The pre-positioning of humanitarian aid: the warehouse location problem

The overarching objective of this thesis is to explore the warehouse location decision problem by considering regional and specific site attributes in the unique context of humanitarian relief organisation. This is to fill the gaps the revealed in the current understanding of location decision problem, particularly the lack of studies attempting to investigate humanitarian pre-positioned location decision problem with qualitative attributes opposed to the many previous studies focused on computerised optimisation model absence of the human judgements. Specifically, this research develops into case studies of the international humanitarian organisations selecting the warehouse attributes and locating the alternative warehouse locations. International humanitarian relief organisation aiding the refugees participated in the case study of the regional location selection problem for pre-positioned warehouse with five major attributes and 25 sub-attributes. Six international humanitarian relief organisations based in Dubai, UAE participated for specific warehouse location selection problem with five major attributes and 30 sub-attributes. The overall research design adopted in this thesis is as follows. First, the coherent humanitarian warehouse location decision attributes were developed in the basis of a literature and semi-structured interviews with practitioners whose organisation practice pre-positioned warehouse operation system. Secondly, two case studies were conducted for constructing the hierarchy structure for warehouse evaluation for regional and specific site location. In the first case study, 11 managerial level officers participated to construct the regional warehouse location decision attributes and evaluated the warehouse location for the organisation. In the second case study, panel members were form by 11 decision-makers from six different organisations constructed the hierarchical structure of the specific site warehouse location attributes for the evaluation. Thirdly, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is executed to acquire criteria weights and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed to obtain the final ranking of the warehouse locations. Fuzzy set theory is adopted in the evaluation to deal with the fuzziness of decision-makers‟ preferences in decision making. In conclusion, this thesis extends the body of knowledge in pre-positioned warehouse location problem in the humanitarian relief logistics context by suggesting a MADM location method, AHP and TOPSIS, integrated with fuzzy set theory to understand the priority preference of regional (macro) and specific site (micro) warehouse location attributes and the selection of the optimal warehouse

The performance of major airports in the Europe, North America and Asia

File replaced (AAM) on 30.5.23 by NK (LDS)© 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited. This AAM is provided for your own personal use only. It may not be used for resale, reprinting, systematic distribution, emailing, or for any other commercial purpose without the permission of the publisher.Purpose This study aims to provide a meaningful comparison of airports’ performance and better understand the differences observed in the analysed airport performance by presenting a model to analyse the relationship between operational and financial performance and airport characteristics. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quantitative analysis approach. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and entropy weight were utilised to analyse 17 airports in three Airports Council International regions: Asia, Europe and North America. Through operational and financial factors, these sample airports identified the most efficiently operated airports from 2016 to 2019. Findings Overall, Asian airports were superior in operational and financial efficiency. Unlike operating performance, the sample airport’s financial and total performance results show a similar trend. There were no noticeable changes in operational factors. Therefore, differences in financial variables for each airport may affect the total performance. Practical implications This study provides insightful implications for airport policymakers to establish a standardised information disclosure foundation for consistent analysis and encourage airports to provide this information. Originality/value The adoption of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) to debt ratio and EBITDA per passenger, which had previously been underutilised in the previous study as financial factors, demonstrated differences between airports for airport stakeholders. In addition, the study presented a model that facilitates producing more intuitive results using TOPSIS, which was relatively underutilised compared to other methodologies such as date envelopment analysis

Supporting humanitarian aid delivery – the role of response depot networks

There is strong evidence that natural disasters around the world are increasing in terms of both frequency and impact; disaster prone areas are experiencing more frequent emergencies and previously benign areas, unaffected by extremes, are now affected. The disaster profile for each region tends to differ with implications for humanitarian aid provision. Nonetheless, the most common major natural disasters that affect specific regions are floods, windstorms, droughts and earthquakes, giving some predictability which can assist in the preparedness phase, but timing, extent and duration of such emergencies remain unpredictable. Areas prone to natural hazards are also vulnerable to civil or political strife which is often precipitated by famine, water shortage or other natural extremes. The crucial role of logistics in emergency relief has been recognised by the organisations involved in field operations and through research which has highlighted a range of activities dependent on emergency supplies. Humanitarian aid delivery and emergency relief operations are often complex, involving many organisations and several phases of activity: all of which are important. International agencies aim to limit the impact of natural disasters by operating a worldwide response network supported by infrastructure such as freight depots in strategic locations. The main objective of developing such a network, supported by transport capability, is to reduce response times and costs when an emergency occurs. This paper focuses primarily on activities related to the preparedness phase, specifically the issues surrounding the pre‐positioning of aid by agencies, in order to ensure a faster response time in the event of a disaster occurring. Issues pertaining to pre positioning are discussed, examples of existing networks analysed and suggestions made as to techniques which can be used to assess the locations of ‘best fit’ for warehouses in such networks. At the present time different agencies operate their own global networks; it is suggested here that relief provision would be more effective if a collaborative warehouse strategy, involving several agencies, were adopted. Further, in light of the evidence suggesting more frequent crises and emergencies in new areas, the current warehouse network should be expanded to improve future humanitarian response