CHSCM 3.0 - Unit 1 - SCM in the Humanitarian World

Trust, as we identified earlier, is one of the main barriers to organizations working together and
developing close working relationships. If one organization does not trust the other, then it is very
difficult, if not impossible, for them to develop a good working relationship. This lack of trust may be
based on previous experiences of the organizations working together. An example is the
relationship between a humanitarian organization and its suppliers, where the organization wants to
introduce vendor-managed inventory. If the previous performance of a supplier has been poor and
they have not delivered goods when they promised, then trusting them to manage the inventory
would be seen as a risk.
This experience may have been in a completely different situation, e.g. a different aid operation in a
different country, but the experience will have led to an attitude that the particular supplier cannot
be trusted. The lack of trust may be even between organizations that have never worked together,
but is based on perceptions or based on what one organization has heard about the other.
Working closely with other organizations can involve the sharing of information or resources.
Working together to manage the supply chain will usually involve the humanitarian organization
having to share information with the other organization involved. If there is lack of trust, then
organizations may find it difficult to share this information, and therefore to work closely together.
It is important to put time and effort into demonstrating to other organizations that your
organization can be trusted.
Another barrier to organizations working together is that they don’t have the technical systems or
technology necessary to enable them to work together. As we discussed earlier, working together to
manage and improve the supply chain will often involve organizations sharing information, providing
access to information, and making decisions based on common information. Not having systems
that can enable this to happen can therefore be a barrier.
Humanitarian organizations may have developed and introduced their own IT systems. This will
mean different organizations will have different systems that they use to help manage their supply
chains. Other organizations, e.g. suppliers and government departments, may also have their own
IT systems, or may not have any systems. This can mean the different systems may not be
compatible, and therefore the organizations cannot share or access information.
Barriers due to technical requirements can often be difficult to overcome. Organizations need to
ensure that when they are developing new systems or replacing systems used to manage their
supply chains, the system is not unique and that it is capable of talking to other systems used by
other organizations with whom they want to work closely.
Each organization involved in managing the supply chain, i.e. supplier, donor, government, military,
or humanitarian organization, will have its own culture and values. Culture and values can be