A humanitarian supply chain process reference model

Humanitarian operations comprise a wide variety of activities. These activities differ in temporal and spatial scope, as well as objectives, target population and with respect to the delivered goods and services. Despite a notable variety of agendas of the humanitarian actors, the requirements on the supply chain and supporting logistics activities remain similar to a large extent. This motivates the development of a suitably generic reference model for supply chain processes in the context of humanitarian operations. Reference models have been used in commercial environments for a range of purposes, such as analysis of structural, functional, and behavioural properties of supply chains. Our process reference model aims to support humanitarian organisations when designing appropriately adapted supply chain processes to support their operations, visualising their processes, measuring their performance and thus, improving communication and coordination of organisations. A top-down approach is followed in which modular process elements are developed sequentially and relevant performance measures are identified. This contribution is conceptual in nature and intends to lay the foundation for future research.