSpring’s mission was enabling “affordable access to eyewear, everywhere.” The company adopted a market-based approach to drive its social mission. The philosophy of the company was to utilize grants as initial seed money for one-time investments in setting up new branches as well as for market-building and setup activities linked to social awareness and acceptance. This was followed by a market-based business model driven by a fine balance between value offerings, cost-based streams and revenue-based streams. Following the social business philosophy, VisionSpring reinvested revenue surplus in enhancing social impact. VisionSpring had a CEO- and chairman-led global entity structure, having reporting from the chief operating officer and country directors (see Exhibit 1). The operations in India and El Salvador were managed by the respective country directors, while the operations in other countries were jointly managed by the chief operating officer. The chairman and CEO were responsible for the global strategic layout and plan for the funding, programs, processes and people, while the regional heads were responsible for

3 http://visionspring.org/, accessed August 22, 2014. 4 www.visionspring.org.in, accessed August 22, 2014.

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Page 3 9B14M144 implementing the strategic plan of the company related to the market setup, value offerings, value creation, value delivery, revenue streams and socio-economic impact. In India, the company had a flat organization structure comprising two main business verticals (partnership as well as hub and spoke) supported by human resource, finance and supply-chain functions. The company designed an embedded organizational culture and invested lot of time and efforts in hiring those who could align with its social mission and display empathy and passion for those suffering from vision impairment. CUSTOMER SEGMENTS AND OFFERINGS VisionSpring adopted a broad-based approach while making a choice of customer segments and target locations in India. The company targeted the underserved segment living in urban slums, rural and peri-urban areas. The customer segment varied in age, race, ethnicity and occupation levels. The majority of the individuals in the target segment earned less than US$2.50 per person per day and had low literacy levels. The company offered a suite of product offerings customized to the needs of the individuals requiring vision correction measures. The product offerings included single vision presbyopic (reading) glasses, bifocals, prescription (Rx) glasses, photochromic glasses, protectors and sunglasses (see Exhibit 2). Regarding target locations, the company started selling eyeglasses in selected cities, towns and villages in different states in India. The choice of locations was driven by the demand potential, feasibility of the potential partnerships and unmet need for vision correction. The company adopted a cluster-based approach for maximizing its reach across rural and semi-urban areas. This involved establishing clusters of hub and spoke setups across different locations. VisionSpring started with Haryana (a state in North India) for setting up a cluster of eye centres linking the surrounding villages, and extended a similar model to other states. CREATING MARKET AWARENESS — VISION CAMPAIGNS The majority of vision-impacted people living across rural and semi-urban areas in developing economies lacked awareness about the need, options and value of vision correction (see Exhibit 3). Most individuals suffering from uncorrected refractive error did not consider it to be a serious problem and perceived their vision to be adequate for daily tasks. The other significant number of respondents did not have time and/or money to attend eye examinations for vision correction. Then there were other respondents who felt that vision impairment was natural with old age and did not want to spend money on the same. VisionSpring targeted the education (awareness) and delivery (accessibility, availability, affordability) gaps at the base of the pyramid (BoP) by employing embedded marketing and sales strategies across the villages. The main focus was on raising awareness about the need and affordable means for vision correction, the significance of eyeglasses in improving overall quality of life, safety and productivity, and providing channels for accessibility and availability. The company conducted periodic day-long vision camps to target communities requiring vision correction in rural locations. These were planned in advance to ensure a high participation rate, thereby justifying the impact realization in terms of the number of people educated, pairs of eyeglasses delivered, number of prescriptions provided and number of earning days saved. The vision camps enabled door-step eye examinations and the delivery of eyeglasses to impacted people in rural areas thereby ensuring significant savings in terms of working hours and travel expenses. Prior to the vision camps, VisionSpring promoted

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Page 4 9B14M144 the campaign by: (1) visiting the selected village; (2) finalizing the campaign location; (3) broadcasting the significance of vision care and campaign details; and (4) interacting with local community leaders to obtain support and local buy-in. This process was mostly conducted at local public congregation places like churches, temples, community centres, schools or government healthcare centres. The activities involved holding awareness sessions, undertaking demonstrations, conducting vision screenings, selling eyeglasses and providing prescriptions to individuals requiring advanced check-ups for vision disorders. VALUE CREATION AND DELIVERY MODELS — PARTNERSHIPS VisionSpring followed a multi-disciplinary approach in setting up last-mile channels for awareness building, accessibility and availability of affordable eyeglasses to the BoP segment (see Exhibit 4). The company started with the micro-franchising-based sales and distribution model. This involved developing the last-mile network via local capacity building at the village level. The local people were identified and engaged as vision entrepreneurs. These vision entrepreneurs were trained to reach the peri-urban and rural locations, build awareness, conduct basic eye screening using a simple age chart, sell eyeglasses and refer complex cases to the partner eye hospitals. This approach helped in penetrating the rural and peri-urban markets during the initial years of operations in India. However, being focused on offerings related to eyewear needs, the company realized the limitations of this approach in scaling its reach and impact. Also, this approach had limitations in terms of optimal resource utilization and cost-benefit realization. There was a high turnover rate of the vision entrepreneurs, resulting in unpredictable sales and support, as well as an increase in the operational costs of training and market building. Consequently, the company transformed its delivery and distribution approach from the vision entrepreneur model to more cost-efficient, high-impact and scalable options, including the hub and spoke and partnership models (see Exhibit 4). In the hub and spoke model, VisionSpring set up a network of stand-alone eye centres in towns, and in-house eye centres in the premises of the partner eye hospitals on a profit-sharing or fixed rental basis. The majority of these eye centres were established in the private/mission hospitals, having a proper location, high inflows of patients and good brand image. Each eye centre served patients from neighbouring towns and villages lying in a radius of 62 miles. These eye centres screened hospital patients and prescribed eyeglasses. In addition, the company conducted outreach activity by holding vision campaigns across the surrounding villages lying in the catchment regions of the partner hospital. Any complex vision-related cases found during the vision campaigns were referred to the partner eye hospitals. The eye centres set up in the partner eye hospitals acted as the hubs and the vision campaigns being conducted in the surrounding villages acted as the spokes (see Exhibit 5). This collaborative hub and spoke model leveraged the brand visibility of the partner eye hospitals along with the marketing and supply-chain capability of VisionSpring, thereby increasing the customer volumes for both organizations. By 2014, the company had created a network of 18 eye centres serviced by five mobile outreach vans. In the partnership model, the company collaborated with public, private and social enterprises to leverage their networks, last-mile connectivity and reach across the BoP markets. Key partners included eye hospitals (private/mission based), primary health centres, government hospitals, non-government organizations, community-based organizations and corporate entities having corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. VisionSpring also provided bulk volumes of high quality eyeglasses at subsidized costs, ensured complete inventory support and trained the community workers of the partner

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Page 5 9B14M144 organizations to build awareness, conduct screening camps and sell eyeglasses (see Exhibit 6). Taneja shared some interesting insights:

We are finding a lot of benefits in the partnership model. For example, we have collaborated with Mahindra & Mahindra, a leading automobile company in India to leverage their last-mile distribution channels in the semi-urban and rural areas. In collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra, we are conducting eye-screening activities across India and dispensing eyeglasses on the spot at camp-sites.

EXPERIMENTATION AND INNOVATION VisionSpring realized the significance of experimentation and innovation in fine-tuning its offerings, processes and business model across the BoP markets. Being a global entity, the company applied the lessons and success models derived from the operations in one country to other countries. The field-based learning and continuous customer feedback enabled the company to design new offerings, optimize processes and redefine the business model suited to the real needs at the BoP. The company had a firm belief that operating at the BoP required an ongoing process of ideation and evolution over a period of time via trial-and-error and field-based learning. The company put lot of emphasis on market analysis, prototyping and partnerships to refine the quality and range of offerings as well as to establish last-mile connectivity and reach. Regarding delivery channels, the company experimented with multiple options for last-mile connectivity and reach at the BoP. VisionSpring started with the micro-franchising model, in which it trained and engaged members of low-income communities as vision entrepreneurs. However, as noted, it realized the scalability limitations of this model and moved towards the partnership- and hub and spoke-based delivery networks for last-mile connectivity and reach. Regarding product innovation, the company focused on designing innovative offerings serving the regional preferences and unique professional needs of its target segment. Customers had different preferences across the different regions. The company offered a range of eyeglasses, including single vision reading glasses, bifocals, prescription glasses, photochromic glasses, protectors and sunglasses. When asked to elaborate the same, Taneja said:

We need to remain relevant to the real needs of the people at the BoP. The real needs vary based upon the socio-economic as well as occupational context. For example, individuals engaged in multi-tasking, like shopkeepers and drivers; prefer bifocals, whereas artisans and bookkeepers prefer single vision reading glasses. The UV-protector eyeglasses are aimed at the cultural preferences of customers who want protection from sun and debris but do not want the dark shading offered by the sunglasses. We keep social acceptance, affordability, accessibility and convenience in mind when deciding upon the range of offerings to the BoP segment.

Scalability Approach One of the key tenets of VisionSpring’s mission was to scale its reach and impact. It invested a great deal of time and effort in ongoing experimentation, innovation and replication of the successful distribution and delivery models across global geographies. Despite being a social enterprise, VisionSpring decided not to scale losses. The company experimented with different distribution and delivery models on a small

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Page 6 9B14M144 scale and carried out the replication across different geographies only when the model proved to be successful and self-sustainable. For VisionSpring, India was its largest market considering income, demography, population growth and demand-supply statistics. The company adopted a multi-dimensional approach towards delivering affordable, high quality eyeglasses to BoP consumers in India. The first dimension involved a high-volume and low-margin approach. This was a dramatic shift from the low-volume and high-margin trend in the optical industry. The high-volume and low-margin approach enabled the company to transform the BoP market from the beneficiary segment getting served by philanthropic handouts to the viable customer segment. To achieve the same, the company created a centralized network of high quality manufacturers in China, followed by the optimized inventory model across the target locations. The second approach involved the cross-subsidization of the offerings. The eye centres, which were developed by the company as a part of the hub and spoke model, offered a variety of frames ranging from basic, mid-range, stylist to highly priced options. The income generated from the sale of stylist and high-priced options enabled the company to perform resource-intensive market awareness and market-building operations across remote locations having limited access and availability of eye care. Taneja echoed the company philosophy towards its target segment: “We respect the poor as customers. Even they have a sense of style and would like to make a choice regarding the look and feel of eyeglasses.” The third approach involved replication of the hub and spoke model in India. This model was pioneered by VisionSpring in El Salvador. The vision entrepreneur-based micro-franchising approach in India proved unsustainable in isolation considering the limited range of low-margin offerings, turnover rate of vision entrepreneurs and increasing governance overheads. The company refined the micro-franchising approach into a systematic hub and spoke model, which involved setting up the eye centres as stand-alone centres or in partnership with local hospitals and reaching the surrounding villages via the team of vision entrepreneurs, mobile outreach vans and vision camps. The fourth approach involved replication of the partnership-based model in India. This model was conceptualized by VisionSpring in Bangladesh, where it partnered with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)5 to leverage its distribution platform for reaching the BoP. The company trained more than 34,000 of BRAC’s local community members in conducting eye screenings, and selling and distributing eyeglasses. The adaptation of this partnership model in India provided an opportunity for VisionSpring to achieve rapid scale in terms of impact and reach. By 2014, the company developed partnerships with more than 250 organizations across India, thereby extending its last-mile connectivity, reach, impact and acceptance across the different rural and semi-urban regions. TRANSITION FROM INCEPTION TO GROWTH PHASE — KEY FOCUS AREAS From 2005 to 2014, VisionSpring went through its inception phase and faced several challenges and transformations in reaching an annual sales volume of approximately 550,000 pairs of eyeglasses globally, including 250,000 in India. Considering the time span taken by the company to reach an annual sales volume of 250,000 pairs of eyeglasses in India, Taneja identified several focus areas that required attention for achieving the annual sales target of two million pairs of eyeglasses sold by 2018. The key

5 BRAC is an international development organization. It was founded in Bangladesh in 1972. It has a team of more than 100,000 community members. www.brac.net/, accessed December 2, 2014.

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Page 7 9B14M144 focus areas required for entering the growth phase involved integrating high touch technology, building resource capacity, optimizing sourcing and inventory setup, identifying newer distribution channels and aligning with government institutions. Regarding technology integration, the company was required to integrate high touch technologies like point-of-sales terminals and implementation of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) package. This was aimed at reducing the cost of operations as well as bringing transparency to the human resource, finance, procurement and sales processes. With respect to resource capacity building, the relative work environment and on-field dynamics in the social enterprise did not match the commercial enterprises, thereby posing challenges in terms of attracting and retaining top talent. The on-field performance required a high level of maturity, self-motivation, patience, persistence and the ability to work under pressure. The sales team was discouraged by the lead time in the realization of sales, leading to high turnover rate. The goal of eight times growth in sales volume from 2014 to 2018 required expanding management competency and resources at all levels in the organization. There was a need to focus on enhancing the human resource system and processes to promote cultural fit, social empathy and social mission orientation among the employees. When asked to comment on the criticality of resources for operating at the BoP, Taneja replied:

The BoP market in India is characterized by a lack of minimal market infrastructure, shortage of skilled resources and a lack of managerial pool and talent willing to work in the social sector. We need to strengthen the human resource system so that we can build a team of individuals who are fun, fast, effective and caring. This is necessary to bring more and more responsibilities down the hierarchy and maximize the socio-economic impact.

VisionSpring fulfilled the bulk of its sourcing and inventory setup requirements by sourcing from certified factories in China. The eyeglasses were contract manufactured in these factories for VisionSpring and were quality certified by Pro QC International, a leading global third-party quality control organization. The company had to maintain the inventory due to the bulk sourcing from China having a three-month cycle from ordering to delivery. Moreover, the sourcing from China reduced the flexibility of the company to offer new designs of eyeglasses as per the latest market trends. Therefore, the company tested and aligned with a small group of local suppliers, who also imported from China. This local network of suppliers enabled VisionSpring to reduce inventory overheads as well as to meet the demand for specialized glasses and designer frames as per changing trends. The company negotiated the win-win contracts with the network of suppliers and manufacturers considering the need for balancing performance-price ratio. Regarding distribution channels, VisionSpring pioneered the micro-franchising model in India at the time of its inception. However, realizing the scalability limitations of this approach, the company adopted the dual channels comprising the hub and spoke model and partnership model for last-mile connectivity and reach. This transformative change in the last mile channels enabled VisionSpring to reach millions of vision-impaired individuals at minimal operational cost. The company was evaluating the possibility of setting up an online platform as a complementary channel for its global business-to-business (B2B) sales. VisionSpring had achieved limited success in aligning with government institutions to bring blindness-related policy-level benefits to the poor and to establish the eye centres in government hospitals in peri-urban and rural areas.

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Page 8 9B14M144 India’s National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB)6 funded INR100 (US$1.65)7 for a pair of presbyopic (reading) eyeglasses for adults, and INR275 (US$4.54) for a pair of prescription (Rx) eyeglasses for children. However, this policy required state-level interaction with the government, thereby making it unviable for VisionSpring in terms of the time, capital and human resources investments involved in dealing with different government institutions. VisionSpring therefore decided not to deal with the government directly and instead relied on partner organizations for the same. The right level of partnership with government hospitals was necessary to bring the transformative scale in terms of social impact and reach across urban slums, peri-urban and rural areas in India. VisionSpring undertook partnership with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)8 to provide quality eyeglasses at economic price points to patients visiting the vision centres at hospitals in Delhi National Capital Region. The company also planned to extend partnerships with other government institutions, such as Indian Post, Indian Railways, Regional Institutes of Ophthalmology and Rural Health Centres, to leverage their existing network and reach. However, it realized the need for significant management capacity and resources to align with these government institutions. This was not possible for VisionSpring considering the current size of the organization. THE DECISION Taneja had many thoughts going through his mind while preparing for the meeting with the global CEO regarding the action plan for achieving eight times the sales volume in India by 2018. He understood the criticality of enhancing the execution capability to enter into the growth phase from the inception phase. From 2005 to 2014, the company had been successful in many areas like enhancing brand visibility, setting up last-mile delivery channels, creating market awareness, enabling last-mile skill building and building non-traditional partnerships with institutions having grassroot presence at the BoP. However, the next phase of growth required a business model transformation for VisionSpring in India. This involved enhancing the capacity and capabilities for addressing growth-related challenges. Taneja knew that VisionSpring had a difficult but exciting year ahead. This was a historic opportunity to take the next big leap in the journey towards the fulfillment of the mission of the organization.

6 National Programme for Control of Blindness was a central government body and a part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) in India. NPCB was launched in 1976, as a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme with the goal to reduce the prevalence of blindness from 1.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent. It granted funds to states under the National Health Mission (NHM) of the Government of India. http://npcb.nic.in/, accessed August 30, 2014.) 7 US$1 = INR60.58. www.xe.com/currencyconverter, accessed August 30, 2014. 8 AIIMS is a well known healthcare institution set up by an Act of Parliament for providing comprehensive facilities for teaching, research and patient care in India. www.aiims.edu/aiims/aboutaiims/aboutaiimsintro.htm, accessed December 2, 2014.

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Page 9 9B14M144

EXHIBIT 1: VISIONSPRING — GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONAL LAYOUT

Source: Interview with Anshu Taneja on January 20, 2015.

EXHIBIT 2: CUSTOMER SEGMENTS AND OFFERINGS IN INDIA

Offerings Characteristics Main Customer Segments Single Vision Reading Glasses (near vision)

Single magnification used to correct up-close vision reading, writing and detailed manual work.

Artisans, Metal-workers, Bookkeepers Homemakers

Bifocals (near vision)

Single magnification without any need to remove the glasses for long distance use. Required by customers doing multi-tasking or driving, etc.

Shopkeepers, Drivers, Multi-taskers

Prescription (Rx) Glasses (distance vision)

Customized lenses to solve vision problems for all ages.

School children, Drivers

Photochromic glasses UV-protected lenses getting darker depending upon light exposure.

Delivery persons, Farmers

Protectors Provide protection from light, wind, debris for the prevention of cataracts, redness and irritation.

Drivers, Contractors, Welders, Professionals having long outdoor activities

Sunglasses (UV-protected)

Stylish glasses for protection from over-exposure to sun, wind and debris.

Farmers, Construction workers

Source: Company files.

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Page 10 9B14M144 EXHIBIT 3: BARRIERS TO VISION OFFERINGS — RESPONDENTS HAVING NEAR VISION ISSUES

Barriers Percentage

Did not have a serious problem 23.8 Able to see adequately 23.4 Other obligations prevent eye-care checkup 20.4 Do not have money 17.5 Natural process with old age and hence need not be treated 3.5 No escort 2.5 Eye checkup not a priority 2.2 Have to travel far for a checkup 1.8 Do not know where to go 1.0 Afraid that vision loss will be revealed 1.0 Others 2.8

Source: Praveen K. Nirmalan, Sannapaneni Krishnaiah, Bindiganavale R. Shamanna, Gullapalli N. Rao and Ravi Thomas, “A Population-Based Assessment of Presbyopia in the State of Andhra Pradesh, South India: The Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study,” Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 47(6), 2006, pp. 2324-2328.

EXHIBIT 4: VISIONSPRING — DELIVERY MODELS IN INDIA

Source: Interview with Anshu Taneja on January 20, 2015.

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EXHIBIT 5: VISIONSPRING — HUB AND SPOKE DELIVERY MODEL IN INDIA

Source: Company files.

EXHIBIT 6: VISIONSPRING — PARTNERSHIPS IN INDIA

Partners Regions Sahaj e-Village Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam,

Odisha, and Tamil Nadu AIIMS, DLF Foundation Delhi National Capital Region Project Dharma, E Health Point, Tata Sons, Sightsavers, Operation Asha, Seva Mob

Delhi

ERC eye care, Fair Trade USA/Honest Tea Assam eKutir, ECOS Eye Hospital Odisha Sight Care Foundation, Aravind Eye Care System Tamil Nadu VASAN Eye Care Chennai IGEHRC , Seva Mob, Mela Artisans Uttar Pradesh Sagarmatha Eye Hospital Nepal Wockhardt Foundation, Swasth India, Udaygiri Lions Eye Hospital, Shri Ganpati Netralaya

Maharashtra

HV Desai Eye Hospital Pune Karuna Trust Karnataka RR Lions Eye Hospital Andhra Pradesh

Source: Company files.

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