IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v22y2020i1p135-145.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Humanitarian Operations: A World of Opportunity for Relevant and Impactful Research

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Besiou

    (Logistics Department, Kuehne Logistics University, 20457 Hamburg, Germany;)

  • Luk N. Van Wassenhove

    (Technology and Operations Management, INSEAD, 77300 Fontainebleau, France)

Abstract

The number of people affected by disasters has increased over the past decades, whereas funding has declined. The need for effective humanitarian aid is, therefore, larger than ever. Humanitarian organizations have recognized the critical role of supply chain management in reaching beneficiaries, and they have introduced commercial routines and best practices. Academics realized that humanitarian operations constitute a fruitful new research area and adapted solution techniques developed for commercial operations to disaster situations with mitigated success. Meanwhile, the problems that humanitarian practitioners face quickly evolve. In this paper, we highlight challenges in matching practitioner needs with academic publications and outline the great opportunities for impactful and relevant research.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Besiou & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2020. "Humanitarian Operations: A World of Opportunity for Relevant and Impactful Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 135-145, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:22:y:2020:i:1:p:135-145
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.2019.0799
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2019.0799
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.2019.0799?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-2, May.
    2. Maria Besiou & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2015. "Addressing the Challenge of Modeling for Decision-Making in Socially Responsible Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(9), pages 1390-1401, September.
    3. Erica Gralla & Jarrod Goentzel & Charles Fine, 2014. "Assessing Trade-offs among Multiple Objectives for Humanitarian Aid Delivery Using Expert Preferences," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 978-989, June.
    4. Jérémie Gallien & Stephen C. Graves & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2016. "OM Forum—Practice-Based Research in Operations Management: What It Is, Why Do It, Related Challenges, and How to Overcome Them," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 5-14, February.
    5. Martin K. Starr & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2014. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 925-937, June.
    6. L N Van Wassenhove, 2006. "Humanitarian aid logistics: supply chain management in high gear," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(5), pages 475-489, May.
    7. Altay, Nezih & Green III, Walter G., 2006. "OR/MS research in disaster operations management," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(1), pages 475-493, November.
    8. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Christopher S. Tang, 2008. "The OR/MS Ecosystem: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(2), pages 267-277, April.
    9. Kovacs, Gyöngyi & Moshtari, Mohammad, 2019. "A roadmap for higher research quality in humanitarian operations: A methodological perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 395-408.
    10. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 109-110, August.
    11. Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 2018. "Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Chain Innovations: New Operations Management Research Opportunities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 983-996, March.
    12. Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2019. "Sustainable Innovation: Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Operations Management," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(12), pages 2930-2945, December.
    13. Christopher S. Tang, 2015. "The Past, Present, and Future of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 1-3, February.
    14. Charles J. Corbett & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 1993. "The Natural Drift: What Happened to Operations Research?," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 625-640, August.
    15. Christopher S. Tang, 2017. "OM Forum—Three Simple Approaches for Young Scholars to Identify Relevant and Novel Research Topics in Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 338-346, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ioannis Kougkoulos & M. Selim Cakir & Nathan Kunz & Doreen S. Boyd & Alexander Trautrims & Kornilia Hatzinikolaou & Stefan Gold, 2021. "A Multi‐Method Approach to Prioritize Locations of Labor Exploitation for Ground‐Based Interventions," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4396-4411, December.
    2. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    3. Jónas Oddur Jónasson & Kamalini Ramdas & Alp Sungu, 2022. "Social impact operations at the global base of the pyramid," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4364-4378, December.
    4. Kovacs, Gyöngyi & Moshtari, Mohammad, 2019. "A roadmap for higher research quality in humanitarian operations: A methodological perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 395-408.
    5. Abhishek Behl & Pankaj Dutta, 2019. "Humanitarian supply chain management: a thematic literature review and future directions of research," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 1001-1044, December.
    6. Fahimnia, Behnam & Jabbarzadeh, Armin & Ghavamifar, Ali & Bell, Michael, 2017. "Supply chain design for efficient and effective blood supply in disasters," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PC), pages 700-709.
    7. Courtney Blair & Erica Gralla & Finley Wetmore & Jarrod Goentzel & Megan Peters, 2021. "A Systems Framework for International Development: The Data‐Layered Causal Loop Diagram," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4374-4395, December.
    8. Christopher S. Tang, 2016. "OM Forum—Making OM Research More Relevant: “Why?” and “How?”," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 178-183, May.
    9. Eunae Yoo & Elliot Rabinovich & Bin Gu, 2020. "The Growth of Follower Networks on Social Media Platforms for Humanitarian Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(12), pages 2696-2715, December.
    10. Carland, Corinne & Goentzel, Jarrod & Montibeller, Gilberto, 2018. "Modeling the values of private sector agents in multi-echelon humanitarian supply chains," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 532-543.
    11. Ferrer, José M. & Martín-Campo, F. Javier & Ortuño, M. Teresa & Pedraza-Martínez, Alfonso J. & Tirado, Gregorio & Vitoriano, Begoña, 2018. "Multi-criteria optimization for last mile distribution of disaster relief aid: Test cases and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 501-515.
    12. Christopher S. Tang, 2017. "OM Forum—Three Simple Approaches for Young Scholars to Identify Relevant and Novel Research Topics in Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 338-346, July.
    13. Shahriar Akter & Samuel Fosso Wamba, 2019. "Big data and disaster management: a systematic review and agenda for future research," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 939-959, December.
    14. Maria Besiou & Alfonso J. Pedraza‐Martinez & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2021. "Humanitarian Operations and the UN Sustainable Development Goals," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4343-4355, December.
    15. Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez & Sameer Hasija & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2020. "Fleet Coordination in Decentralized Humanitarian Operations Funded by Earmarked Donations," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 984-999, July.
    16. Emre Çankaya & Ali Ekici & Okan Örsan Özener, 2019. "Humanitarian relief supplies distribution: an application of inventory routing problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 119-141, December.
    17. Shivam Gupta & Nezih Altay & Zongwei Luo, 2019. "Big data in humanitarian supply chain management: a review and further research directions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 1153-1173, December.
    18. Paul, Jomon Aliyas & Wang, Xinfang (Jocelyn), 2015. "Robust optimization for United States Department of Agriculture food aid bid allocations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 129-146.
    19. TURKEŠ, Renata & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2018. "Case studies and random instances for the problem of pre-positioning emergency supplies," Working Papers 2018004, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    20. Hunt, Kyle & Narayanan, Adithya & Zhuang, Jun, 2022. "Blockchain in humanitarian operations management: A review of research and practice," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:22:y:2020:i:1:p:135-145. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.