Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess if blockchain technology, which is hailed for its potential to improve supply chain transparency and efficiency, can deliver to this promise (Abreu et al., 2021; Mahyuni et al., 2020; Manzoor et al., 2022; Rennie, 2022; Yiannas, 2018). Supply chains are increasingly complex and full transparency is difficult to achieve and may sometimes be undesired, yet governments worldwide are demanding more transparency especially with respect to the social and environmental sustainability of supply chains (Francisco & Swanson, 2018; Franke, 2021; Najjar, 2021). If blockchain technology allows to close this gap, without compromising corporate confidentiality and efficiency requirements, it might change supply chain management drastically. Most other research in this field remains rather superficial with respect to the fundamentals of blockchain technology and supply chain management. Our study will add to the very limited theoretically founded research on blockchain potentials in supply chains.Study Design: Our paper is conceptual. Based on the extant literature, we compare blockchain technology and its advantages to the characteristics of supply chains and challenges of supply chain management to identify a theoretical fit. We investigate if published case studies of blockchain technology in supply chain management support this. Finally, we devise a conceptual framework for the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management.Findings: There is, currently, very limited use for blockchain technology in supply chain management. It does not provide an answer to several of the challenges that exist in supply chain management. Blockchain technology was primarily devised as encryption technology for virtual entities and transactions involving them and not for tangible objects. Published case studies describing the use of blockchain technology in supply chain management do not contradict these findings.They rely on private blockchain solutions lacking the key benefits of blockchain technology. Our conceptual framework constitutes a reference for a future public blockchain solution for supply chains. It offers solutions for some of the challenges but also cannot solve some fundamental challenges, like power imbalances in supply chains.Limitations: Blockchain technology undergoes rapid development. Future blockchain technology may be faster, less energy-intensive and more integrated with other technologies. This may be aided by developments in hardware, like quantum computing. The findings of this paper are limited to currently available technology.Implications: Companies and governments alike should be very cautious when considering investing in currently available blockchain solutions for supply chain management.

Inspired by the discontinuation of the blockchain platform TradeLens, co-developed by IBM and Maersk, due to the lack of the involved supply chain stakeholders’ adoption, a critical literature review on the models of supply chain stakeholders’ adoption of blockchain applications was conducted. This review is significant as it provides insights into the exploration of a more universal approach to investigate which factors really influence blockchain adoption, which is a pre-requisite for the technical sustainability of blockchain technology in supply chains. As observed in the review, the technology acceptance model (TAM), the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) are frequently used in the literature, but little attention has been paid to whether blockchain technology fits the users’ tasks in understanding blockchain adoption in the supply chain. Among the technology adoption theories, task–technology fit (TTF) considers whether a technology fits the tasks, but only two previous studies involved the use of TTF. This study discusses the suitability of these existing models of technology adoption for blockchain applications in supply chains and comes up with a new unified model, namely TOE-TTF-UTAUT. This review also has implications for a more appropriate conceptual research design using mixed methods.

Previous literature shows that there are different environmental factors with different impacts on the adoption of technologies in a supply chain context. Thus, the adoption of technologies in supply chains may vary according to different environmental factors. Despite the existence of several studies about adoption of technologies in supply chain contexts that include environmental factors, there is a gap in identifying which environmental factors influence the adoption of digitalization technologies in supply chains. The purpose of this study is therefore to identify and analyze the environmental factors that influence the adoption of digitalization technologies in the supply chain. An exploratory qualitative research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with Portuguese managers of companies at several tiers of the automotive supply chain. Environmental factors were pointed as particularly critical drivers to promote the adoption of digitalization technologies in the automotive supply chain. Such adoption is mainly driven by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), through coercive and normative pressures over the other tiers of the supply chain. Relevant factors identified are: Compliance with standards and legislation, market and industry pressures, and benchmark the evolution of supply chain partners. This study contributes to the literature with new knowledge concerning new specificities of the environmental factors that showed an important influence on the adoption decision. © 2019 IEEE.

There is growing interest in blockchain’s potential to transform the logistics of international trade through its application to supply chains to increase efficiencies and minimize vulnerabilities. Yet for blockchain to truly transport supply chains on a global scale, laws and regulations that facilitate and support its implementation are required. This article explores potential regulatory barriers to the development of blockchain technology in supply chains and asks whether there is a role for international trade rules to address these barriers.

Blockchain technology is a distributed database, which realizes the safe trans-mission and sharing of data in a decentralized system through technical means such as consensus mechanism, encryption algorithm and smart contract. Its application in the field of agriculture can effectively solve many problems in the supply chain of agricultural products. Therefore, the application of block-chain technology to agricultural supply chain management can provide security and information sharing for agricultural supply chain management, thus im-proving the operational efficiency of agricultural supply chain. This paper fo-cuses on the problems existing in agricultural supply chain and the application of blockchain technology in agricultural supply chain.

This book aims to be a general overview of blockchain technology in supply chains, serves as an introduction to blockchain and its applications and demystifies the often-grey area of blockchain technology, reviewing its evolution and its future applications

Acceptance of Blockchain Technology in Supply Chains: A Model Proposal

A blockchain maturity model in agricultural supply chain

This paper develops a model to predict the adoption and level of usage of network technology in a two-level supply chain with buyer-supplier relationships. A firm's adoption of a new technology depends not only on its own beliefs of the new technology's costs and benefits, but also on the adoption decisions of other firms in the supply chain. A model first analyzes an individual supplier's decision about a new technology adoption considering with multiple suppliers and buyers. Individual suppliers' decisions are aggregated with a population model to project how new technology diffuses across the supply chain and examine the pattern of diffusion process. This study found that as more firms adopt in initial periods, the total amount of information to the potential adopters in the population increases, and then the number of firms persuaded by the information increases as the process moves up the distribution of adoption process. We consider three factors influencing the diffusion speed of the new technology in a supply chain network : mean benefits, cost sharing, and information provision. This study examines how such factors affect the reduction of threshold levels, which implies that reductions in threshold levels have an aggregate effect by accelerating the rate of adoption. In particular, we explore relationship factors available in practice in a buyer-supplier relationship and numerically examines how these relationship factors contribute to increase the diffusion speed of the technology in a two-level supply chain.

As global supply chains become increasingly complex, traditional systems face challenges in ensuring efficiency, transparency, and innovation. Block chain technology has emerged as a transformative force in addressing these issues, offering a decentralized and secure framework for supply chain management. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the impact of block chain on supply chains, focusing on its potential to enhance efficiency, transparency, and foster innovation. The efficiency gains facilitated by block chain in supply chain management are examined through the elimination of intermediaries, reduction of paperwork, and real-time visibility into the entire process. These improvements result in streamlined operations, reduced costs, and enhanced responsiveness to market dynamics. Moreover, block chain’s decentralized nature ensures data integrity, mitigating the risk of fraud and errors in the supply chain. Transparency is a critical aspect of modern supply chains, and block chain provides an immutable and transparent ledger that enables end-to-end visibility. The technology ensures traceability and accountability, allowing stakeholders to access real-time information about the origin, movement, and status of products. This transparency not only enhances trust among supply chain participants but also facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements. The role of block chain in fostering innovation within supply chains is explored, emphasizing its potential to enable new business models, collaborative ecosystems, and the integration of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The paper highlights case studies and pilot projects where block chain has been successfully applied to drive innovation in supply chain processes. Challenges and considerations related to the implementation of block chain in supply chain management are also discussed, including interoperability, scalability, and regulatory issues. The paper concludes by outlining future research directions and emphasizing the need for industry-wide collaboration to unlock the full potential of block chain in revolutionizing supply chain management. Overall, this review contributes to the understanding of how block chain can serve as a catalyst for efficiency, transparency, and innovation in contemporary supply chains

Impact of government fund policy and blockchain technology on closed-loop supply chains in textile and apparel industry

Blockchain technology is being introduced gradually into supply chain management, addressing long-standing problems and waste-related parts of the industry. This study aims to illustrate the various ways that blockchain might improve supply chains' efficiency, traceability, security, and simplicity. Blockchain technology offers a permanent, decentralized record-keeping system that fosters honesty and trust between participants; all important data is stored in an unalterable manner. Additionally, supply chain processes like payment processing and inventory management are automated by intelligent contracts, which significantly lowers both human error and regulatory expenses. Blockchain's capacity to encrypt this data ensures a high level of security by guaranteeing information availability in the event of sophisticated cyber assaults. This increase in security makes the supply chain less vulnerable to sabotage and extortion. Through the provision of an easily accessible and verifiable record of every trade, this innovation significantly streamlines administrative compliance. Furthermore, it provides a means of confirming that the technical support standards and material sources adhere to current standards, which in turn helps to enhance customer trust in a brand and promote brand identity for the product bearing the brand mark. The study shows how blockchain technology has enhanced the capabilities of US logistics companies. It also looks at supply chain management's effectiveness and transparency in terms of blockchain technology implemented in the US.

The article discusses supply chain optimization based on blockchain supply chain technology and genetic algorithm in the context of IoT to improve the availability of goods and the security of logistics information, improve supply chain efficiency and reduce transportation costs. First, the basic theories of supply chain technology, supply chain optimization and genetic algorithm are introduced, and supply chain optimization with collaborative logistics information management is analyzed. Then, a supply chain network optimization model based on genetic algorithm is established and the optimization results are analyzed. The optimization results show that applying blockchain technology to collaborative logistics information management system improves the overall efficiency of supply chain logistics; using genetic algorithm, the logistics distribution cost is reduced. The study is innovative in optimizing the collaborative logistics information management system in the logistics supply chain and the logistics distribution channel by using blockchain technology and genetic algorithm to improve the security and availability of logistics information. The case study shows that the optimization of supply chain logistics using blockchain technology and genetic algorithm improves efficiency, reduces costs, improves corporate governance and economic efficiency, and increases the competitiveness of the company.

Integrating blockchain technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) in the food supply chain offers a transformative approach to enhancing transparency, traceability, and operational efficiency. This paper presents a comprehensive implementation framework that unifies these advanced technologies into a seamless system, addressing critical challenges in food safety and quality management. The framework comprises five essential processes: IoT device deployment, secure data transmission, blockchain-based data storage, user-friendly frontend development, and system deployment. Firstly, IoT devices, including sensors and RFID tags, are to be strategically deployed across the supply chain to gather real-time data on vital parameters such as temperature, humidity, and location. The data should be transmitted securely using advanced wireless communication protocols to ensure data integrity and prevent tampering. Subsequently, this data is stored on a blockchain platform, leveraging its immutable and transparent nature to create a secure and tamper-proof record of all transactions. A user-centric frontend interface is developed to provide stakeholders with real-time access to blockchain data, facilitating effective tracking of food products from farm to table. The final deployment phase ensures the integration of IoT devices, secure data transmission, blockchain storage, and the frontend interface into a cohesive and operational framework. This integrated framework not only enhances the accuracy and reliability of data collection but also ensures the integrity and traceability of the food supply chain. This paper aims to offer a detailed blueprint for researchers and practitioners interested in implementing blockchain and IoT technologies in the food supply chain, highlighting the potential benefits and associated challenges of this innovative approach.

Implementation and adoption of new technologies are gaining the result of smooth supply chain and logistics operations. Internet of things (IoT) artificial intelligence, including data mining, intensified in all fields of life, particularly in supply chain management and operations. Blockchain technology has the capability to reform the supply chain and logistics operations management. Blockchain provides digital database solutions for all transactions across supply chain and operations management. Radio frequency identification device (RFID) is also helping technology transmit electromagnetic waves to radio-compatible integrated circuits to look after and manage the entire supply chain and logistics operations management. The Fourth Industry Revolution 4.0 refers to the automation, interconnectivity, machine learning, and real-time data that help supply chain and logistics operations management in the 21st century.