This article was taken from the April issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Scale your business, whatever it is
Heart-surgery doesn't seem like a mass-market product. But Dr.
Devi Shetty is delivering cutting-edge healthcare at a fraction of the usual price, by returning to that most basic of economic principles: economies of scale.
In Bangalore he built a 1000 bed hospital that handled 3,174 coronary bypasses in 2008, charging an average of $2,000 (£1,350).
At a US hospital, the price is $20,000 (£13,500). And such high volumes don't compromise quality: the mortality rate within 30 days is 1.4 per cent, compared to the US average of 1.9 per cent. And the benefits aren't just for the patients - the institute's after taxes profits are higher (7.7 per cent) than the average US hospital.
More companies in our Work Smarter package:
Howies
UBS
HubSpot
Best Buy
Red Gate
Vestergaard Frandsen
Inditex
McLaren
Behance
LiveOps
Atlassian
D'O
Victors & Spoils
Happy Computers
Mosaic
Cancer Research UK
Generation Press
The Public School
37signals
This article was originally published by WIRED UK