Analyzing drivers and barriers of coordination in humanitarian supply chain management under fuzzy environment

The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers to coordination in humanitarian supply chain management (HSCM), proposes solutions and prioritizes them to overcome the barriers particularly in the Indian context.

This study adopts a comprehensive and rigorous procedure to explore the barriers and solutions to coordination in HSCM. The research design is divided into three phases; first, the barriers and solutions are collected through an extensive literature review; second, barriers and solutions were verified with experts involved in relief operations of the disaster that occurred in Uttarakhand (a Northern state in India) on June 14, 2013 and finally, based on the weight of barriers estimated by fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, solutions to overcome the barriers are prioritized using fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution that considers uncertainty and impreciseness rather than a crisp value.

This study explored 23 barriers to coordination in HSCM and grouped into five categories i.e., strategic barriers, individual barriers, organizational barriers, technological barriers and cultural barriers, and finally 15 solutions were proposed and prioritized to overcome the barriers so decision makers can focus on overcoming these barriers and realize the benefits of coordination in HSCM.

This study provides a more efficient, effective, robust and systematic way to overcome barriers to coordination and improve the competencies of humanitarian supply chain (HSC).

This is the first kind of study that prioritizes the solutions to enhance coordination in HSC based on the weight of the barriers.