A Path to a Public–Private Partnership: Commercial Logistics Concepts Applied to Disaster Response

This paper initiates an exploratory investigation with the aim of providing a better understanding of the applicability of several commercial logistics processes to humanitarian logistics. The paper begins with background information, including humanitarian logistics literature and then summarizes current government agencies' and nongovernmental organizations' policies. Stakeholder theory is used to explore the motivations of commercial organizations to participate in humanitarian logistics operations. Next, the adequacy of emergency management policy is evaluated and four commercial logistics frameworks are analyzed for application to immediate disaster response. The analysis includes ratings of the frameworks and open‐ended comments from a sample of logistics experts. Findings provide guidance to the implementation of commercial logistics processes to disaster response efforts.