Logistics Providers in Syria Humanitarian Operations

Introduction

Since the 1950s, the number and magnitude of disasters have grown exponentially, the number of affected people has grown in proportion (about 300 million persons per annum on the average since the 1990s) and the annual damage costs have risen to about 0.17 per cent of the world GDP (Guha-Sapir, Hoyois, & Below,2014). The increasing number of disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies put pressure on humanitarian aid agencies to deliver humanitarian aids in an appropriate and cost-effective way (Kovacz and Spens, 2007). Although, faster deliveries can substantially reduce suffering of beneficiaries in need (Perez-Rodrıguez and Holguın-Veras, 2016), but disasters create a massive demand for relief aids that include food, medicines, shelter, water and other resources without prediction and expectation which leading to limited preparation for mitigating the same.

In this respect, various humanitarian organizations collaborate with logistics service providers (LSPs) to maintain and enhance their performance. Nevertheless, there is little knowledge which describes what are the important factors for selecting LSPs. The question remains: how can HOs select the most appropriate LSP for humanitarian operation? Despite its practical significance, no explicit effort has been done to identify the criteria/factors in prioritizing and selecting LSPs for humanitarian relief. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an integrated approach to review the selection indicators of LSPs in the humanitarian sector because of the LSPs’ roles in humanitarian relief has now gained much attention from practitioners, as well as from the academic community (Vega and Roussat 2015).

In despite that, there is lack of research in terms of LSPs selection approach; originally developed for commercial activities; which can be applicable in the context of humanitarian operations (Holguín-Veras et al. 2012; Swansson and Smith 2013). This study aims to identify the crucial factors that effect on LSPs selection and their priorities from the perspective of humanitarian relief organizations and to explore how these were implemented and practiced (Roh, Jang, 2018).