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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyse the crisis network response of European countries and the role played by defence organizations(DOs) during the early response phase of the pandemic, here set to encompass 75 days. Design/methodology/approach – Published materials – reports, news and communications – provided by authorities and DOs were used. Some ofthe authors actively participated in national pandemic response networks. An exploratory approach and qualitative content analysis were applied.The data were collected in national languages from 13 European countries, and they were coded and analysed using the actors, resources andactivities (ARA) framework. Findings – This study identified three main categories of activity structures in which the DOs interacted with civilian members of response networks,health-related services, logistics services and public support services. These networks among actors were found within formal response systems andemergent networks. The DOs engaged as actors that provided a range of services when civil authorities could not cope with the huge demand forspecific services and when resources were scarce in the initial response phase. Originality/value – This study contributes by filling an important research gap with regard to the civil-military relations associated with the use ofDO resources in the civil response to the pandemic crisis in Europe, which is described as an untraditional response. The ARA network approachprovides a framework for arranging ARA and extends the wider civil-military network to expand the formal networks of the early crisis response. Thestudy lays knowledge about the co-operation between civilian and military actors in different contexts and provides a broader understanding of theroles that DOs played in the response operations.

Purpose By drawing on commitment-trust theory, we examine the role of swift trust and distrust in supporting coopetition under conditions of uncertainty and interdependence in the setting of humanitarian disaster relief organisations. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents findings from case studies of 18 international humanitarian relief organisations based on 48 interviews and the analysis of publicly available documents. Findings We find that both swift trust and swift distrust support coopetition. As coopetition is simultaneous cooperation and competition, in this study we show how swift trust and swift distrust also occur simultaneously in coopetitive contexts. Research limitations/implications Coopetition as a strategic choice is well-researched in the private sector, yet has received less attention in the nonprofit sector, particularly in contexts that are shaped by interdependence and uncertainty. We show the importance of swift trust and swift distrust in coopetitive relationships by drawing on commitment-trust theory. Practical implications In focusing on a competitive environment in which cooperation is essential, we find limited choice of coopetitive partners. Humanitarian relief organisations must often simply work with whichever other organisations are available. We highlight how trust and distrust are not opposite ends of a spectrum and detail how both contribute to coopetitive relationships. Originality/value Our findings contribute to commitment-trust theory by explaining the important role of distrust in forging coopetitive relationships. Furthermore, we contribute to prior work on coopetition by focusing on an uncertain and interdependent nonprofit environment.

In this study we argue that recognising humanitarian logistics (HL) as a complex system is a key step in developing supply chain design and management strategies that meet the needs of stakeholders. This study draws on complex adaptive systems theory to examine the characteristics and implications of complexity for HL. Through case-study research of humanitarian responses in Haiti and Pakistan, characteristics of complexity across organisational boundaries are identified. We find that the complexity of the context impacts the outcome of the humanitarian response and conclude that HL must not only react to its environment, it must also create its environment. As HL must work within significantly differing environments to create solutions, the standardised approaches used to manage supply chains are less desirable. While this paper focuses on HL, wider applicability to other complex logistics operations is also discussed, informing the design and management of contextually specific supply chains.

This project analyses the cargo potential at the German regional airport Niederrhein/Weeze. The airport's geographical location in central Europe, in close proximity to major centres of population and industry in both Germany and the Netherlands offers a significant conglomeration of potential customer companies in close proximity to the former British air base. However, concern remain about the infrastructure on the location, particularly runway length which restricts cargo movements more so than the already existing and successful passenger services. While Weeze sports no night flight restrictions at present, making it an attractive alternative for airfreight that has recently been severely restricted due to new flight bans in surrounding major airports, significant investment is required to capitalise upon this potential.

A recent line of research has focused on the idea of sustainable and culturally appropriate entrepreneurship, which promotes and enhances community values and traditions, rather than imposing traditional top-down economic models that may change society. The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan provides a unique environment to study this approach, as there is both a strong political drive towards fostering entrepreneurship and an underlying culture of sustainability enshrined in the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). The Bhutanese government champions entrepreneurship as a way to alleviate poverty and achieve sustainable economic development. However, there is little evidence to verify this, nor an understanding of how entrepreneurship under GNH may be conceptualised. This paper presents a series of case vignettes that explore entrepreneurship development in the agribusiness, tourism and craft sectors. This study seeks to contribute to the evidence base for both sustainable entrepreneurship and GNH and outlines a future research agenda.

Sourcing and procurement of materials and services is a vital part of humanitarian logistics. Humanitarian organisations tend to combine local sourcing and international approaches, resulting in considerable complexity. This paper establishes a better understanding of the factors that influence sourcing decisions in humanitarian supply chains. 38 semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals involved in both developmental and emergency humanitarian responses. Findings show that the philosophy of a particular humanitarian organisation has a considerable effect on their sourcing strategy, in addition to more practical issues such as local availability of goods and services, and quality control.

This paper applies the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) to a study of small Scottish island communities and their supply chains, with a particular focus on the visitor economy, which is vital for the continued economic and social viability of these remote rural communities. Given the very limited pool of both suppliers and customers within remote island communities, extensive supply chains lie at the core of economic activity. However, whilst the challenge of supply chain development in rural areas has been acknowledged, supply chain limitations within a visitor economy context, have received little academic attention. Nine islands across three Scottish council areas were selected for this research, with 58 semi-structured interviews with respondents involved in visitor economy activity. This study demonstrates the crucial importance of social capital for the development of efficient and effective supply chains in remote areas. With findings suggesting that social capital can alleviate a broader scarcity of resource and other capital constraints in peripheral communities. Moreover, the development of trust is highlighted as a key problem in creating more efficient and sustainable supply chain relationships.

Whilst the entrepreneur, as the agent of change, has long been recognised as a means of regional development, there is a growing realisation that a combination of factors conducive to creating entrepreneurial places exists. Indeed, within an ecosystems approach, a number of key ingredients are said to provide the optimum conditions for entrepreneurship to thrive, including: human capital, a conducive culture, access to finance and markets, appropriate institutional and policy support, and effective leadership (Isenberg, 2010). However, whilst these ingredients remain critical success factors, this paper advocates that a still broader range of criteria, or capital assets, need to be considered, to evaluate the potential of place-based entrepreneurial strategies. As an exploratory study, the presentation identifies forty-two assets developed from the extant literature, that are subsequently presented within a seven capitals framework (Emery and Flora 2006; O’Leary, Burkett and Braithwaite, 2011). The resulting entrepreneurial assets framework is offered for discussion and as a starting point for future research directions. The contribution of this presentation lies in understanding the interaction of the seven capitals from a systems perspective, to engage in a holistic analysis of the entrepreneurial development pathways for rural places.

The aim of this paper is to identify how improved information flow surrounding the use of forecasting data can prevent stoppages and thus excessive lead times in the aerospace services arena. This is of particular importance, as services have high revenue potential and a particularly competitive market environment. In the academic literature, it is regarded as particularly challenging due to the nature of its products. In addition, traditional manufacturing companies have little experience with service provision. A case study is conducted with a major industry player using the seven stage model of soft systems methodology in a researcher-based form. In the course of this, current information flows are analyzed and visualized to identify problem areas. It becomes apparent that blaming behaviour is common and that most reasons for stoppages can be traced back to information flow failures at the interface between organisational entities. Each entity is focused on its own processes, which is encouraged by the existing penalty policy within the company. Very little effort is put into optimizing the whole aftermarket system. In an effort to change this, a more customer focused approach is suggested. The first step is a discussion of the findings of the study with all involved entities. The current penalty system needs to be altered to encourage interaction instead of internal competition. In quarterly meetings, information from within the company, as well as feedback from external entities will be gathered and analyzed in order to avoid stoppages. In an effort to mitigate arising problems directly among entities, a constant communication platform will be provided.

Food transport was chosen as the focus of this research, because it is a universal problem, both for individuals and businesses in the agri-food or hospitality sector. In the UK, the agri-food sector contributed £96.1 billion or 7.3 per cent to national Gross Value Added in 2011, and 3.3 million or 14 per cent of national employment in the third quarter of 2012 (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs 2013) This sector has a strong presence in rural areas, particularly in Scotland. In addition, the hospitality and tourism industry is important for rural Scotland. The research is exploratory in its nature. It seeks to understand the challenges of food logistics in a rural setting from the perspective of rural businesses that produce and/or sell food products. Particular attention has been paid to the impact of weather disruptions on the supply chain and the potential of cooperation between businesses to lower transport cost. Furthermore, this research focuses on small islands. All of them fit the definition of remote rural areas as areas outwith a 30-minute driving radius of the nearest settlement with a population of 10,000 or more (The Scottish Government 2013). According to the 2001 census there are 96 inhabited islands in Scotland with a total population of just under 100,000 (Scottish Inhabited Islands 2003). Compared to previous census figures, many of the islands face depopulation and an ageing population, while others have thriving communities and a lower average age than the rest of Scotland (Scotland Census Results Online 2003). Lewis and Harris have the largest population with 19,918 inhabitants in 2001, followed by Mainland Shetland and Mainland Orkney. In total, 14 islands had more than 1,000 inhabitants, while 50 had less than 100. Transport has been identified as one of the barriers to rural economic development in Scotland (Wilson and Edwards 2008). The economic and social life in island communities is particularly reliant on transport links

Purpose of this paper The purpose of this research is to connect current literature on performance measurement in humanitarian logistics with stakeholder theory. This will provide a framework for a more customer focussed approach to performance in the humanitarian sector. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that includes an extensive literature review on customers and performance measurement in commercial, non-profit and humanitarian supply chains. Findings While the beneficiaries are the customers of a humanitarian supply chain according to their very raison d’être, donors are the stakeholder group with the highest salience due to the greatest amount of power. Both groups have their own interests, creating a challenging environment for performance measurement. Standard business tools such as the balanced scorecard have to be adapted to this environment. Research limitations/implications This paper is conceptual and the proposed framework will have to be tested empirically. Practical implications The proposed framework can help humanitarian organisations focus their supply chain optimisations on the aspect of performance that are most relevant to their key customer groups. What is original/value of paper The research brings together the complexities of humanitarian supply chains with the increasing customer focus that can be seen in commercial service supply chains. Based on an assessment of stakeholder salience, the difference in key customer groups is analysed. The resulting framework provides indications for balancing their diverging needs.

Mitchell et al.(1997) developed a framework for assessing the salience of stakeholder groups based on their power, urgency and the legitimacy of their claim. This has been applied to illustrate the complexities of stakeholder interactions in humanitarian supply chains and to provide insights for their management and further research. Keywords: Supply chain management, Humanitarian logistics, Stakeholder salience

The increasing importance of services in SCM leads to a stronger focus on the customer perspective. Donors and beneficiaries are two distinct customer groups of humanitarian supply chains. This paper will analyse how this impacts performance measurement for example in the commonly used balanced scorecard, which includes a customer perspective. Keywords: Performance measurement, Humanitarian logistics, Customer perspective

Based on literature on "wicked" (Rittel and Webber 2007) or "messy" problems (Ackoff 1981) a conceptual framework for “messy supply chains” is developed. Findings from a series of semi-structured interviews explore the presence and potential effects of each of the “messy” characteristics in humanitarian logistics (HL), with a focus on three case studies of humanitarian responses. Aspects of behavioural complexity are currently underrepresented in HL literature. This could be a major reason why tools and techniques from commercial logistics do not always apply in a humanitarian context, providing researchers and practitioners with new insights into potential approaches to HL challenges.

This paper explores the effect of place and transport on food-retail and food-production SMEs in peripheral regions, with an emphasis on the challenges faced by rural enterprises in respect to logistics and their supply chains. To capture extremes of rurality, food based SMEs in Scottish island communities with less than 200 inhabitants were studied. This paper reports data gathered from 58 semi-structured interviews, with business owners, transport providers, community groups and local councils. Small and medium-sized food enterprises are identified as integral to the economic sustainability of island communities. Moreover, they are centres of community spirit and island social life; with survival of the local grocery store considered essential for the well being of the increasingly ageing populations. Given the peripherality and small local market, competition is often fierce, but enterprises are forced to cooperate, especially regarding transport, which often constrains business activity. Literature suggests that the internet should aid rural SMEs in developing beyond their local area, but this study has found that the availability of transport connections, as well as the added time and cost for transport are still serious disadvantages in competing with businesses on the mainland. However, the internet has simplified procurement significantly, enabling business owners to make comparisons and to generally acquire items at a lower price. The impact of different levels of transport connectivity on food businesses in the investigated communities is also considered.

Extant research has made many advances in our understanding of how relatively stable, repetitive supply chains (SCs) can be run effectively. This study focuses on the less researched SCs that are not stable or repetitive. To capture the management challenges of this type of SC, a definition of "messy supply chains" (MSCs) for SCs presenting "wicked" (Rittel and Webber, 2007) or "messy" problems (Ackoff, 1981) is proposed. A conceptual framework is explored in the context of the literature on humanitarian operations. This framework will form the foundation of an in-depth examination of MSCs to aid research and managerial practice. Keywords: supply

Purpose The purpose of this research is to develop a performance measurement framework that takes into account the key stakeholders of the logistics departments or personnel in humanitarian organisations. It reflects their views and characteristics by adapting the balanced scorecard to this environment. The key stakeholders are identified using the stakeholder salience framework by Mitchell et al. (1997). Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper based on a systematic literature review on stakeholders, customers and performance measurement in humanitarian supply chains. Findings Beneficiaries are the customers that are the reason for the existence of humanitarian supply chains. Donors are the stakeholder group with the highest salience due to the greatest amount of power. Both groups have their own interests, creating a challenging environment for performance measurement. Standard business tools such as the balanced scorecard have to be adapted accordingly to be useful in this environment. Research limitations/implications This paper is conceptual and the proposed framework is yet to be tested empirically. Practical implications The proposed framework can help humanitarian organisations focus on the aspects of performance that are most relevant to their key customer groups. Originality/value The research brings together the complexities of humanitarian supply chains with the increasing customer focus that can be seen in commercial service supply chains. Based on an assessment of stakeholder salience, the difference in key customer groups is analysed. The resulting framework provides indications for balancing their diverging needs.

Retailers in remote rural areas face competition from online retailers that can offer superior product availability and variety. This paper explores the issues stores in Scottish small island communities face due to the residents’ increased opportunities for ‘virtual mobility’, and highlights strategies for their economically sustainable operation. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with shop owners on seven islands in the council areas of Orkney, Argyll and Bute, and Highland. The research has found that while online retailers are frequently used by the islanders, the small shops on the islands are vital for the communities, particularly for elderly residents. Their close connection with the community enables shop owners to flexibly respond to demand, but elevated transport cost and lack of economies of scale lead to high prices. Shops stay competitive by offering additional services to the community, for example, they frequently incorporate the post office. Local produce is available in many shops, but is not distributed beyond the island community, as none of the retailers sell via the Internet. There is very little evidence of cooperation with other businesses, despite an acknowledged opportunity to create valuable economies of scale to cut transport cost. Any attempt to tackle this issue will have to focus primarily on the creation of trust amongst local businesses.