Abstract

The case study ‘Mumbai’s Dabbawalas: Moving Beyond Their Iconic Business Model Post COVID-19’ examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business of the Mumbai dabbawalas, a 130-year-old organization primarily engaged in delivering lunchboxes mostly from customers’ homes to their offices in the city. The case highlights the need for organizations to leverage on their core competence and diversify to survive and grow in a VUCA world. The case study provides a brief history of the dabbawalas and how they had organized themselves into a cooperative called ‘Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (NMTBSA). It then touches upon the logistics system of the dabbawalas and the many accolades they earned for their excellence, dedication, and service efficiency. The case study then focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dabbawalas’ regular business and their struggle to eke out a living during the lockdown period. It goes on to describe how the dabbawalas decided to leverage their core competencies to take a relook at their iconic business model following the lockdown. The dabbawalas entered into partnerships with various organizations to offer different delivery services, including the delivery of fresh vegetables to households from December 2020. They also planned to use a mobile application in future to facilitate their delivery services.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand how an organization develops a core competence over a period of time
• Become aware of the importance of organizational resilience and pivoting to survive in a VUCA world
• Learn how organizations can rebound from setbacks if they have a core competence
• Understand the characteristics of services
• Learn how organizations can leverage their core competence to diversify and grow

Keywords

Core competence; Organizational resilience; Organizational change; Business strategy; Crisis management; Pivoting; Business models; Operational excellence; Service efficiency