This research makes an initial attempt to analyse the effects of blockchain patents on a firm’s financial performance. Blockchain technology has received increased attention since bitcoin prices skyrocketed in 2016, and applications for blockchain patents rapidly increased thereafter. Prior studies have documented that blockchain innovation could add economic value to firms, but without robust empirical analyses. Therefore, this study provides the first empirical approach to determine the effect of blockchain patents on a firm’s financial performance. We find that a firm’s blockchain patents are positively associated with firm value and firm performance. Moreover, the association between a firm’s blockchain patents and firm value or performance is more pronounced in markets with higher competition. This study provides theoretical and practical implications. The empirical results of this study lend credence to the argument that blockchain patent contributes to real value creation. We also add to blockchain literature and extend the literature discussing environmental uncertainty. Moreover, this study suggests useful insights for firms that consider developing blockchain patents and implies the signalling effect of blockchain patent in the capital market.
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 technology has brought about profound revolutions in supply chain management. Notably, in the agricultural sector, blockchain-based traceability has become an essential tool to maintain the safety and quality of farm commodities. However, the implementation of blockchain technology in agricultural traceability is not prevalent. In this paper, mathematical modeling and simulation methods were used to investigate the decision making regarding the adoption of blockchain traceability in agriculture, which comprises producers, processors, and governments. This paper provides further analysis of the optimal blockchain-based traceability strategies of the members of the agricultural product supply chain in different scenarios. The results reveal the following: (1) Producers and processors should manage the traceability costs for adopting blockchains to improve their brand image and gain more benefits. (2) The government should encourage supply chain agents to participate in traceability by establishing an effective reward-and-punishment mechanism. In addition, the research will help agricultural supply chain agents to design strategies to implement traceability in agriculture and create a transparent and efficient data-driven agricultural products supply chain. Furthermore, these findings provide guidance to policymakers to develop policies to accelerate the implementation of blockchain-based traceability systems to guarantee fraud-free and sustainable agricultural supply chains.
Purpose The quality liability of prefabricated components (PCs) is a major issue among key stakeholders. The blockchain-based quality tracking systems are supposed to support a more transparent and trusting quality control process. However, many factors affect the stakeholders' willingness toward the adoption of such quality tracking systems. The purpose of this research is to investigate the key factors that influence the stakeholders' adoption decisions toward the application of the quality tracking system in PCs and develop coping strategies. Design/methodology/approach An evolutionary game model is established that includes the manufacturer, constructor and developer. Four scenarios of equilibriums and the game's evolutionary stable strategies are analyzed, and the corresponding stability conditions are then obtained. Based on the tripartite game model, two representative projects are used as case studies to simulate how different factors affect the stakeholders' decisions. Findings First, trade-offs between cost and benefits were the most prominent factor in the adoption decision-making. Second, the advancement of technologies would compensate for their immaturity. Third, subsidy and penalty provision of the developer and high-level trust both incentivize the stakeholders to adopt the quality tracking systems. Originality/value This research investigates the influence of technology, environment and participant related factors on the adoption decisions of the quality tracking system for PCs and discovered that technology maturity and advancement played an essential role. It is expected that the research findings would be of value to policy makers and project management personnel for better quality control of prefabricated construction.
Purpose This paper addresses a gap in research literature in the fields of blockchain technology (BC), supply chain network dynamics (SC) and network effect phenomena (NE). Extant BC and SC literature describes the potential benefits to be reaped through the adoption of BC technology. While BC technology does not yet meet the researched expectations of adoption, performance and efficacy, the authors analyze the three inter-related fields (BC, SC and NE) to bridge this gap in theory. Design/methodology/approach This paper begins with a research review correlating the technological fundamentals of BC technology into fundamental value propositions for SC logistics contexts. The authors review the gap between these theoretical technological functions and the current ecosystem of BC applications. With an overarching understanding of BC in SC contexts, this paper then explores the phenomena of NE and attempts to synthesize various interrelated aspects of the three fields (BC, SC and NE). Research frameworks from extant literature are used for cross-comparing legacy software/information system solutions with potential and existing BC-based solutions. Case studies are utilized to support this analysis. Findings Several key considerations and themes are identified to better inform practitioner and researcher decision-making. Novel insights pertain to BC platform architecture and application modularity, integrated governance and decision-making capabilities, and the automation capabilities that arise from a healthy application and smart contract ecosystem. Originality/value The core contribution is the synthesis of network effect theory with SC phenomena and BC theory and the exploration of how these three fields are inter-related in the maturation of BC technology. Specifically, the authors deepen insights from extant literature by contextualizing findings with relevant interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks.
Purpose The deployment of blockchain technology (BT) throughout the supply chain is usually led by large firms that dominate the supply chain. Leading firms can encourage other resource-constrained partners to get on board by providing technical and financial support. However, due to the uncertain consequences of relying on leading firms, these partners may still be reluctant to adopt BT. Drawing on resource dependence theory, this study aims to investigate whether and when supply chain alignment can be used as a dependency coping strategy to increase the willingness of resource-constrained partners to adopt BT. Moreover, it aims to examine the motivators for supply chain alignment. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a survey research design and collected data from 364 small and medium-sized enterprises in China. Findings Supply chain alignment positively affects BT adoption. The effect of supply chain alignment on BT adoption is contingent on guanxi (a Chinese cultural tradition of interpersonal connections that facilitate a mutual exchange of favors). Relative advantage, technology complexity, organizational readiness and cost are motivators for supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment mediates the effect of cost, technology complexity and relative advantage on BT adoption. Originality/value This research addresses the problem of resource dependency in the context of BT adoption which has been overlooked by previous research. Moreover, this paper enriches the BT literature by identifying supply chain alignment as an important channel for technology–organization–environment factors to influence BT adoption.
Due to the complexity of SSC practices, BT can be adopted as an innovative tool for addressing socioenvironmental issues. However, BT adoption has not been receiving growing attention because of organizational challenges (e.g., financial constraints). This study develops a system-analysis-based approach to investigate the impact of BT adoption on the improvement of SSC performance. This approach is proposed based on the FCM to model CRs between SSC-performance-related targets and enablers of BT adoption. These enablers include inherent features of BT identified in the context of sustainability (e.g., social responsibility and environmental sustainability). After developing an FCM model for the BT adoption problem, the impact of enablers on target concepts is investigated by implementing a hybrid FCM learning algorithm according to the extracted CRs. Based on the outputs of the FCM learning algorithm, this study also identifies the most effective enablers for improving SSC performance using the combined compromise solution method. The proposed system-analysis-based approach demonstrates that BT can significantly affect various dimensions of SSC networks’ performance. The results imply that the appropriate BT adoption supports SSC performance by improving environmental sustainability, creating smart contracts, and increasing traceability.
Giorgia Casella, Barbara Bigliardi, Serena Filippelli, Eleonora Bottani
Blockchain emerged as a leading technology layer for financial applications. Nevertheless, in the past years, the attention of researchers and practitioners moved to the application of the blockchain technologies in other domains. Supply chain is the topic playing more attention to the blockchain. In line with this consideration, this paper focuses on case studies of blockchain implementation targeting the supply chain context. Through a systematic literature review, we derived a list of 107 papers retrieved from the Scopus database and published in the main academic reference journals. Using these studies, this paper tracks and analyses the evolution of the research field based on publication year and journals, most prominent countries and authors and keywords’ analysis. The results provide a clear picture of the existing literature to identify the research gap of the current scientific research and to propose a future research agenda.
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.
The blockchain as a distributed ledger with flourishing blocks are secured and linked with cryptographic hashes. The blockchain is a type of distributed database that is used in many vital business transactions of replication, sharing, tracking, synchronization data among various sites. Recently, the global technological and industrial revolution is accelerating, the bitcoin extends the industrial revolution to become a lot of interest from both the business world and academic circles. This paper aims to take the advantages of blockchain concepts to be applied in Enterprise Banking Systems (EBS). The EBS depend on smart contract and blockchain technologies for trust only the installation of a blockchain platform with a solid design and a proven user base. Unfortunately, only a few blockchain platforms (BP) have achieved stable design and confident implementation. The selection of appropriate BP is leading step for decision makers that pretended to be a real challenge. Therefore, any digital transformation project that makes use of blockchain must contend with the difficulty of selecting a BP that is suited to the requirements of EBS. In this study, a hybrid approach of a neutrosophic theory for uncertainty conditions in a multi-criteria decision-making problem with the use wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and Weighted Sum Method (WSM) to select the appropriate and efficient BP. A case study is applied on EBS, as an uncertain environment, to show the efficiency for the proposed model in aiding decision makers to achieve to ideal BP according to challenges to achieve sustainability.
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.
Modern blockchains guarantee that submitted transactions will be included eventually; a property formally known as liveness. But financial activity requires transactions to be included in a timely manner. Unfortunately, classical liveness is not strong enough to guarantee this, particularly in the presence of a motivated adversary who benefits from censoring transactions. We define censorship resistance as the amount it would cost the adversary to censor a transaction for a fixed interval of time as a function of the associated tip. This definition has two advantages, first it captures the fact that transactions with a higher miner tip can be more costly to censor, and therefore are more likely to swiftly make their way onto the chain. Second, it applies to a finite time window, so it can be used to assess whether a blockchain is capable of hosting financial activity that relies on timely inclusion. We apply this definition in the context of auctions. Auctions are a building block for many financial applications, and censoring competing bids offers an easy-to-model motivation for our adversary. Traditional proof-of-stake blockchains have poor enough censorship resistance that it is difficult to retain the integrity of an auction when bids can only be submitted in a single block. As the number of bidders $n$ in a single block auction increases, the probability that the winner is not the adversary, and the economic efficiency of the auction, both decrease faster than $1/n$. Running the auction over multiple blocks, each with a different proposer, alleviates the problem only if the number of blocks grows faster than the number of bidders. We argue that blockchains with more than one concurrent proposer have can have strong censorship resistance. We achieve this by setting up a prisoner's dilemma among the proposers using conditional tips.
Establishing a well-functioning Supply Chain Management (SCM) system is paramount during challenging times such as pandemics, natural disasters, and international conflicts. The complexity of global supply chains necessitates efficient systems, procedures, and personnel to ensure optimal results. Poor coordination among entities can lead to increased counterfeit products, increased ocean transportation costs, more expensive freight brokerage, bottlenecks in cargo flow, congestion, and complications in product accountability. To ensure a smooth and hassle-free operation, it’s essential to maintain unambiguity and accuracy throughout every process. Therefore, it is vital to have effective systems, procedures, and personnel in place for SCM. The challenges encountered in SCM can be effectively tackled by utilizing blockchain technology. The architecture of blockchain technology is characterized by its distributed, decentralized and robust safety measures, which guarantee the integrity of data storage and its distribution across a meticulously organized ledger. Users can confidently rely on this innovative design’s transparency, reliability, and safety. Implementing blockchain technology carries immense potential in bolstering safety and privacy measures in diverse sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, Goods and Services Tax (GST), academics, e-voting and automobile. This investigation delves into the practical applications of blockchain technology for SCM. It thoroughly analyses existing research and literature to uncover the latest advancements and potential future breakthroughs in this area.
Supply chain management processes and systems in different industries include multiple variables. This study examines the adoption of blockchain technology in supply chain in Malaysia. Data were collected through questionnaire designed as open ended question through 300 respondents while only 256 is used according to completed surveys, statistical analysis of the data obtained in this study was carried out by one sample t-test using the statistical software package (SPSS). we find that, perceived ease, Inter-Organizational Trust, Perceived Usefulness, Data transparency and confidentiality have significant impact on adoption Blockchain in supply chain, while Blockchain technology simplifies inventory financing. The paper use open ended questions so in future can use different kind of scale and different variables which can affect the adoption decisions.