Defining and measuring the network flexibility of humanitarian supply chains

insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Journal article (2017)

Authors

Hossein Baharmand University of Agder
M. Comes System Engineering - TPM , University of Agder
Matthieu Lauras Université de Toulouse
Research Group
System Engineering (TPM) (TU Delft)
Field research Humanitarian supply chain 2015 Nepal earthquake Measurement framework Network flexibility
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Published Date

2017

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Multi Actor Systems

Research Group

System Engineering

Abstract

The efficient and effective response to disasters critically depends on humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). HSCs need to be flexible to adapt to uncertainties in needs, infrastructure conditions, and behavior of other organizations. The concept of ‘network flexibility’ is, however, not clearly defined. The lack of an unanimous definition has led to a lack of consistent understanding and comparisons. This paper makes a threefold contribution: first, it defines the concept of network flexibility for HSC in the context of sudden onset disasters. Second, it proposes a framework to measure network flexibility in HSCs. Third, we apply our framework to the 2015 Nepal earthquake case and provide evidence-based insights regarding how humanitarian organizations can improve network flexibility in HSCs. Our analyses for Nepal case show that delivery, IT support, and fleet criteria have the most influence on flexibility. Also, the application of our framework on the downstream network of nine humanitarian organizations shows low levels of network flexibility in all but one. This finding explains why several disruptions happened in relief distributions during the Nepal response.