UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF BLOCKCHAIN IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Blockchain technology is rapidly becoming one of the most groundbreaking technologies for revolutionizing supply chain management with unprecedented security, transparency, and efficiency. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of blockchain and its applications in leading industries such as transportation, manufacturing, food and beverage, and healthcare. Blockchain applies distributed ledger technology to secure tamper-evident record-keeping, which significantly enhances traceability and provenance verification across complex supply chains. By integrating smart contracts, IoT connectivity, and decentralized financial services, blockchain can solve significant challenges, such as counterfeiting, supplier management, and enforcing sustainable and responsible sourcing practices. Despite these benefits, the mass-scale adoption of blockchain faces serious challenges, such as scalability, interoperability, regulatory ambiguity, and a lack of standardized frameworks. The report also addresses the environmental concerns of blockchain’s power-intensive proof-of-work algorithm and discusses ways to counteract them. Future developments in artificial intelligence and 5G networks will continue to evolve supply chain management in ways that unleash unmatched efficiency and potential.