Humanizing Business: How Tuck’s Virtual Reality Experiment Brings Empathy Into The MBA Classroom

Vijay Govindarajan’s Reverse Innovation class at Dartmouth Tuck: “Students were able to empathize with these families and learn how some live in poor conditions on just $2 per day.” Rob Strong Photography

When coronavirus made international travel temporarily impossible, Vijay Govindarajan had an idea.

Accustomed to bringing second-year Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business MBA students on annual Global Insight Expeditions (GIX), Govindarajan instead decided to bring the abroad experience to the students using virtual reality technology. He chose to highlight Indian families through his Reverse Innovation class, which focuses on humanizing business.

The goal: to identify health and wellness problems affecting Indian families living below the poverty line, and determine how business can provide solutions. And VR would help make it happen.

“We need to look at people who aren’t consuming products and services and ask what their barriers to consumption are,” Govindarajan tells Poets&Quants. “Then, we need to think about how business can play a role in coming up with innovative solutions. The best and brightest leaders of today are those who are going to build an inclusive, responsible, and compassionate capitalistic society.”

‘WE’VE TAKEN HUMANS OUT OF BUSINESS’

Vijay Govindarajan. Laura Decapua Photography

Govindarajan believes that capitalism is leaving too many people behind, and that the majority of businesses want to make money at all costs. But not all profits are equal, he says.

“We’ve taken humans out of business,” he says. “Profits that improve social value are higher forms of profits. Capitalism that works for more people is a better form of capitalism.”

Govindarajan wanted his virtual reality experiment to humanize business; his intention was to help students understand the power of adopting a leadership approach that combines a social heart with a business mind. “Humanizing business means understanding that the 7 billion people on planet Earth have the same needs and wants. Yet some people’s needs and wants are met, while others’ are not.”

For Tuck ‘22 student Sasha Croak, her biggest realization from the course was that business models that incorporated humanity and empathy were the most successful. “To me, humanizing business is just that — weaving in empathy and understanding for all of those around you, from customers to business partners,” she says.

A LEARNING JOURNEY ACROSS TAMIL NADU

Sasha Croak. Laura Decapua Photography

Govindarajan proposed the idea for the virtual GIX to Tuck Dean Matthew Slaughter in summer of 2021, framing it as a low-cost opportunity for innovation. Once gaining approval, Govindarajan worked with I-India to produce 34 films — using both VR360 and regular 2D technology — that painted a picture of several Indian families’ lives over six months. The course launched this spring, and it took students on a learning journey across rural and urban Tamil Nadu.

The class began with teaching foundational knowledge in reverse innovation. “Historically, companies innovated in rich countries like the United States and then sold those products in poorer countries like India,” Govindarajan says. “Reverse Innovation is about doing exactly the opposite; it’s about innovating in a poor country like India and then selling those products in a rich country like the U.S.”

Next, students met with an entrepreneur who executed reverse innovation in India. Then, the following sessions included live, synchronous Zoom interviews between classmates and Indian families — in which students prepared by watching VR360 and regular 2D films on their own time. The students then created impact through a team-based Reverse Innovation Action Learning Project, in which they applied their understanding of customer problems to determine a business idea that they pitched to Indian venture capitalists.

Tuck MBA students using VR. Laura Decapua Photography

‘I WAS MOVED BY MANY OF THE STORIES’

The Zoom interviews, Govindarajan says, were the most powerful part of the course and helped students to understand the health and wellness problems that these families face. The interviews also helped students determine why these families’ needs aren’t being met, why consumption isn’t possible for them, and what barriers they’re up against. “Some barriers could be awareness, access, or affordability,” explains Govindarajan.

But perhaps the most impactful part of the interviews was the opportunity for Tuck students to learn from others’ experience – experiences that differed greatly from their own. “The students were able to empathize with these families and learn how some live in poor conditions on just $2 per day,” says Govindarajan. “You can learn from anyone if you are humble and have an open mind. In this course, students learn more about themselves and how to connect with humanity.”

“I was moved by many of the stories we heard and was inspired by these families’ resiliency and resourcefulness when it came to some of the more serious health and economic challenges they faced,” says Croak.

“The world is getting more complex, and issues are becoming more complicated,” adds Yuta Ohashi, another Tuck ‘22 student. “In order to properly identify and approach such issues, we have to listen to people.”

‘THEY BEGAN SEEING CAPITALISM IN A NEW LIGHT, AND HOW IT CAN BE A FORCE OF GOOD’

Yuta Ohashi. Laura Decapua Photography

According to Govindarajan, the virtual GIX exposed students to consumers they’d never encountered before. It also helped students realize just how much opportunity they really have in helping others. “Students began to see capitalism in a new light, and how it can be a force of good if it’s innovated to work for more people,” he says.

“Previously, supporting people or countries who are in economically tough situations might have been left to governments, public institutions, and philanthropists,” says Ohashi. “Today, there are plenty of opportunities for businesses to support such people or countries while making a profit.”

‘TECHNOLOGY CAN COMPLEMENT AND AUGMENT AN MBA PROGRAM’

While Govindarajan believes that virtual reality technology isn’t meant to replace in-person B-school experiences, it can add to these experiences. “Technology can complement and augment an MBA program,” he explains.

In spring 2023, Govindarajan plans on offering the course to first-year MBA students rather than only second-years to open their eyes to social problems faced by many people around the world — sooner. This will also allow Tuck students to become inspired to find solutions to these problems throughout the rest of their MBA.

“Without the technology incorporated into the course, it would have been impossible for such fruitful conversations to occur and for such deep insights to be revealed,” says Croak.

Vijay Govindarajan. Laura Decapua Photography

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