Year

2018

Degree Name

Masters of Business Research

Department

Sydney Business School

Abstract

In 2016, USD$142.6bn was invested into the global Aid and Development sector. Unfortunately, up to 30% wastage and 22.85% overhead and retention costs have been recorded in Aid and Development programs, at a time when more funding is needed to raise developing nations out of poverty. The inefficiency of Aid and Development programs can, in part, be attributed to the management, standard and quality of the aid agencies supply chain systems. An interesting question arises around the feasibility of transferring commercial supply chain systems management protocols and standards into aid agencies with an expectation that, if successful, similar efficiency gains would be observed in Aid and Development programs as they are in commercial organisations continuing to use the same protocols and standards.

The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model is the recognised “gold standard” for commercial supply chain systems management and improvement. This work seeks to establish if the six primary management processes of SCOR could be overlaid onto the supply chain systems of aid agencies. To achieve this objective, this work has adopted a comparative case study approach to map the supply chain systems of three Aid and Development programs to investigate if the core elements of SCOR are present within these supply chain systems.

The findings of this work suggest that despite the theoretical divide between aid agencies and commercial organisations, for example culturally, objectively and the institutional language used to describe both types of organisations, the core elements of SCOR were found to be present in the three case studies and it is possible to overlay SCOR onto the mapped Aid and Development supply chain systems of these case studies. The implications of this work are significant, because SCOR could be a positive disruptor in the global Aid sector if adopted by aid agencies.

Along with the identification of the six primary management processes of SCOR within Aid and Development supply chain systems and the determination that SCOR does represent a valid alternative management framework for Aid and Development programs, this work has also contributed by identifying the atypical nature of Aid and Development supply chain systems, and the unit of standard in which to measure SCOR within these supply chain systems. The mapping process for an Aid and Development supply chain system has also been established, along with the foundation principles of forensic supply chain auditing.

Share

COinS
 

Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.