Nathan Kunz, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Maria Besiou, Christophe Hambye and Gyöngyi Kovács
This paper is based on a panel discussion at EurOMA 2015. The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of barriers to relevant research in humanitarian logistics. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is based on a panel discussion at EurOMA 2015. The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of barriers to relevant research in humanitarian logistics. The authors propose a charter of ten rules for conducting relevant humanitarian research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use operations management literature to identify best practices for doing research with practice. The authors compile, condense and interpret opinions expressed by three academics and one practitioner at the panel discussion, and illustrate them through quotes.
Findings
The increasing volume of papers published in the humanitarian logistics literature has not led to a proportional impact on practice. The authors identify a number of reasons for this, such as poor problem definition, difficult access to data or lack of contextualization. The authors propose a charter of ten rules that have the potential to make humanitarian logistics research more relevant for practice.
Practical implications
By developing best practices for doing relevant research in humanitarian logistics, this paper enables the academic community and practice to better work together on relevant and impactful research projects. Academic knowledge combined with practice-inspired problems has the potential to generate significant improvements to humanitarian practice.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to address the problem of relevance of humanitarian logistics research. It is also one of the few papers involving a practitioner to discuss practical relevance of research. Through this unique approach, it is hoped that this paper provides a set of particularly helpful recommendations for researchers studying humanitarian logistics.
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Marianne Jahre, Ala Pazirandeh and Luk Van Wassenhove
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more complete understanding of logistics preparedness. By comparing extant research in preparedness and logistics with findings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more complete understanding of logistics preparedness. By comparing extant research in preparedness and logistics with findings from empirical analysis of secondary data, the authors develop a definition of and framework for logistics preparedness, along with suggestions for future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors link the way in which humanitarian organizations define and aim to achieve logistics preparedness with extant academic research. The authors critically analyze public data from 13 organizations that are active in disaster relief and review papers on logistics preparedness and humanitarian logistics.
Findings
The authors found that, despite the increased attention, there is no unified understanding across organizations about what constitutes logistics preparedness and how it can contribute to improvements in operations. Based on the review of the academic literature, the authors found that the same is true for humanitarian logistics research. The lack of a common understanding has resulted in low visibility of efforts and lack of knowledge on logistics preparedness.
Research limitations/implications
On the basis of extant research and practice, the authors suggest a definition of and framework for logistics preparedness with related suggestions for future studies.
Practical implications
Findings can help the humanitarian community gain a better understanding of their efforts related to developing logistics preparedness and can provide a better basis for communicating the need for, and results from, funding in preparedness.
Social implications
Results can support improvements in humanitarian supply chains, thereby providing affected people with rapid, cost-efficient, and better-adapted responses.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to humanitarian logistics literature, first by identifying the issues related to the lack of a common definition. Second, the authors extend the understanding of what constitutes logistics preparedness by proposing an operationalized framework and definition. Finally, the authors add to the literature by discussing what future topics and types of research may be required.
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Kim De Boeck, Maria Besiou, Catherine Decouttere, Sean Rafter, Nico Vandaele, Luk N. Van Wassenhove and Prashant Yadav
This paper aims to provide a discussion on the interface and interactions between data, analytical techniques and impactful research in humanitarian health supply chains. New…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a discussion on the interface and interactions between data, analytical techniques and impactful research in humanitarian health supply chains. New techniques for data capturing, processing and analytics, such as big data, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, are increasingly put forward as potential “game changers” in the humanitarian field. Yet while they have potential to improve data analytics in the future, larger data sets and quantification per se are no “silver bullet” for complex and wicked problems in humanitarian health settings. Humanitarian health supply chains provide health care and medical aid to the most vulnerable in development and disaster relief settings alike. Unlike commercial supply chains, they often lack resources and long-term collaborations to enable learning from the past and to improve further.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a combination of the authors’ research experience, interactions with practitioners throughout projects and academic literature, the authors consider the interface between data and analytical techniques and highlight some of the challenges inherent to humanitarian health settings. The authors apply a systems approach to represent the multiple factors and interactions between data, analytical techniques and collaboration in impactful research.
Findings
Based on this representation, the authors discuss relevant debates and suggest directions for future research to increase the impact of data analytics and collaborations in fostering sustainable solutions.
Originality/value
This study distinguishes itself and contributes by bringing the interface and interactions between data, analytical techniques and impactful research together in a systems approach, emphasizing the interconnectedness.
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Maria Besiou and Luk N. Van Wassenhove
The purpose of this study is to show that the current complexity of humanitarian operations has only increased the usefulness of system dynamics (SD) in helping decision-makers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to show that the current complexity of humanitarian operations has only increased the usefulness of system dynamics (SD) in helping decision-makers better understand the challenges they face.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical analysis to evaluate how SD methodology has been applied to humanitarian operations.
Findings
Today's humanitarian operations are characterized by huge complexity given the increased number of stakeholders, feedback loops, uncertainty, scarce resources and multiple objectives. The authors argue that SD's tools (causal-loop diagram, data layer, simulation model) have the capacity to appropriately capture this complexity, thereby enhancing intuition and understanding.
Originality/value
Researchers and practitioners hesitate to use system dynamics when data is missing. The authors suggest alternatives to deal with this common situation.
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Harwin de Vries, Marianne Jahre, Kostas Selviaridis, Kim E. van Oorschot and Luk N. Van Wassenhove
This “impact pathways” paper argues that operations and supply chain management (OSCM) could help address the worsening drug shortage problem in high-income countries. This…
Abstract
Purpose
This “impact pathways” paper argues that operations and supply chain management (OSCM) could help address the worsening drug shortage problem in high-income countries. This significant societal problem poses difficult challenges to stakeholders given the complex and dynamic nature of drug supply chains. OSCM scholars are well positioned to provide answers, introducing new research directions for OSCM in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
To substantiate this, the authors carried out a review of stakeholder reports from six European countries and the academic literature.
Findings
There is little academic research and no fundamental agreement among stakeholders about causes of shortages. Stakeholders have suggested many government measures, but little evidence exists on their comparative cost-effectiveness.
Originality/value
The authors discuss three pathways of impactful research on drug shortages to which OSCM could contribute: (1) Developing an evidence-based system view of drug shortages; (2) Studying the comparative cost-effectiveness of key government interventions; (3) Bringing supply chain risk management into the government and economics perspectives and vice versa. Our study provides a baseline for future COVID-19-related research on this topic.
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Gilbert Lenssen, Luk Van Wassenhove, Simon Pickard and Joris-Johann Lenssen
Rolando M. Tomasini and Luk N. Van Wassenhove
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has developed a humanitarian supply management system (SUMA) that records, tracks and reports the flow of donations and purchased goods…
Abstract
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has developed a humanitarian supply management system (SUMA) that records, tracks and reports the flow of donations and purchased goods into a disaster area. While a lot of the received goods are in-kind donations, there is a procurement process triggered by the cash funds to meet specific needs. This procurement process also needs to comply with the humanitarian principles, and is therefore susceptible to manipulations from different stakeholders. SUMA has contributed to all the different deployments with the ability to build transparency and accountability in complex operations. These two contributions help to isolate the political factors from the supply chain and protect the humanitarian principles and space.
Lina Frennesson, Joakim Kembro, Harwin de Vries, Luk Van Wassenhove and Marianne Jahre
To meet the rising global needs, the humanitarian community has signed off on making a strategic change toward more localisation, which commonly refers to the empowerment of…
Abstract
Purpose
To meet the rising global needs, the humanitarian community has signed off on making a strategic change toward more localisation, which commonly refers to the empowerment of national and local actors in humanitarian assistance. However, to this date, actual initiatives for localisation are rare. To enhance understanding of the phenomenon, the authors explore localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and obstacles to its implementation. The authors particularly take the perspective of the international humanitarian organisation (IHO) community as they are expected to implement the localisation strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
A phenomenon-driven, exploratory and qualitative study was conducted. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 28 experienced humanitarian professionals.
Findings
The findings showed the ambiguity inherent in the localisation strategy with largely different views on four important dimensions. Particularly, the interviewees differ about strengthening external actors or internal national/local offices. The resulting framework visualises the gap between strategy formulation and implementation, which forms major obstacles to the localisation aims.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to support the advancement of localisation of logistics preparedness capacities. Important aspects for future research include triangulation of results, other stakeholder perspectives and the influence of context.
Practical implications
The authors add to the important debate surrounding localisation by offering remedies to overcoming obstacles to strategy implementation. Further, the authors’ proposed framework offers a language to precisely describe the ways in which IHOs (should) view localisation of logistics preparedness capacities and its operationalisation.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first academic article on localisation within the humanitarian logistics context.
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Kim E. van Oorschot, Henk A. Akkermans, Luk N. Van Wassenhove and Yan Wang
Due to the complexity of digital services, companies are increasingly forced to offer their services “in permanent beta”, requiring continuous fine-tuning and updating. Complexity…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the complexity of digital services, companies are increasingly forced to offer their services “in permanent beta”, requiring continuous fine-tuning and updating. Complexity makes it extremely difficult to predict when and where the next service disruption will occur. The authors examine what this means for performance measurement in digital service supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a mixed-method research design that combines a longitudinal case study of a European digital TV service provider and a system dynamics simulation analysis of that service provider's digital service supply chain.
Findings
With increased levels of complexity, traditional performance measurement methods, focused on detection of software bugs before release, become fragile or futile. The authors find that monitoring the performance of the service after release, with fast mitigation when service incidents are discovered, appears to be superior. This involves organizational change when traditional methods, like quality assurance, become less important.
Research limitations/implications
The performance of digital services needs to be monitored by combining automated data collection about the status of the service with data interpretation using human expertise. Investing in human expertise is equally important as investing in automated processes.
Originality/value
The authors draw on unique empirical data collected from a digital service provider's struggle with performance measurement of its service over a period of nine years. The authors use simulations to show the impact of complexity on staff allocation.
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Engage scholars and humanitarian organizations to collaborate on impactful problems.
Abstract
Purpose
Engage scholars and humanitarian organizations to collaborate on impactful problems.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 20 years of experience working with Humanitarian Organizations and doing research in partnership with them.
Findings
A set of recommendations.
Originality/value
Knowledge sharing.