Leveraging Humanitarian Supply Networks to Improve Information Sharing

This paper explores the complexities involved in procuring financial services during a humanitarian emergency and provides insights into how organizations can leverage their supply network to overcome challenges. This research expands upon the concept that supply chain learning by analyzing how information is shared within a network of humanitarian actors, and how that information can mutually enhance actors’ capabilities within the network. These concepts are then illustrated through a case study of a group of five different international humanitarian organizations conducting a joint procurement exercise to establish multi-year contracts with financial service providers in Mexico amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Each humanitarian organization has a unique network of stakeholders (including beneficiaries who will receive the cash transfer) as well as their own SOPs, capacities, and internal regulations to abide by. Barriers to access, including financial literacy and service availability added another layer of complexity to the problem. Thus, the primary objective of this research is to understand how collaborative partnerships influence capabilities at the organizational level and inter-organizational level, and how the network structure influences information flows between partners, thereby enhancing knowledge creation and retention.