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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Experimentation with procurement to design and model supply chains in developing economies

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This thesis proposes experimentation with procurement as a convenient tool to generate data, reveal supply chain phenomena, and garner access to stakeholders in developing economies. Based on experimentation with procurement, stylized analytical models of supply chains in developing economies can then be generated. In particular this thesis explores experimentation with procurement in the context of food aid supply chains. In local and regional procurement, in which food is bought in a developing economy, and transoceanic procurement, in which food is bought in a developed economy and shipped to a developing economy, supply chain design is central to the humanitarian outcomes of food aid. Designing food aid supply chains involves weighing trade-offs between cost, quality, lead time, and the various interests that shape food aid policy. This thesis relies on two food aid supply chain case studies to build generalizable theory about experimentation with procurement.

Degree

thesis:*
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2016

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Brennan, Mark E., S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Jarrod Goentzel.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104833
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/104833

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Brennan, Mark E., S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Experimentation with procurement to design and model supply chains in developing economies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/104833