Relief supply chains are the most agile and dynamic supply chains, yet research in this area of supply chain management (SCM) is limited. Relief Supply Chain Management for Disasters: Humanitarian, Aid and Emergency Logistics furthers the scholarly understanding of SCM in disaster relief. Recent natural and manmade disasters have brought relief SCM to the forefront of the global response to tragedy, establishing the central role of logistics in averting and limiting unnecessary hardships. The lessons learned during these crises have far-reaching applications for both daily logistics and worst case scenarios and they are represented in this book as a much-needed reference for the advancement of the field.

Focusing on the specific challenges of research design and exploring the opportunities of conducting research in humanitarian logistics and supply chain management, this handbook is a significant contribution to future research. Chapters include extensive descriptions of methods used, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, and the challenges in scoping, sampling, collecting and analysing data, as well as ensuring the quality of studies. Covering a wide variety of topics including risk and resilience and the impact of humanitarian logistics on capacity building, sustainability and the local economy, it also explores the need for scalability and co-ordination in the humanitarian network. Contributors provide important insight on future directions and offer crucial guidance for researchers conducting projects within the field.

Supply Chain Management for Humanitarians provides an in-depth insight into the management of supply chains in the context of humanitarian logistics. This accessible and practical book considers humanitarian logistics from a strategic and operational perspective. The overarching theme is collaboration and coordination, one of the biggest challenges in the humanitarian community. Supply Chain Management for Humanitarians takes a problem-based learning approach, featuring real cases and examples from leading organizations including Oxfam, Unicef, and The Red Cross. Each chapter is self-standing, relating the content in each chapter to the supply chain as a whole. This enables the reader to easily dip into different sections. At the end of each chapter, there is a case study written by a leading practitioner currently working in the humanitarian field. Supply Chain Management for Humanitarians fills a much needed gap in the market and is essential reading for humanitarians worldwide.