Logistics for a better world

At a time when the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL) was at a crossroads, two starry-eyed Ph.D. students wanted to understand more about the history and the maturity of the field. What better way than to talk to the “visionaries” of the logistics discipline (Davis-Sramek & Fugate,  2007). One of those visionaries was Bud Lalonde, the founding editor of JBL and a forefather of the logistics and supply chain management (L&SCM) discipline (Goldsby & Zinn, 2018). He offered us wisdom about how scholars should use their research capabilities to address social challenges. His words were quite profound at the time, and they continue to shape our careers.

Since this “visionaries” article was published, the succession of JBL editors broadened the scope and reach of the Journal. The current editor team is fortunate to have the foundation to continue to call for a more comprehensive body of knowledge about an expansive range of phenomena. L&SCM scholars also have a unique opportunity to extend our research, teaching, and service in ways that inform business practice and provide insight into a more extensive cast of stakeholders. There is the opportunity to fulfill Dr. LaLonde's aspiration for the discipline to “make the world a better place.”

We find it encouraging that over the last several years, JBL has both called for and consistently published research demonstrating these efforts. For instance, scholars have designed studies to understand the unique challenges social enterprises and microentrepreneurs face at the base of the pyramid markets (Bals & Tate, 2018; Iyengar et al., 2021; Pal & Altay, 2019). There has been encouraging work on sustainable supply chain management related to procurement decisions (Mukandwal et al., 2020), implementation challenges (Nath et al., 2021), the impact of digitization (Sanders et al., 2019), macrolevel factors like country risk (Reinerth et al., 2019), new concept development like supply chain integrity (Castillo et al., 2018), and opportunities for future research (Carter & Washispack, 2018).

Likewise, JBL has published articles that challenge commonly held conceptions about sustainable supply chain management (Davis-Sramek et al., 2018; Sheffi, 2018). Additionally, a focus on supply chain resilience has led to articles about public–private collaboration (Gabler et al., 2017) and the ability to “bounce forward” after a disruption (Novak et al., 2021; Wieland & Durach, 2021). JBL has also called for research that addresses modern social challenges related to women (Zinn et al., 2018) and race (Esper et al., 2020)—issues that significantly impact supply chain practice. Finally, we look forward to a future issue that includes the articles from the transformative supply chain research special topic forum (STF), which calls for research that emphasizes well-being outcomes.

One area of inquiry that has been under-researched in JBL is humanitarian logistics, and we would like to see this area of research become an essential focus. There is a rich opportunity to examine the synergies between how companies plan for and respond to supply chain disruptions and how humanitarian organizations prepare for and respond to natural or manmade disasters. For instance, Kovács and Falagara Sigala (2021) note that structural flexibility, or the ability of the supply chain to adapt or reconfigure in response to changes, is embedded in humanitarian logistics research but is less understood in the traditional business research domain.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, companies are assessing how to build more resilient supply chains to mitigate the financial consequences of a disruption (Sarkis, 2021). Alternately, humanitarian organizations have approached disaster situations quite differently because they focus on saving lives (Kovács & Falagara Sigala, 2021). Both must deal with uncertainty, turbulence, and complex environments—which require some levels of responsiveness, often realized through effective logistics and supply chain management (Richey et al., 2022). What lessons can each learn from the other?

Recent research in the humanitarian logistics literature has highlighted several core L&SCM phenomena, such as outsourcing (Gossler et al., 2020), exchange relationships (Shaheen & Azadegan, 2020), and coordination mechanisms (Ruesch et al., 2022). At the microlevel, the literature addresses essential questions about decision-making (Comes et al., 2020) and risk-taking (Shaheen et al., 2021). Overall, we think that phenomena can be more fully explored by including how humanitarian logistics organizations and their supply chains approach and respond to L&SCM challenges.

My (Beth's) family has been closely involved with the terrifying journey to freedom for one Afghan family. Laal worked as an interpreter for U.S. personnel for more than a decade. We got to know this family when he served as my husband's interpreter in Afghanistan. Laal's wife, Asya, was an activist who advocated that Afghan girls should be allowed to receive formal education. They have three beautiful children who want to be engaged in the everyday things that every child deserves.

Throughout the 20 years that the United States had a military presence in Afghanistan, thousands of interpreters worked alongside military personnel. In return for their service, these Afghans were promised the opportunity to relocate to the United States under the Special Interest Visa (SIV) program. In the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal, most interpreters—and their families—were left behind. They remain in constant danger because of their loyalty to the United States during a tragic humanitarian crisis. World Vision, an international humanitarian aid organization, recently reported that the Afghanistan crisis is becoming the worst in the world, with half of the population facing a life-threatening level of food insecurity (Omer, 2022). The report also noted that the crisis is having a massive impact on women and children: 1 million children are on the brink of starvation.

After 9 months of being hunted by the Taliban and living in terror, Laal and his family were finally evacuated. As I write this, they are on a U.S. military base in Doha, Qatar. With significant support from the local community, our plan is for the family to resettle in Auburn before the end of the summer.

This positive outcome was only possible because we received help from Task Force Argo, a volunteer organization orchestrating life-saving logistics for Afghans like Laal. This organization has successfully demonstrated the fundamental elements of logistics (e.g., transportation, distribution, order processing, and ground operations) and strategic supply chain management (e.g., collaboration, coordination, integration, and information sharing) in a transformative fashion. During this journey, Task Force Argo joined a broad coalition of like-minded organizations called #AfghanEvac, which allows these organizations to collaborate on all of the necessary logistics activities, including ground support, evacuation, and resettlement efforts. Seeing these extraordinary humanitarian logistics efforts firsthand has been a blessing and a privilege.

Glenn and I decided to publish this personal narrative because the implications of humanitarian logistics have touched so close to home.

As we reflect on Dr. LaLonde's visionary perspective for JBL from more than 15 years ago, we want to encourage the community to consider, “how do we use logistics to make a better world?” We are a discipline grounded in practice, so how do we continue to extend our reach to create a positive societal impact? Since becoming editors, we have seen significant momentum in this direction, and we want to specifically encourage humanitarian logistics research that contributes theoretical and practical value to the L&SCM field.

This issue focuses on the STF, “Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Logistics Employment.” We appreciate the contribution and service from the two guest editors of this STF, Matthias Klump from Georg-August-University of Göttingen and Caroline Ruiner from the University of Hohenheim. The STF resulted in four peer-reviewed articles that are included in this issue. In the invited editorial by the two guest editors, each of the four papers is introduced. As with any STF, we encourage researchers to continue to grow streams of research in this vital research area.

Happy reading!