Business model canvas for humanitarian operations of logistics service providers*

Abstract

For years, humankind has been facing various disasters of which logistics has a crucial role for alleviating sufferings of vulnerable people, who are isolated and in need of basic supplies. Owing to the increasing importance of logistics in humanitarian operations, logistics service providers (LSPs) have recently become more prominent. Yet, only a few LSPs have the capabilities and mechanisms to offer operational solutions for humanitarian relief. Also, the conducted extensive literature review makes evident that the existence of a limited number of normative research reveals a barrier about what LSPs can bring into the humanitarian field. Accordingly, why LSPs are particularly important in the humanitarian supply chain and how LSPs manage their activities and resources in humanitarian operations become the main questions to be addressed. Thus, this study seeks to explore humanitarian operations of LSPs from different dimensions, enabled by Business Model Canvas (BMC). In this sense, the obtained findings clarify both similar and different viewpoints of diverse LSPs when mapped against the BMC. Consequently, the categorised interrelated information presented through the cross-case synthesis provide novelty to advance insights both on strategic missions of LSPs in humanitarian relief operations and on the usage of BMC beyond its common commercial implementations.