Humanitarian Logistics

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Description

Imagine the logistics involved in planning an event like the Olympics. Now imagine planning the same event but not knowing when or where it will take place, how many spectators will attend or how many athletes will compete. The near impossibility of this task gives some insight into what humanitarian logisticians are up against.

What's more, logistical shortcomings and oversights in the humanitarian context may result in serious consequences for the victims of disasters and could literally mean the difference between life and death. So they have to get it right, and fast. Emergencies test the reactivity and capacity of humanitarian agencies, and often overwhelm them in the first few days.

During an emergency relief operation private sector partners can assist the humanitarian agencies with readily accessible assets and skills to meet demand in the field. This may be pro bono or at cost, helping to keep the overall expense of the operation down and enhancing speed in the first few days of a response.

This is where this book comes in! The authors are grateful for the support of the INSEAD Social innovation Centre in the development of this book. The centre is a platform for cross-disciplinary research in Social innovation and aims at introducing new business models and market-based mechanisms that deliver sustainable economic, environmental and social prosperity.

For more information about the centre's work please visit: www.insead.edu/isic Review: This book is a great example of our commitment at INSEAD to develop responsible leaders. It is very timely given the rapidly increasing acknowledgement of the importance of the social impact of organizations. The cases and recommendations in this book will be very helpful to anyone seeking to maximize their impact on humanitarian disaster relief. - Dean Frank Brown, INSEAD As the UN's lead logistics organization we have a responsibility to look for benchmark practices both in the traditional humanitarian community but also in the private sector.

The partnership with TNT has allowed us to do just that. Humanitarian logistics are very different from private sector logistics, but we can learn a great deal from each other, as this book amply demonstrates. - Josette Sheeran, Executive Director at World Food Program Since 2002 we support WFP with our core competences to develop supply chain solutions; moreover we acknowledge the importance of logistics in disaster relief and the role the private sector can play in this field.

This book gives an insight of the importance of humanitarian logistics and the challenges that lie ahead. - Peter Bakker, TNT Chief Executive Officer I highly recommend to humanitarian logistics professionals as well as business supply chain practitioners. This is the first book that has integrated effective approaches in humanitarian logistics and business supply chain management in a most instructive and inspiring manner, and both sectors can learn so much from it. - Hau Lee, Thoma Professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.