Blockchain technology presents benefits that change the way business partners interact. This new way of establishing democratic trust encourages business owners to think differently. Disaster relief and aid industries are built on the power of collaborating participants. A very high number of participants in different hierarchies, including donors, charities, disaster victims, insurance companies and government agencies interact under extraordinary circumstances of a disaster and hard times. Establishing a new way of trust brings forward a better disaster recovery. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based ecosystem. The blockchain-based disaster recovery not only would enhance the basic processes around disaster relief, but also promote the willingness of help by transparency and potential fraud prevention. This new blockchain system introduces an opportunity to be more resilient, to react rapidly, to communicate transparently, and to include new contributors such as IoT.
Purpose Although being considered for adoption by stakeholders in container shipping, application of blockchain is hindered by different factors. This paper investigates the potential operational risks of blockchain-integrated container shipping systems as one of such barriers. Design/methodology/approach Literature review is employed as the method of risk identification. Scientific articles, special institutional reports and publications of blockchain solution providers were included in an inclusive qualitative analysis. A directed acyclic graph (DAG) was constructed and analyzed based on network topological metrics. Findings Twenty-eight potential risks and 47 connections were identified in three groups of initiative, transitional and sequel. The DAG analysis results reflect a relatively well-connected network of identified hazardous events (HEs), suggesting the pervasiveness of information risks and various multiple-event risk scenarios. The criticality of the connected systems' security and information accuracy are also indicated. Originality/value This paper indicates the changes of container shipping operational risk in the process of blockchain integration by using updated data. It creates awareness of the emerging risks, provides their insights and establishes the basis for further research.
While blockchain was designed as a ledger for cryptocurrency transactions, it can record transactions of anything of value. Blockchain is increasingly used to prove the integrity of commodities, tracing their supply chain journey from the source to the end user. Yet, transferring this technology from a cryptocurrency context to a supply chain setting is not without difficulties. This article explores the implications for multinational and transnational companies in using blockchain as a means to address modern slavery. The research identifies five challenges: verification, inclusion, trust, privacy, and normativity.
The price risk of fresh agricultural products has been a significant topic in recent years. Taking the two-level fresh agricultural product supply chain as the research object, this paper studies the optimal ordering and coordination of supply chain based on two-period price, wholesale price and option contract. The optimal order decision of the retailer at the single period price and the optimal decision corresponding to the supplier are obtained when the output of the supplier is uncertain under decentralized decision-making. The range of penalty cost parameter that avoids supplier default is also obtained. The effect of two-period price on the optimal order decision and supply chain profits is discussed when the production yield of the supplier is fixed. Cost-sharing contract is introduced to increase the order quantity and achieve coordination because the option contract cannot completely make the supply chain coordination with two-period price. This paper provides a low-cost approach that can be applied in fresh agricultural supply chain to solve financing and order problems.
Globalization has created an environment where access to advances in technology, communications, and transportation transcends international boundaries creating a rich operating space for threat networks to exploit. Threat networks around the globe leverage their geographically dispersed structures to increase reach while mitigating risks to disruption by operating in various environments and domains. Like all networked organizations, threat networks rely on financial structures that are sustainable while providing resilience when faced with inevitable disruption. Increasingly, threat networks pursue options that are decentralized and rely on local placement and access for resourcing while exploiting gaps in various environments in order to establish and maintain their financial systems. Defining the system threat networks use to finance their operations in a clear and repeatable construct supports the common understanding that leads to unified action.
Blockchain is a disruptive technology that can be adopted in several business models. However, its applicability in the Supply Chain and in the context of the Logistics 4.0 and Smart Logistics revolution in particular, must still be proved from both an economic and an efficiency standpoint. This paper describes a Hyperledger Sawtooth-based framework for Supply Chain and Smart Logistics. The performance evaluation tests are performed on two Smart Logistics system settings. The results underline the performance decay of the system when concurrent transactions are submitted to multiple nodes.
Adoption of blockchain technology has been widely construed as disruptive. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology. It is secure by design because of its cryptography and distributed consensus mechanism, which also offers anonymity, persistence, auditability and resilience. The construction industry adopts a project-based approach and globally has been considered as a fragmented sector, predominantly in unorganised space. Given these characteristics, the technology adoption has been slow. This study looks at the challenges and adopts interpretive structural modelling technique to understand the linkages between these barriers. This study can provide managerial insights into designing strategies for overcoming the barriers for adoption of this disruptive technology.
Maritime industry is one of the most globally connected industries that include transportation of numerous types of goods and documents across the world. With that said, it is safe to say that abundance of financial and paper-trail transactions are made every day in order for goods to be transported from one place to another. The scope of this paper is to show that by implementing blockchain technology savings in time and money could be generated. This paper presents costs of container freights and rates in the last few years and assumes possible future costs of container freights and rates if blockchain based technology is implemented. Additionally, by using comparative method economical and time value of “traditional” bill of lading is compared with a blockchain bill of lading solution. It is also important to mention the potential impact of the blockchain technology on the world environment and ecology by reducing global paper consumption and emissions from vehicles that are used in the transportation process. This paper also gives a descriptive and comprehensive overview of current and future applications of blockchain technology in maritime industry.
Anil Kumar Vishnubhotla, Rupesh Kumar Pati, Sidhartha S. Padhi
Increase in competition and the strategic move of enhanced outsourcing has made supply chain more complex. Various applications and software solutions are available to better manage this complexity. It has been observed that often such initiatives may not provide the excepted benefits. It has also been reported that an unclear understanding of business needs (including perceived risks) is the main reason of supply chain failure. The present study attempts to capture enterprise level supply chain risk in an oil company (case company) in India and explore if perception of a decision maker favours use of blockchain technology project to reduce the supply chain risk. The study adopts the following methodology: in-depth semi-structured interviews and structured survey was carried out with the top management of the case company to identify various enterprise level risks for supply chain management (SCM) projects which were subsequently clustered under Operations, Finance, Human Resources, and Strategic Business Risk categories. Inputs on the probability of occurrence and impacts of the identified risks on the enterprise-wide supply chain was mapped on the risk severity matrix (heat map) to prioritize the risks. Subsequently, the second round of questionnaire was developed and a similar survey carried out again with the same sample show the change in risk perception due to potential application of blockchain technology. Interesting insights could be gained from the practitioner’s perspective on the value contribution of using blockchain for improving management of SCM risks. It could be observed that a number of the high priority risk (in the initial scenario) could now be eliminated or managed due to specific characteristics of blockchain.. One of the major limitations of the present study is the lack of generalizability of the insights as it is based exclusively on the perspective of the case company towards the blockchain.
Algan Tezel, Eleni Papadonikolaki, İbrahim Yitmen, Per Hilletofth
Abstract Blockchain, a peer-to-peer, controlled, distributed database structure, has the potential to profoundly affect current business transactions in the construction industry through smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and reliable asset tracking. The construction industry is often criticized for being slow in embracing emerging technologies and not effectively diffusing them through its supply chains. Often, the extensive fragmentation, traditional procurement structures, destructive competition, lack of collaboration and transparency, low-profit margins, and human resources are shown as the main culprits for this. As blockchain technology makes its presence felt strongly in many other industries like finance and banking, this study investigates the preparation of construction supply chains for blockchain technology through an explorative analysis. Empirical data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 subject experts. Alongside presenting a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis (SWOT), the study exhibits the requirements for and steps toward a construction supply structure facilitated by blockchain technology.
Oscar Rodríguez-Espíndola, Soumyadeb Chowdhury, Ahmad Beltagui, Pável Albores
The growing importance of humanitarian operations has created an imperative to overcome the complications currently recorded in the field. Challenges such as delays, congestion, poor communication and lack of accountability may represent opportunities to test the reported advantages of emergent disruptive technologies. Meanwhile, the literature on humanitarian supply chains looks at isolated applications of technology and lacks a framework for understanding challenges and solutions, a gap that this article aims to fill. Using a case study based on the flood of Tabasco of 2007 in Mexico, this research identifies solutions based on the use of emergent disruptive technologies. Furthermore, this article argues that the integration of different technologies is essential to deliver real benefits to the humanitarian supply chain. As a result, it proposes a framework to improve the flow of information, products and financial resources in humanitarian supply chains integrating three emergent disruptive technologies; Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and 3D Printing. The analysis presented shows the potential of the framework to reduce congestion in the supply chain, enhance simultaneous collaboration of different stakeholders, decrease lead times, increase transparency, traceability and accountability of material and financial resources, and allow victims to get involved in the fulfilment of their own needs.
Purpose This paper aims to investigate how blockchain has moved beyond cryptocurrencies and is being deployed to enhance visibility and trust in supply chains, their limitations and potential impact. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative analysis are undertaken via case studies drawn from food companies using semi-structured interviews. Findings Blockchain is demonstrated as an enabler of visibility in supply chains. Applications at scale are most likely for products where the end consumer is prepared to pay the premium currently required to fund the technology, e.g. baby food. Challenges remain in four areas: trust of the technology, human error and fraud at the boundaries, governance, consumer data access and willingness to pay. Research limitations/implications The paper shows that blockchain can be utilised as part of a system generating visibility and trust in supply chains. Research directs academic attention to issues that remain to be addressed. The challenges pertaining to the technology itself we believe to be generalisable; those specific to the food industry may not hold elsewhere. Practical implications From live case studies, we provide empirical evidence that blockchain provides visibility of exchanges and reliable data in fully digitised supply chains. This provides provenance and guards against counterfeit goods. However, firms will need to work to gain consumer buy-in for the technology following repeated past claims of trustworthiness. Originality/value This paper provides primary evidence from blockchain use cases “in the wild”. The exploratory case studies examine application of blockchain for supply chain visibility.
Purpose Blockchain technology is booming in many industries. Its application in supply chain management is also gradually increasing. Supply chain management (SCM) has long been committed to reducing costs and increasing efficiency and is trying to optimise resources and reduce the sector's fragmentation. Trust has always been an important factor in managing supply chain relationships, and it also affects the efficiency of supply chain operations. To this end, this study aims to examine how trust is affected by the introduction of blockchain technology in construction supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on semi-structured interviews and publicly available information from experts in blockchain and construction supply chain management. Through content analysis, the data are analysed thematically to explore how various types of trust, such as system-based, cognition-based and relation-based, are affected by blockchain technology. Findings Blockchain technology provides solutions for data tracking, contracting and transferring resources in supply chain management. These applications help enhance the various sources of trust in SCM and provide supply chain partners with protection mechanisms to avoid the risks and costs of opportunistic behaviour in collaboration, shifting trust from relational to system-based and cognition-based. Research limitations/implications This study focuses only on inter-organisational rather than interpersonal trust and empirical data from experts whose knowledge and cognition could be subjective. Practical implications Leveraging the potential of digitalisation to manage trust requires that leaders and managers actively try to improve contractual arrangements, information sharing and being open to new innovative technologies like blockchain. Social implications From a relational view of supply chain management, the extent to which blockchain technology can develop and spread depends on the readiness of the social capital to accept decentralised governance structures. Originality/value This study builds upon an original data set and discusses features and applications of blockchain technology, explores the sources and dimensions of trust in supply chain management and explains the impact of blockchain technology on trust.
William Chien, Josenor de Jesus, Ben Taylor, Victor Dods · 7 authors
Purpose: As part of the FDA’s DSCSA Pilot Project Program, UCLA and its solution partner, LedgerDomain (collectively referred to as the team hereafter), focused on building a complete, working blockchain-based system, BRUINchain, which would meet all the key objectives of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) for a dispenser operating solely on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. Methods: The BRUINchain system requirements include scanning the drug package for a correctly formatted 2D barcode, flagging expired product, verifying the product with the manufacturer, and quarantining suspect and illegitimate products at the last mile: pharmacist to patient, the most complex area of the drug supply chain. The authors demonstrate a successful implementation where product-tracing notifications are sent automatically to key stakeholders, resulting in enhanced timeliness and reduction in paperwork burden. At the core of this effort was a blockchain-based solution to track and trace changes in custody of drug. As an immutable, time-stamped, near-real-time (50-millisecond latency), auditable record of transactions, BRUINchain makes it possible for supply chain communities to arrive at a single version of the truth. BRUINchain was tested with real data on real caregivers administering life-saving medications to real patients at one of the busiest pharmacies in the United States. Results: In addition to communicating with the manufacturer directly for verification, BRUINchain also initiated suspect product notifications. During the study, a 100% success rate was observed across scanning, expiration detection, and counterfeit detection; and paperwork reduction from approximately 1 hour to less than a minute. The authors demonstrate a successful implementation where product-tracing notifications are sent automatically to key stakeholders, resulting in enhanced timeliness and reduction in paperwork burden. At the core of this effort was a blockchain-based solution to track and trace changes in custody of drug. As an immutable, time-stamped, near-real-time (50-millisecond latency), auditable record of transactions, BRUINchain makes it possible for supply chain communities to arrive at a single version of the truth. BRUINchain was tested with real data on real caregivers administering life-saving medications to real patients at one of the busiest pharmacies in the United States. Conclusions: By automatically interrogating the manufacturer’s relational database with our blockchain-based system, our results indicate a projected DSCSA compliance cost of 17 cents per unit, and potentially much more depending on regulatory interpretation and speed of verification. We project that this cost could be reduced with manufacturers’ adoption of a highly performant, fully automated end-to-end system based on digital ledger technology (DLT). In an examination of the interoperability of such a system, we elaborate on its capacity to enable verification in real time without a human in the loop, the key feature driving lower compliance cost. With 4.2 billion prescriptions being dispensed each year in the United States, DLT would not only reduce the projected per-unit cost to 13 cents per unit (saving $183 million in annual labor costs), but also serve as a major bulwark against bad or fraudulent transactions, reduce the need for safety stock, and enhance the detection and removal of potentially dangerous drugs from the drug supply chain to protect U.S. consumers.
Rameshwar Dubey, Angappa Gunasekaran, David Bryde, Yogesh K. Dwivedi · 5 authors
There has been tremendous interest in blockchain technology (BT) (also known as distributed ledger technology) around the globe and across sectors. Following significant success in the financial sector, other sectors, such as humanitarian sector, have started deploying BT at various levels. Although the use of BT in the humanitarian sector is in its infancy, donors and government agencies are increasingly calling for building BT-enabled swift-trust (ST) and more collaborative relationships among various humanitarian actors in order to improve the transparency and traceability of disaster relief materials, information exchanges and flow of funds in disaster relief supply chains. Our study, which is informed by organisational information processing theory and relational view, proposes a theoretical model to understand how BT can influence operational supply chain transparency (OSTC) and ST among actors engaged in disaster relief operations. Our model also shows how BT-enabled ST can further improve collaboration (CO) among actors engaged in disaster relief operations and enhance supply chain resilience (SCR). We formulated and tested six research hypotheses, using data gathered from international non-governmental organisations with the help of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) database. We received 256 usable responses using a pre-tested survey-based instrument designed for key informants. Our results confirm that our six hypotheses were supported. Our study offers significant and valid contributions to the literature on ST, CO and SCR and BT/distributed ledger technology. We have also noted the limitations of our study and have offered future research directions.
Jedsada tipmontian, Jaime Castellanos Alcover, M. Rajmohan
Today’s food supply chain is incredibly complex and imposes enormous challenges across the Globe. Products are transported through multimodal transportation internationally, comprising of combination of ship, rail, truck and flight modes etc. The supply chain under multistage network poses more quality related issues. Hence, blockchain technology helps to enhance food safety and quality in the logistics process. This, when coupled with the existing traceability system can create more agile value chain and closer customer relationship across regions. Though, Thailand is a leading food exporter, it lacks in implementation of blockchain technology. The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of blockchain technology adoption for safe food supply chain management through System Dynamics (SD) approach from management perspectives in Thailand. The preliminary survey and discussion were carried out with the participants from food expert firms, and causal loop diagrams and stock and flow diagrams were developed and validated. The trade-off, challenges and opportunities of applying block chain technology on the global food value supply chain has been discussed throughout the system dynamics model. The major contribution of this work is in providing insight into some of the main dimensions of block chain technology and its implications for global food value chain performance improvements.
As the basic necessity of national life, agricultural products have become the basic elements of economic and social development. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of the internal and external environment, the supply chain of agricultural products has various risks, such as vulnerability and instability in the system structure. This paper analyzes the common structural model and risk factors of agricultural product supply chain, discusses the main factors of agricultural product supply chain risk factors, and combines the characteristics of decentralization and information encryption of block chain technology with the governance of each node of agricultural product supply chain. This paper puts forward the optimal analysis of agricultural product supply chain model construction and related node risk management under block chain technology.
Supply chain management is considered one of the main sectors of development for blockchain technology. This study provides solid contributions to understanding blockchain innovation and presents some main features and guidelines for how to boost blockchain implementation in industry. As explorative research, this paper presents a grounded theory analysis based on 18 expert interviews. The pool of interviewees is composed of academics and business and institutional representatives with relevant technological knowledge on blockchain and innovation management. Renowned worldwide experts provided us with powerful input to run this analysis and with a general overview of the current situation. Blockchain development of course impacts supply chains, but currently, the analysis shows that it does not seem to be a disruptive technology. In accordance with C.M. Christensen, blockchain presents all the features to be a sustaining innovation rather than disruptive. For this reason, as outcomes, we present five enablers that can foster prompt adoption in industry.