Ala Pazirandeh

Sourcing in global health supply chains for developing countries: Literature review and a decision making framework

Purpose – Although noticeable improvements have been made in global health in recent years, the distribution is uneven throughout the world and many developing and low-income countries lack access to required medicine and vaccines. Thus, a model to strategically source vaccines for these nations can contribute a great deal. This paper aims to present an extensive review of strategic sourcing literature, and to identify the criteria and available models in making strategic sourcing decisions. The purpose is to develop a decision making framework for future empirical study of humanitarian aid networks, more specifically, sourcing and distribution of vaccines in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – A thorough review of several purchasing and supply chain management (SCM) journals was conducted to identify the strategic criteria in making sourcing decisions, hence “strategic sourcing”. In line with this, a number of sourcing strategies were reviewed to find the relevant strategic criteria. Seco...

Visibility, resource sharing and performance in supply chain relationships: insights from humanitarian practitioners

Purpose – This paper aims to, by connecting to the ongoing conversation on the importance of supply chain visibility, empirically examine the impact of visibility in supply chain relationships, on resource sharing among and on the performance of humanitarian organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 101 humanitarian organizations in Southeast Asia. The organizations all experienced being interconnected within the supply chain relationships formed in humanitarian response settings. Data are used to test the conceptually developed model, using the structural equation modeling-partial least square (SEM-PLS) approach. Findings – Results show that visibility has a significant impact on resource sharing and the performance of the organizations, especially in terms of the willingness to share resources, resources used and flexibility of organizations. The results also show that, in situations of high uncertainty, the association between resource sharing and performance becomes ...

Unfruitful cooperative purchasing: A case of humanitarian purchasing power

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of cooperative purchasing on buyers’ purchasing power. Purchasing in the humanitarian sector has traditionally been characterized by a low level of coordination due to inter-agency competition for funding, diverging mandates and other organizational differences. Relationships with commercial suppliers have also remained arms-length and often dormant due to high levels of uncertainty and strict public procurement rules and regulations. However, recent pushes for increased efficiency and effectiveness are driving humanitarian agencies toward cooperative purchasing – a purchasing strategy that is claimed to be highly beneficial for members of the purchasing consortium not least for its ability to increase buyers’ purchasing power. In reality, the effectiveness of the strategy in increasing purchasing power is unclear. Design/methodology/approach – The authors study a single case of several humanitarian organizations aiming to increase their lev...

An ex ante evaluation of mobile depots in cities: A sustainability perspective

ABSTRACT Today, a large share of cost, congestion, and emission in cities is attributed to light goods vehicles like carrier vans distributing to the last mile. The aim of many policy agendas is to reach cleaner cities with less disturbance from the distribution vehicles. Several suggestions have been put forward and tested in research and practice, such as access restrictions, multimodal transport, and use of cleaner vehicles. In this paper, we develop a case for a more sustainable freight distribution within cities using an ex ante case study. The idea of the mobile depot is built on the iteration between historical transitions within cities and contemporary developments in urban freight distribution, and then analyzed ex ante both quantitatively in calculations and qualitatively in two stakeholder workshops. The idea is integrated and multimodal, based on a mobile depot (e.g., a bus, truck, barge, or tram) that circles the city and connects to low emission last mile delivery options such as LEVs (Light Electrical Vehicles) or cargo bikes. We found that such a system can be environmentally and socially better for the city context, while maintaining economic viability above a certain utilization rate of the mobile depot for the transport operators.

Defining logistics preparedness : a framework and research agenda

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.

Avoiding the pitfalls of cooperative purchasing through control and coordination: insights from a humanitarian context

In this paper, barriers to the success of cooperative purchasing are discussed from an inter-organisational coordination perspective and a framework for successful cooperative purchasing is introduced. Potential benefits such as economies of scale, better transparency and more efficient information exchange have generated high interest for cooperative purchasing as a supply chain strategy. However, literature notes several instances of such cooperation not having the expected outcomes. We aimed to further the understanding of the coordination barriers to the success of cooperative purchasing. By studying an exemplary situation of an unsuccessful cooperative purchasing, the attractiveness and inherent complexity of a cooperative purchasing process is highlighted. This study draws on and adds to the existing literature on cooperative purchasing by discussing coordination related barriers to cooperative purchasing and provides managerial insights into what to consider when engaging in the cooperative purchasing strategy to avoid the pitfalls.

Improved coordination during disaster relief operations through sharing of resources

Abstract In this paper, we focus on coordination dynamics between nonprofit organisations in the short-term, nonprofit, and competitive settings in disaster relief operations. Sharing resources across organisations can be a key to better coordination. Thus, we tested the link between resource sharing, aspects impacting resource sharing, and operational performance of the organisations using 101 data points. Data was collected through a survey from humanitarian organisations within the Southeast Asian region and was analysed using the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) approach. The results show that resource sharing can improve organisational performance in this horizontal and competitive context, and that complementarity of resources between organisations increases their willingness to share resources. Complementarity of resources can also improve the interdependencies between organisations, which is not perceived very highly in the current highly competitive settings.

Purchasing Power and Purchasing Strategies - Insights From the Humanitarian Sector

Power is a complex concept in any relationship. Its relative, perceptive, intangible, context dependent, and multifaceted nature has made it difficult to study. In this research, the aim was not to study power per se, but to study purchasing in light of the existing constraints from power relations. This PhD dissertation is about buyers with low purchasing power, how they buy what they need, and how their decisions affect their power.