Transforming humanitarian logistics: the journey to supply network management

Tatham, Peter; Pettit, Stephen John

doi:10.1108/09600031011079283

Cited by 124 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In line with suggestions by Tatham and Pettit (2010), this study has shown how models developed for the commercial context can be applied to the humanitarian. The application of the basic model for logistics process redesign demonstrates its strengths in terms of simplicity and usefulness when information is scarce, data collection is challenging, and the main stakeholders are not competent in logistics and supply-chain management.…”

Section: Conclusion -Implications and Further Researchsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Little has been published on logistics in long-term development and distribution of goods in developing countries (Kovács and Spens, 2011a). While often seen as limited to disaster relief logistics (see e.g., Tatham and Pettit, 2010;McLachlin and Larson, 2011), recent statements now include 'development' as part of humanitarian logistics (e.g., Kovács and Spens, 2011b, p.8). Furthermore, practitioners and researchers increasingly note the importance of linking disaster relief with recovery and development (e.g.…”

Section: Introduction and Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

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Improving health in developing countries: reducing complexity of drug supply chains

Jahre

Dumoulin

Greenhalgh

et al. 2012

Jrnl Hum Log and Sup Chn Mnage

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PurposeUganda is one of many African countries struggling to develop adequate healthcare, particularly in regard to local treatment and access to drugs. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how reducing supply‐chain complexity can improve health in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThis study and evaluation included 50 interviews and 27 site visits of the public healthcare system in Karamoja, northeast Uganda. A mapping of drug‐supply chains was undertaken to identify causes of stock shortages and possible solutions. A model for logistics process redesign was used for the analysis. Results were quantified with use of a simple tool developed for this specific purpose.FindingsThe main conclusion is that less supply‐chain complexity can produce higher customer service in terms of less stock shortages, while keeping costs down. By reducing lead times and uncertainty, increasing order frequencies, and moving order points and safety stocks, there may be better integration between information and goods flows and bottlenecks in the supply chain may be reduced.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the empirical study is extensive, there are uncertainties in the data that must be taken into account. The effects of the suggested solutions remain to be analyzed and documented upon implementation.Practical implicationsThe study was rooted in a practical problem and provides practical solutions for developing countries and agencies providing aid.Social implicationsStock shortages of life‐saving drugs are a general problem in countries with lack of financial and technical infrastructure. Improvements will impact the lives of many people.Originality/valueThe paper provides an understanding of the applicability of traditional logistics principles in a new context. It provides the academic community with a much‐needed in‐depth understanding of humanitarian logistics. The approach can be used in other studies.

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Section: Conclusion -Implications and Further Researchsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Introduction and Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

Improving health in developing countries: reducing complexity of drug supply chains

Jahre

Dumoulin

Greenhalgh

et al. 2012

Jrnl Hum Log and Sup Chn Mnage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…When disaster strikes, it is often already too late to develop solutions that were not in place already. In the preparedness phase, humanitarian organisations can pre-establish emergency supplies, and pre-position vital equipment that will be needed in times of crisis (Salmerón and Apte 2010;Tomasini and Van Wassenhove 2009;Oloruntoba and Gray 2006;Tatham and Pettit 2010). In fact, any improvement in preparedness will in turn be translated into better performance during response (Akter and Wamba 2017;Chandes and Paché 2010;Ergun et al 2014;Tatham and Pettit 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-sector humanitarian–business partnerships in managing humanitarian logistics: an empirical verification

Nurmala

Vries

Leeuw

2018

International Journal of Production Research

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Cross-Sector humanitarian-business partnerships in managing humanitarian logistics comprise a key discussion topic in literature, yet empirical validations of these partnerships are lacking to date. This paper aims to develop a typological framework for humanitarian-business partnerships in managing humanitarian logistics and to empirically verify this typology with a data-set using content analysis. The results show that the amounts of partnerships developed between the business sector and the humanitarian sector in managing humanitarian logistics is still limited and these partnerships are not widely publicised. The research furthermore shows that financial contributions comprise the most common type of resource delivered by the business sector when it comes to partnerships with the humanitarian sector focused on managing humanitarian logistics. It is also interesting to note that the majority of partnerships in our sample are dyadic in nature, managed by a single humanitarian organisation and a single business corporation. Furthermore, we find that most of the partnerships target support for natural disaster emergency relief operations and mainly focus on disaster response.

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“…However, before commencing such cooperation (in terms of partnerships or other concepts) some challenges have to be considered: differences in mandates and/or goals, differences in working rhythms, culture, and individual perspective [30], limited resources for developing partnerships [59] , field problems for commercial partners [60], different perspectives of affected communities, and lack of key performance indicators for LSPs in humanitarian contexts.…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Managing in-country transportation risks in humanitarian supply chains by logistics service providers: Insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Baharmand

Comes

Lauras

2017

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. AbstractHumanitarian supply chains (HSCs) play a central role in effective and efficient disaster relief operations. Transportation has a critical share in HSCs and managing its risks helps to avoid further disruptions in relief operations. However, there is no common approach to or culture of risk management that its applicability has been studied through recent cases. This paper incorporates an empirical research design and makes a threefold contribution: first it identifies in-country transportation risks during Nepal response. Second, we evaluate afore identified risks through an expert driven risk assessment grid. Third, we use our field data to study how some humanitarian organizations in Nepal response used logistics service providers for managing those moderate-and high-level risks.In this paper, we use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our qualitative analysis reveals that some of the most important in-country transportation risks were delivery delays; market fluctuations; insufficient capacity; loss of cargo; cargo decay; unreliable information; and ethical concerns. Our quantitative work shows that while participants categorized the first three risks as high-level risks, the rest were ranked as moderate-level. More investigation in our field data indicates that using logistics service providers (LSPs) helped humanitarians significantly to manage afore in-country transportation risks during Nepal response. It also improved overall HSC performance with respect to flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness. While this finding empirically confirms the "tools" role of LSPs for managing in-country transportation risks in response, it implies another role for LSPs; "contributors" to performance improvements.

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Transforming humanitarian logistics: the journey to supply network management

Cited by 124 publications

References 27 publications

Improving health in developing countries: reducing complexity of drug supply chains

Improving health in developing countries: reducing complexity of drug supply chains

Cross-sector humanitarian–business partnerships in managing humanitarian logistics: an empirical verification

Managing in-country transportation risks in humanitarian supply chains by logistics service providers: Insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake

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