Set in August 2019, this case describes the efforts of L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) to implement an initiative to improve the well-being of its employees by addressing their needs holistically. LVPEI is one of the leading medical institutions in India and the world in eye care treatment and research. As part of its mission to treat its patients well and provide excellent eye care services, LVPEI also sought to treat its employees well and provide them with a work setting that enabled them to thrive. This focus on employee well-being led LVPEI's Chairman, Dr. G. N. Rao, and Vice-Chairman, Dr. G. Chandra Sekhar, to invite Ram Nidumolu, co-author of the case study (referred to as "the consultant" in the case for the purposes of objectivity), to identify areas of improvement and implement initiatives to enhance employee well-being. The initiative described in this case study began in August 2018 and was completed a year later. The initiative was built around a new approach to employee well-being called "beingful work". Beingful work theory, developed by Nidumolu and his associates, posits that employee well-being is influenced by the extent to which the workplace fulfills the needs of the employee's "whole self" or being. These holistic needs include material, psychological, social, ecological, and moral/spiritual needs that employees bring to their work. The more the organization cultivates a work setting that fulfills these needs, the more meaningful work becomes for employees, making them more engaged with their work. Meaningful and engaging work, in turn, promotes the holistic well-being of employees because of the positive energy it creates. The case describes three phases of implementation of beingful work at LVPEI, of which the third phase-scaling up-is proving to be the most challenging.

Addressing global sustainability challenges--including climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem loss--is beyond the individual capabilities of even the largest companies. To tackle these threats, and unleash new value, companies and other stakeholders must collaborate in new ways that treat fragile and complex ecosystems as a whole. In this article, the authors draw on cases including the Latin American Water Funds Partnership, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (led by Nike, Patagonia, and Walmart), and Action to Accelerate Recycling (a partnership between Alcoa, consumer packaged goods companies, and local governments, among others) to describe four new collaboration models that create shared value and address environmental protection across the value stream. Optimal collaborations focus on improving either business processes or outcomes. They start with a small group of key organizations, bring in project management expertise, link self-interest to shared interest, encourage productive competition, create quick wins, and, above all, build and maintain trust.

When companies pursue sustainability, it's usually to demonstrate that they are socially responsible. They expect that the endeavor will add to their costs, deliver no immediate financial benefits, and quite possibly erode their competitiveness. Meanwhile, policy makers and activists argue that it will take tougher regulations and educated, organized consumers to force businesses to adopt sustainable practices. But, say the authors, the quest for sustainability can unearth a mother lode of organizational and technological innovations that yield both top-line and bottom-line returns. That quest has already begun to transform the competitive landscape, as companies redesign products, technologies, processes, and business models. By equating sustainability with innovation today, enterprises can lay the groundwork that will put them in the lead when the recession ends. Nidumolu, Prahalad, and Rangaswami have found that companies on the journey to sustainability go through five distinct stages of change: (1) viewing compliance as opportunity; (2) making value chains sustainable; (3) designing sustainable products and services; (4) developing new business models; and (5) creating next-practice platforms. The authors outline the challenges that each stage entails and the capabilities needed to tackle them.