A Humanitarian View of Supply Chain Management
Humanitarian work, by nature, happens in places where access is not granted, where access is hampered by political wills, where safety and security challenges are present, where logistics infrastructures are lacking, and where manpower is scarce.
The international non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) has always wanted to reach those more inaccessible patients, solely based on impartial needs, since its creation 50 years ago.
In order to do so, MSF must constantly reinvent its Supply Chain model as constraints are ever-changing. Contrary to what we can find in the profit sector, MSF must often let go of the principle of efficiency (ideal usage of resources for pre-selected objectives) for the effective one (deliver according to the unforeseeable needs).