Fleet Coordination in Decentralized Humanitarian Operations Funded by Earmarked Donations

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Pedraza-Martinez, Alfonso J.; Hasija, Sameer; Van Wassenhove, Luk N.
• 署名单位: Indiana University System; IU Kelley School of Business; Indiana University Bloomington; INSEAD Business School; INSEAD Business School
• 刊物名称: OPERATIONS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0030-364X
• DOI: 10.1287/opre.2019.1941
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 984-999
• 关键词: Incentives; humanitarian operations management; earmarking; fleet management; decentralization

摘要

We study incentive alignment for the coordination of humanitarian operations. Transportation is the second-largest overhead cost (after personnel) for international humanitarian organizations (IHOs). Yet, the management of IHO vehicle fleets faces obstacles to reach efficiency, due to a structural conflict between the incentives of an IHO's individual program (which prioritize prompt service and minimal program cost) and the IHO's central headquarters (which on top of the objective of the program is also responsible for the running costs of the entire fleet). In recent years, the headquarters has been further limited by a trend toward donors earmarking their funding. This problem is further complicated by information asymmetry in the system due to the dispersed geographical locations of the programs. Assuming these real-world conditions, grounded in field research, we design a novel mechanism to align incentives. Interestingly, the standard result of no output distortion and positive information rent for the efficient type in adverse selection models does not hold in our setting. We obtain three parameter-dependent regions for truth revelation and link these regions to the type of activities carried out by different programs.