No Vehicle Means No Aid-A Paradigm Change for the Humanitarian Logistics Business Model

The growing interest in humanitarian logistics is witnessed by an increasing focus of researchers and practitioners on that topic. Transportation in particular is emphasized as key to disaster relief. Despite its relevance, it suffers from a number of drawbacks, creating inefficiencies and limited effectiveness of aid. This article describes a paradigm change for fleet management in humanitarian organizations based on access-based consumption. It further evaluates a case study among small-scale producers in rural India, showing their acceptance for sharing vehicles. The newly created business opportunities will increase income and contribute to poverty alleviation. Taking part in the proposed vehicle-sharing system can release them from ownership responsibilities and increase vehicle utilization, as well as improve vehicle availability, increasing the speed of aid from the perspective of humanitarian organizations. This article highlights the applicability of business models relying on the idea of access-based consumption to not-yet-considered research fields, especially the transfer to rural areas of developing countries.