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Natural disasters cause devastating consequences for those caught in the affected area, with research suggesting that the number of magnitudes of these events are increasing at an alarming rate (Overstreet et al, 2011; Sandwell, 2011). Earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes cause widespread disruption and dislocation and often occur with no prior warning (Britton, 1998; Fritz, 1961; Palen and Liu, 2007). In addition, man-made disasters such as conflict and wars create similar levels of disruption and dysfunction and require a comparable crisis response (Beamon and Kotleba, 2006).
An organized approach to disaster management is essential (Dubey et al, 2017). One response mechanism is Humanitarian Supply Chains (HSC), which are supply chains (SC) that deliver goods and services to those in need in a timely fashion (Beamon and Balcik, 2008). Academic interest in this field has been piqued, driven by the increased number and magnitude of natural disasters and conflict crises in recent years. In additional, it is acknowledged that the majority of disaster relief projects are deemed unsuccessful due to the numerous and multi-faceted challenges these SCs face (Fawcett and Fawcett, 2013). Examples of these challenges include uncertainty over supply and demand locations after the disaster strikes, limited access to accurate information from those in the field, duplication of effort by the multiple non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the same location, damage to local infrastructure in the affected area, a shortage of skilled workers on the ground, and the multitude of stakeholders involved in these operations (each with their own cultural and political nuances and mandates), to name just a few.
A suggested method of reducing the challenges faced by HSCs is increased use of information and communication technology (ICT), especially given the proven efficiency and effectiveness it offers commercial SCs (Beamon and Balcik, 2008). Successful ICT adoption increases agility within and between organizations, and the continued decrease in implementation costs makes adoption increasingly affordable for NGOs (Scholten et al., 2010). The potential for ICT to have a positive impact on HSCs is thus increasingly recognized (Pettit and Beresford, 2009), with some suggesting that ICT is the “single most important factor in determining the success or failure of a disaster relief operation” (Kovacs and Spens, 2007) and others advocating it as a “must have” tool within HSCs (Özdamar and Ertem, 2015).
In this context, the strength of ICT is its ability to store and manage vast amounts of information (Brogueira et al, 2017). The importance of information in HSCs cannot be underestimated, with managers needing to calculate the demand for all goods and services across the SC, their current location and their destination, as well as the transportation options available for distribution (Baldini et al., 2012). Understanding these requirements in commercial SCs is difficult enough, but the complexity of HSCs makes managing this information even more challenging (Schniederjans et al, 2016), further highlighting the need for strong ICT systems for storing, managing, and disseminating information.
Aside from the technical challenges, there is evidence to suggest that NGOs with crucial information can often be reluctant to share it, particularly as personal networks are usually prioritized in these environments, leading to information flowing in an ad-hoc fashion (Bharosa, Lee and Janssen, 2010). As numerous NGOs are involved in the HSC, co-ordination is crucial, yet studies show how humanitarian relief organizations tend to use a multitude of incompatible and unconnected systems that rely on manual input, thereby severely limiting the accuracy of the information they possess (Ilhan, 2011; Overstreet et al., 2011; Pettit and Beresford, 2005). Similarly, limited evidence exists of NGOs utilizing ICT to effectively manage the relief inventories, leading to suggestions that this is an obvious area for improvement (Whybark, 2007).