Abstract
Since 1990s, the world has seen a lot of advances in providing humanitarian aid through sophisticated logistics operations. The current consensus seems to be that humanitarian relief organizations (HROs) can improve their relief operations by collaborating with logistics service providers (CLSPs) in the commercial sector. The question remains: how can HROs select the most appropriate CLSP for disaster preparation? Despite its practical significance, no explicit effort has been done to identify the criteria/factors in prioritizing and selecting a CLSP for disaster relief. The present study aims to address this gap by consolidating the list of criteria from a socio-technical systems (STS) perspective. Then, to handle the interdependence among the criteria derived from the STS, we develop a hybrid multi-criteria decision making model for CLSP selection in the disaster preparedness stage. The proposed model is then evaluated by a real-life case study, providing insights into the decision-makers in both HROs and CLSPs.
Highlights
Since 1990s, the number of disasters have grown up, affecting millions of people annually and causing serious damages to the world economy, e.g., 0.09% of the Annals of Operations Research (2019) 283:1259–12822015 world GDP (Guha-Sapir et al 2015)
This study focuses on an assessment framework that combines two multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques: Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) based Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives to Grey Relations (COPRAS-G) technique
Insights from the results will be helpful for humanitarian relief organizations (HROs) who are in need of selecting the most appropriate collaborating with logistics service providers (CLSPs) for disaster preparation
Summary
Since 1990s, the number of disasters have grown up, affecting millions of people (roughly 200–300) annually and causing serious damages to the world economy, e.g., 0.09% of the Annals of Operations Research (2019) 283:1259–12822015 world GDP (Guha-Sapir et al 2015). CLSPs’ activities are “outsourced” (Wang et al 2016) by those HROs who provide relief service but do not have sufficient resources (e.g., transportation fleets) for recovery (Balcik and Beamon 2008; Baharmand et al 2017) In this sense, HROs act as “customers” (Vega and Roussat 2015), and can improve their relief operations by working with CLSPs. The question remains: how can HROs select the most appropriate CLSP for disaster preparation?. Despite the growing interest, yet, no research we are aware of provides a framework for CLSP selection in the disaster preparedness stage This lack of research is troubling given that “delivery of adequate relief supplies from local and/or international suppliers are typically time-consuming and expensive”, and that “[HROs] engage in preparatory activities that enhance their logistics capabilities in responding to emergencies” The case HRO is joining hands with the Indian government for constructing toilets as a part “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” initiative
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