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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a 3R (right time, right place, and right material) principle for characterizing failure in humanitarian/relief supply chains’ response to natural disasters, and describes a Bayesian methodology of the failure odds with regard to external factors that may affect the disaster-relief outcome, and distinctive supply chain proneness to failure.

The suggested 3Rs combine simplicity and completeness, enclosing all aspects of the 7R principle popular within business logistics. A fixed effects logistic regression model is designed, with a Bayesian approach, to relate the supply chains’ odds for success in disaster-relief to potential environmental predictors, while accounting for distinctive supply chains’ proneness to failure.

Analysis of simulated data demonstrate the model’s ability to distinguish relief supply chains with regards to their disaster-relief failure odds, taking into account pertinent external factors and supply chain idiosyncrasies.

Due to the complex nature of natural disasters and the scarcity of subsequent data, the paper employs computer-simulated data to illustrate the implementation of the proposed methodology.

The 3R principle offers a simple and familiar basis for evaluating failure in relief supply chains’ response to natural disasters. Also, it brings the issues of customer orientation within humanitarian relief and supply operations to the fore, which had only been implicit within the humanitarian and relief supply chain literature.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework on how strategic philanthropy can be included in humanitarian supply chains delivery. This framework explains the modalities where strategic philanthropy can be successful when collaborating with key humanitarian supply chain actors.

A philanthropy delivery framework is developed based on the literature related to strategic philanthropy and humanitarian supply chains. The delivery framework is further validated with the real-life case study of a multinational firm during the 2011 Thai floods.

Procter and Gamble (P&G) was involved in the Thailand flood 2011 relief efforts in three phases: preparation, immediate response, and reconstruction phase. The company supported and distributed a water purifier through a non-governmental relief agency, the Princess Pa Foundation, under the Thai Red Cross Society, that enabled P&G to not only gain the trust of the targeted community during all the phases but in the continued usage of their water purifier after the event. Community leaders and P&G’s modern trade retailers played an important role in collaborating in this humanitarian supply chain to enable the successful delivery and usage of the donated water purifier.

This proposed delivery framework is appropriate for in-kind products and services philanthropy. The case study describes how strategic philanthropy can be implemented in a specific case, i.e. flood disaster.

Academia, practitioners, and companies who are involved in humanitarian reliefs may adopt and adapt this framework in order to enable a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the humanitarian supply chain.

The delivery framework suggests that firms can develop successful strategic philanthropy through systematic humanitarian supply chain collaboration. It explains how a company can operate its philanthropic programs through collaboration with others as well as describes how these different actors can work together.

An understanding of the “AS-IS” stage of a relief operation is the basis for further action in humanitarian supply chain management. The purpose of this paper is to develop a toolbox called the Humanitarian Supply Chain Assessment Tool (HumSCAT). This toolbox is comprised of a set of basic tools which can be classified into each phase of disaster relief.

The HumSCAT is proposed by paralleling frequently used tools in commercial supply chains with the objectives and characteristics of relief phases. A case study was used to validate the HumSCAT along with six tools provided in the preparation phase.

The HumSCAT consists of seven tools in the preparation phase, nine tools in the response phase and ten tools in the recovery phase. The case study illustrates how to use the HumSCAT and the six tools. The latter were found to be useful for improving the relief chain.

The list of tools is not exclusive. Other tools might be applicable as long as they meet the objectives and characteristics of the phase. A tool should be adjusted accordingly to the contexts. Tools in other phases should be validated in future research.

The HumSCAT may serve as a reference toolbox for practitioners. Its output can be used for further designing of the “TO-BE” status of humanitarian relief chains.

The HumSCAT is proposed as a toolbox for academics and practitioners involved in humanitarian supply chains.

The rising threat of tropical cyclones in Zimbabwe is of great importance in establishing the general sources of humanitarian supply chain risks and assessing their negative impact on relief operations. There is a scarcity of studies that collate such evidence toward enhanced humanitarian supply chains in Southern Africa. With this in mind, this study explored scattered evidence on supply chain risks in the delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe.

This reflective study evaluates supply chain risks associated with Cyclone Idai humanitarian relief operations through qualitative in-depth interviews with relevant actors in the field. The data were triangulated with secondary information from associated publications, blogs and newspapers to reflect the truth about the phenomena under investigation.

The results show that Cyclone Idai disaster response operations were adversely affected by social, economic and political/governmental risk factors. In the same breath, poor or inadequate infrastructure and environmental factors were also contributing factors toward the futility of humanitarian relief operations.

This study is significant as it endeavors to contribute toward humanitarian supply chain management, specifically in assisting humanitarian organizations with suggested strategies that would work toward making humanitarian relief supply chains more resilient. However, more research needs to be done toward optimized implementation strategies for the suggested framework.

It is to the best knowledge of these researchers that this is a unique study carried out to examine humanitarian supply chain risk factors in Cyclone Idai relief operations in Zimbabwe.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the issues and challenges in humanitarian logistics and to develop a framework for effectively managing the humanitarian logistics in disaster relief supply chain operations in India.

This paper presents a framework to manage humanitarian logistics effectively in disaster management through qualitative analysis. First, the author examines the challenges facing the humanitarian logistics and supply chain through the reviews of the literature on various disasters. Then, the author presented a framework based on the best practices and initiatives taken worldwide in the preparedness and response stage of the humanitarian supply chain to manage and reduce the aftermath of any disaster in context to India.

A framework has been developed to manage humanitarian logistics in the disaster relief operation, which would improve the humanitarian supply chain in India and help to effectively manage natural disasters in the preparedness and response stage at the state and district levels.

The paper mainly emphasises on the preparedness and response stage of disaster supply chain management in Indian context.

None of the disaster incidents can be stopped from taking place, but the impact can be minimised by proper preparedness and effective response during the operations of humanitarian logistics. With this hope, the framework has been developed, which if implemented would help to plan and manage any disaster incident in an effective manner, which ultimately would save millions of lives and cost in terms of infrastructure, property, assets etc.

As natural disaster incidents are occurring frequently in Indian states, there is an urgent need for a framework to manage the logistics operations effectively and efficiently during any disaster relief operations. Limited literature is found on developing and presenting a framework focusing on the preparedness and response phase of disaster supply chain management in context to India. Hence, this paper is believed to be the first to fulfil this gap with main emphasis on the preparedness and response stage of disaster supply chain management in Indian scenario.

In the aftermath of disasters, humanitarian actors need to coordinate their activities based on accurate information about the disaster site, its surrounding environment, the victims and survivors and the supply of and demand for relief supplies. In this study, the authors examine the characteristics of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and those of disaster relief operations to achieve information visibility and actor coordination for effective and efficient humanitarian relief operations.

Building on the contingent resource-based view (CRBV), the authors present a model of task-technology fit (TTF) that explains how the use of RFID can improve visibility and coordination. Survey data were collected from humanitarian practitioners in India, and partial least squares (PLS) analysis was used to analyze the model.

The characteristics of both RFID technology and disaster relief operations significantly influence TTF, and TTF predicts RFID usage in disaster relief operations, providing visibility and coordination. TTF is also a mediator between the characteristics of RFID technology and disaster relief operations and between visibility and coordination.

The many recent humanitarian disasters have demonstrated the critical importance of effective and efficient humanitarian supply chain and logistics strategies and operations in assisting disaster-affected populations. The active and appropriate use of technology, including RFID, can help make disaster response more effective and efficient.

Humanitarian actors value RFID technology because of its ability to improve the visibility and coordination of relief operations. This study brings a new perspective to the benefits of RFID technology and sheds light on its antecedents. The study thus expands the understanding of technology in humanitarian operations.

This paper aims to provide a commentary and an overview of developments in the field of humanitarianism that could impact theoretical understanding of agility in humanitarian aid supply chains over the past decade.

Authors review papers published on agility in humanitarian aid supply chains from 2006 to 2015 in the four leading Emerald-published logistics and supply chain management journals. These are: Supply Chain Management: An International Journal (SCMIJ); International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management (IJPDLM); International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM); and Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management (JHLSCM). This paper presents an overview and update of developments that have the potential to influence current thinking and understanding about agility in humanitarian aid supply chains, and humanitarian aid supply chains in general.

Humanitarianism and the environment of Humanitarian organisations are evolving. Such evolution has potential impacts on theoretical discussions and understanding of agility in humanitarian aid supply chains and humanitarian aid supply chains in general.

This is not a critical literature review but an overview. The paper is based on four logistics and supply chain management journals only. However, the paper is based on the work published over a decade.

Points scholars and practitioners to the impacts of Humanitarian Organisations using the relief-development continuum on supply chain design decisions including the pursuit of agility.

It may be the time to consider the relief-development continuum in fresh light and its implications for agility in humanitarian aid supply chains.

This paper seems to be the first paper that highlights the influence of the relief-development continuum model on humanitarian aid supply chain design strategies.

Mismanagement and corruption in disaster relief operations (DROs) have created a demand for transparency and visibility in humanitarian logistics and supply chains. The global relief organisations and recent research endorse the adoption of digital solutions in DROs. The purpose of this research is to examine the moderating role of digitalisation in enhancing transparency in humanitarian logistics and supply chains of DROs in Pakistan.

Employing the quantitative research method, the data were collected from 340 disaster relief workers through survey questionnaires using the snowball sampling technique. The data were analysed in the SmartPLS3 software of PLS-SEM.

The findings suggested that in Pakistan, where corruption and mismanagement in humanitarian logistics and supply chain have been the greatest concerns of all the stakeholders, digitalisation of the DROs is a way forward to create transparency in the system and build the trust of the donor organisations and public.

The sample included only 340 disaster relief workers, future researchers may test the proposed model on a larger sample size and from different stakeholders' perspectives such as the disaster victims, government agencies and NGOs.

The ultimate beneficiaries of a digitalised and transparent humanitarian logistics and supply chain will be the society as a whole and particularly the victims of the disasters. By adopting the appropriate technologies in DROs, the victims will receive timely and entitled resources, and early warnings will save many lives.

The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by providing the first empirical evidence of examining the moderating role of digitalisation in creating transparency in humanitarian logistics from one of the top ten most disaster-affected nations.

The purpose of this paper is to compare performance measurement in the humanitarian relief chain with performance measurement in the commercial supply chain, develop performance metrics for the humanitarian relief chain, and present a framework that can be used as a basis for a performance measurement system in the relief sector.

The performance measurement analysis is developed through extensions on an existing performance measurement framework. Details regarding relief chain system were obtained through off‐site and on‐site interviews with relief professionals from World Vision International.

The paper finds that this work yielded: a comparison of performance measurement in the humanitarian relief chain with performance measurement in the commercial supply chain, new performance metrics for the humanitarian relief chain, and a performance measurement framework for the relief chain.

The paper shows that future work includes performance measurement in community involvement and empowerment, performance measurement in community development, performance measurement in the combined relief and development mission, and understanding the role and impacts of cooperation and coordination in the relief chain.

This paper provides a practical procedure for developing effective performance measurement systems for relief logistics processes.

The paper presents to humanitarian relief professionals a new approach to performance measurement for relief logistics and to researchers in supply chain performance a comparison and contrast between performance measurement for relief and performance measurement in the commercial chain, new performance metrics for the relief chain, and implications for modern, quick‐response supply chains.

The article presents an evaluation of the supply chain agility of the Indonesian humanitarian organization Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT). It discusses the flexibility, responsiveness and effectiveness of ACT's supply chain.

The supply chain agility metrics were assessed based on interviews with representatives from ACT and the National Agency for Disaster Management (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana [BNPB]). Recommendations were made based on the assessment results.

The findings of this study indicated that ACT's supply chain agility maturity was at level 2 or repeatable. This meant that ACT's humanitarian supply chain (HSC) had demonstrated agility only on limited occasions. ACT's supply chain agility can be improved by enhancing the flexibility component.

The study shows how to assess the supply chain agility of a humanitarian organization and identify the components/capabilities of agility that need improvement. The same assessment can be conducted by other humanitarian organizations to enhance their supply chain agility to improve their emergency response in the event of a disaster.

The study provides insights into the supply chain agility of a locally based humanitarian organization in an emerging country, which is rarely discussed in the literature.