1
Reviewer/Opponent Assessment for Doctoral Dissertation Defence
Degree(s)/Titles, Full Name: Dr Wojciech Piotrowicz, Associate Professor Department of Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Social Responsibility Hanken School of Economics
Address Arkadiankatu 22, 00100 Helsinki, Finland Email address: wojciech.piotrowicz@hanken.fi
Doctoral Dissertation by Ing. Jana Abíková
Titled
Balkan Corridor: Transit Migration in the Light of Management and Logistics during the Humanitarian Response to the Refugee Crisis in 2015/2016
After review of the final version of thesis written by Ing. Jana Abíková I would like to provide my comments on this academic work.
The topic is novel, relevant from both academic (theoretical) and practical point of view. Author based the work on current scientific knowledge, theory and data on the event studied. In the theses several theories and themes from Management including Supply Chain/Logistics are applied, linked to the migration context. Supply chain and logistics research in the humanitarian context was established as research field over decade ago as one of the logistics research streams. However, there is very limited research on logistics support for people on the move (during migration) -topic explored in thesis.
Majority of research is on the logistics for camp settings or response to natural disasters. People in the move and related logistics issues are not explored, due to scarcity of such events and physical distance between researchers and the area of research. Exploration of the migration route and relevant aspects from logistics point of view allowed to apply existing theories and frameworks as well as to learn of how the response was arranged and what was possible to learn from – with the aim to provide better support in case of future events (this can be evacuation due to major accident, natural disaster or conflict). This is important in case of any mass evacuation, especially with cross border flows. The problem is formulated correctly, research methods selected are appropriate to the questions asked, and limitations listed. In the thesis objectives were defined. In addition to objectives also research questions and hypotheses are listed. Research questions are answered. Multimethod approach is taken, this include field visits, and interviews (both face to face and via phone/online) in addition to written sources, such as reports and news articles. Quantitative part allowed to collect broader view on the topic, while qualitative to achieve in-depth exploration of the phenomenon. Research is set in well-defined time frame and includes analysis of the changes – main events that influenced the flow of people and logistics associated. In addition, at the early stage of research literature from multiple fields was analysed (supply chain, logistics, disaster response). Content analysis of the open material allowed to capture multidimensional, and frequently opposite views of different stakeholders (such as conflicting views between NGOs and boarder authorities, this required balancing the views to reduce researcher bias). To
2
analyse data two frameworks/theories from literature were applied (
PESTLE analysis and stakeholder theory, both are well established approaches).
Despite complexity of the topic research objectives are met. The answers are original, and solutions proposed relevant to both practice and theory.Based on my assessment I do recommend work written by Ing. Jana Abíková, entitled “Balkan Corridor:
Transit Migration in the Light of Management and Logistics during the Humanitarian Response to the Refugee Crisis in 2015/2016” to be forwarded for defence.
The question for author:
Why PESTLE framework was selected for data analysis?
I do recommend the Dissertation to be forwarded to the defence by its author in front of the dissertation defence commission.
