Relief Supply Chain Management

Ongoing research areas

Research in the relief supply chain management (RelSCM) project focuses on (1) integration in the relief supply chain, (2) cross-agency co-opetition in disaster relief and development aid, and (3) health care supply chains in disaster relief.

(1) Integration in the relief supply chain. The international humanitarian community has called for increased co-ordination in the delivery of aid in disaster relief. It is crucial that this community eliminates duplication efforts and improves communication and co-ordination. Improved SC integration is argued to lead to better SC performance. In relief SCM, integration is expected to lead to time efficiencies that translate to additional lives saved.

(2) Agency co-opetition in disaster relief. Relief SCs have been criticised for a duplication of efforts across relief agencies. The problem is that agencies compete for the same resources, which results in collaboration problems. Collaboration and competition have received high interest in the field of SCM due to the expected outcomes on performance, yet, the concept of co-opetition, the joint occurrence of collaboration and competition, has not at all been researched in relief SCs.

(3) Health care SCs in disaster relief. In disaster response, the provision of health care is crucial. Finland has been one main provider of emergency health care units and has a wide expertise in the field. Yet, there has so far not been extensive research conducted in the field of health care in relief SCs, especially on how integration and collaboration and logistical tools can be used in order to save more lives.

The RelSCM project is financed by the Academy of Finland. The project is ending Oct 2012, follow this link to the final seminar.