Effective and Efficient Relief Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of Flood Relief-2022 in Sindh

Abstract

In the backdrop of recent floods in Pakistan, this study focuses to identify the challenges faced in the aid distribution supply chain and envision best practices from Business Supply Chains for use across the relief projects. The argument is that relevant aspects of business supply chain can be applied for operational efficiency of relief supply chain. Using a mixed method approach, seven organizations based in Karachi were selected using purposive sampling method and data was collected using questionnaire having both open and closed ended questions. The quantitative data was analyzed using Microsoft excel and qualitative data was analyzed by thematic analysis. The findings of the study show that all the stakeholders agreed that coordination and collaboration in relief work can increase the effectiveness. The main challenges faced by them were inadequate financial resources, accessing the affected areas, duplication of the relief operation in same areas, as some of the areas got the attention of all relief actors while others got missed at a given time. The research suggests that by adapting CPFR model, Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment in the supply chain approach, combined effort and practices can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of relief work.