University of Ibadan and The Enugu State University of Science and Technology
Nigeria
University of Ghana and University of Calgari
Ghana
University of Leeds
United Kingdom
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Austria
Asian Institute of Management
Philippines
In the wake of COVID-19 in 2020, GBSN pivoted to the online conference GBSN Beyond Virtual Conference. With the HUMLOG Institute at Hanken School of Economics, the team introduced the HUMLOG Challenge: a solution-based virtual team competition. The Challenge that was presented to students was to identify a systematic supply chain issue within the local community and suggest an innovative solution that would help alleviate medical and/or food supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the GBSN team continued with the GBSN Beyond Virtual Conference, and again worked with the HUMLOG Institute to bring students the HUMLOG Challenge. 2021’s competition posed students to develop solutions around community disaster resilience. Students were prompted to choose a natural disaster relative to their geographical region and address the community’s preparedness response and level of resilience.
Both 2020 and 2021 demonstrated the incredible potential for business students within the network to develop engaging and creative solutions in regards to humanitarian logistics: a branch of logistics dealing with the preparedness and response of a disaster management system. In year one, that disaster was COVID-19 and in year two, that disaster had to be a natural disaster.
In 2022, students will be challenged with the fundamental reminder of the definition of logistics: coordinated separate activities which combine to one organized movement of goods, services, and people. This challenge incorporates this essential philosophy of logistics into the new and innovative study of social logistics, which aims to introduce a social (human) factor in the systems and to apply logistics principles and methods in solving problems within society.
The shift from the HUMLOG Challenge to the Social Logistics Challenge is a demonstration of the development of the competition. Social Logistics is both a new frontier and a unique opportunity for business students to truly interact with other disciplines and utilize one another’s expertise to create business solutions with a focus on social responsibility and awareness. Through this Challenge, students will learn that social logistics aims to introduce a social (human) factor in the systems and to apply logistic principles and methods in solving the problems of society.