Humanitarian Logistics And Supply Chain Management: Principles And Challenges

Scope, importance and challenges of humanitarian logistics

Humanitarian logistics is process that ensures that good and material are able to move from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to alleviate suffering of people who have been affected by a disaster through planning, implementation and controlling the whole process in a cost effective manner and proper storage of the goods and services (Robert E et al. 2013). The role of humanitarian logistics involves many activities such as getting prepared for a disaster, planning for the disaster, procurement processes, transportation of goods and materials, storage, tracking and tracing, and customs duties and clearance (Kovacs and Spens 2007).

Disaster relief programs mainly relies on humanitarian logistics because of a number of reasons which include the need to respond quickly for major humanitarian programs, which may include provision of basic needs, procurement and transportation of the goods and materials, this is the most costly process in relief effort, and lastly humanitarian logistics requires continuous tracking of goods through the supply chain which requires deep analysis of data which is useful for post learning (Cozzolino,  A.2012). Logistic mainly focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of the whole process form the supplier, to the transporter, cost effectiveness and the timeliness of the response, the ability of the donated goods and services to provide the required relief , and proper management of information (Roh et al. 2012)

Humanitarian logistic chain supply management refers to delivery and warehousing of supplies during natural disasters or other complex emergencies (Christopher and Tatham 2011). Despite it being used in commercial supply chain logistic chain supply management is a useful tool in disaster relief operations for the purpose of responding to the needs of the beneficiaries (Howden, 2009). The humanitarian supply chain is all about relief. In case a disaster occurs, the agencies that run relief programs organizes a team of experts and sends them to the scene of the disaster to carry out an assessment of the level of damage and the number of victims. By assessing the extent to which the disaster has caused damage then the involved agencies are able to identify the specific items needed and their respective quantities that may be required to provide the immediate relief to the victims of the disaster. The agencies also send emergency stock of the required relief goods and materials to the warehouse which is close to the scene of disaster (Tomasini and Van Wasssenhove, 2009). The concerned agencies also look for ways to mobilize resources so as to relief the affected population. This is done by reaching out the donors, the government as well as the public to make contributions towards the program (Maon et, al. (2009)).

Suppliers and logistic providers from are identified and the mobilization of the required resources for relief begins. Storage, transportation and distribution of the donated supplies should be prepared in the local area or region that have been affected by the disaster (Nagurney, 2012). Each disaster is unique and have different requirements in terms on the expertise needed and items required for relief this is always a challenge for humanitarian logistics. The occurrence of a disaster at time will result to destruction of infrastructure including roads, bridges among others which makes it difficult to transport goods and materials to the site of disaster. Conflicts in the affected regions may affect the coordination between the humanitarian organizations and the national and local governments.

Factors affecting international humanitarian relief services

The occurrence of many disasters around the world simultaneously require urgent response however the resource needed may not be available (Robert E et al. 2013). The humanitarian organizations are forced to stretch their resources. The sector however needs to come up with plans that will enable them deliver efficient relief services and to respond to the increasing numbers of disaster victims (Heigh, 2012).

In the recent times donors are increasingly demanding for high performance as well as the impact of the relief programs. Increased number of humanitarian agencies around the world has led to increased competition for donor funds thus clear records and data is needed before donation are made (Peres et, al. 2012).

Failure to identify the significance of logistics- in the management of disasters many agencies fail to involve logisticians in the process. Most of them main focus on short term relief programs instead of programs that will provide a long term solution (Herbinger 2013)

.Inadequate trained staff- most of the staffs working in humanitarian organizations lack the appropriate skills. Most of them with logistic responsibilities lack logistic skills (Herbinger 2013: Lars, G 2009)

Limited collaboration- the increased numbers of humanitarian organizations has left the heads of logistic with no other option rather than struggling alone due to lack of collaboration.

Thematic analysis of Christopher and Tatham

No	Key themes	Description of key theme	Dominant concepts	References
1	Humanitarian logistic chain supply management.	Definition of humanitarian chain supply management. The process of logistic chain supply management.	– Efficiency and effectiveness of logistic chain supply management	Christopher & Tatham (2011)

Thematic analysis of Ian Heigh (2012)

No	Key themes	Description of key theme	Dominant concepts	Reference
1	Factors affecting humanitarian organizations	– Factor that hinder of impact delivery of relief services in modern world.	– Occurrence of disasters. – Response to disasters – Efficiency of relief services	Ian Heigh (2012)

Thematic analysis of   Cozzolino,  A.(2012)

No	Key themes	Description of key theme	Dominant concepts	Reference
1	Crucial role of logistics in humanitarian context	Role played by logistics and supply chain management in humanitarian agencies	Logistic supply chain management	Christopher & Tathan (2011)
2	Humanitarian players	The involved parties in humanitarian programs.	– The suppliers – Donors – Transport agencies	Cozzolino, A (2012)

Thematic analysis of Kovacs and Spens (2007)

No	Key themes	Description of key theme	Dominant concepts	References
1	Understanding of planning and carrying out logistic operations in disaster relief	Description of the unique characteristics of  humanitarian logistics which makes it different from business supply chains	The process of humanitarian logistics	Barbarosoglu et al. (2002)

Thematic analysis of  Herbinger (2013)

No	Key themes	Description of key theme	Dominant concepts	References
1	Challenges in humanitarian logistic	In the modern world humanitarian logistics faces many challenges that limit its effectives	– Logistic management. – Response to disaster – Challenges affecting humanitarian logistics	WFP.org

Thematic analysis on Robert E et al. (2013)

No	Key themes	Description of key themes	Dominant concepts	References
1	Humanitarian operations a major concern in the international community	The emergence of increased disasters in the world require timely humanitarian responses. Humanitarian crisis review	The success of humanitarian operations The recognition of logistics in business. Contrast of humanitarian logistics to commercial supply chain	IFRC(2009) Jahre et. al. 2009.

Thematic analysis of Lars, G (2009)

No	Key themes	Description of key themes	Dominant concepts	Refernces
1	Context and challenges of humanitarian logistics	There are challenges that humanitarian agencies face in their efforts to deliver relief services	Factors that underpin responses to humanitarian crisis	Lar, G(2009).

Thematic analysis of Peres et, al. (2012)

No	Key Themes	Description of key themes	Dominant concept	references
1	Trends in Humanitarian logistics	There has been increased occurrence of disasters leading to increased numbers of victims as well as humanitarian organizations	Increasing disasters around the world.	Natarjarathinam, (2009) Kovac & Spens (2009)

Thematic analysis of Nagurney (2012)

No	Key themes	Description of key themes	Dominant concept	Reference
1	Decentralized supply chain in humanitarian logistics	The local governments and the involved humanitarian organizations should arrange on how to transport ,store and distribute donations from other countries	Decentralized vs centralized supply chains	Charles, A. (2010)

Thematic analysis of Maon et, al. (2009).

No	Key theme	Description of key theme	Dominant concept	References
I	Developing supply chain in disaster relief.	In the supply of goods in disaster scenes there is need to form strong collaborations with the involved parties	Collaboration in the supply chain management.	Jahre et. al. 2009.

Thematic analysis of  Espindola, et al. (2015)

No	Key Concepts	Description of key concepts	Dominant concept	References
1	Geographical Information systems (GIS) for disaster management.	Disasters such as flods are closely related to the geographical location hence the need to have proper geographical information on the scene of disaster.	Geographical location and disaster management.	Salman and Yucel (2015)

Thematic analysis of Bean et al. (2011)

No	Key concepts	Description of the key concepts	Dominant concept	References
1	Impacts and vulnerability to disasters	The occurrence of disasters in an unavoidable factor in our society which require proper management	Disaster management and humanitarian logistics	Kovac & Spens, (2007).

Thematic analysis of Tomasini and Van Wasssenhove, (2009)

NO	Key Theme	Description of main Theme	Dominant concept	References
1	Disaster preparedness	Disaster occurrence may at times be predictable and thus it is important to	Disaster preparedness	Perry & Lindell (2003).

Thematic analysis of Howden, (2009).

No	Key theme	Description of main theme	Dominant concept	References
1	Humanitarian logistic operations	Humanitarian logistic operations are incorporated in the disaster management cycle as they have a positive impact on humanitarian operations.	Humanitarian logistic operations	Mentzer et al (2011)

Thematic analysis of Roh et al. 2012

No	Key concept	Description of Key concepts	Dominant concept	Reference
1	Humanitarian logistic management	Logistic management ensures that relief goods are delivered on time and efficoiently	Logistic management	Balcik et al. (2010)

References

Bean, W., Viljoen, N., Ittmann, H. & Kekana, E. (2011). Disaster management and humanitarian logistics- A South African Perspective. CSIR Built Environment.

Christopher, M. and Tatham, P. (2011), “Humanitarian Logistics: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing for and Responding to Disasters. Kogan.

Espindola, R. Albores, P. & Brewster, C. 2015, GIS and Optimisation: Potential Benefits forEmergency Facility Location in Humanitarian Logistics. Geosciences article.

Habinger, W., 2013, New challenges in humanitarian logistics. 30^th International Supply chain conference.

Howden, M., 2009, How Humanitarian Logistics Information Systems Can Improve Humanitarian Supply Chains: A View from the Field. Proceedings of the 6th International ISCRAM Conference – Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2009 J. Landgren and S. Jul, eds.

Heigh, I. 2012, Everywhere Humanitarian response and logistic services. MIT humanitarian speaker series.

Maon, F., Lindgreen, A. & Vanhamme, J. 2009, Developing supply chains in disaster relief

Operations through cross-sector socially oriented collaborations: a theoretical model. Supply

Chain Management: An International Journal. Vol 1 No. 2, pp149–164.

Nagurney, A. 2012, Fundamental issues in humanitarian logistics. Spring.

Kovács, G., & Spens, K. M. (2007). Humanitarian logistics in disaster relief operations.

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. Vol 37 No.2, pp.99–

Lars, G. 2009, Humanitarian logistics: context and challenges. FM Review.

Peres, E., Brito, I., Leiras, A. &Yoshizaki, H, Humanitarian logistics and disaster relief research: trends, application, and future research directions. 4^th International Conference on Information Systems, Logistics and Supply chain

Robert, E., Hall, D., Hanna, B. and Rainer, K. 2013, Research in humanitarian logistics. Emerald Journals.

Roh, S., Kwak, D., Beresford, A. &Pettit, S. 2012, Challenges in humanitarian logistics management: an empirical study on pre-positioned warehouses.

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Tomasini, R. & Van Wassenhove, N. 2009. From preparedness to partnerships: case study research on humanitarian logistics. International Transactions in Operations Research. Vol16:549–59.