I.

RATIONALE

‘Dabbawallahs’ are Indian people in the city of Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly
made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. Tiffin is an old-fashioned english word for a light
lunch, and sometimes for the box it is carried in. Dabbawallahs are sometimes called “Tiffin-wallahs”.
Originated in India during the British rule, many of them disliked the British food so a concept of bringing
food from home emerged

Although the Dabbawallah have been in operation for over a century, they have largely
operated unchanged from the time they came into existence. This has been mainly attributed to their
under-reliance on technology who conduct their operations which rely on a rail network to reduce
transportation costs. For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that the virtuality
achieves a Six Sigma performance rating. (i.e. 99.9999% of deliveries are made without error).

However, while the dabbawallah organizational structure is easily scalable, they have been
unable to cover larger distances because of mostly employing workers who prefer to avoid the use of
technology in day-to-day operations. The limited use of technology and lack of employee diversity limits
the organization’s potential for change and capability to expand into other regions which they might
achieve greater returns and investment through capitalizing a new fast growing markets.

II. ISSUES AND CONCERNS

• Aversion towards technology

• Employee Retention

• Shrinking customer base and Customer loyalty

• Means of Transportation

III. POINT OF VIEW (POV)

 Raghunath Medge- President of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust (The Trust).

IV.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 In this modern era, will their “aversion towards technology philosophy” still be effective or not ?

VI. OBJECTIVES

• To determine whether it is favorable if they will adapt the use of technology

• To know if it is advantageous for the entity to stay to the traditional way

• To assess the benefits of using modern technology