Outsourcing Canadian Armed Forces logistics in a foreign theatre

• Author: André Tchokogué,Jean Nollet,Julie Fortin
• Published date: 01 June 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1315
• Date: 01 June 2015

Outsourcing Canadian Armed Forces logistics in

a foreign theatre

André Tchokogué

HEC Montréal

Jean Nollet*

HEC Montréal

Julie Fortin

Canadian Armed Forces

Abstract

Successful outsourcing of military logistics depends

much on cooperation and eff‌iciency, and this article

provides an in-depth analysis of challenges this may

pose using collaborative competence theory. Using an

exploratory approach, this paper is based on a review

of the existing literature and on the experience of the

Canadian Armed Forces in a foreign theatre. Specif‌i-

cally, the information collected comes from on-site

observation during the UN mission in Bosnia,

semistructured interviews, and archives. Our analysis

shows that outsourcing military logistics activities in a

foreign theatre should be seen as building and manag-

ing a “temporary network.”In order to overcome chal-

lenges in such a situation, the Armed Forces must

specif‌ically act on the adaptability of all individuals in

the theatre. The approach should be based on “collabo-

rative competence.”Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published

by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: military logistics, outsourcing, foreign theatre

Résumé

L’impartition réussie de certaines activités de la logistique

militaire repose surtout sur la coopération et l’eff‌icacité. Cet

article propose une analyse approfondie des déf‌isliésàcette

opération en s’appuyant sur la théorie de la compétence col-

laborative de plus en plus courante aujourd’hui, notamment

dans les théâtres d’opérations à l’étranger. Adoptant une

approche exploratoire, il s’appuie sur la revue des travaux

antérieurs et sur l’expérience des Forces arméescanadiennes

déployées dans un théâtre d’opérationàl’étranger. Plus

spécif‌iquement, les informations c ollectées proviennent d’une

observationsur place pendant la mission de l’ONU en Bosnie,

d’entrevues semi-structurées et d’archives. L’analyse montre

que l’impartition de la logistique militaire doit être perçue

comme une forme de construction et de gestion d’«unréseau

temporaire ». Pour surmonter les déf‌is dans une telle situa-

tion, les Forces arméesdoivent agir principalement au niveau

de l’adaptabilité de toutes les personnes impliquées. En

d’autres termes, il faut privilégier une approche centrée sur

la « compétence collaborative ». Copyright © 2015 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : logistique militaire, impartition, théâtre

d’opérations à l’étranger

The search for an“optimal”way of managing outsourced

activities continues to be a current issue in military logistics

(Rutner, Aviles, & Cox,2012). Due to the increasing number

of interventions over the last decade, one of the main issues

faced by the Armed Forces is to determine how to use avail-

able resources very eff‌iciently (Davids, Beeres, & Van

Fenema, 2013;Glas, Hofmann, & Ebig, 2013). This challenge

is partly caused by the reduced increases in military budgets,

which result in strategies adapted to this budgetary context

(Rutner et al., 2012). For instance, military logistics in crisis

and humanitarian contexts is considered a prime candidate

for operational eff‌iciency improvement. This explains why

the Armed Forces have emphasized a better use of human re-

sources, including military logisticians (Beamon & Balcik,

2008); in such a situation, outsourcing is often considered an

appropriate strategy (Glas et al., 2013).As a result, the Armed

Forces increasingly use civilians to accomplish some of the

tasks previously performed by military personnel, and which

private companiesare often perceived as more eff‌icient at han-

dling (Davids et al., 2013; Glas et al., 2013).

Outsourcing logistics activities in a foreign theatre has be-

come more common for the American and British Armed

*Please address correspondence to: Jean Nollet, Department of Logistics and

Operations Management, HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-

Catherine, Montréal, QC, Canada H3T 2A7. Email: Jean.Nollet@hec.ca

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

32: 113–127 (2015)

Published online 15 May 2015 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1315

Can J Adm Sci

32(2), 113–127 (2015)Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 113