Advances in Engineering Education Humanitarian Aid and Relief Distribution (HARD) Game

Coordinating humanitarian supply chains can be challenging in terms of getting timely aid to those who need it. While operations in commercial supply chains have been well studied, research studies that address coordination in humanitarian supply chains are still lacking. Unlike commercial supply chains, humanitarian supply chains focus on delivering what customers need rather than want within difficult environments rife with uncertainty. This paper introduces the “Humanitarian Aid and Relief Distribution (HARD) Game” as an experiential learning tool that explores the potential for increased operational efficiency while balancing decision tradeoffs impacting humanitarian supply chain performance, including beneficiary demand satisfaction, operational costs, and transportation resources utilization. The HARD game is intended for graduate and undergraduate students in courses dealing with topics on supply chain management. It allows students to analyze aspects that significantly impact humanitarian supply chain operations, such as: supply chain coordination and planning, supply chain risks, demand volatility, and competing objectives. Statistical analysis of students’ survey responses provide evidence that the HARD game is an effective pedagogical tool that is engaging for students and complementary to the traditional lecture format in the field of supply chain management education.