Ira Haavisto

Perspectives on sustainability in humanitarian supply chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for analysing how humanitarian organisations (HOs) address different expectations regarding sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative and qualitative content analysis is used to assess the annual reports (ARs) of HOs for their discussions on sustainability overall, and in relation to contextual expectations, subsystems and supply chains, organisational structure and strategy. Findings – HOs address sustainability primarily from the perspective of contextual expectations from society and beneficiaries. Some fits between supply chain design and societal expectations are attended to, but fits between programmes and contextual expectations are not discussed explicitly. Research limitations/implications – ARs express what organisations want to portray of their activities rather than being direct reflections of what occurs in the field, hence the use of ARs for the study delimits its findings. However, HOs rarely publish sustainabili...

Measuring humanitarian supply chain performance in a multi-goal context

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to deepen the understanding of supply chain performance objectives in the humanitarian context by striving to understand the underlying goals and conceptual variables behind the measurement of performance, such as efficiency. Design/methodology/approach – The research is an in-depth case study with one humanitarian organization. The data are gathered with mixed methods over a two-year period. Interviews were conducted in August 2010 and April 2012, and a survey conducted in October 2012. Findings – Misalignments are detected among different groups in humanitarian operations and between their goals and processes. These misalignments could possibly be corrected through long-term thinking in short-term operations by considering sustainability aspects throughout humanitarian assistance, for example. In addition, efficiency was a commonly identified objective in the case organization, although the definition varied widely and extended beyond the traditional definition of p...

Cash-based response in relief: the impact for humanitarian logistics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the financial and material flows in cash-based responses (CBRs) and their implications for humanitarian operations. This research proposes to view cash as a commodity used by humanitarian actors in emergency operations and therefore aims to explore how CBRs impact on humanitarian logistics and ultimately, affect beneficiaries. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach of grounded theory was chosen for this inquiry because it allowed the researchers to generate a general explanation for the process of CBRs in emergency situations based on the views of participants interviewed. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, supply chain managements and logistics officers from international humanitarian organisations (HOs), United Nations agencies and commercial organisations involved in humanitarian operations. Examples of topics covered during the field work included, procedures and policy; knowledge and information management; systems and technology; actors and agents. Findings The impact of CBRs on humanitarian operations can though not be understated. They alter supply chain design, the very role of beneficiaries as well as HOs, and change the strategy of aid delivery from push to pull. Perhaps, the most important factor is the elimination of many logistical activities that needed to be performed by HOs. Delivering cash diminishes the needs for lengthy procurement and assessment processes, pre-positioning, transportation and distribution. This bears the potential of significant reductions in costs for delivering humanitarian aid at the same time as it is an important move from aid to trade. Practical implications The challenge for humanitarian agencies in the coming years is to overcome their fears surrounding CBRs, and to implement cash programmes where they are judged to be the most appropriate response. This will require not only a change in donor policies, but also a fundamental change in the skill set of humanitarian logisticians, who are used to identifying needs and providing commodities and thus to maintaining control over the provision of assistance. Originality/value The contribution of this research is twofold: this is the first examination of cash-based interventions in humanitarian operations through the prism of supply chain management. Second, the research is field based and grounded in empirical observations thus adding to the literature and offering insights to practice.

Country logistics performance and disaster impact

The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact. The relationship is analysed through correlation analysis and regression models for 117 countries for the years 2007 to 2012 with disaster impact variables from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) and logistics performance indicators from the World Bank. The results show a significant relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact overall and for five out of six specific logistic performance indicators. These specific indicators were further used to explore the relationship between country logistic performance and disaster impact for three specific disaster types (epidemic, flood and storm). The findings enhance the understanding of the role of logistics in a humanitarian context with empirical evidence of the importance of country logistics performance in disaster response operations.

Cash as a Form of Relief

The historical form of humanitarian relief is to provide people in need with goods, however, assistance in the form of physical goods is shifting towards providing cash-based assistance instead of goods (Kovacs, Humanitarian logistics: meeting the challenge of preparing for and responding to disasters, pp 275–285, 2014; Heaslip, J Humanit Logist Supply Chain Manag 5(1):2–11, 2015). Cash-based assistance is a new concept, and growing rapidly. While only US

Humanitarian health project supply chain costs

2 million in the form of cash-based assistance was provided as international humanitarian assistance in 2006, the sum increased to US

Collaboration in humanitarian supply chains: an organisational culture framework

47.4 million in 2011 (Global Humanitarian Initiative, http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/GHA_Report_2012-Websingle.pdf, 2012). Cash-based responses (also known as cash transfer programmes, CTP) are mechanisms to provide resources to a population in two main ways—by providing them directly with cash or by giving them vouchers. Cash and voucher programmes are considered to be a more cost effective solution than the more common in-kind provision of goods and services to beneficiaries and households. A key advantage is that unlike in-kind aid, cash allows households flexibility in deciding their spending needs. Cash can help generate local market activity and restart livelihoods. It is often a more empowering and dignified form of support. However, there is a reluctance to deliver cash transfers. Cash is said to be susceptible to theft, corruption and misuse. It is prone to targeting errors. It can cause inflation and distort local markets. Nevertheless, practitioners are finding solutions to mitigate these risks and have observed that many of the risks also apply to in-kind aid (Creti and Jaspars, Cash-transfer programming in emergencies, 2006). This chapter aims to develop an understanding of cash transfer programmes that will help reduce their risks to humanitarian operations.

A Framework for Cascading Innovation Upstream the Humanitarian Supply Chain through Procurement Processes

ABSTRACT The combination of inadequate health systems and the occurrence of humanitarian crisis results in significant logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) challenges in the support of their vulnerable populations. Because of the high cost of humanitarian LSCM and the limited funding available, it is important that organizations make the most of their limited resources. The aim of this research is to develop our understanding of the drivers of LSCM cost in a humanitarian setting. The paper explores the importance of a range of different underpinning potential factors impacting the cost per beneficiary and develops a resultant set of hypotheses tested with a robust regression model. The results demonstrate that the number of beneficiaries and the type of organization, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and the type of health programme all affect the supply chain costs per beneficiary. This research helps further the understanding of the drivers of efficiency for humanitarian supply chains and the impact of health programme design on supply chain costs.

Disaster Impact and Country Logistics Performance

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that institutional logics and, more specifically, organisational culture can have on humanitarian supply chain (HSC) collaboration. A framework was developed that explicates buyer–supplier collaboration in a humanitarian setting. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with buyers and suppliers. The data indicated that in a HSC, collaborative outcomes, such as new product development, inventory management, and product/service delivery, are influenced by the buyers’ and suppliers’ organisational cultures. Based on suppliers’ characteristics, they can be classified as humanitarian suppliers, commercial suppliers, and humanitarian and commercial suppliers. These groups have distinct organisational cultures. An unexpected finding is that suppliers that serve commercial buyers primarily claim to have encountered no issues in supply chain collaboration with humanitarian buyers, although they have different types of organisational cultures. The factors that lead to successful collaboration are identified as trust, commitment, information sharing and mutual respect. Simultaneously, dominant institutional logics are observed in the dyadic relationship.