Outsourcing of humanitarian logistics to commercial logistics service providers: An empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the potential of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities to commercial logistics service providers (LSPs) throughout the different disaster phases. The authors identify incentives for initiating outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities to commercial logistics providers, humanitarian logistics activities to be outsourced and selection criteria for partners. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on empirical data collected by interviewing 12 practitioners from commercial LSPs and 12 practitioners from humanitarian organizations (HOs). A review of related literature guided this research. Findings – This research shows that incentives for initiating outsourcing engagements, partner selection criteria and activities to be outsourced are changing throughout the different disaster phases. A number of research propositions are presented. Research limitations/implications – This research constitutes a first step towards the goal of a comprehensive analysis of humanitarian logistics outsourcing throughout the different disaster phases. The authors collected data from practitioners and large organizations based mainly in Europe and the USA. Hence, insights from national and local organizations of other parts of the world are missing. Practical implications – This research provides a deeper understanding of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities. As the main implication for practice, the research suggests a strategic use of outsourcing during the three disaster phases. The authors acknowledge that business objectives, risks, stakeholder agendas and requirements, as well as costs play a vital and changing role for outsourcing decision-making during the three disaster stages. The managerial implications arising from the research can provide support to commercial LSPs and HOs that initiate or develop strategic outsourcing relationships. Originality/value – This study covers the gap in the humanitarian literature related to context-specific factors of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics by empirically investigating the phenomenon. This is one of the first studies that empirically investigate the potential of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities throughout the disaster phases

Digitizing the field: designing ERP systems for Triple-A humanitarian supply chains

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore what design principles need to be considered in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for humanitarian organizations (HOs) to enable agile, adaptive and aligned (Triple-A) humanitarian supply chain capabilities and digitize humanitarian operations. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows an embedded case study approach with ahumanitarian medical relief organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which engaged in a multiyear ERP design at its humanitarian field missions. Findings: This research shows that ERP systems for humanitarian organizations should be designed asunique systems addressing humanitarian organizations' challenges and unique missions, their valuegeneration processes, and resource base in an effort to improve organizational performance. This study presents 12 general design principles that are unique for humanitarian organizations. These design principle sprovide a high-level structure of guidance under which specific requirements can be further defined and engineered to achieve success. Research limitations/implications: The results of this study are based on a single case study limiting generalizability. However, the case study was analyzed and presented as an embedded case study with five autonomous subunits using different business processes and following different adoption and implementation approaches. Therefore, the findings are derived based on considerable variance reflective of humanitarian organizations beyond MSF. Practical implications: This study recognizes that HOs have unique routines that standard commercial ERP packages do not address easily at the field level. The primary contribution of this research is a set of design principles that consider these unique routines and guide ERP development in practice. National and international HOs that are planning to implement information systems, private companies that are trading partners of HOs as well as vendors of ERP systems that are looking for new opportunities would all benefitfrom this research. Originality/value: This study fills the gap in the humanitarian literature regarding the design of ERPsystems for humanitarian organizations that enable Triple–A supply chain capabilities and it advances the knowledge of the challenges of ERP design by HOs in the context of humanitarian operations

Disaster relief inventory management: horizontal cooperation between humanitarian organizations

Cooperation among humanitarian organizations has attracted increasing attention to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of relief supply chains. Our research focuses on horizontal cooperation in inventory management which is currently implemented in the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) network. The present work follows a two-step research approach, which involves collection of empirical data and quantitative modeling to examine and overcome the coordination challenges of the network. Our interviews with members of the network identified several managerial issues for sustainable cooperative inventory management that the UNHRD network pursues. Using a newsvendor model in the context of non-cooperative game theory, our research has explored member humanitarian organizations' incentive of joining the network, a coordination mechanism which achieves system optimality, and impacts of members' decisions about stock rationing. Our results indicate that behaviors of member HOs do not necessarily align with the UNHRD's expectation. Our results suggest that for system optimality, a system coordinator should carefully assess the circumstances, including demand coefficient and stock rationing. Our research also proposes a policy priority for the first-best system optimal inventory management

Supply Chain Resilience: Insights from Theory and Practice

Disasters have an effect not only on individuals but also on the local infrastructure and the supply chains that are highly detrimental to aid delivery. The most effective way of delivering aid to disaster-affected areas is by reestablishing pre-disaster supply chains to enable disrupted supply chains to get back to normal conditions. Consequently, developing a resilient supply chain is one approach to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of aid delivery. In this chapter, we review and discuss the enablers of humanitarian supply chain resilience.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Dynamics of Disasters: Algorithmic Approaches and Applications 3

As an alternative to commodity-based programming (in-kind aid), Cash Transfer Programming is attracting both humanitarian organizations’ and institutional donors’ attention. Unlike in-kind aid, Cash Transfer Programming transfers purchasing power directly to beneficiaries in the form of currency or vouchers for them to obtain goods and/or services directly from the local market. In distributing currency to beneficiaries, the private sector, especially financial service providers, plays a prominent role, due to the humanitarian sector’s limited relevant resources. The present work unveils challenges for the private and humanitarian sectors, which hinder implementing Cash Transfer Programming. Based on primary and secondary qualitative data, the paper presents the main characteristics and the mechanisms of Cash Transfer Programming to explore how the private sector is involved with Cash Transfer Programming. Then, this study presents bottlenecks of reciprocal relationships between financial service providers and humanitarian organizations in Cash Transfer Programming.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Outsourcing of humanitarian logistics to commercial logistics service providers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the potential of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities to commercial logistics service providers (LSPs) throughout the different disaster phases. The authors identify incentives for initiating outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities to commercial logistics providers, humanitarian logistics activities to be outsourced and selection criteria for partners. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on empirical data collected by interviewing 12 practitioners from commercial LSPs and 12 practitioners from humanitarian organizations (HOs). A review of related literature guided this research. Findings This research shows that incentives for initiating outsourcing engagements, partner selection criteria and activities to be outsourced are changing throughout the different disaster phases. A number of research propositions are presented. Research limitations/implications This research constitutes a first step towards the goal of a comprehensive analysis of humanitarian logistics outsourcing throughout the different disaster phases. The authors collected data from practitioners and large organizations based mainly in Europe and the USA. Hence, insights from national and local organizations of other parts of the world are missing. Practical implications This research provides a deeper understanding of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities. As the main implication for practice, the research suggests a strategic use of outsourcing during the three disaster phases. The authors acknowledge that business objectives, risks, stakeholder agendas and requirements, as well as costs play a vital and changing role for outsourcing decision-making during the three disaster stages. The managerial implications arising from the research can provide support to commercial LSPs and HOs that initiate or develop strategic outsourcing relationships. Originality/value This study covers the gap in the humanitarian literature related to context-specific factors of outsourcing in humanitarian logistics by empirically investigating the phenomenon. This is one of the first studies that empirically investigate the potential of outsourcing of humanitarian logistics activities throughout the disaster phases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Lessons learned from humanitarian logistics to manage supply chain disruptions

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbreak affects not just populations but also global and local economies and supply chains. The outbreak itself has impacted on production lines and manufacturing capacities. In response to the outbreak, policies have been put in place that blocks the movement of people and materials, causing supply chain disruptions. Mainstream supply chain management has been at a loss in responding to these disruptions, mostly due to a dominant focus on minimizing costs for stable operations, while following lean, just‐in‐time, and zero‐inventory approaches. On the other hand, pandemic response supply chains, and their related supply chain disruptions, share many characteristics with disaster response and thereby with humanitarian supply chains. Much can thus be learned from humanitarian supply chains for managing pandemic‐related supply chain disruptions. What is more, facing, and managing, supply chain disruptions can be considered the new norm also in light of other disruptive forces such as climate change, or financial or political crises. This article therefore presents lessons learned from humanitarian supply chains that help mitigate and overcome supply chain disruptions. These lessons not only relate to preparedness and mobilization, but also relate to standardization, innovation, and collaboration. Together, they brace organizations, supply chains, and societies, to manage current and future disruptions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Toward resilient humanitarian cooperation: examining the performance of horizontal cooperation among humanitarian organizations using an agent-based modeling (ABM) approach

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Digitizing the field: designing ERP systems for Triple-A humanitarian supply chains

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore what design principles need to be considered in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for humanitarian organizations (HOs) to enable agile, adaptive and aligned (Triple-A) humanitarian supply chain capabilities and digitize humanitarian operations. Design/methodology/approach This study follows an embedded case study approach with a humanitarian medical relief organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which engaged in a multiyear ERP design at its humanitarian field missions. Findings This research shows that ERP systems for humanitarian organizations should be designed as unique systems addressing humanitarian organizations' challenges and unique missions, their value generation processes, and resource base in an effort to improve organizational performance. This study presents 12 general design principles that are unique for humanitarian organizations. These design principles provide a high-level structure of guidance under which specific requirements can be further defined and engineered to achieve success. Research limitations/implications The results of this study are based on a single case study limiting generalizability. However, the case study was analyzed and presented as an embedded case study with five autonomous subunits using different business processes and following different adoption and implementation approaches. Therefore, the findings are derived based on considerable variance reflective of humanitarian organizations beyond MSF. Practical implications This study recognizes that HOs have unique routines that standard commercial ERP packages do not address easily at the field level. The primary contribution of this research is a set of design principles that consider these unique routines and guide ERP development in practice. National and international HOs that are planning to implement information systems, private companies that are trading partners of HOs as well as vendors of ERP systems that are looking for new opportunities would all benefit from this research. Originality/value This study fills the gap in the humanitarian literature regarding the design of ERP systems for humanitarian organizations that enable Triple–A supply chain capabilities and it advances the knowledge of the challenges of ERP design by HOs in the context of humanitarian operations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe