The development of blockchain-driven supply chain finance aimed to solve the financing problems of SMEs. However, credit risk is expanded, and even transmitted to the whole supply chain, due to their connection, so that it becomes more difficult to effectively identify the credit risk of SMEs. The purpose of this paper was to examine the factors affecting SMEsâ credit risk in the mode of block-chain-driven supply chain finance. This research proposed an entropy weight method to construct independent variables and used logistic regression to examine whether the financing enterprises, core enterprises, assets position under financing, blockchain platform, and supply chain operation have significant impacts on credit risk. The panel data, originating from CSMAR on fifty-six quoted SMEs, included eight core enterprises and twenty-six blockchain enterprises, between 2016 and 2020. The results showed that the financing enterprises, core enterprises, asset position under fi-nance, blockchain platform, and supply chain operation have significant impacts on SMEsâ credit risk when the confidence level is 90%. The financial status of financing enterprises can reflect the credit status of SMEs. Core enterprises give credit guarantees to SMEs, and the business transactions between SMEs and core enterprises affect the credit risk through the asset position under financing. Meanwhile, blockchain platforms can solve the problem of the information asymmetry of the par-ticipating enterprises in supply chain operations. At the same time, the supply chain operation is also an important factor affecting the credit risk. This conclusion provides a reference for the ap-plication of blockchains in supply chains, to reduce the credit risk. At the same time, the selected indicators were more comprehensive, which provided a strong basis for the subsequent construc-tion of a credit risk assessment model using key factors.
Abstract Previous studies indicate that green supplier integration can promote supplier knowledge sharing as a core resource and capability to strengthen supply chain resilience and achieve green performance for sustainable development. However, due to the lack of an effective approach and technology to improve green supplier integration, it is difficult for suppliers to promote or even maintain sharing. Few studies note that green supplier integration through lean practices may efficiently promote supplier knowledge sharing, and blockchain combinations may produce efficiencies in maintaining supplier knowledge sharing intention. However, there are still disputes and a lack of deep verification. Thus, this study aims to explore the following questions. First, when green supplier integration is improved through lean practices, can it promote supplier knowledge sharing and further strengthen supply chain resilience and green performance? Second, to what extent do blockchain combinations moderate the relationship between supplier knowledge sharing and supply chain resilience and why? Based on the natural resourceâbased view and knowledgeâbased view, this study builds a theoretical framework and verifies it using PLSâSEM based on 214 Chinese manufacturers. The results of our analysis show that suppliers' knowledge sharing with manufacturers can certainly be promoted when lean practices are adopted to improve green supplier integration. In addition, blockchain combinations can certainly maintain supplier knowledge sharing intention and ensure that supply chain resilience related to prevention is continuously strengthened. In sum, our findings make useful contributions to the literature on the efficiencies of lean practices and blockchain combinations in the context of green supplier integration.
Building a flexible supply chain can enable the firms to manage their supply chains to adapt effectively to dynamic market demand changes and thus guarantee their accelerated growth in the future. In this vein, this study aims to address several important issues in supply chain management by considering two characteristics of blockchain technology (i.e., information transparency and security of blockchain technology) and exploring the specific conditions under which firms are likely to develop trust in supply chain management. Furthermore, we argue that such supply chain trust is vital to the success of achieving and increasing supply chain flexibility. In addition, we propose that top management teams' digital leadership within the firms plays a vital role in moderating the contribution of each dimension of blockchain technology to supply chain trust. Using data from a large sample of 338 firms in China, we perform structural equation modeling to examine our conceptual framework empirically. Our results highlight and support the idea that blockchain technology's information transparency and security influence the trust-building in a supply chain and supply chain flexibility and articulate the particular importance of digital leadership in explaining the contribution of different blockchain technology characteristics to trust-building. Our study advances the theoretical, empirical, and managerial analysis of critical factors to build trust and achieve flexibility in supply chains.
Objective: This paper aimed to discuss how blockchain technology would incorporate several changes in the fishery supply chains, in order to make them more reliable and sustainable. Method: This is a qualitative study, using an exploratory method with descriptive approach. In addition, the literature review in this study presents theoretical contributions regarding utility. Main Results: The study highlights the importance of incorporating blockchain features into seafood supply chains, which are currently fragmented and lack of real-time information, focusing on its traceability potential to leveraging fishery supply chains operations and outcomes. It identifies a sequence of strategic checkpoints that provide real-time information by using blockchain in fishery supply chains. Relevance / Originality: This manuscript presents a diagram of a seafood supply chain considering how blockchain allows the data gathering in each stage in order to provide traceability to the supply chain. Hence, the study serves as a map, as well as a model, for upcoming research on how to understand the incorporation of technology into supply chains stages. Theoretical / Methodological Contributions: Supply chains support international business operations. Furthermore, as digital revolution moves aggressively forward, supply chains need to adapt to it in order to fit for the new stakeholdersâ expectations. This study uses sustainable supply chain management and blockchain technology as positioning literature. Management Contributions: The study provides an overview of how fishery supply chains would work by incorporating blockchain technology, which extends the literature about sustainable supply chain management and proposes paths for actions for policymakers in order to make them improve the business ecosystem. This study implies a practical contribution to global value chain perspective and the discipline of business.
Purpose The coordination among the various entities such as the military, government agencies, civilians, non-governmental agencies, and other commercial enterprises is one of the most challenging aspects of managing the humanitarian supply chain. Blockchain technology (BCT) can facilitate coordination, but the cost and other hindrances have limited their application in disaster relief operations. Despite some studies, the existing literature does not provide a nuanced understanding of the application of blockchain technology to improve information alignment and coordination. Motivated by some recent examples where blockchain technology has been used to trace and mobilize resources in the form of funds and materials from the origin to the destination, the authors develop a theoretical model grounded in the contingent resource-based view. Design/methodology/approach To empirically validate the model and test the research hypotheses, the authors gathered cross-sectional data using a structured pre-tested questionnaire. In this study, the authors gathered our responses from international non-governmental organizations from twenty-four countries. The authors performed the statistical analyses using variance-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of commercial software (WarpPLS 7.0). Findings The findings of the study offer some useful implications for theory and practice. The results obtained through statistical analyses suggest that the BCT significantly affects information alignment and coordination. However, contrary to popular beliefs the study suggests that intergroup leadership has no significant moderating effect on the paths joining BCT and information alignment/coordination. Moreover, the authors found that the control variable (interdependence) significantly affects the information alignment and coordination further, which opens the room for further investigation. Practical implications The result of the study offers some useful guidance. Firstly, it suggests that humanitarian organizations should invest in BCT to improve information alignment and coordination which is one of the most complex tasks in front of humanitarian organizations. Secondly, intergroup leadership may not have desired influence on the effects of BCT on information alignment/coordination. However, the interdependence of the humanitarian organizations on each other may have a significant influence on the information alignment/coordination. Originality/value The study offers some useful implications for theory. For instance, how BCT influences information alignment and coordination was not well understood in the context of humanitarian settings. Hence, this study offers a nuanced understanding of technology-enabled coordination in humanitarian settings.
With the increasing popularity of new energy vehicles (NEVs), a large number of automotive batteries are intensively reaching their end-of-life, which brings enormous challenges to environmental protection and sustainable development. This paper establishes a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) model composed of a power battery manufacturer and a NEV retailer. The benchmark scenario of CLSC members without blockchain technology is analyzed, and the optimal recycling strategy of the manufacturer and retailer using traceability information based on blockchain technology is discussed. We generate our findings from three aspects, as follows: the manufacturer or retailer is more willing to take the responsibility of recycling when the proportion of retired batteries that can be used in echelons is relatively high. Meanwhile, when the recycling cost is large, both manufacturers and retailers should adopt blockchain technology to obtain greater profits. Furthermore, with the improvement of traceability information transmission efficiency, a higher profit growth rate will be achieved.
Purpose Drawing on the signaling theory and the relational exchange theory, this study investigates how buyerâsupplier trust is influenced through the congruence and incongruence between blockchain and norm of solidarity. The moderating role of technology uncertainty is further examined. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey data of 110 Chinese firms, this study empirically tests not only the combined effect of blockchain and norm of solidarity on trust, but also how this combined effect is moderated by technology uncertainty. The proposed hypotheses are tested using the polynomial regression analysis and the response surface methodology. Findings The results suggest that trust increases along with an increasing congruence between blockchain and norm or solidarity, but in a diminishing rate (i.e. an inverted U-shaped relationship). Simultaneously, incongruence between blockchain and norm of solidarity can also guarantee sufficient trust (i.e. a U-shaped relationship). Moreover, technology uncertainty overturns the inverted U-shaped relationship between blockchain and norm of solidarity congruence on trust into a U-shaped relationship and nullifies the U-shaped relationship between blockchain and norm of solidarity incongruence on trust. Originality/value This study enriches supply chain governance literature by introducing the emerging blockchain governance and examining the blockchain governance's interplay with a conventional relational norm. The study emphasizes that the combined effects of these two are quite complex. Blockchain and norm of solidarity can offset each otherâs limitations when both are at low to moderate levels. But simultaneous pursuit of both high blockchain and norm has only limited marginal benefits. Furthermore, the study also highlights the importance of technology uncertainty under which the combined effects between the two governance mechanisms vary. Collectively, the results provide nuanced insights into the design of supply chain governance portfolios in the digital era.
In the face of increasingly complex market environment, supply chain members pay attention to the possibility of obtaining expected profits and various risks while considering profit maximization. The behaviors of decision makers are often influenced by their psychological preferences, and loss aversion is one of the basic characteristics of human economic behavior. We research the supply chain coordination problem with capital constraint and loss-averse retailer in the case of stochastic production and demand. In order to address the loss aversion, a novel utility function is structured according to the theory of mental account. Under wholesale price contract, the optimal expected utility of supply chain under decentralized decision is smaller than that under centralized decision due to the retailerâs constrained capital. Based on that, a model is constructed by making revenue sharing contract act as the dual role of supply chain coordination and delayed payment strategy without seeking external financing or internal financing, and the contract conditions and optimal decisions of the coordinated supply chain are solved. Theoretical analysis indicates that when the contract parameters are properly selected, even though the retailerâs capital is constrained, the revenue sharing contract can not only coordinate the supply chain but also realize the arbitrary distribution of supply chain profits within a certain range. Finally, the change of decision variables and expected utility or profit with contract parameters is analyzed by several numerical examples.
Ashkan Pakseresht, Sina Ahmadi Kaliji, Vilma Xhakollari
Food loss and waste are two of the many problems that modern society is facing. To date, among many solutions, the circular economy is the one prevailing. A successful transition toward a circular economy (CE) requires the food sector to overcome the challenges of todayâs complex food supply chains such as information asymmetry, poor cooperation among stakeholders, and concerns about food safety. Blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, has been progressively gaining traction in supply chains in areas like data management, certifying product provenance and tracking products. Despite its importance, knowledge around the potential of the blockchain technology in facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the agri-food sector is fragmented. This review provides evidence-based insights into the blockchain implementations in the food supply chains and the implications for CE. Our findings indicated four major areas that blockchain could accelerate CE in the agri-food sector: improving data utility; supply chain management efficacy; enhanced eco-efficiency; and superior traceability.
With the continuous convenience of life, logistics has become an indispensable existence in life. Logistics application, such as the southern banana transportation to the country, major cities can buy all the year round; Xinjiang ha honey melon, Ningxia white orchid melon, northeast rice, Tianjin small station rice are not seasonal supply market. However, with the increasing frequency of logistics activities, its damage to natural resources and ecological environment is becoming more and more serious. The waste produced in logistics is increasing day by day, which puts great pressure on the environment. Such as steel slag, industrial waste water, waste computers, waste batteries and other kinds of inorganic waste. Goods return is the most important activity in the green reverse logistics. Because reverse logistics is a kind of logistics activity including product return, logistics replacement, item reuse, waste disposal, reprocessing, repair and remanufacturing and other processes. Returns are the key part of it. In order to ensure the goods, return to the manufacturer and get good disposal, it is necessary to record the whole process information of the goods from the factory to the customer. Blockchain is a chain composed of one block after another. Each block holds certain information in each block, which are connected into chains in their respective chronological order. Based on this, this paper proposes a sustainable development strategy of green reverse logistics based on blockchain. In the strategy research, based on the characteristics of decentralization, non-tampering and high information security of blockchain technology(BT), this paper proposes a commodity traceability scheme based on blockchain. In this traceability scheme, this paper uses the structure of Merkel tree to design a license chain to store detailed commodity traceability information, and stores the Merkel tree root node of the license chain block in the public chain, forming a âdouble chainâ structure of commodity traceability system. The simulation analysis shows that the traceability information stored in the license chain can use the high security of the public chain to ensure the security of information. Compared with the traditional blockchain, the double chain structure designed in the article, has a larger throughput, which can trace the source of the product to the manufacturer, ensure that the goods can be returned to the manufacturer for further processing, reduce the generation of waste in the logistics, and provide a guarantee for promoting the sustainable development of green reverse logistics.
Abstract COVIDâ19, which is a global problem, affects the all supply chains throughout the world. One of the supply chains most affected by COVIDâ19 is food supply chains. Since the sustainable food supply chain processes are complex and vulnerable in terms of product variety, it has been negatively affected by the operational effects of COVIDâ19. While the problems experienced in the supply chain processes and raw material constraints caused stops in production, the importance of new business models and production approaches came to the fore. One of the issues of increasing importance is the adoption of reverse logistics activities in sustainable food supply chains and increasing the resilience of food supply chains by integrating blockchain technology into processes. However, adapting blockchain technology to increase the resilience of reverse logistics activities in the food supply chain has advantages as well as risks that need to be considered. Therefore, it is aimed to determine these risks by using fuzzy synthetic evaluation method for eliminating the risks of blockchain adaptation for flexible reverse logistics in food supply chains to increase resiliency. The novelty of this study is that besides discussing about the benefits of BCâT, it is to identify the risks it can create, to eliminate these risks and to guide the establishment of resilience in reverse logistics activities of SFSCs. According to results, the risks with the highest value among the subrisks are determined as data security risks. Data management risks are calculated as the risk with the highest value.
Despite its many potential economic and organisational benefits, enterprise blockchain (distributed ledger) technology has still not been widely adopted. From the viewpoint of the participants, the deployment of a blockchain that links collaborating enterprises requires value creation that will exceed investment, including investment in operational and strategic change. The theory behind and practice of cross-enterprise open innovation can inform blockchain adoption. Blockchain implementation requires and creates interdependencies across collaborators, both among enterprise consortium partners and with stakeholders in the broader ecosystem. Distinguished from armâs-length forms of collaboration, interdependencies occur when organisations intentionally collaborate to become reliant upon one another. In this paper, we develop a framework of blockchain interdependencies and explore key factors that promote or inhibit interdependence. We propose a blockchain collaboration continuum with three levels: cooperation, interdependence, and mutualism. We then explore factors that influence the level of interdependence: two types of consortium-level interdependenciesâsocio-technical and economic, and two types of ecosystem-level interdependenciesâstandards and legal/regulatory. We illustrate these interdependencies and their payoffs through the example of supply chains in maritime trade. This work can be used as a starting point for diagnosing critical factors influencing adoption and for illuminating points of leverage that may sway hesitant organisations to participate in blockchain consortia.
Aaliya Sarfaraz, Ripon K. Chakrabortty, Daryl Essam
The profitability of a supply chain (SC) is proportional to the stability of all its stakeholders as well as their consistent information sharing with an effective and efficient communication mechanism. Various inefficiencies, such as the bullwhip effect (BWE) and product unavailability, may be caused by a lack of coordination in an SC. The importance of sharing consumer demand has been quantified by comprehensive studies under the assumption that all SC participants will access the same information. However, only a few studies have studied the effect of minimal coordination or limited visibility of information while considering their effect on the overall efficiency of an SC. This work primarily leverages blockchain technology (BCT) to create a simulation model. To do this, an SC BWE-based model is initially developed. Following that, a blockchain-based robust information sharing system is simulated. Furthermore, information sharing is challenging, and SC stakeholders may not really trust each other and hence be reluctant to share sensitive information. Considering that, this paper propose an improved proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus algorithm that will increase trust in a decentralized SC model. Multiple experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, and the simulation results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of information sharing in a supply chain via blockchain, as well as that trust between partners tends to increase overall SC efficiency and reduce BWE.
Purpose This study proposes a systematic and comprehensive circular economy (CE) performance measure as an instrument to operationalize and quantify circularity. It seeks to evaluate the relative contribution of blockchain technology to evaluate various measures in this study. A general research agenda for investigating blockchain capabilities to performance assessment in CE is presented. Design/methodology/approach Empirical survey data from 32 CE and blockchain experts are collected to inform this study. Inductive reasoning, heatmaps, and a middle-range theory building approach are utilized to generalize theoretical patterns for blockchain support of CE performance assessment and measurement. A series of propositions are then developed as a middle-range theory for the true, false, perceptible, and hidden affordances of blockchain technology capabilities for CE performance measurement. Findings Overall, sixteen performance measures and metrics are identified and examined. The authors find most of these measures and metrics â based on literature and expert opinion â can be supported using blockchain technology capabilities. Four major blockchain capabilities, transparency and traceability, reliability and security, smart contracts, and incentivization and tokenization are shown to have varying potential support for CE performance assessment. There needs to be an evaluation of true, false, perceptible, and hidden affordances of blockchain technology capabilities for CE performance measurement in future studies. Originality/value Blockchain application for CE, and specifically performance measurements, is a new area. Research and practice evaluation on this issue is important but needs substantially additional investigation to help CE progress. This study provides a framework for evaluation and a foundation for future research at the nexus of CE, blockchain technology, and performance measurement.
Sep 4, 2022¡AJIS. Australasian journal of information systems/AJIS. Australian journal of information systems/Australian journal of information systems
Supply chains face many challenges around coordination, information asymmetry, quality assurance, complex disruptions, and traceability. Blockchain is arguably a technology that can address these challenges and make a significant impact. To shed light on the impact of blockchain, we undertake a cross-discipline systematic literature review on blockchain and supply chains. This review focused on identifying blockchainâs current and proposed impacts on the supply chain at three levels: organisational, inter-organisational, and industry. The findings identified twelve core supply chain themes across pre-implementation, post-implementation, and emerging tensions associated with adopting blockchain. These findings extend knowledge by going beyond understanding blockchain and its application and articulating multi-levels of impacts. Based on our review, we propose future research directions. By providing an overview of the current impact of blockchain, the review also offers insights to help managers to make informed decisions around the implementation and use of blockchain in supply chains.
Abstract To stimulate the development and application of blockchain technology, Chinese government put forward subsidy strategy. To explore the subsidy policies under the new background, we chose a fresh supply chain with one producer, one blockchain-based traceability service provider, and one retailer as the research object, and government subsidy strategies were divided into a fixed strategy and a varying strategy. Afterward, considering the trust level of blockchain-based traceability information and consumersâ preference to the blockchain-based traceability information, we revised the demand function, and three subsidy models were proposed and analyzed. Findings: (1) the varying subsidy will help the retailer, the producer, and the traceability service provider set lower prices. (2) Meanwhile, the varying subsidies offered to the blockchain-based traceability service provider and the producer will help the whole supply chain members obtain more revenues.
This paper aims to offer an overview of the features in the existing state of research on blockchains in the circular economy. A total of 79 articles published up to 31 May 2022 have been extracted from Scopus and Web of Science. The research design has enabled us to identify what characterises the present state of research on the use of blockchains in the circular economy. It has also allowed us to obtain a new categorisation scheme of the research that has identified five themes and the contributions in each theme and has allowed us to highlight several research gaps. The review findings indicate that the literature revolved around five research themes, namely, the relationship between blockchains and Industry 4.0, the potential of blockchains for circular economy practices, the role of blockchains in energy management, the role of blockchains in waste management and the impact of blockchains on sustainability. This review suggests several future research opportunities and provides practical implications for researchers and practitioners. To the authors' best knowledge, this study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the interplay between blockchain technology and the circular economy.
Blockchain is considered a breakthrough technology in the construction industry, with the potential to improve the trust environment and workflow of construction stakeholders. Although recent research offers hints regarding possible contributing elements to blockchain adoption in the construction industry, no specific study has addressed this topic. This knowledge gap hinders the adoption and promotion of blockchain in construction organizations. This study aimed to identify the determinants of blockchain adoption in the construction industry and verify the influence of the combination of various factors on adoption intention. Based on the technologyâorganizationâenvironment framework, a conceptual model of blockchain adoption in the construction industry was constructed. Data were collected through the distribution of questionnaires, and 244 professionals in the construction field participated in this study. To evaluate the model hypotheses, we used a two-stage partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) combination. The PLS-SEM revealed that factors such as compatibility, top management support, relative advantage, regulatory support, cost, competitive pressure, organizational readiness, and firm size significantly influence blockchain adoption. The fsQCA indicated that six causal conditions achieve high adoption intention. This is one of the first empirical studies on blockchain adoption in the construction industry, which can aid organizations, policymakers, and project participants in making informed decisions regarding the adoption of blockchain.
The South African Local Government uses the tendering system to deliver some of the basic services to the surrounding communities to promote social and industrial or environmental policies. However, this process still relies heavily on a manual process, which requires skilled personnel to deal with the forms and administrations of the entire tendering process. Some of the project information shared by the supplier during the tender bidding process plays a critical role when it comes to awarding a tender project to a particular supplier since it reflects the competency area and project history. Some of the tools used to share this project information are reports, meetings, presentations, and site visits. Therefore, this study proposes a distributed model that might be used to share tendering project information securely and efficiently with all the parties that have an interest in the tendering project. The proposed model seeks to promote the need for sharing project information while eliminating issues that are related to a single point of failure or having an organisation that has central powers over project information. Additionally, the proposed model can also be used to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors by becoming an essential tool that might be used to securely share project information without colluding. The proposed model also incorporates the benefits and promises that come with the adoption of distributed ledger technology (blockchain) as a technology solution.
Due to the complexity and lack of transparency of traditional supply chains, the introduction and development of blockchain technology is of great interest to the stakeholders involved in the logistics process to improve logistics processes in the supply chain and make them more sustainable. A detailed analysis has been made for the logistics industry in this study, which is discussed to investigate the undeniable benefits of blockchain technology. Today, when we try to determine our application methods in line with sustainable development purposes, it is seen that the logistics industry gains many advantages when it is integrated with blockchain technology. For this purpose, SWOT analysis has been applied as a result of literature review for logistics management, which is one of the sub-activities of supply chain management that applies blockchain technology, and contributes to the application potential in the logistics industry. At this point, some of the strengths that will require the use of blockchain technology in the logistics sector are decentralized structure, effective information sharing, fast response, robust risk management, interprocess integrity, etc. While its weaknesses are low performance, having a complex structure and high energy consumption can be the problem. In addition, some of the opportunities that the sector will gain are the ability to optimize time, solve problems, gain competition, increase sustainability; on the other hand, external threats, cross-integration adoption, new technology, limited data privacy etc. is happening.
Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the value of blockchain for supply chain management by assessing empirical evidence on the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a structured review of the academic literature to identify and assess papers providing empirical insight on operational blockchain applications. The authors complement the findings from this review with primary empirical data from 11 interviews with blockchain providers, users and experts involved in four recent projects. Findings The paper presents an integrated research framework that illustrates the impact of blockchain on supply chain performance. The findings highlight that blockchain can affect supply chain performance directly â via one of its core technological features â and indirectly via the broader business project through which blockchain technology is implemented. Practical implications Insights from this paper should provide managers with a more nuanced understanding of how blockchain technology can be leveraged to address important supply chain management challenges. Originality/value Prior research addressing the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance mostly discusses potential performance effects of blockchain, presents individual blockchain applications and/or provides little explanation for how the core technological features of blockchain affect supply chain performance. This paper systematically assesses the ways in which blockchain can affect supply chain performance. In doing so, it goes beyond the initial hype around blockchain technology while countering some of the more recent critiques.