Factors Affecting Global Inventory Prepositioning Locations in Humanitarian Operations—A Delphi Study

Abstract

T his article investigates the factors that are important to humanitarian organizations when determining locations for inventory prepositioning in preparation for emergencies-a critical decision faced by humanitarian managers. Current research in the sector is rich with mathematical models that focus on this decision, although these models have a limited scope in terms of decision factors. Through a Delphi study our article investigates, identifies, and orders a comprehensive set of factors that decision makers in the humanitarian sector take into consideration when determining where to preposition inventory on the global level. Through this process, 10 main factors are identified, with the top five factors being required: speed of emergency response, the availability and quality of infrastructure, the availability and quality of business support services, the cost of operating the facility, and the availability and quality of labor. We also include suggestions for facility location research based on the outcomes of our study.

A fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS approach to supply partner selection in continuous aid humanitarian supply chains

“…Humanitarian organizations must overcome many challenges to dispatch suitable relief materials with agility (Van Wassenhove 2006; Kovács and Spens 2007;Duran et al 2013). As part of an effort to effectively manage these challenges, there is a growing operational focus on pre-positioning logistics (Barbarosoglu and Arda 2004; Özdamar et al 2004;Yi and Özdamar 2007;Özdamar and Ertem 2015;Ahmadi et al 2015;Victoria et al 2015;Chen et al 2017) and inventory management (Beamon and Kotleba 2006;Davis et al 2013;He and Zhuang 2016;Richardson et al 2016). These studies are essential for identifying the most effective and efficient relief management strategies for a set of circumstances (Van Wassenhove 2006).…”

Humanitarian Aid Distribution Framework for Natural Disaster Management

“…These are highlighted by several authors identified through a literature reviews on humanitarian aid management. The factors are information (van der Laan et al, 2016;Yilmaz & Kabak, 2016), communication (Madianou et al, 2015;Martin et al, 2016), collaboration (Martin et al, 2016;Nagurney et al, 2016), coordination (Martin et al, 2016;Richardson et al, 2016) and cooperation (Joshi & Nishimura, 2016;Martin et al, 2016). These are the key success factors for disaster management stakeholders in managing the humanitarian aid distribution process efficiently and effectively.…”

Critical factors for organisational effectiveness: The case of Saudi Arabian seaports

“…Shaikh and Khoja (2014) suggested that the consensus level is one of the fundamental elements in Delphi studies, and a sufficiently high consensus level should be utilised as a benchmark for retaining the factors that are preferred by participants in the first round. However, as there is no fixed measure to define the consensus level (Becuwe et al, 2017), variable statistics were used for consideration of the consensus level as suggested by various studies (Richardson, de Leeuw, & Dullaert, 2016;Gracht, 2012;Harmsen et al, 2015;Tharisara, Kanchana, & Turner, 2016;Williams, 2016;Hasson, Keeney, & McKenna, 2000;Hsu and Sandford,2007). Following (Bulger & Housner, 2007;Green, Jones, Hughes, & Williams, 1999;Lohuis, van Vuuren, & Bohlmeijer, 2014;Neuer Colburn, Grothaus, Hays, & Milliken, 2016), this study uses a consensus level of four for five-point Likert scale questions.…”