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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a Humanitarian Purchasing Matrix to guide purchasing strategies for relief items in humanitarian operations. Design/methodology/approach The research synthesizes the structures of a Purchasing Portfolio Model and the characteristics of purchasing in humanitarian operations, validating them with academics and practitioners to develop a Humanitarian Purchasing Matrix. Then, based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to classify the relief items in the matrix, an illustrative example is used as an empirical test for the proposed Humanitarian Purchasing Matrix. Findings The academic literature on purchasing in general and purchasing in humanitarian operations share some similarities in terms of “Importance of Purchasing” and “Complexity of Supply Market” dimensions. Moreover, the analysis of such criteria supports the definition of purchasing strategies for different relief items in humanitarian operations. Practical implications The Humanitarian Purchasing Matrix can be considered a tool/guide for professionals of humanitarian organizations in the adoption of purchasing strategies for the different relief items purchased for humanitarian operations. Originality/value Considering a scenario of a constant increase in the variety of relief items, the high purchasing volume and the pressure to more efficient relief operations, the research discusses the intersectionality of business purchasing models and the purchasing characteristics of humanitarian operations. Moreover, the research deliveries a tool/guide to the adoption of purchasing strategies that are composed of criteria observed in the literature and suggested by both humanitarian logistic academics and practitioners.

PurposeThis paper proposes a maturity model (MM) for assessing disaster operations and identifying strategies for organisations to evolve their maturity stages.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies a systematic literature review to identify state-of-the-art work related to maturity models for disaster operations. In addition, the study develops a case study to validate the proposed maturity model in a generic scenario and two real-life scenarios.FindingsThe analysis of 158 papers in the literature resulted in identifying 8 maturity models for disaster operations. Based on their structure, the authors proposed a new model with five maturity stages suitable for any of the four phases of the disaster life cycle (i.e. mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery). In addition, the research identified and presents 24 strategies for improving disaster operations according to each maturity stage transition. Finally, the research presents a case study that evaluates the disaster response operations from a Civil Defense organisation considering a response scenario disaster in general, a flood scenario, and the COVID-19 pandemic scenario.Originality/valueThis study provides the following three main contributions useful for academics and practitioners in the disaster operations area: a new maturity model for assessing disaster operations, a strategy guide for improving disaster operations based on a maturity evolution and an empirical study exploring the approximation between academia and professionals involved in real-life disaster operations management.