Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management, Sustainability, Operations Management in Emerging Markets, Global Supply Chains
Academic Degrees
PhD, Management, INSEAD, 2011
MS, Management, INSEAD, 2009
MS, Economics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2004
BS, Industrial Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, 1998
Professional Experience
Instructor, Uniandes School of Management, Colombia, 2003-2006
Humanitarian Logistician, Office of the Mayor, Bogota, Colombia, 1999-2003
Awards, Honors & Certificates
Best Paper Award Runner Up - “Operational Transparency in Crowdfunding Platforms: Effect on Donations for Emergency Response.” - Humanitarian Track, POMS 2019.
Best Paper Award Runner Up - “Disaster Cycle Management: Matching Supply and Demand of Social Support through Social Media” - Humanitarian Track, POMS 2016.
Sauvain Teaching Award, Finalist. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. 2016.
Trustee Teaching Award, Finalist. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. 2015.
Best Paper Award - "Global Vehicle Supply Chain Management in Humanitarian Operations" - Humanitarian Track, POMS. 2014.
Best Paper Award - "Decentralization and Earmarked Funding in Humanitarian Logistics for Relief and Development" - Humanitarian Track, POMS. 2012.
Best PhD Proposal Award -"Last Mile Vehicle Fleet Management in Humanitarian Operations"- College of Sustainable Operations, POMS, 2010.
Best Paper Award - "Vehicle Replacement in the International Committee of the Red Cross" - Ninth Trans-Atlantic Doctoral Conference, London Business School, 2009.
Selected Publications
Kotsi, T., Wu, O., and Pedraza-Martinez, A.J. (2022). Donations for Refugee Crises: In-kind Versus Cash Assistance. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, in press.
Abstract
Problem definition: Six million refugees have been living in camps in 2021 due to multiple armed conflicts worldwide. Regulations often impede refugees’ integration into host countries; thus, refugees have to seek help from humanitarian organizations (HOs). HOs traditionally provide in-kind (e.g., food) assistance and now offer cash (monetary assistance) that refugees can spend at local retail stores. However, cash assistance can be exploited by local retailers’ market power, which challenges HOs’ mission of helping
refugees while doing no harm to host communities. Practical relevance: Completely informed by field research in three refugee camps in northwestern Greece, we analyze the trade-off between in-kind and cash assistance from the perspective of an HO. We propose two cash assistance policies, implementable by a partnership between the HO and the local government, to curb the retailer’s market power and ensure that the refugees, the local residents, and the retailer are better off than if only in-kind assistance is provided. Methodology: We use field research to define our research setting and support our main modeling assumptions and parameters. Then, we use a game-theoretical model to analyze the interactions among multiple stakeholders in an ecosystem consisting of an HO, refugees, a monopolistic retailer, local residents, and a local government. Results: We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed cash assistance policies that benefit refugees and local residents while ensuring the retailer’s profitability. In particular, a price-dependent cash assistance (PDCA) policy aligns the incentives between the retailer and the HO-government partnership. This new policy for cash assistance acts as a lever for the retailer to voluntarily set desirable prices, which benefit both refugees and their host community. Managerial implications: We provide tools and implementable policies that guide HOs to improve their budget allocation between in-kind and cash assistance for refugees living in areas where local market power exists. Moreover, we clearly outline the roles of HOs and the local government in a partnership for cash assistance to refugees.
Corbett, C., Pedraza-Martinez, A.J., and Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2022). Sustainable Humanitarian Operations: An Integrated Perspective. Production and Operations Management, in press.
Abstract
The immediate response to disasters, while well intended, sometimes causes avoidable humanitarian challenges later on. Drinking water may be essential, but it is not necessary to provide it in small plastic bottles. Injections may save lives, but inappropriately discarded syringes are hazardous. Can humanitarian relief be made more sustainable? This paper summarizes a one-day workshop on this topic, held at INSEAD in 2019 in connection with Luk Van Wassenhove’s transition to emeritus professor. This workshop involved over 100 academics and practitioners. Five areas were discussed in detail: material convergence, coordination between humanitarian organizations, logistics, partnerships with industry, and health. The discussions demonstrate the possibility of better integrating sustainability with humanitarian operations despite the inherent tension between the immediate need to save lives and the longer term perspective associated with sustainability. This requires that various stakeholders, including humanitarian organizations, donors, and watchdog organizations, think differently about the balance between short-term and long-term interventions, the metrics and incentives they apply, and the role of local vs. global organizations. Leading practitioners and scholars in humanitarian operations are well aware of these challenges and opportunities in each domain separately; this paper aims to introduce these issues to a broader audience in a single more integrated overview, based on the themes that were discussed at the workshop.
Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., Hasija, S., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2020). Fleet Coordination in Decentralized Humanitarian Operations Funded by Earmarked Donations. Operations Research,68(4), 984–999.
Abstract
We study incentive alignment for the coordination of humanitarian operations. Transportation is the second-largest overhead cost (after personnel) for international humanitarian organizations (IHOs). Yet the management of IHO vehicle fleets faces obstacles to reach efficiency, due to a structural conflict between the incentives of an IHO's individual program---which prioritize prompt service and minimal program cost---and the IHO's central headquarters---which on top of the objective of the program is also responsible for the running costs of the entire fleet. In recent years the headquarters has been further limited by a trend toward donors earmarking their funding. This problem is further complicated by information asymmetry in the system due to the dispersed geographical locations of the programs. Assuming these real-world conditions, grounded in field research, we design a novel mechanism to align incentives. Interestingly, the standard result of ``no output distortion and positive information rent for the efficient type'' in adverse selection models does not hold in our setting. We obtain three parameter-dependent regions for truth revelation and link these regions to the type of activities carried out by different programs.
Yan, L., and Pedraza-Martinez, A. J. (2019). Social Media for Disaster Management: Operational Value of the Social Conversation. Production and Operations Management, 28(10), 2514–2532.
Abstract
Disaster relief organizations increasingly engage in social conversations to inform social media users about activities such as evacuation routes and aid distribution. Concurrently, users share information such as the demand for aid, willingness to donate and availability to volunteer through social conversations with relief organizations. We investigate the effect of this information exchange on social engagement during disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. We propose that the effect of information on social engagement increases from preparedness to response and decreases from response to recovery. Some of the information exchanged in social conversations is actionable as well. We propose, however, that the effect of actionable information reaches its lowest point during disaster response. To test our theory, we use Facebook data from five benchmark organizations that responded to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. We analyze all of the organizations’ posts and users’ comments during a three‐week period before, during and after Hurricane Sandy. Our findings support our theory. Furthermore, we identify an opportunity for relief organizations to improve their use of social media for disaster management. While relief organizations focus on informing disaster victims about aid distribution, most users are asking about how they as individuals can donate or volunteer. Thus, besides posting information directed to victims, organizations should post more information targeting potential donors and volunteers.
We study volunteer management at a charity storehouse operated by a large faith‐based organization. The storehouse runs entirely on volunteer efforts. We investigate the role of volunteer experience and storehouse congestion in the preparation of orders using a multi‐method approach. First, we conduct a field study to explore these relationships and collect data at the level of volunteers’ teams. These teams can pair volunteers with either different levels of experience (mixed pairing) or equal levels of experience (no‐mixed pairing). Second, we estimate the effects of volunteer experience and storehouse congestion on the order processing times empirically. Third, we build a simulation model to study how operational decisions—volunteers’ pairing in teams and whether to allow or impede storehouse congestion—affect two performance metrics: on‐time order preparation rate and additional time to prepare the orders, in steady conditions. Then, we simulate disaster conditions at the storehouse, that is, simultaneous surges in supply of volunteers and demand of orders. Contrary to extant literature on team collaboration, we find that no‐mixed pairing outperforms mixed pairing under disaster conditions with storehouse congestion. In fact, no‐mixed pairing improves the on‐time order preparation by 4.32% and the additional time to prepare the orders by 14.42% compared to mixed pairing. Moreover, under disaster conditions, a “controlled congestion” policy at the storehouse delivers the best performance metrics.
Mejia, J., Urrea, G., and Pedraza-Martinez, A. J. (2019). Operational Transparency in Crowdfunding Platforms: Effect on Donations for Emergency Response. Production and Operations Management, 28(7) 1773—1791.
Abstract
Online crowdfunding has emerged as a powerful tool to raise funds for emergency response. Crowdfunding campaigns can use two transparency tools to attract donors: updates and certification. Updates are additional messages that the organizer issues after launching the campaign and are a form of operational transparency when they communicate the campaign’s work to donors. Alternatively, certification is a form of conventional transparency that ensures the campaign truly benefits a charitable purpose. Using an econometric analysis, we investigate the effects of transparency on donations. We study the direction of causality and mechanisms behind work‐related updates by conducting an experiment. Results from the econometric analysis using over 100,000 campaigns benefiting victims of emergencies reveal that both updates and certification have positive effects on donations. Each additional work‐related word in an update (operational transparency) increases donations on average by $65 per month, while certification (conventional transparency) raises funds on average by $22 per month. Results from the experiment confirm the direction of causality; posting work‐related updates in crowdfunding campaigns increases donations. Two mechanisms explain this effect: donors’ enhanced perceptions of effort and perceptions of trust.
Stauffer, J., Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., Yan, L., and Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2018). Asset Supply Networks in Humanitarian Operations: A Combined Empirical-Simulation Approach. Journal of Operations Management, 63, 44-58.
Abstract
International humanitarian organizations (IHOs) respond to mega disasters while maintaining development programs in the rest of the world (ROW). This means an IHO's asset supply network must perform the challenging task of supporting a fast disaster response while simultaneously maintaining cost-effective ROW development programs. We study how supply network asset flows are impacted during a mega disaster response and find that resource fluidity, the capability to reallocate resources quickly, impacts both mega disaster and ROW program asset flows within these supply networks. Using data from a large IHO's response to a mega disaster and econometric models, we find a dependency between ROW asset flow and mega disaster asset flow in IHOs with resource fluidity. As mega disaster flow increases, there is a decrease in hub-to-hub ROW asset flows and an increase in other ROW asset flows. This is contrary to most humanitarian operations research, which typically assumes independent asset flows. Because of resource fluidity, the combination of these flows does not compromise ROW operations. We use these empirical results to feed a simulation analysis that extends our research to IHOs without resource fluidity and provides actionable insights for varying types of IHOs in various demand scenarios. Simulation insights illustrate that resource fluidity impacts IHO asset supply network costs and optimal configurations.
Ferrer, J. M., Martín-Campo, F. J., TeresaOrtuño, M., Pedraza-Martínez, A. J., Tirado, G., and Vitoriano, B. (2018). Multi-criteria optimization for last mile distribution of disaster relief aid: Test cases and applications. European Journal of Operational Research, 269(2), 501-515.
Abstract
Humanitarian organizations transport large quantities of aid for distribution in the aftermath of disasters. Transportation for last mile distribution includes multiple, and often conflicting, performance criteria that include time (deprivation), cost, coverage, equity and security. We build a compromise programming model for multi-criteria optimization in humanitarian last mile distribution. Regarding security, ours is the first multi-criteria model able to produce an actual vehicle schedule while forcing vehicles to form convoys in humanitarian operations research. We illustrate the multi-criteria optimization using a real- istic test case based on the Pakistan floods, 2010. We standardize and share this case as well as cases based on the Niger famine, 2005 and the Haiti earthquake, 2010. By sharing test cases, we encourage basic scientific tasks such as replicability and model comparison within the humanitarian operations re- search community.
Stauffer, J., Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2016). Temporary Hubs for the Global Vehicle Supply Chain in Humanitarian Operations. Production and Operations Management, 25(2), 192-209.
Abstract
We model the global vehicle supply chain of an International Humanitarian Organization (IHO) with a dynamic hub location model across monthly periods. We use actual vehicle data from the International Federation of the Red Cross to feed our model and provide insights into IHO secondary support demand. We find that secondary support demand for items such as vehicles is different from primary beneficiary demand for items such as water and food. When considering disaster response and development program demand simultaneously (disaster cycle management), our results illustrate that keeping a lean centralized hub configuration with an option for temporary hubs in mega disaster locations can reduce overall supply chain costs over a long time horizon. We also show that it is possible to structure a supply chain to take operational advantage of earmarked funding. This research lays the groundwork for using optimization models to analyze disaster cycle management.
Jola-Sanchez, A., Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., Britto, R., and Bretthauer, K.M. (2016). Effect of Armed Conflicts on Humanitarian Operations: Total Factor Productivity and Efficiency of Rural Hospitals. Journal of Operations Management,45(July), 73-85.
Abstract
We study an important but widely neglected topic in humanitarian operations: armed conflicts. Specifically, this paper empirically analyzes the effect of armed conflicts on the operational performance of first-layer response organizations. Using as a case study the Colombian conflict we investigate the effect of conflict on public rural hospitals' (i) total factor productivity, (ii) efficiency and (iii) efficiency variability. The panel data set (2007e2011) used in this study includes information at the hospital level for 163 hospitals and qualitative data collected from interviews with medical staff from the Colombian Ministry of Health and hospitals in different conflict zones. Our results indicate that armed conflict has a positive effect on total factor productivity, while it has a negative impact on hospital efficiency, and interestingly that efficiency and total factor productivity both increase in post conflict. Finally, the results show that efficiency variability is higher in peace and post-conflict hospitals and lower in medium and severe-conflict hospitals. These results have operations management implications and opportunities for future research related to sourcing decisions, supply chain and workforce flexibility, behavioral impacts on the workforce, and humanitarian response to conflicts.
Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2016). Empirically-Grounded Research in Humanitarian Operations Management: The Way Forward. Journal of Operations Management, 45(July), 1-10.
Abstract
The way forward includes the need to better understand a number of dimensions such as context, data, multiple methods and triangulation, collaboration, closing the loop, donor pressure, technology, and disaster cycle management. We discuss each of those research challenges in detail and close by adding some thoughts on future challenges related to expected changes in the environment.
Aflaki, A., and Pedraza-Martinez, A. J. (2016). Humanitarian Funding in a Multi-Donor Market with Donation Uncertainty. Production and Operations Management, 25(7), 1274-1291.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the tradeoff between funding strategies and operational performance in humanitarian operations. If a Humanitarian Organization (HO) offers donors the option of earmarking their donations, HO should expect an increase in total donations. However, earmarking creates constraints in resource allocation that negatively affect HO's operational performance. We study this tradeoff from the perspective of a single HO that maximizes its expected utility as a function of total donations and operational performance. HO implements disaster response and development programs and it operates in a multi-donor market with donation uncertainty. Using a model inspired by Scarf's minimax approach and the newsvendor framework, we analyze the strategic interaction between HO and its donors. The numerical section is based on real data from 15 disasters during the period 2012--2013. We find that poor operational performance has a larger effect on HO's utility function when donors are more uncertain about HO's expected needs for disaster response. Interestingly, increasing the public awareness of development programs helps HO to get more non-earmarked donations for disaster response. Increasing non-earmarked donations improves HO's operational efficiency, which mitigates the impact of donation uncertainty on HO's utility function.
Besiou, M., Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2014). Vehicle Supply Chains in Humanitarian Operations: Decentralization, Operational Mix and Earmarked Funding. Production and Operations Management, 23(11), 1950–1965.
Abstract
The work of international humanitarian organizations (IHOs) frequently involves operating in remote locations, decentralized decision-making, and the simultaneous implementation of development and disaster response programs. A large proportion of this work is funded by `earmarked' donations, since donors often exhibit a preference for the programs they are willing to fund. From extensive research involving qualitative descriptions and quantitative data, and applying system dynamics methodology, we model vehicle supply chains (VSCs) in support of humanitarian field operations. Our efforts encompass the often-overlooked decentralized environment by incorporating the three different VSC structures that IHOs operate, as well as examining the entire mix of development and disaster response programs, and the specific (and virtually unexplored) effects of earmarked funding. Our results suggest that earmarked funding causes a real---and negative---operational impact on humanitarian disaster response programs in a decentralized setting.
Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2013). Vehicle Replacement in the International Committee of the Red Cross. Production and Operations Management, 22(2), 365-376.
Abstract
This paper studies 4x4 vehicle replacement within the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the largest humanitarian organizations. ICRCpolicy sets the replacement of vehicles at 5 years or 150,000 Km, whichever comes first. Using field data collected at the ICRC headquarters and national level we study the ICRC policy. Our results suggest that the organization can make considerable savings by adjusting its replacement policy. This study contributes to the area of logistics and transportation research in humanitarian operations.
Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., Stapleton, O., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2013). On the Use of Evidence in Humanitarian Logistics Research. Disasters, 37(S1), S51-S67.
Abstract
This paper presents the reflections of the authors on the differences between the language and the approach of practitioners and academics to humanitarian logistics problems. Based on a long-term project on fleet management in the humanitarian sector, involving both large international humanitarian organisations and academics, it discusses how differences in language and approach to such problems may create a lacuna that impedes trust. In addition, the paper provides insights into how academic research evidence adapted to practitioner language can be used to bridge the gap. When it is communicated appropriately, evidence strengthens trust between practitioners and academics, which is critical for long-term projects. Once practitioners understand the main trade-offs included in academic research, they can supply valuable feedback to motivate new academic research. Novel research problems promote innovation in the use of traditional academic methods, which should result in a win—win situation: relevant solutions for practice and advances in academic knowledge.
Pedraza Martinez, A. J., Stapleton, O., and Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2011). Field Vehicle Fleet Management in Humanitarian Operations: A Case-based Approach. Journal of Operations Management, 29(5), 404-421.
Abstract
Transportation is the second largest overhead cost to humanitarian organizations after personnel. Academic knowledge about fleet management in humanitarian operations is scarce. Using a multiple case research design we study Field Vehicle Fleet Management (Field VFM) in four large International Humanitarian Organizations (IHO): the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Food Program and World Vision International. Our field research includes more than 40 interviews at headquarters, regional and national level in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The paper answers three research questions: (1) How do IHO manage their field vehicle fleets? (2) What are the critical factors affecting IHO Field VFM? (3) How does Field VFM affect in-country program delivery? The contribution of this research is twofold. First, it helps to fill the existing gap in the humanitarian literature regarding Field VFM. Second, it expands the fleet management literature to a new and virtually unexplored area.
Edited on August 25, 2022
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