Danilo R. Diedrichs, Kaile Phelps and Paul A. Isihara
Complementing the importance of adequate relief supplies and transportation capacity in the first two weeks of post-disaster logistics, efficient communication, information…
Abstract
Purpose
Complementing the importance of adequate relief supplies and transportation capacity in the first two weeks of post-disaster logistics, efficient communication, information sharing, and informed decision making play a crucial yet often underestimated role in reducing wasted material resources and loss of human life. The purpose of this paper is to provide a method of quantifying these effects.
Design/methodology/approach
A mathematical discrete dynamical system is used to model transportation of different commodities from multiple relief suppliers to disaster sites across a network of limited capacity. The physical network is overlaid with the communication network to model information delays and communication breakdowns between agents. The cost in human lives and the monetary cost are measured separately.
Findings
Simulations results highlight quantitatively how communication deficiencies and indiscriminate shipping of resources result in material convergence and shortage of urgent supplies observed in actual emergencies.
Originality/value
The model provides an example of a simple, objective, quantitative tool for decision making and training volunteer managers in the importance of a smart response protocol.
Details
Keywords
Claire Elizabeth Carlson, Paul A. Isihara, Roger Sandberg, David Boan, Kaile Phelps, Kyu Lim Lee, Danilo R. Diedrichs, Daniela Cuba, Johnny Edman, Melissa Gray, Roland Hesse, Robin Kong and Kei Takazawa
The need in disaster response to assess how reliably and equitably funding was accounted for and distributed is addressed by a standardized report and index applicable to any…
Abstract
Purpose
The need in disaster response to assess how reliably and equitably funding was accounted for and distributed is addressed by a standardized report and index applicable to any disaster type. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the Nepal earthquake (2015), Typhoon Haiyan (2013), the Haiti earthquake (2010), Sri Lankan flood (2011), and Hurricane Sandy (2012) illustrate uses of a public equitable allocation of resources log (PEARL). Drawing from activity-based costing and the Gini index, a PEARL spreadsheet computes absolute inequity sector by sector as well as a cumulative index. Response variations guide index value interpretation.
Findings
Index values indicates major inequity in Nepal hygiene kit distribution and Haiti earthquake (both PEARL indices near 0.5), moderate inequity for the Sri Lankan flood (index roughly 0.75) and equitable distributions for Typhoon Haiyan and Hurricane Sandy (both indices approximately 0.95). Indices are useful to approximate proportions of inequity in the total response and investigate allocation under uncertainty in sector need specification.
Originality/value
This original tool is implementable using a website containing a practice PEARL, completed examples and downloadable spreadsheet. Used across multiple sectors or for a single sector, PEARL may signal need for additional resources, correct inequitable distribution decisions, simplify administrative monitoring/assessment, and foster greater accounting transparency in summary reports. PEARL also assists historical analysis of all disaster types to determine completeness of public accounting records and equity in fund distribution.
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Luiza Ribeiro Alves Cunha, Adriana Leiras and Paulo Goncalves
Due to the unknown location, size and timing of disasters, the rapid response required by humanitarian operations (HO) faces high uncertainty and limited time to raise funds…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the unknown location, size and timing of disasters, the rapid response required by humanitarian operations (HO) faces high uncertainty and limited time to raise funds. These harsh realities make HO challenging. This study aims to systematically capture the complex dynamic relationships between operations in humanitarian settings.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this goal, the authors undertook a systematic review of the extant academic literature linking HO to system dynamics (SD) simulation.
Findings
The research reviews 88 papers to propose a taxonomy of different topics covered in the literature; a framework represented through a causal loop diagram (CLD) to summarise the taxonomy, offering a view of operational activities and their linkages before and after disasters; and a research agenda for future research avenues.
Practical implications
As the authors provide an adequate representation of reality, the findings can help decision makers understand the problems faced in HO and make more effective decisions.
Originality/value
While other reviews on the application of SD in HO have focused on specific subjects, the current research presents a broad view, summarising the main results of a comprehensive CLD.
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Amer Jazairy, Emil Persson, Mazen Brho, Robin von Haartman and Per Hilletofth
This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into…
Abstract
Purpose
This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field.
Design/methodology/approach
Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field.
Findings
The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified.
Research limitations/implications
This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved.
Practical implications
The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries.
Originality/value
This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.
Details
Keywords
Anchal Patil, Jitender Madaan, Vipulesh Shardeo, Parikshit Charan and Ashish Dwivedi
Pharmaceutical donations are a practical approach to increase medicine availability during disasters such as disease outbreaks. However, often donated pharmaceuticals are…
Abstract
Purpose
Pharmaceutical donations are a practical approach to increase medicine availability during disasters such as disease outbreaks. However, often donated pharmaceuticals are inappropriate and unsuitable. This convergence of inappropriate pharmaceuticals is a severe operational challenge and results in environmental hazards. This study explores the pharmaceutical supply chains (PSCs) during a disease outbreak to relieve the negative impact of the material convergence problem (MCP).
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a situation-actors-process learning-action-performance (SAP-LAP) linkage framework to understand the PSC dynamics. The problem-solving component of the SAP-LAP analysis provides the strategies catering to MCP. The findings from the SAP-LAP helped to develop the causal loop diagram (CLD). This study conducts several experiments on the proposed strategies by integrating CLD into a stock and flow diagram. Later, a disease outbreak case study accessed the pharmaceutical donations effect on PSC performance.
Findings
The study synthesises and evaluates propositions and strategies to incorporate circular economy (CE) principles in PSC. This study proposed two strategies; one to sort and supply and the other to sort, supply and resell. The reuse policy improves humanitarian organisations' finances in the simulation study. This study verified the operational improvement of PSC by reducing the transport and storage burden due to MCP.
Originality/value
This study comprehensively approaches the issue of drug donation and uniquely produced several propositions for incorporating a CE perspective in PSC. The study also proposed a unique simulation approach to model the donation arrivals in response to a disease outbreak using susceptible, exposed, infectious and recovered modelling.