Maintenance and spare parts inventories in man‐made humanitarian disasters

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine how a small country's military force and a small country's non‐governmental organization (NGO) plan for and set up equipment maintenance, spare parts inventories in connection with man‐made humanitarian disasters. Additionally, it seeks to determine how the physical context, organizational structure and governance affect the planning and set‐up.Design/methodology/approach – A research model that combines organizational theory with spare parts inventory theory is developed. Case study research methodology is used and observations and findings are discussed within the research model in order to answer predefined hypotheses.Findings – Regarding planning procedures, as well as how the maintenance concept and spare parts inventory are set up, the research concludes that the organizational structure and governance of the organization contributing to the humanitarian operation in question are more important than physical context of the operation itself. Further...