Logistical framework for last mile relief distribution in humanitarian supply chains:considerations from the field

Recent years large scale natural disasters: (e.g. 2004 Tsunami, 2005 Earthquake in South Asia, 2010 Earthquake in Haiti, 2010 flood in Pakistan, 2011 Earthquake in Japan etc.) have captured international attention and led to the advance of research of disaster management. To cope with these huge impact disasters, the involved stakeholders have to learn how quickly and efficiently the relief organisations are able to respond. After a disaster strikes, it is necessary to get the relief aid to the affected people by the prompt action of relief organisations. This supply chain process has to be very fast and efficient. The purpose of this paper is to define the last mile relief distribution in humanitarian supply chain and develop a logistical framework by identifying the factors that affect this process. Seventeen interviews were conducted with field officers and the data analysed to identify which are the critical factors for last mile relief distribution of disaster relief operation. A framework is presented classifying these factors according to the ability to implement them in an optimisation model of humanitarian logistics.

Purchasing green transport and logistics services:implications for small business

Considering its strong environmental impact, logistics plays a critical role in green supply chain management. It provides strategic links in the supply chain and is an essential function in the delivery of green products to the consumer. There is a general consensus on the fact that more environmentally sustainable companies may be achieved only if transport and logistics activities also become greener. To achieve this objective, buyer companies need to incorporate green considerations in the purchasing of transport and logistics services. This appears particularly challenging for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of their traditional lack of managerial, organisational and financial resources that often result in failure to adopt an environmental perspective. In the extant literature, green purchasing has received increased attention over the past decade and the strategic importance of introducing green aspects into purchasing practices has been recognised. However, little has been written in relation to purchasing green transport and logistics services. The aim of this paper is to explore practices in the buying of green transport and logistics services and to derive implications for small buyer companies. The paper analyses how general environmental company ambitions and environmental purchasing practices are reflected when green transport and logistics services are purchased in three different European countries (Italy, Ireland and Sweden) using a multiple case study research approach. The results of the paper indicate that while the case companies show a relatively high concern for green issues at corporate level, a lower importance is attributed to green issues at the purchasing function level. When green concerns in the purchasing of transport and logistics services are analysed the level of importance decreases further. Thus, a conflicting attitude is evident between the overall corporate level and the purchasing of transport and logistics services specifically. This suggests that there is potential for improvement especially in the area of green collaboration in buyer and supplier relationships.

A strategic case for e-adoption in healthcare supply chains

A growing body of literature suggests that greater benefits of e-business will be obtained when e-business is integrated throughout a supply chain. However, organizations are still cautious in adopting e-business technologies. This paper examines whether a strategic case for e-commerce can be recognised and the factors that influence e-adoption, using e-business development models, a contingency approach and a stakeholder approach. The paper explores the link of e-commerce with strategy and the potential strategic benefits, risks and problems. This paper analysed e-adoption in four diverse healthcare supply chains in the context of the English National Health Service (NHS). The fieldwork showed there is of limited use of e- in supply chains; there are key problems associated with perceived benefits and costs by different actors both within organisations and within the chain. The paper proposes a framework to link the case for e-commerce with the achievement of strategic objectives across three inter-related domains—health, supply and business.

An agent approach to improving radio frequency identification enabled Returnable Transport Equipment

Returnable transport equipment (RTE) such as pallets form an integral part of the supply chain and poor management leads to costly losses. Companies often address this matter by outsourcing the management of RTE to logistics service providers (LSPs). LSPs are faced with the task to provide logistical expertise to reduce RTE related waste, whilst differentiating their own services to remain competitive. In the current challenging economic climate, the role of the LSP to deliver innovative ways to achieve competitive advantage has never been so important. It is reported that radio frequency identification (RFID) application to RTE enables LSPs such as DHL to gain competitive advantage and offer clients improvements such as loss reduction, process efficiency improvement and effective security. However, the increased visibility and functionality of RFID enabled RTE requires further investigation in regards to decision‐making. The distributed nature of the RTE network favours a decentralised decision‐making format. Agents are an effective way to represent objects from the bottom‐up, capturing the behaviour and enabling localised decision‐making. Therefore, an agent based system is proposed to represent the RTE network and utilise the visibility and data gathered from RFID tags. Two types of agents are developed in order to represent the trucks and RTE, which have bespoke rules and algorithms in order to facilitate negotiations. The aim is to create schedules, which integrate RTE pick‐ups as the trucks go back to the depot. The findings assert that: - agent based modelling provides an autonomous tool, which is effective in modelling RFID enabled RTE in a decentralised utilising the real‐time data facility. ‐ the RFID enabled RTE model developed enables autonomous agent interaction, which leads to a feasible schedule integrating both forward and reverse flows for each RTE batch. ‐ the RTE agent scheduling algorithm developed promotes the utilisation of RTE by including an automatic return flow for each batch of RTE, whilst considering the fleet costs andutilisation rates. ‐ the research conducted contributes an agent based platform, which LSPs can use in order to assess the most appropriate strategies to implement for RTE network improvement for each of their clients.

Local resources and procurement practices in humanitarian supply chains:an empirical examination of large-scale house reconstruction projects

Different procurement decisions taken by relief organizations can result in considerably different implications in regards to transport, storage, and distribution of humanitarian aid and ultimately can influence the performance of the humanitarian supply chain and the delivery of the humanitarian aid. In this article, we look into what resources are needed and how these resources evolve in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we develop a framework to categorize the impact of local resources on the configuration of humanitarian supply chains. In contrast to other papers, the importance of localizing the configuration of the humanitarian supply chain is not only conceptually recognized, but empirical investigations are also provided. In terms of methodology, this article is based on the analysis of secondary data from two housing reconstruction projects. Findings indicate that the use of local resources in humanitarian aid has positive effects on programs' overall supply chain performance and these effects are not only related to the macroeconomic perspective, but benefits expand to improvements related to the use of knowledge. At the same time, it was found that local sourcing often comes with a number of problems. For example, in one of the cases, significant problems existed, which were related to the scarcity of local supplies. Both housing reconstruction projects have indicated the continuous need for changes throughout the programs as a dynamic supply chain configuration is important for the long-term sustainability of reconstruction aid. © 2014 Decision Sciences Institute.

Developing a conceptual framework for investigating the resilience of construction SMEs and their supply chains against extreme weather events

Projections into future increasingly suggest that the intensity and frequency of Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) will increase in the future. This has demanded the business organisations as well to be prepared to face the increasing risk of EWEs, in order to ensure their business continuity. However, current evidence base suggests that businesses, especially SMEs, are not adequately prepared to face the threat of such events. Ability to adequately prepare them has been hindered by the lack of in depth studies addressing this issue. The paper presents a doctoral study designed to investigate the resilience of SMEs operating in the construction sector; which is said to be a highly vulnerable sector for the impacts of EWEs, and their supply chains to EWEs. A conceptual framework developed to investigate this issue is presented and explained. It is argued that the resilience of construction SMEs and their supply chains against EWEs can be improved by a combination of reducing their vulnerability, enhancing coping capacity and implementing coping mechanisms. Importance of undertaking a broader view to include the whole supply chain in making business decisions with regard to EWEs by SMEs is also highlighted.

Adoption of e-business solutions in food supply chains

The aim of this chapter is to increase understanding of e-business adoption in the food supply chain. In the first part of the paper an analysis of the concept and the context of e-business are presented along with a classification of the various e-business applications based on the dimensions of involvement and complexity. Next emphasis is given to the issue of e-business adoption. In particular an analysis of the factors that influence the adoption process is provided by exploring the specific characteristics of the food industry as well as the potential impact of the use of e-business solutions. These factors are not only related to the company but also to the supply chain of each company and the actual value of e-business applications. The chapter concludes that in many cases e-business is wrongly considered as a sole application and its adoption as mainly an intra-firm issue. Finally future trends are considered and discussed. © 2010 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.

Resource-efficient supply chains:a research framework, literature review and research agenda

Purpose: To define a research agenda for creating Resource-Efficient Supply Chains (RESC) by identifying and analysing their key characteristics as well as future research opportunities. Design/methodology/approach: We follow a systematic review method to analyse the literature and to understand RESC taking a substantive theory approach. Our approach is grounded in a specific domain, the agri-food sector, because it is an intensive user of an extensive range of resources. Findings: The review shows that literature has looked at the use of resources primarily from the environmental impact perspective. It shows a lack of understanding of the specific RESC characteristics, and concludes more research is needed on multi-disciplinary methods for resource use and impact analyses as well as assessment methods for resource sensitivity and responsiveness. There is a need to explore whether or not, and how, logistics/supply chain decisions will affect the overall configuration of future food supply chains in an era of resource scarcity and depletion and what the trade-offs will be. Research limitations/implications: The paper proposes an agenda for future research in the area of resource–efficient supply chain. The framework proposed along with the key characteristics identified for RESC can be applied to other sectors. Practical implications: Our research should facilitate further understanding of the implications and trade-offs of supply chain decisions taken on the use of resources by supply chain managers. Originality/value: The paper explores the interaction between supply chains and natural resources and also defines the key characteristics of RESC.

Consuming linked data in supply chains:enabling data visibility via linked pedigrees

The performance of a supply chain depends critically on the coordinating actions and decisions undertaken by the trading partners. The sharing of product and process information plays a central role in the coordination and is a key driver for the success of the supply chain. In this paper we propose the concept of "Linked pedigrees" - linked datasets, that enable the sharing of traceability information of products as they move along the supply chain. We present a distributed and decentralised, linked data driven architecture that consumes real time supply chain linked data to generate linked pedigrees. We then present a communication protocol to enable the exchange of linked pedigrees among trading partners. We exemplify the utility of linked pedigrees by illustrating examples from the perishable goods logistics supply chain.

Strategic supplier performance evaluation:a case-based action research of a UK manufacturing organisation

The main aim of this research is to demonstrate strategic supplier performance evaluation of a UK-based manufacturing organisation using an integrated analytical framework. Developing long term relationship with strategic suppliers is common in today's industry. However, monitoring suppliers' performance all through the contractual period is important in order to ensure overall supply chain performance. Therefore, client organisations need to measure suppliers' performance dynamically and inform them on improvement measures. Although there are many studies introducing innovative supplier performance evaluation frameworks and empirical researches on identifying criteria for supplier evaluation, little has been reported on detailed application of strategic supplier performance evaluation and its implication on overall performance of organisation. Additionally, majority of the prior studies emphasise on lagging factors (quality, delivery schedule and value/cost) for supplier selection and evaluation. This research proposes both leading (organisational practices, risk management, environmental and social practices) and lagging factors for supplier evaluation and demonstrates a systematic method for identifying those factors with the involvement of relevant stakeholders and process mapping. The contribution of this article is a real-life case-based action research utilising an integrated analytical model that combines quality function deployment and the analytic hierarchy process method for suppliers' performance evaluation. The effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated through number of validations (e.g. focus group, business results, and statistical analysis). Additionally, the study reveals that enhanced supplier performance results positive impact on operational and business performance of client organisation.

Enhancing visibility in EPCIS governing agri-food supply chains via linked pedigrees

Data integration for the purposes of tracking, tracing and transparency are important challenges in the agri-food supply chain. The Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) is an event-oriented GS1 standard that aims to enable tracking and tracing of products through the sharing of event-based datasets that encapsulate the Electronic Product Code (EPC). In this paper, the authors propose a framework that utilises events and EPCs in the generation of "linked pedigrees" - linked datasets that enable the sharing of traceability information about products as they move along the supply chain. The authors exploit two ontology based information models, EEM and CBVVocab within a distributed and decentralised framework that consumes real time EPCIS events as linked data to generate the linked pedigrees. The authors exemplify the usage of linked pedigrees within the fresh fruit and vegetables supply chain in the agri-food sector.

EPCIS Event-Based traceability in pharmaceutical supply chains via automated generation of linked pedigrees

In this paper we show how event processing over semantically annotated streams of events can be exploited, for implementing tracing and tracking of products in supply chains through the automated generation of linked pedigrees. In our abstraction, events are encoded as spatially and temporally oriented named graphs, while linked pedigrees as RDF datasets are their specific compositions. We propose an algorithm that operates over streams of RDF annotated EPCIS events to generate linked pedigrees. We exemplify our approach using the pharmaceuticals supply chain and show how counterfeit detection is an implicit part of our pedigree generation. Our evaluation results show that for fast moving supply chains, smaller window sizes on event streams provide significantly higher efficiency in the generation of pedigrees as well as enable early counterfeit detection.

OntoPedigree:modelling pedigrees for traceability in supply chains

The sharing of product and process information plays a central role in coordinating supply chains operations and is a key driver for their success. "Linked pedigrees" - linked datasets, that encapsulate event based traceability information of artifacts as they move along the supply chain, provide a scalable mechanism to record and facilitate the sharing of track and trace knowledge among supply chain partners. In this paper we present "OntoPedigree" a content ontology design pattern for the representation of linked pedigrees, that can be specialised and extended to define domain specific traceability ontologies. Events captured within the pedigrees are specified using EPCIS - a GS1 standard for the specification of traceability information within and across enterprises, while certification information is described using PROV - a vocabulary for modelling provenance of resources. We exemplify the utility of OntoPedigree in linked pedigrees generated for supply chains within the perishable goods and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Cooperation in supply chains: A cooperative game theoretic analysis = Együttműködés ellátási láncokban: Egy kooperatív játékelméleti elemzés

A cikkben a kooperatív játékelmélet fogalmait alkalmazzuk egy ellátási lánc esetében. Az ostorcsapás-hatás elemeit egy beszállító-termelő ellátási láncban ragadjuk meg egy Arrow-Karlin típusú modellben lineáris készletezési és konvex termelési költség mellett. Feltételezzük, hogy mindkét vállalat minimalizálja a fontosabb költségeit. Két működési rendszert hasonlítunk össze: egy hierarchikus döntéshozatali rendszert, amikor először a termelő, majd a beszállító optimalizálja helyzetét, majd egy centralizált (kooperatív) modellt, amikor a vállalatok az együttes költségüket minimalizálják. A kérdés úgy merül fel, hogy a csökkentett ostorcsapás-hatás esetén hogyan osszák meg a részvevők ebben a transzferálható hasznosságú kooperatív játékban. = In this paper we apply cooperative game theory concepts to analyze supply chains. The bullwhip effect in a two-stage supply chain (supplier-manufacturer) in the framework of the Arrow-Karlin model with linear-convex cost functions is considered. It is assumed that both firms minimize their relevant costs, and two cases are examined: the supplier and the manufacturer minimize their relevant costs in a decentralized and in a centralized (cooperative) way. The question of how to share the savings of the decreased bullwhip effect in the centralized (cooperative) model is answered by transferable utility cooperative game theory tools.

Szolgáltatások ellátási láncának speciális menedzsment jellemzői = Specialties in managing service supply chains

Az elmúlt évtizedekben a gazdálkodástudomány kitüntetett figyelemmel kísért két - mind a makrogazdaság, mind az egyes vállalatok működésének sikere szempontjából meghatározó fontosságú - jelenséget, egyrészt a szolgáltatásoknak a hagyományos termeléssel szembeni egyre erőteljesebb térnyerését, másrészt a fogyasztói érték teremtése szempontjából növekvő jelentőségű ellátási láncoknak, illetve azok menedzsmentjének kérdéskörét. Ugyanakkor igen kevés elemzés, de kevés leíró jellegű munka is született a két jelenséget és menedzsment problémát összekapcsoló területről, azaz a szolgáltatások ellátási láncáról, ezen ellátási láncok kezelésének speciális problémáiról. Jelen műhelytanulmányban a szolgáltatások ellátási láncának és menedzsmentjének jellegzetességeit, a klasszikus terméket előállító ellátási láncokhoz viszonyított sajátosságait foglaltuk össze a nemzetközi szakirodalom alapján. Ennek során bemutattuk, hogy az ún. tiszta szolgáltatások széles körben ismert jellemzői hatással vannak a szolgáltatások előállítását és értékesítését végző ellátási láncok működésére is. Ezek a hatások és a specialitások megjelennek az ellátási lánc menedzsment irodalomban megjelenő mindhárom problémakörre, rányomják tehát bélyegüket mind az ellátási lánc felépítésére, struktúrájára, mind az ellátási láncban együttműködő partnerek kapcsolatának = In the last decades scholars have paid a lot of attention to both service operation and supply chain management. There is still limited research on the overlapping field of theses two management areas, on service supply chain specialties. This working paper gives a structured overview on the latest research results published in English. Doing so the paper would like to draw attention of the Hungarian researchers to this field and facilitate these empirical researches. As described in the paper traditional service specialties (intangibility, perishability, inseparability, heterogeneity and the importance of human capital) create special management problems concerning (i) the structure of these supply chains, (ii) their relationship management and (iii) the management of supply chain processes.