Amplifying supply chain excellence in theory and practice for the benefit of humanity
After many years of successful project collaborations, KLU and HELP Logistics have decided to put their relationship to the next level and established a joint Center for Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD).
CHORD aims at bringing together the best of two worlds by combining top-class academic research and education with operational training and consulting excellence. The Center is backed up by extensive outreach and field presence through 4 regional HELP offices and forms a unique offering in the humanitarian and development context.
As a thought-leading hub, CHORD is delivering innovative logistics and supply chain solutions validated by rigorous research methods to improve social and economic progress in developing countries.
CHORD is offering a broad variety of applied research and education services to its partners across different sectors.
The focus of CHORD’s work is on analysing and strengthening supply chains in the context of disaster preparedness and resilience, food and agriculture, pharma and health as well as sustainability.
Projects
CHORD undertakes clearly specified research and education projects that generate and transfer new innovative findings to deliver long-term and sustainable impact.
Project categories
An Environmental Progress Report on European Logistics
A recent study by KLU’s new Center for Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain (CSLS), carried out in partnership with The European Freight & Logistics Leaders’ Forum, indicates that despite the coronavirus pandemic, the logistics decarbonisation process in Europe is underway and getting integrated in companies’ strategic planning. Many businesses, however, are still at a relatively early stage in the process.
The report summarises the results of a survey of over 90 senior executives to determine the extent to which their businesses are working to improve the environmental sustainability of their logistics operations, mainly by cutting carbon emissions. Logistics activities account for around 10-11% of global CO2 emissions and will be difficult to decarbonise because of their very heavy dependence on fossil fuel and high forecast growth rate.
Important conclusions of the study:
Around 30 percent of the companies are leading the way as they have sustainable logistics strategies in place or being implemented, have set absolute carbon reduction targets for their logistics operations and are capable of measuring related CO2 emissions at a disaggregated level.
Providers of logistics services appear to have a greater capability to manage the decarbonisation process than the users of these services.
40 percent of respondents (and 60% of those in leading companies) reckon that half or more of CO2-reducing measures also cut costs, confirming close alignment of environmental and commercial objectives.
The three most cost-effective ways of decarbonizing logistics are deemed to shifting freight from road to rail, improving vehicle utilization and switching transport operations from fossil fuel to renewable energy.
Three-quarters of the managers consulted reckon that digitalisation will have a transformational impact on logistics over the next five years with improvements to supply chain visibility, advances in transport management systems, innovations in vehicle routing and online logistics platforms expected to make the greatest IT contributions to logistics decarbonisation
The report includes short case studies in which eight companies outline sustainable logistics initiatives they have undertaken: P&G, Stora Enso, Kuehne+Nagel, Tata Steel, Saint-Gobain Isover and Transporeon, Vlantana, Bertschi, and LKW Walter.
The report concludes with a series of recommendations for the various stakeholders in the European logistics industry.
link to the report.
For further information, please reach out to: alan.mckinnon@klu.org and Moritz.Petersen@klu.org
As one of our three focus areas, the CSLS continued researching the challenges, prospects, and measures to decarbonize logistics. In the context of the third-party funded GATE Project (Ganzheitliche Ausweisung von Transportemissionen), Moritz Petersen and Ramón van Almsick outlined current issues limiting the data exchange and identifying requirements, especially among Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME). The insights from their research include recommendations on how to meet a rising interest in transport-related emissions and will be reported in the project report in mid-2024.
GATE Project (Ganzheitliche Ausweisung von Transportemissionen)
Andrés Felipe Rey, Johannes Meuer, and Gordon Wilmsmeier continued their research on the decarbonization of road freight transport. In February, they conducted a workshop in Bogotá, Colombia, to align the vision between the public and private sectors to decarbonize road freight transport. Their first study draws on this extensive focus group analysis among policymakers and industry leaders in Columbia, emphasizing the critical role of road freight transport in emerging economies.
Recent research by Alan McKinnon suggests that the current preoccupation with efforts to decarbonize logistics underestimates the complexity of logistics’ relationship with climate change. He identifies eight roles logistics plays in the climate crisis, ranging from being a cause and victim of climate change to its involvement in decarbonization, adaptation, carbon sequestration, humanitarian relief, and possibly geo-engineering.
The research conducted at the CSLS led to several conference presentations and publications. For example, Andreas Gernert presented his research projects at the POM conference, the Early-career Sustainable Operations Workshop, and the Digital Technologies in Operations and Marketing Workshop. Moritz Jäger-Roschko, Duncan Mc Geough, Andres Felipe Rey-Ladino, and Ramón van Almsick presented their research at conferences such as EurOMA, Gronen, and POMS. Alan McKinnon published a report with the World Bank on the decarbonization of logistics in lower-income countries. Moritz Petersen and Alan McKinnon also contributed three chapters to the book ‘Maritime Decarbonization: Practical Tools, Case Studies, and Decarbonization Enablers.’
Outlook: We continue researching decarbonizing logistics through several ongoing and new research projects. For example, Ramón van Almsick started his research on collaborative decarbonization in the transport sector, focusing on the decarbonization of small and medium-sized road freight carriers. Alan McKinnon, Johannes Meuer, and Sophie Drakopoulos (Strategic Projects/ Sustainability, DB Schenker) are further developing a future scenario 2040 for logistics in a decarbonized economy. Also, two proposals for third-party research funding from Moritz Petersen are under review to strengthen CSLS’s footprint in this domain further.
For further information, please reach out to: johannes.meuer@klu.org, gordon.wilmsmeier@klu.org, andres.reyladino@klu.org
The second line of CSLS research focuses on questions related to sustainable, closedloop supply chains and the Circular Economy. The transition from linear to circular
requires fundamentally restructuring economic activities and altering the uses and
flows of materials along value chains and across industries. Recognizing the complexity
of this transition, individual firms cannot implement these changes in isolation.
Project: CREAToR project
In 2023, with Circularity e.V., a Circular Economy Do-Tank based in Berlin, and Encory GmBG, a joint venture of Interzero and BMW, Johannes Meuer completed the Ce:Versa Project. The Ce:Versa Project served to identify opportunities to increase circularity in the automotive industry. Ce:Versa received widespread media attention in journals and magazines in the automotive and sustainability industry, and we presented the project at the Rematec fair in Amsterdam in June 2023. We completed the project with a proposal to the CE Working Group at the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) and are currently discussing continuing the project.
Moritz Jäger-Roschko and Moritz Petersen concluded the CREAToR project in 2023. In the context of this European-funded consortium project, they investigated the role of supply chain setups for the success of recycling systems. For the focus case of the project, brominated plastic flakes from consumer electronics, the two CSLS researchers devised economically feasible and environmentally beneficial logistical structures, supporting the more technology-centered research partners from industry and academia. The CREAToR project was the funding and data source for Moritz Jäger-Roschko’s PhD thesis that he successfully defended in April 2024.
The research conducted at the CSLS led to several research outputs. CREAToR resulted in two working papers on the impact of supply chain management and regulatory interventions on the structure and output of plastics recycling. The Ce:Versa project appeared in several media outlets (e.g., Deutsche Verkehrzeitung, Logistic Today, Automobilwoche, Forum Nachhaltigkeit). Moreover, Johannes Meuer published the results of an in-depth case study with a European industry consortium of more than 150 companies in the plastic industry, outlining the dynamic process of the alignment effort between interdependent stakeholders.
Outlook: We continue to research closed-loop supply chains and the Circular Economy with several new research projects that focus explicitly on effectively establishing and managing industry-, value-chain, and sector-crossing partnerships. Several publications are in the pipeline. For example, a recent paper by Johannes Meuer draws on this varied experience and involvement in various interfirm collaborations, either in a managerial capacity or as researchers, and identifies critical features distinguishing collaborative efforts among private-sector actors in the circular economy domain. Other papers under submission include a study among 17 manufacturing firms and their implementation approaches of additive manufacturing in after-sales. Further, Moritz Petersen is preparing an application for third-party funding to investigate logistics service providers' future role in fostering the Circular Economy.
For further information, please reach out to: moritz.petersen@klu.org
Project: Strengthening Resilience in Health Supply Chains
The threat of epidemic outbreaks is putting public healthcare supply chains under stress. Supply chain disruptions negatively impact the availability of and access to essential medicines and primary healthcare services. Since beginning of 2021, CHORD is collaborating with the World Food Programme on a project to analyze and strengthen public healthcare supply chains. The team is using system dynamics to analyze the health supply chain system’s resilience to epidemic outbreaks and to find leverage points for preparedness investments to ultimately ensure the functioning of healthcare during health outbreaks. The model is built on the basis of two system dynamics models on supply chain resilience and preparedness that have been built by CHORD in prior projects. It will be implemented in various countries to support strategic and operational decision-making.
Project partner: World Food Programme (WFP)
For further information, please reach out to: Timna.Eckschmidt@klu.org
Further Links
This research gives practitioners a theoretical understanding and guidelines by outlining which elements characterize a net positive climate contribution.
Project: Corporate Sustainability
The third field of research activity is corporate sustainability. In 2023, Johannes Meuer, Moritz Petersen, and Duncan Mc Geough conducted research on net positive climate contributions. Initial findings indicate that five elements characterize the conceptual phenomenon of a net positive climate contribution. Moreover, Johannes Meuer, Christina Raasch, and Michael Ntiriakwa have examined the impact of equity-based crowdfunding platforms on environmental sustainability practices and social impact, specifically through a case study of WIDU.africa. This platform leverages remittances from the African diaspora to support African micro and small businesses, aiming to contribute to sustainable development and social entrepreneurship in emerging economies. The study explores how such platforms can promote sustainable business practices. The research is motivated by a gap in the literature on the sustainability outcomes of equity-based crowdfunding. It aims to provide insights for policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs interested in leveraging crowdfunding for social and environmental impact.
The research within this area has led to several publications. Most notably, Andreas Gernert published two studies in the prestigious POM journal. In one of them, he investigates sourcing and pricing decisions under upstream competition with a financially distressed supplier, endogenous bankruptcy risk, and a backup supply option. The
second study focuses on business model innovation for ambulance systems in low- and middle-income countries, specifically concerning the trade-off between coordination and competition.
Outlook: We continue to research different aspects of corporate sustainability. For example, Johannes Meuer, Alexander Himme, and Dounia Chlyeh have started a project on Integrated Reporting, specifically the determinants and outcomes of merging financial and non-financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It comprehensively explores how environmental responsibility and economic success interplay within integrated reporting.
For further information, please reach out to: johannes.meuer@klu.org, christina.raasch@klu.org, duncan.mcgeough@klu.org
Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a Sustainable Development Goal. With many different stakeholders, regulations and specific handling requirements, health supply chains are dynamic and complex systems that face a myriad of challenges. In case of a pandemic such as COVID-19 further complexities and challenges are likely to occur.
CHORD studies the impact of COVID-19 on health supply chains and offers online trainings to humanitarian and health staff to make sure essential medicines reach the patients at the right time, at the right condition and at the right price.
Project: COVID19 Survey
The Global Logistics Cluster (GLC) and CHORD performed three global surveys to understand the dynamic impact of the pandemic on humanitarian supply chains. 150 survey responses from 40 different humanitarian actors around the globe were received. The analysis provided insights into the patterns of problems, such as changes in price levels, delivery delays of humanitarian supplies, as well as upstream and in-country cargo transport challenges. 80% of the respondents indicated a need for access to online trainings to rapidly build-up medical logistics capacity.
Project partner: Global Logistics Cluster (GLC)
“The surveys performed together with HELP Logistics and the KLU were great examples of where swift and applicable academic work contributes to fast-moving humanitarian operational decision-making.” Bruno Vandemeulebroecke Deputy Coordinator, Global Logistics Cluster
Project: Medical Logistics in Pandemics (MLP) Training
A major root cause for inefficiencies, losses and waste in medical supply chains is simply insufficient knowledge. The MLP training aims to equip aid workers and health staff with the most essential logistics and supply chain knowledge in the context of medical operations. Special focus is put the current response to COVID-19 making sure that the right product and service reaches the patients at the right time, at the right condition and at the right price. The course is a fully blended learning experience that includes self-studying online lectures, challenging quizzes as well as interactive live sessions in a virtual classroom environment.
For further information please reach out to: jonas.stumpf@kuehne-stiftung.org
“For UNFPA this training has really big impact that we can already see on the ground. We have plans to scale it up significantly in the near future” - Ms. Dani Jurman Humanitarian Supplies Analyst, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
In view of the ever growing funding gap, humanitarian actors are asked to find new and different ways of operating to make their work more effective and efficient. Joining forces in the supply chain is expected to bear tremendous potential to provide more assistance with less ressources. CHORD studies coordination and collaboration efforts between humanitarian organizations as well as across sectors at international and local level.
Project: Orchestrating Coordination among Humanitarian Organizations
The study ”Orchestrating coordination among humanitarian organizations”(a joint project with Ruesch, L., Tarakci, M., Besiou, M., and Van Quaquebke, N.) investigates coordination in United Nations’ cluster meetings. In cluster meetings humanitarian organizations meet to exchange resources. Yet, coordination failures in prior disasters led by the clusters raise questions as to the effectiveness of the cluster approach in coordinating relief efforts. To better understand barriers to coordination, we conducted 21 expert interviews and built an agent-based simulation.
Our theory discerns a cluster lead’s roles of facilitating coordination but also investing in its own ground operations. We find that specifically serving such a dual role impairs trust and consequent coordination among cluster members. The additional simulation findings generalize the detrimental effect of the cluster lead’s dual role versus a pure facilitator role and specifies it against various boundary conditions.
For further information, please reach out to: lea.ruesch@klu.org
Publications
The humanitarian logistics sector provides a world of opportunities for meaningful and impactful research. CHORD aims at supporting and shaping the research agenda by delivering top class publication outputs
Team
Prof. Dr. Mojtaba Salem
Assistant Professor in Humanitarian Operations and Management Practice
Associate Members
Prof. Dr. Hanno Friedrich
Associate Professor of Freight Transportation - Modelling and Policy
Prof. Dr. Niels Van Quaquebeke
Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior & Head of Department of Leadership and Management
Prof. Dr. Moritz Petersen
Associate Professor of Sustainable Supply Chain Practice, Co-Director Center for Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chains
Events
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