Blockchain technology has been widely used in many industries. One current application is in remanufacturing. In this paper we consider the combination of remanufacturing and blockchain, and model a supply chain composed of a manufacturer, a third-party firm, and an online platform. Among them, the manufacturer faces the cap-and-trade regulation and adopts blockchain to record the information on the used products and then remanufactures products. The platform has the power to expand the potential market size and can operate in the marketplace or reselling mode. The third-party firm collects used products for the manufacturer. We conduct a Stackelberg game analysis and obtain the following major findings: First, the optimal production quantities and optimal collection rates with and without blockchain in the marketplace and reselling modes increase with the allocated cap and platform-enabled power. Second, in the reselling or marketplace mode, the manufacturer should not adopt blockchain if the emissions intensity is low; otherwise, it should adopt blockchain. Third, selecting the reselling (marketplace) mode is more profitable for the manufacturer if the platform-enabled power is low (high). Fourth, for quantity coordination, the reselling mode under the wholesale price contract can always coordinate the manufacturer and platform, and the manufacturer, online platform, and third-party firm. However, the marketplace mode with a commission rate can only coordinate the manufacturer, online platform, and third-party firm. For social welfare coordination, the manufacturer, online platform, and third-party firm can achieve coordination in the marketplace or reselling mode. Finally, extending the work to consider the cross-channel effect, we find that the major findings for both quantity coordination and social welfare coordination in the reselling and marketplace modes still hold.
Purpose: Rapidly developing information technology increases expectations for obtaining much more efficient structures by providing accurate, sufficient and secure information sharing in supply chains as well as in many other fields. Traceability is a critical element in supply chain management, especially in security-sensitive sectors such as food, medicine, etc. Blockchain is a decentralized record platform that provides traceability, transparency and security, and it shows promise in alleviating traditional supply chain management problems and making a positive contribution. This article aims to improve the relevant literature by revealing the level of impact of blockchain technology on supply chain management.Methodology: First of all, a traditional closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network was designed and modeled. Then, the main model was developed by creating four more scenarios for different applications of the blockchain technology to the existing model and the application results were analyzed.Findings: This paper demonstrated the implementation of blockchain technology in forward and reverse flows activities coordination for effective and efficient supply chain management, and the resulting gains by developing appropriate models through explanatory scenarios. The implications showed that blockchain technology could significantly reduce supply chain costs.Originality: While blockchain technology is gaining attention, there are very few studies focused on its integration into the supply chain. Apart from the applications in the field of finance, the most important contribution and originality of the study is the application of the blockchain to CLSC from different aspects as partial, full, only forward flow and only reverse flow.
Supply chains have evolved into dynamic, interconnected supply networks, which increases the complexity of achieving end-to-end traceability of object flows and their experienced events. With its capability of ensuring a secure, transparent, and immutable environment without relying on a trusted third party, the emerging blockchain technology shows strong potential to enable end-to-end traceability in such complex multitiered supply networks. This paper aims to overcome the limitations of existing blockchain-based traceability architectures regarding their object-related event mapping ability, which involves mapping the creation and deletion of objects, their aggregation and disaggregation, transformation, and transaction, in one holistic architecture. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel 'blueprint-based' token concept, which allows clients to group tokens into different types, where tokens of the same type are non-fungible. Furthermore, blueprints can include minting conditions, which, for example, are necessary when mapping assembly processes. In addition, the token concept contains logic for reflecting all conducted object-related events in an integrated token history. Finally, for validation purposes, this article implements the architecture's components in code and proves its applicability based on the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, the proposed blockchain-based traceability architecture covers all object-related supply chain events and proves its general-purpose end-to-end traceability capabilities of object flows.
Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how to introduce a financing scheme to tackle the manufacturer's capital constraint problem, discuss the effects of data-driven marketing (DDM) quality, cross-channel-return (CCR) rate and financing interest rate on the members' pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions and optimal performances, and analyzes `how to achieve the coordination within a dual-channel supply chain (DSC) by contract coordination. Design/methodology/approach This work establishes a DSC model with DDM, and the offline retailer can provide internal financing to the capital-constrained online manufacturer. The demand under the price is determined based on DDM quality, customer channel preference and delivery lead time. Then, combined with the Stackelberg game, the optimal pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions are discussed under the inconsistent and consistent pricing strategies with decentralized and centralized systems. Furthermore, it designs a manufacturer-revenue sharing contract to coordinate the members under the two pricing strategies. Findings (1) The increase of DDM quality will reduce the delivery-lead-time under the inconsistent or consistent pricing strategy and will push the selling prices; (2) The growth of the CCR rate will raise selling prices and extend the delivery-lead-time under the decentralized decision; (3) Under price competition, the offline selling price is higher than the online selling price when customers prefer the offline channel and vice versa; (4) The retailer and the manufacturer can achieve a win-win situation through a manufacturer-revenue sharing contract. Originality/value This paper contributes to the studies related to DSC by investigating pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions based on DDM, CCR, internal financing and supply chain contract and proposes some managerial implications.
Sunil Tiwari, Pankaj Sharma, TsanāMing Choi, Andrew E. B. Lim
In global supply chains, third-party logistics (3PL) services have proven to be critically important in helping many supply chain agents with distribution tasks so that they can focus on their core competencies of product development and manufacturing. However, there are many inadequacies in current global supply chains that affect the functions of 3PL. These shortcomings have necessitated digital transformation in many businesses. This digitalization enhances information sharing and supply chain visibility, which improves supply chain performance; however, it may create challenges regarding cybersecurity and data quality. Blockchain technology (BCT), with features such as being highly secure and distributed, can help. In this paper, we examine the literature and identify challenges associated with 3PL and how BCT can be used for 3PL. Then, we conduct interviews with four innovation/project managers of well-established logistics companies to uncover the status of BCT adoption in 3PL and the challenges that are hampering the adoption of this technology. Finally, we propose a framework together with a decision roadmap for BCT implementation.
Blockchain is a driver for digitalization in the fresh industry, but the resulting improvements in each supply chain memberās performance are difficult to predict. In this study, we examine the effects of blockchain-based digital transition in a cold supply chain with a manufacturer, a retailer, and a third-party logistics service provider (3PL). Our study provides several managerial implications. First, blockchain adoption would lead to a preservation service level increase if the 3PL charges a low transportation fee, but a preservation service level decrease if the 3PL charges a high one. Second, the blockchain adoption may induce the manufacturer to increase its wholesale price, which does not cause the retailer to cut the order quantity but instead sets a lager one. Third, our results indicate that simply relying on the market mechanism may not enable the cold supply chain to make the optimal decision; thus, government intervention or an exogenous coordination mechanism must be introduced to drive the cold supply chain members to reach a consensus on blockchain-based digital transition. Finally, the main results in the basic model are proven to remain robust. Managerial implications are discussed and provided.
Filippo Corsini, Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti, Marco Frey
The circular economy is an emerging paradigm with important economic, environmental, and societal implications. As the world faces such paradigm shifts, new and radical technologies are urgently needed to enable it; blockchain technology can assist to accomplish the aforementioned circular economy shift given its decentralization and distributiveness principles as well as its smart contract capability. This study represents one of the first attempts to analyze those academic research domains together adopting a science mapping technique. By adopting such approach, the study envisages research challenges, highlights important research gaps, and proposes future paths in the blockchain and circular economy fields. Among the others, key findings show that blockchain technology as a tool for promoting the circular economy has been extensively researched at the micro (i.e., firm) and meso levels (i.e., supply chain) more effort on how blockchain can support the development of circular smart cites and measurement tools for providing information to stakeholders and assisting in policy creation expresses the greatest potential in terms of novel research. Moreover, the research suggests that another possible stream of research might be dealing on how blockchain together with physical technologies (e.g., 3D printing, RFID), can support the transition towards the circular economy.
The Food Supply Chain (FSC) can be made more efficient, resilient, and transparent by implementing industry 4.0 technologies. In this context, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) become a panacea for several FSC problems. As a result of FSC complexity and their specific needs, the adoption of Blockchain integrated IoT (B-IoT) in FSC is challenging, and further investigation is required. Therefore, this study aims to explore the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the adoption B-IoT in FSC. To achieve this objective, a literature review is conducted to identify the CSFs of B-IoT adoption and then a grey Delphi is conducted on finalised CSFs. Ten CSFs finalised that faceplate for the adoption of B-IoT in FSC. Further, these CSFs were analysed through a grey Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to determine the importance and causal relationships among them. A grey DEMATEL analysis also categorised these factors into influencing and influenced groups. The findings showed that ātop management supportā, āknowledge managementā, ātechnology hardware readinessā, āskilled personnelā, and āhigh investmentā were the influencing factors that needed to be addressed for the effective adoption of B-IoT. The FSC partners could benefit from the findings of this study by focusing on high-priority CSFs. The causal relationship among CSFs also helps the managers achieve optimal utilisation of resources. Further, this study encourages the FSC stakeholders to adopt the B-IoT in their supply chain to improve their performance.
This study aims to solve the problem of environmental pollution caused by industry through the upgrading and transformation of the supply chain, supply chain resource allocation, and related aspects. Specifically, environmental friendliness is added to the resource-matching problem of the cloud platform supply chain. Additionally, learning theory and dynamic evaluation systems are introduced when creating a preference sequence. The deferred-acceptance algorithm is used for matching. Finally, the automatic matching of blockchain smart contracts ensures the interests of both matching parties. Through the analysis of the example at the end of the study, we found that (1) the deviation table of demand side 5 and supply side 7 in the example shows that the deviation between demand side 5 as demand side and supply side 7 is only 11.55186, and the deviation between supply side 7 as demand side and demand side 5 is only 6.56778, and both sides form a high-quality pairing when matched with other partners. No excessive waste of its resources occurs. (2) Effectively ensure the openness and transparency of the supply chain production process; (3) The impact of environmental factors on enterprises is fully considered. In the analysis of the calculation cases, it can be found that demand side 10 has extremely high requirements for the environmental friendliness of its partners, and although supplier 2 has a very high preference for demand side 10, it is not successfully matched because the environmental friendliness of its own enterprise is not up to the standard, while supplier 1 has an environmental friendliness of up to 92 and is finally matched with Demand side 10; (4) Through the comparison test in the appendix, it can be found that the improved GS algorithm achieves the distinction between positive and negative partners. After multiple rounds of scoring, positive demand side 1, 3 was matched with positive supply side 2, 4, which can strengthen the enthusiasm of both partners and avoid negative cooperation.
Purpose Despite the availability of several published reviews on the adoption of blockchain (BC) in supply chain (SC), at present, the literature lacks a comprehensive review incorporating the antecedents and consequences of BC adoption. Moreover, the complex adoption of BC in SC, explained with the mediating and moderating relationships, is not fully consolidated. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on BC technology adoption (BCTA) in SC by integrating its antecedents and consequences. Design/methodology/approach Keyword searches were performed in multiple databases resulting 382 articles for evaluation and verification. After careful screening with respect to the purpose of the study and systematic processing of the retrieved articles, a total of 211 peer-reviewed articles were included in this study for review. Findings Various technological, organisational, individual, social, environmental, operational and economic factors were found as the antecedents of BCTA in SC. In addition, numerous applications of BC Technology (BCT) were identified, including asset management, identity management, transaction management, data management and operations management. Finally, the consequences of BCTA were categorised as operational, risk management, economic and sustainability outcomes. Practical implications This study can assist relevant decision-makers in managing the factors influencing BCTA and the potential uses of the technology to enhance SC performance. Originality/value By integrating the antecedents, applications and consequences of BCTA in SC, including the mediators and moderators, an integrated framework was developed that can potentially assist researchers to develop theoretical models. Further, the results of this SLR provide future directions for studying BCTA in supply chain management (SCM).
Blockchain is an emerging and disruptive technology and has the potential to change how supply chains manage their information. However, Blockchain is accompanied by challenges, such as increased information technology complexity, issues of scalability, incompatibility with existing laws and regulations, and a lack of awareness among organisations and customers. This research conducts a bibliometric analysis based on a sample of 68 papers which address the barriers and enablers of blockchain adoption in supply chain management. A recurring theme in the papers was managersā lack of understanding of Blockchain, which acted as a barrier to adoption. This study proposes a possible explanation by arguing that the academic models used in literature are too obscure from a managerās perspective and that there is a need to synthesise literature into a framework which is easily understood and familiar. Therefore, the barriers and enablers identified in this study were grouped into the robust Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environment (PESTLE) framework. A key finding from this framework was the absence of political barriers or enablers, which is surprising since blockchain adoption challenges the current status quo in multiple ways. Furthermore, the environmental enablers and barriers were scarcely discussed, with little empirical evidence.
Peng Guan, Lincoln C. Wood, Jason X. Wang, Linh Duong
Blockchain technology, marked as a disruptive force across various sectors, including seaport logistics, faces challenges and obstacles that impede its effective adoption. We aim to empirically identify the significant barriers impeding blockchain adoption in the seaport industry and elucidate the interconnected relationships between these impediments. Utilizing the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Analysis (Fuzzy DEMATEL) technique, we quantify the cause-and-effect relationships between various barriers to blockchain adoption. Structured interviews involving 18 experts were conducted, collecting both qualitative interview data and quantitative data. The nature of ports and the maritime industry did not seem to be accurately reflected in the literature about blockchain adoption, presenting several new findings in this study. Four primary obstacles were identified: 1) Lack of management support and commitment. 2) Issues in supply chain collaboration, communication and coordination. 3) Resistance from and lack of involvement of external stakeholders. 4) The high cost. Furthermore, cost was reaffirmed as a significant factor influencing blockchain adoption. We enhance existing literature by revealing the interdependencies among identified barriers and offers insights for policymakers and industry practitioners. We aim to foster successful blockchain integration in the seaport industry, improving its sustainability performance. During this research, it has been acknowledged by the business sector that the effective employment of business process re-engineering (BPR) and the strategic implementation of blockchain technology are crucial strategies to surmount the obstacles that have impeded the extensive integration of blockchain within port operations.
Kai Wannenwetsch, Isabel Ostermann, Rene Priel, Felix Gerschner Ā· 5 authors
In the era of digital transformation, supply chain management faces major challenges induced by the lack of transparency and the evolving industry. In this context, blockchain technology has emerged as a possible answer to the future problems of the supply chain. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review on blockchain in the context of supply chains. The goal of our work is to present the factors and capabilities of blockchain technology that contribute to improving supply chain resilience. We also show which supply chain management factors limit the use of blockchain technology. Based on this, we identify various areas and applications of blockchain technology to support supply chains and highlight current work in the field. From the reviewed literature, we deduce a number of open challenges regarding the application of blockchains in the context of supply chains, e.g. the need (a) to improve the implementation process, (b) to make blockchain more cost-effective, (c) to educate potential users regarding blockchain security aspects, and (d) to further digitize supply chains as part of the digital transformation process.
To abate global carbon emissions, there has been an unprecedented push for carbon transparency in the manufacturing industry. However, with products becoming increasingly complex, they contain sub-assemblies with components that have sub-components supplied by different manufacturers. This creates a multi-tier supply chain that complicates the propagation of sustainability information necessary to compute the product's carbon emission due to the lack of oversight and potential loss of information from manufacturers in the multi-tier supply chain. Blockchain technology, characterized by its immutability, visibility, and traceability, is a promising medium to propagate sustainability information. Despite the fact that many papers have proposed a system that is viable for products with a multi-tier supply chain in the literature, we have not seen its proof-of-concept yet. This work first proposes a blockchain-enabled system that enables the propagation of environmental sustainability information in a multi-tier supply chain. This paper describes the architecture of the proposed blockchain system and the data structure of each block in the blockchain. Based on the defined architecture, we implemented the proposed blockchain system with Ethereum and tested it using the pseudo-multi-tier supply chain of a torchlight.
While there is consensus that blockchain technology can improve supply chain transparency and operational efficiency, scholars and practitioners have only recently considered how blockchain could improve the sustainability of supply chains. This article contributes to this emerging body of work by considering how to use blockchain to enable sustainable food supply chains. To advance the use of blockchain for sustainability in the food supply chain context, this study proposes a blockchain-enabled architectural framework for trustworthy communication about the sustainability attributes of food products. The blockchain-enabled architectural framework outlines a multi-layered architecture for utilising blockchain-based traceability as a way to signal to consumers the trustworthy sustainability attributes of a particular food product. This kind of sustainability communication enables the accessibility of traceable and verifiable evidence and therefore can significantly enhance the reliability and trustworthiness of sustainable claims/credentials compared to printed food labels or other digital means of communication. The study contributes to sustainability communication empowered by blockchain-based traceability and offers invaluable insights to both researchers and practitioners in the industry 4.0 landscape.
This study attempts to determine the optimal production and pricing decisions of E-Agri-SCF (agricultural product supply chain financed by e-commerce) and analyzes the influence of financing parameters on the optimal decision. Research indicates that the optimal purchase price decision increases with the expansion of the financing interest rate and declines with the expansion of the capital opportunity cost. The expected output factor of agricultural products has no influence on the optimal purchase price decision. The optimal production decision of the farmer declines with the expansion of the financing interest rate and the opportunity cost of capital and increases with the increase in the expected output factor of agricultural products. In particular, we show that due to the uncertainty in the output of agricultural products, the losses caused by decentralized decision-making in the E-Agri-SCF will increase. Therefore, this article proposes using a cost-sharing contract to promote the coordination of E-Agri-SCF. We prove that when farmers share more costs, they obtain higher benefits, while the e-commerce platform does the opposite. This is because the participation of e-commerce platforms in financing has changed the revenue structure of the supply chain. The findings of this article are very meaningful, as they provide management opinions on the financing terms of E-Agri-SCF.
Lukas Mastilak, Robert Suchy, KristiĆ”n KoÅ”Å„Ć”l, Ivan Kotuliak
This paper addresses the issue of sustainability in retail sales, where the composition of the products themselves, their production and packaging process, and their transport to the point of sale play an important role. We propose a solution to apply a unified system of environmental product rating in different retail chains where trust is ensured through a distributed ledger. The system allows fair and transparent rewards for customers who purchase eco-friendly products while also maintaining their privacy. The prototype of the decentralized application for the uniform loyalty system based on the Algorand blockchain has shown promising results in terms of throughput and cost efficiency. We believe that the prototype has the potential to revolutionize loyalty systems and promote sustainable practices. This study provides key insights into how to interconnect retailers and customers into a uniform reward program, how to motivate customers to purchase sustainable and eco-friendly goods, and how retailers can manage the amount of reward for the given Eco-score categories.
Supply chains are experiencing significant advances in digital technologies, particularly those associated with industry 4.0. An example of such technology is blockchain. Blockchain is a disruptive technology characterised by anonymity and identity, consensus mechanism, decentralisation, overall performance and expectancy, reliability of systems and data, and information transparency. Blockchain offers supply chain opportunities to strengthen end-to-end visibility and traceability, leading to enhanced levels of transparency. Supply chains are increasingly exploring blockchain technology and transparency, with many focusing on system development. This paper explores transparency in blockchain-based supply chains to understand the principles underlining its design. A systematic review of literature is used, accompanied by data-driven analysis. The results present the principles within a framework for transparency by design in blockchain-based supply chains. Limitations and areas for future work are also presented.
Abstract The digitalisation of fashion supply chain transparency has gained increased attention in recent years. Technology solutions that have arisen based on advanced technologies and Web3 include smart tags, forensic tracers and blockchain platformisation. Whereby current reports discuss supply chain transparency from the perspective of the data, technical solutions and policy [1, 2], little attention is given to the fashion firms that are to adopt these technologies. Finding themselves in the midst of the supply chain transparency polemic, small to medium brands are still at a loss as to transformation and communication strategies [3]. This paper examines the standpoint of the small-scale brand, its challenges and needs in the face of digital transformation and lays the groundwork for the development of Web3 technology adoption guidelinesāthat can ultimately form, not only part of their implementation but also their communication strategy. Applying the theoretical framework of organisational theory, it provides evidence of successful practice through case study methodology. The study contributes to knowledge of organisational theory in the context of adjusting to rapid and complex change triggered by both external and internal demands for adopting advanced technology.
Antonio Mileti, Daniele Arduini, Gordon Watson, Adriana Giangrande
This study explores the application and critical issues related to the implementation of blockchain technology (BT) to the aquaculture sector, in order to understand the possibilities of improving the relationship with the supply chain and the end consumer, with a view to a sustainability for the marine environment and circular economy. Starting from considerations of commercial and political challenges related to credibility and fairness for all parties involvedāfrom producers, to retailers, to end consumersāthe procedure adopted was applied to the case of an Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture project, developed in the sea of Taranto (Italy). Furthermore, it considered two different end markets: the food market for farmed fish and the ornamental fish market for marine aquariums. The results of the study confirm that although the implementation of BT by industries and producers of marine species has the potential to lead to successful sustainability solutions, such adoption is feasible over time only if all actors in the supply chain, from aquaculture companies, to retailers, to consumers, are actively and consciously involved and can access common benefits.
This paper presents a multiple case study analysis on how blockchain technology (BCT) has been adopted in organisations to support supply chain finance (SCF) based on secondary data. Findings from the multiple case analysis indicate that BCT can cope with challenges in traditional SCF, including financing range, financing cost, financing efficiency, and risk management. Before the implementation of the BCT, multiple partiesā decision on jointly operating the blockchain-based SCF platform enables them to take full advantage of their inherent resources and blockchain characteristics. Also, both the BCT and enterprises need internal and external adjustments, which are interrelated. The unexpected issues may emerge from the pilot stage, but the adjustments are still involved in the previous stages, leading to a feedback loop from the pilot stage to the redefining/restructuring stage. To realise large-scale implementation of blockchain-based SCF solutions, more stakeholders need to be motivated to adopt the BCT, and new laws and regulations should be developed to promote the BCT adoption. Based on these findings and by applying innovation adoption theory, an overall implementation framework is proposed to provide a meaningful guidance for organisations to adopt BCT in SCF.
Laura Corazza, Junru Zhang, Dilhani Kapu Arachchilage, Simone Domenico Scagnelli
This paper presents the implications of blockchain technologies on sustainability reporting and disclosure, and specifically proposes blockchain use-cases as a possible solution for problems experienced in the field of supply chain carbon information. This study addresses how the reliability of supply chainsā carbon-related information can become more transparent and reliable through a decentralized approach based on blockchain thinking (BT), issues that have been identified as a gap in the literature and in the practice. Scenario analysis and design science research (DSR) are used as a methodological driver to conceptualize over the nature of practical solutions using unified modeling language (UML) diagrams. The resulting use-case focuses on data retrieval in the supply chain. The paper also presents implications for the audit industry and their role in the assurance of such technological architecture implementations. The study is visionary as it offers a conceptualization based on scenario analysis. Developing a scenario enables researchers to depict a prospective situation, develop ability to solve future problems, and to back cast them in current policies, technologies, and actions.