Blockchain Papers

Bengang Gong, Huaimiao Zhang, Yiling Gao, Zhi Liu

No abstract is available for this record.

Abderahman Rejeb, Andrea Appolloni, Karim Rejeb, Horst Treiblmaier · 6 authors

The circular economy (CE) has emerged as a paradigm to protect the environment and the well-being of future generations. In parallel, Blockchain technology (BC) has emerged as a critical enabler for accelerating the transition toward a CE. In order to understand and summarize prior research on the role of BC in the CE, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of 70 seminal articles published before July 2022. Six main themes emerged: a) CE approaches and practices, b) BC and the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT), c) sustainable supply chain management, d) BC and the CE in the COVID-19 era, e) sector-specific BC applications, and f) barriers to BC adoption in the CE. Furthermore, we develop a comprehensive framework that integrates stakeholders, strategies and practices, industrial sectors and a BC-enabled CE.

Büşra Ayan, Elif Güner, Semen Son-Turan

Background: This study presents a comprehensive review of blockchain technology with a sustainability orientation in supply chains and logistics. Methods: The publications are extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, comprising 552 publications between 2017 and 2022. Several bibliometric laws and techniques, namely three-field analysis, Bradford’s Law, Lotka’s Law, and thematic maps, are applied in R with the bibliometrix package. Content analysis is also carried out based on 185 publications to appreciate the industry-based view of the field. Results: The bibliometric results indicate that this field is on the rise. Authors, sources, affiliations, countries, keywords, and their relationships are also addressed. The findings of the content analysis and thematic maps reveal that some of the most highlighted themes in the literature include traceability, COVID-19, the internet of things, and Industry 4.0. The most popular industry in this field is discovered to be food and agriculture. Conclusions: This paper contributes to the still relatively scarce literature on how blockchain technology fosters sustainable supply chains and logistics, providing a closer look at blockchain use, methodologies, and future directions for different industries concerning food, agriculture, fashion, textile and apparel, manufacturing, automotive, maritime and shipping, healthcare and pharmaceutical, mining and mineral, and energy.

Shenghao Xie, Yu Gong, Martin Kunc, Zongguo Wen · 5 authors

More practitioners are embracing blockchain technology to improve recycling performance. However, current research on the use of blockchain is mostly confined to general discussions on sustainable supply chains and circular economy, with limited studies specifically focusing on the recycling chain. This paper conducts a thorough content-based review of the literature related to the application of blockchain technology in the recycling chain with the objective to identify a conceptual framework. Although descriptive and thematic analyses show limited developments, blockchain technology can offer four distinct functions in the recycling chain: transparency, integration, behaviour channelisation, and service transformation. The adoption of blockchain in this area has technical, organisational, and environmental limitations that have not been overcome yet. In terms of benefits, blockchain technology improves recycling performance in terms of cost, dependability, flexibility, sustainability, and risk reduction. To summarise the findings, the paper proposes a novel conceptual framework for blockchain implementations in the recycling chain to support practitioners and guide scholars in further blockchain technology exploration.

Pardis Roozkhosh, Alireza Pooya, Renu Agarwal

No abstract is available for this record.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, Ruchi Mishra, Shivam Gupta, Archana A. Mukherjee

No abstract is available for this record.

Muhammad Nazam, Muhammad Hashim, Florian Marcel Nuţă, Liming Yao · 8 authors

The adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) in a supply chain holds great potential for textile industries by executing transactions among stakeholders in a most reliable and verifiable way. Textile industries in emerging economies, like Pakistan, confront severe economic pressures and uncertain environment and strive to achieve sustainable supply chain excellence through blockchain implementation. This study is an initiative to analyze the key barriers in adopting BCT-related practices within the textile industry. This study conducts an extensive review of the literature using fuzzy Delphi approach for finalizing the barriers and applied fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for prioritizing the barriers under uncertain environment. Based on the extensive review of the literature and panel discussions with experts, a total of five main barriers and 21 sub-barriers were categorized and ranked. The results and findings prioritize technological and system-related barriers (TSB) first, and human resources and R&D (HRB) barriers second among the other barrier dimensions. This paper highlights the need for an inclusive understanding of the various technological, environmental, and socio-economic perspectives to create blockchain applications that work for the textile sector. This study’s key findings and policy guidelines can assist concerned stakeholders in making strategic decisions for adopting BCT within the textile supply chain. The managerial implications are provided for the industrial decision-makers and policymakers aiming to integrate BCT into the supply chain processes. Presently, there exists no research in the context of Pakistan that highlights the challenges faced during the adoption of BCT in the supply chain. For this purpose, an approach in the form of an integrated model based on fuzzy set theory is developed. Finally, the robustness of the proposed model is checked through sensitivity analysis.

Aswini Yadlapalli, Shams Rahman, Pinapala Gopal

Purpose The aim of the research is to identify and prioritise the implementation challenges of blockchain technology and suggests ways for its implementation in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach Underlined by the technology, organisational, and external environment model, a conceptual framework with four challenge categories and sixteen challenges is proposed. Data collected from three stakeholder groups with experience in the implementation of blockchain technology in India is analysed by employing an analytical hierarchy process method-based case study. Further, a criticality–effort matrix analysis is performed to group challenges and suggest ways for implementation. Findings The analysis revels that all stakeholders perceive complexity challenge associated with the technology, organisational structure, and external environment, and issues of compatibility with existing systems, software, and business practices to be high on the criticality and effort scales, which thus require meticulous planning to manage. Likewise, top-management support issues related to insufficient understanding of how technology fits with the organisation’s policy and benefits offered by the technology requires high effort to address this challenge. Research limitations/implications The results were obtained by focusing on the Indian context and therefore may not apply to other nations’ contexts. Practical implications By investigating the challenges that the developers, consultants, and client organisations need to address, this study assists managers in developing plans to facilitate coordination among these organisations for successful blockchain implementation. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge this study is the first to identify and prioritise the challenges from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups with experience in blockchain technology implementation.

Yongjian Li, Ting Chen

Purpose The advantages of blockchain technology are being widely discussed by academics, the business community and government, because blockchain can promote data sharing, optimise business processes, reduce operation costs, improve collaborative efficiency and build credible systems. The supply chain is becoming a key area for the application of blockchain technology. However, few studies have discussed the effect of such emerging technologies on the supply chain in depth. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse how blockchain empowers supply chain and promotes supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach Based on a review of relevant literature and blockchain applications in practice, this paper analyses the development and research status of blockchain technologies. In addition, considering the different operational processes within the supply chain, the authors discuss the opportunities and challenges of blockchain technologies, such as the transparency of supply, intelligent manufacturing, the security of logistics, the platformisation of sales and the ecology of governance. Findings The authors find that information sharing, information traceability and trust establishment are the key categories of research achievements and applications of supply chain management. The central issues for blockchain researchers are the authenticity of transaction data, the traceability of long supply chains and the establishment of trust for all participants. Originality/value From the practical and theoretical perspectives, this paper shows the development of blockchain technologies to clarify the challenges, opportunities and prospects. This paper elucidates and facilitates the development of emerging interdisciplinary research and the practice of supply chain.

Francesca Dal Mas, Maurizio Massaro, Valentina Ndou, Elisabetta Raguseo

No abstract is available for this record.

Makungu Meriot Chavalala, Surajit Bag, J.H.C. Pretorius, Muhammad Sabbir Rahman

Purpose The cold supply chain industry is still emerging and digital transformation is in the nascent stage in this industry. This paper argues that there are various barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain and aims to develop and validate a model for overcoming key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain. Design/methodology/approach The adoption of blockchain technology was proposed through interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and further it is validated using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings In this study, ten key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain were identified, modelled and analysed. Poor leadership style of top management was found to be the most important barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain. The results of SEM indicate that all the paths are supported. The findings showcase the barriers responsible for the lack of blockchain technology infrastructure that ultimately impacts the cold supply chains. Practical implications This study highlights the fact that the fate of blockchain technology infrastructure development depends on the leadership style of top management. Demonstrating good leadership style by top management can help overcome the barriers. A good leader pulls the entire team instead of pushing the team. A good leader can guide the entire team to improve IT governance, financial investment, digital footprint, digital readiness, skills and collaboration with service providers to implement blockchain technology. Not only that, a good leader provides mental strength to the team and helps overcome the fear of implementing blockchain in the cold supply chain. A good leader demonstrates good administrative skills and focus on security and privacy policies. Originality/value This is a novel contribution towards analysing the key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the South African cold supply chain using the integrated ISM–MICMAC and SEM approach.

Nick Bernards, Malcolm Campbell‐Verduyn, Daivi Rodima‐Taylor

This article interrogates the turn towards digital technologies for addressing sustainability challenges in global supply chains. Focusing on the case of blockchains, we assess industry claims that this set of distributed ledger technologies for undertaking, verifying, and publishing digital transactions provides the greater transparency necessary to resolve sustainability challenges. Our central contention is that blockchain-based initiatives to promote sustainability in global supply chains double-down on modes of third-party audit and disclosure governance that have thus far failed to address labour and environmental abuses. The turn towards these digital technologies, we show, extends interlinked processes of managerialization and the spread of ‘audit culture’ in the governance of global supply chains. These tendencies heighten obstacles to enhancing sustainability across global supply chains, exacerbating the very challenges blockchain initiatives are ostensibly meant to address. Worse than not fundamentally addressing sustainability problems, applications of this set of ‘sustech’ render failures to address sustainability abuses more opaque. The technological novelty of blockchain helps to construct what we call a ‘veil of transparency’ over sustainability abuses and marginalities in and across global supply chains.

Rizwan Manzoor, B.S. Sahay, Sujeet Kumar Singh

No abstract is available for this record.

Azmat Ullah, Qingyun Xu, Yi He, Benjamin Lev

Post-sale customer care (PSCC) outsourcing is an effective supply chain strategy to reduce costs, but traditional outsourcing methods cannot ensure consumers’ belief in PSCC quality, harming the firms’ competitive strategy. To ensure consumer satisfaction through transparency, this article examines evolving supply chain strategies of leveraging blockchain to outsource PSCC operations of competing manufacturers to third-party agents. Based on consumers’ beliefs and blockchain adoption cost, manufacturers have two choices; to outsource the PSCC operations with or without blockchain, resulting in multiple outsourcing strategies. Results show that the consumers’ belief in one manufacturer’s outsourcing strategy has detrimental effects on the stance of another manufacturer. Moreover, the blockchain cost and consumers’ beliefs dictate the manufacturers’ strategies for PSCC outsourcing, resulting in a ‘quadruple zone of strategic fit’, where both manufacturers adopt blockchain or neither adopt blockchain, or one adopts while the other does not. Interestingly, despite the low or zero blockchain cost, both manufacturers will outsource without blockchain if their traditional business models satisfy consumers. The extended analysis reveals contradictory results that manufacturers should outsource more often with blockchain to facilitate consumers when a long-term warranty is offered, or the product has a higher failure rate, even though, overall these factors increase costs.

Adeeb Noor

Blockchain is attracting tremendous attention in the logistics industry on account of its cutting-edge appeal, potential for integration within the sector, and capacity to disrupt established practices. Among other things, blockchain technology promises to open up new horizons in traceability, transparency, accuracy, and safety throughout the supply chain. However, as an emerging technology, blockchain is still relatively nascent, and familiarity with the technology is limited, as are its implementations. In addition, there is a dearth of studies concerning blockchain technology specifically, as it pertains to transport and logistics, as opposed to finance and cryptocurrency. It remains unknown what factors enable blockchain adoption by logistics service providers and how its adoption affects firm performance and capabilities. This research examines extant literature and conducts research on an eminent global transportation company to elucidate the potential influence of blockchain adoption on firm performance. The results of this work support the model that advancing theory-driven and empirical blockchain studies will increase firm capabilities and foster a competitive edge in the emerging digitalized era.

Neha Saxena, Biswajit Sarkar

No abstract is available for this record.

Rajendra S. Chaudhari, S. Mahajan, Santosh B. Rane, Rajeev Agrawal

Climate change poses a real risk, as does a shortage of resources to accommodate the world's rising population. Every nation is trying to produce maximum without caring for the environment. As a result, the circular economy (CE) is critical to the long-term sustainability of society, business and the environment. Government and policymakers are forcing industries and organizations to adopt or establish CE in their businesses to protect the environment. However, the concept of CE is unclear, and there are various hurdles and barriers to adopting a CE in industries and organizations. For a sustainable environment, CE barrier management plays a crucial role. This paper aims to explore and prioritize barriers to establishing a CE. A detailed methodological literature review is carried out to explore the twenty-nine barriers in CE. The various barriers to CE are prioritized using the Multi-criteria decision-making methods Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Based on the TOPSIS barrier of increased emission and pollution while recycling was found to be a top rank and the barrier of tedious environmental regulations and lack of government support was found to be at the lowest rank. The top priorities are the barriers to increasing emission and pollution while recycling, radically changing production, and lack of public participation in using recycled products. The Blockchain-IoT architecture and strategies are developed to mitigate all these barriers. As in CE, resources are not ending as these are recyclables since products are made to last several life cycles. Product's lifespans are extended by maintaining, repairing and re-manufacture to reduce carbon footprints in the environment. This barrier ranking will help supply chain professionals and business executives analyze the failure to implement CE in industries. Strategies and architecture based on blockchain-IoT will also help in mitigating the barrier in CE. This study will give new dimensions for the adaption of CE in industries. CE will create sustainable ecosystems for soil, air and water. These sustainable ecosystems provide a long and healthy life for all living things on this planet.

Anupama Panghal, Shilpa Sindhu, Shweta Dahiya, Bhárat Dahiya · 5 authors

The chances of food contamination and spoilage get enhanced as it passes through various stages, and prudent consumers often need transparency on the origin of food products, their production and processing facilities utilized. Blockchain, an emerging digital technology, offers food traceability solutions to consumers and supply chain partners. But presently, blockchain adoption in Indian supply chains is in the nascent stages. The present study identified the challenges of adopting blockchain technology in Indian food supply chains and modelled them using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM). As per the ISM, the ‘regulatory structure’ and ‘lack of realised need’ emerged as the most significant driving forces that impact other challenges, viz. ‘privacy breach issues’, ‘high costs’, ‘lack of skills’, ‘lack of technology’, ‘lack of trust’ and ‘lack of infrastructure’. These challenges have an impact on the ‘scalability problem’. The paper underlines the significance of enabling regulatory structure, improved information and communication technologies infrastructure, and convincing the supply chain stakeholders to use blockchain technology to resolve the underlying challenges and achieve its adoption and scalability in the Indian food industry.

Yunguang Long, Taiwen Feng, Youqing Fan, Lijun Liu

Abstract As a cutting‐edge technology with characteristics of transparency, traceability, decentralization, and immutability, blockchain technology (BCT) has been thought as an effective method of enhancing green supply chain integration (GSCI). However, the mechanism of how BCT affects GSCI is still blurred. Based on transaction cost theory and resource dependence theory, this research explores the mediating effect of supply chain trust in the relationship between BCT adoption and GSCI and the moderating role of organizational culture. We examine hypotheses using two waves of survey data from 317 Chinese manufacturers. The results reveal that BCT has a positive effect on supply chain trust, and supply chain trust partially mediates the impacts of BCT on three dimensions of GSCI. Moreover, a flexible‐oriented culture alleviates the impact of BCT on supply chain trust, whereas a control‐oriented culture strengthens the relationship. This research unfolds the “black box” in the BCT–GSCI relationship by exploring the mediating role of supply chain trust, and it is seldom a study that simultaneously combines information management area (BCT), operation management area (GSCI), and organizational behavior area (organizational culture) in a framework.

Junbin Wang, Yangyan Shi, Changping Zhao, V. G. Venkatesh · 5 authors

Motivated by the industrial observation of the increasing application of blockchain in the supply chain and its improvement in terms of consumer demand, this study examines the impact of investment decisions of blockchain data acquisition nodes upstream and downstream of the supply chain on firms’ product recycling and pricing, market demand, and profits. The influences of different pricing leadership (i.e. supplier-led vs. retailer-led) in a supply chain are also thoroughly investigated. First, the presence of a strong retailer dramatically reduces suppliers’ incentive to invest in blockchain. However, the supplier is still likely to invest more in a retailer-led supply chain than that in a supply chain led by itself under certain conditions; that is, the cost of blockchain is relatively small, or consumers’ sensitivity to blockchain or product recycling benefits is rather large. Second, the total number of blockchain data acquisition nodes, market demand, and supply chain profit in a retailer-led supply chain are higher than in a supplier-led supply chain. Finally, interestingly, the supplier will be better off in a retailer-led supply chain when the return effect of product recycling is relatively high, while the cost-effectiveness of blockchain investment is relatively low.

Rafael Bettín-Díaz, Alix E. Rojas, Camilo Mejía-Moncayo

Abstract This exploratory study explains how to implement Blockchain technology for a supply chain by a proof of concept on Hyperledger Fabric, an open distributed ledger platform. This approach allowed to identify the feasibility and some implementation challenges, yield feedback, and exemplify one manner of tracing product origin using a distributed ledger technology. For this purpose, the case study of origin coffee is analyzed, given the relevance of traceability in this type of coffee and the cultural and economic importance of this agricultural product in the Colombian context. In addition, the data stored in the Blockchain and some technological architecture aspects are discussed.

Mohammad Shamsuddoha, Mohammad Abul Kashem

Blockchain, in general, diversifies supply chain management in record-keeping and maintains authenticity. In addition, traditional issues and challenges like overflow and information overload press down mysteriously whenever the blockchain steering wheel of the supply chain turns. Factually, the miracle and twists in supply chain resilience have not been incorporated under systematic review homogeneously. As a result, this study reviews the potential impact of blockchain on logistics and supply chain (LSC) efficiency. The methodology of this study provides a subjective assessment of the utility of blockchain-based LSC performance.On the other hand, the review reveals new insights on its current acceptance and applications, with a particular emphasis on the Limit Redundancy Mechanism and Core Information-based Direct Comparison. Prospectively, the identified facts under the research paradigm and extensive literature survey will subsidize the practices of blockchain technology and possible areas of extension in supply chain resilience in luminous fashion in the future. After all, this study materializes new solid magnitudes, adaptability, and a realistic overview of blockchain-based LSC movements.

Okechukwu Okorie, Jennifer D. Russell, Yifan Jin, Christopher Turner · 6 authors

The increasing demand for a sustainable, reliable and secure supply chain for food products has led to the application of digital technologies such as blockchain to improve operational effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integration barriers of Blockchain Technology (BCT) within Circular Food Supply Chains (CFSCs) towards firm’s operational effectiveness through a multi-methodological process. Initially the integration barriers are identified through a review of literature and these risks are categorised, using evidence obtained by survey questionnaire completed by experts in the integrated research arena. A further quantified prioritisation of these barriers is made by utilizing a Fuzzy Delphi approach, validated by expert practitioners drawn from the food production and supply organizations. Finally, through semi-structured interviews with Blockchain and Food Supply Chain (FSC) experts, an examination of how the integration barriers affect operational effectiveness may be mitigated is provided. This paper concludes that the identified barriers to blockchain integration have an incremental and real impact on the operational effectiveness of the firm that can only be further clarified through industry-wide standardised processes. Finally, the experts consider blockchain technology an infrastructural addition and enabler of operational effectiveness and not an all-problem solution.

Mustapha Oudani, Anass Sebbar, Karim Zkik, Imad El Harraki · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.