Thomas K. Dasaklis, Theodore G. Voutsinas, Athanassios Mihiotis
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems seamlessly support business activities by controlling both Supply Chain (SC) operations and relevant information. By serving as consolidation platforms, ERP systems offer significant benefits in data visibility and back-office functions and enhance decision-making processes in modern business. Blockchain technology is driving Industry 4.0, and its integration with current ERP systems seems almost mandatory for the years to come. Based on a systematic survey of the current literature, we classify the benefits of blockchain and ERP systems integration, particularly in terms of improved operational efficiency, workflow automation, security and regulatory compliance. In addition, we discuss various challenges for integrating blockchain with ERP systems, such as possible infrastructure upgrades, organizational and cultural aspects, standardization, regulatory issues and high adoption and maintenance costs. We believe that the main results of this study could be of significant value to both researchers and practitioners and could serve as a starting point for better portraying the interrelationships between ERP systems and blockchain technology.
Gaetano della Corte, Federica Ricci, Giuseppe Modaffari, Vincenzo Scafarto
Motivated by the recent surge of interest in blockchain adoption across industries, this paper has theoretically examined the potential advantages and major barriers to blockchain adoption in the agri-food sector. Recent research and pilot studies suggest that blockchain may promote agri-food sustainability, however blockchain adoption is still in its infancy and further studies are needed to accurately assess the advantages and limitations of using lockchain-based technologies in the agri-food sector. We acknowledge the shortcomings of the present study due to its conceptual nature, but drawing on the existing theoretical and empirical literature, it may act as a springboard for future research directions.
Teja Goud Allam, A B M Mehedi Hasan, Angelika Maag, P.W.C. Prasad
The distributed ledger technology eliminates third party providers from the transaction system to enhance strength and store information using digital storage techniques. In this research paper, we incorporate distributed ledger technology and Blockchain for secure financial transactions. This technology protectively transfers information and solves other issues. It carries an extra investigation process in a smart logistic area to enhance the overall system. This research paper follows some steps to generate an infrastructure that contains four major elements. These are - input, analysis, evolution, and output. It is also useful to implement a peer-to-peer networking approach in digital currency modules. It helps to transfer currency from one account to another with more stability and security. Here researchers also provide bitcoin techniques for the international market using Blockchain and distributed ledger technology. It is applicable for the KYC system and data management. In this paper, we provide a detailed literature review on this topic and generate an evolution table. This research paperâs verification table contains the frequency of each component selected from previously published research papers. The discussion part of the paper provides a helpful approach to manage transformation data using private as well as public Blockchain.
The application of blockchain technology solves the trust problem between core enterprises (CEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and commercial banks, facilitating CEs and commercial banks to provide guarantee for SMEs and finance them, respectively. This study considers a three-level supply chain composed of a manufacturer, a distributor, and a capital-constrained retailer, and explores the operational strategies of blockchain platform finance (BPF), a supply chain finance mode enabled by blockchain technology. First, optimal decision solutions are obtained through decision and parameter sensitivity analyses. Second, by comparing the BPF and SME independent finance (SIF) modes, we obtain the applicable BPF mode conditions; for instance, when the retailerâs initial capital is low and the production cost is high, BPF is the better option for the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer compared to SIF. Third, we find that risk sharing improves the financing efficiency of the BPF mode. This study provides a theoretical basis for decision makers to implement blockchain supply chain finance at three levels: joint financing and operation decision-making, financing mode selection, and financing efficiency improvement.
David M. Herold, Sara Saberi, Mahtab Kouhizadeh, Simon J Wilde
Purpose In response, the purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical frameworks about the organizational uncertainty behind what and when to adopt blockchain technology and their implications on transaction costs. The immature nature and the absence of standards in blockchain technology lead to uncertainty in government organizations concerning the adoption (âwhat to adoptâ) and the identification of the right time (âwhen to startâ). Design/methodology/approach Using transaction cost theory and path dependency theory, this paper proposes two frameworks: to assess transaction cost risks and opportunities costs; and to depict four different types of transaction costs outcomes regarding blockchain adoption. Findings This paper identifies various theoretical concepts that influence blockchain adoption and combine the two critical constructs of âbounded rationalityâ and the âlock-in effectâ to categorize the multiple transaction costs outcomes for blockchain adoption. Research limitations/implications Although existing research in blockchain highlights mainly the potential benefits of blockchain applications, only a little attention has been given to frameworks that categorize potential transaction costs outcomes under uncertainty, in particular from organizational theorists. Originality/value Both frameworks advance the understanding of the decision-making behind blockchain adoption and synthesize the current literature to offer conceptual clarity regarding the varied implications and outcomes linked to the uncertainty regarding transactions costs stemming from blockchain technology.
Blockchain is a disruptive technology, which is crucial for business operations. In this article, we analytically explore how two manufacturers can achieve efficient buffer stock sharing using the blockchain technology (BCT). We first build an analytical basic model with a deterministic lead time for material replenishment and quantify the benefit of adopting a buffer stock sharing scheme. In the absence of BCT, we demonstrate the natural occurrence of a cheating problem. We analytically derive the overall value of blockchain technology (OVBCT) for the buffer stock sharing scheme and highlight the conditions under which it is increasing or decreasing in demand uncertainty. We also show how the buffer stock service level can be improved with the use of BCT. To show robustness of the analytical findings, several extended cases are explored. Novel buffer stock division rules are then generated under the proposed buffer stock sharing scheme, which makes the alliance profitable. In addition, an n-manufacturers alliance is further analytically explored. We find that the core findings from the basic model continue to hold in the extended models. Finally, we establish the conditions for achieving Pareto improvement with the use of BCT by considering the logistics services adopted.
Nowadays, using Blockchain Technology (BCT) is growing faster in each country. It is essential to apply BCT in Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) and is considered by the designer and manager of SC. This research indicates Viable Supply Chain Network Design (VSCND) by applying BCT. A new form of two-stage robust optimization is suggested. Facility locations and activation BCT for VSCND is the first stage of decisions; finally, we determine flow transshipment between components in the next stage. The GAMS-CPLEX is used for solving the model. The results show that running BCT will decrease 0.99% in costs. There is an economic justification for using BCT when demand is high. A fix-and-optimize and Lagrange relaxation (LR) generate lower and upper bound to estimate large scale in minimum time. The gap between the main model and fix-and-optimize is better than the LR algorithm. Finally, this research suggests equipping VSCND by BCT that becomes more resilient against demand fluctuation, sustainable, and agile.
Maximilian KlĂśckner, Christoph G. Schmidt, Stephan M. Wagner
Blockchain is a prominently discussed technology in operations and supply chain management and firms increasingly engage in blockchain initiatives. Yet, an understanding of the technology's financial value remains elusive. Based on 175 firm announcements between 2015 and 2019, we conduct an international event study to estimate the impact of blockchain initiatives on the market value of the firm. We empirically demonstrate that blockchain announcements are associated with a significant average abnormal return of 0.30% on the announcement day, and that there are indications of positive longâterm effects on shareholder value. We further demonstrate how blockchain use case, project, and firm characteristics affect the stock market reaction. Specifically, we find that the stock market reaction to blockchain announcements is less positive when blockchain is used to trace physical objects or to share sensitive data, providing empirical evidence for the risk associated with current challenges in the design of blockchain use cases. Our results also suggest that the involvement of an external information technology service provider in a blockchain project attenuates the positive stock market reaction. Interestingly, more innovative firms do not experience a stronger stock market reaction to blockchain announcements. Leveraging the international scope of our sample, we further shed light on how the firm's competitive (i.e., industry factors) and macro environment (i.e., country factors) affect the stock market reaction. Our findings indicate that the industry's R&D intensity and the country's data restriction level play a crucial role in driving the value attributed to blockchain initiatives.
Inventory cost control is an essential factor in supply chain management. If the supplierâs inventory is insufficient, then the chance to trade the product will be reduced. The manufacturerâs inadequate material inventory will have an effect in termination of production, delays, and a waste of resources and time. On the other hand, postponed transportation will certainly raise costs such as transportation costs and cancellation of orders. Therefore, the operation costs of enterprises will be more, which will lower profits. In conventional supply chains, inventory costs control is not feasible for the view of the entire supply chain. The main intent of this paper is to plan for intelligent inventory management using blockchain technology under the cloud sector. The inventory management of the supply chain includes âmultiple suppliers, a manufacturer, and multiple distributorsâ. The proposed inventory management models consider some significant costs like âtransaction cost, inventory holding cost, shortage cost, transportation cost, time cost, setup cost, backordering cost, and quality improvement costâ. This multi-objective cost function is minimized by a novel hybrid optimization algorithm; the concept of WOA is integrated to produce the new algorithm which is termed as Whale-based Multi Verse Optimization (W-MVO) algorithm. For securing the data of distributors, using blockchain technology in a cloud environment helps from the leakage of data to other unauthorized users. Once the cost is reduced in all aspects based on the proposed hybrid optimization algorithm, the distributer will store the concerning data in the blockchain under the cloud sector, where each distributer holds a hash function to store its data, which cannot be restored by the other distributers. The valuable performance analysis over the conventional optimization algorithms proves the effective and reliable performance of the proposed model over the conventional models.
Abstract Smart manufacturing focuses on maximizing the capabilities to increase multiple objectives, like cost, delivery, and quality, in manufacturing enterprises. This requires implementing product development lifecycle, production system lifecycle, and business cycle for supply chain management. In short, a considerable amount of data is generated in a given manufacturing enterprise. Likewise, progress has been made to adopt blockchain in financial industries, but the adoption is slow in non-financial sectors. The article elaborates a methodology for the realization of a traceable and intelligent supply chain. First, the methodology elaborates on the realization of traceability of enterprise entities, which are an integral part of the supply chain. In this case, each participating stakeholder of the supply chain is required internally to realize a smart manufacturing system with an extension to write critical control data to the blockchain (i.e., a subset of process data). Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being adopted in most industries. A supply chain stakeholder has access to its data and can employ AI to derive new insights. The data available with the stakeholder provides a narrow context. With blockchain, all the stakeholders have access to the data from other stakeholders. Subsequently, the insights derived by a stakeholder will be more meaningful. This will assist in realizing an intelligent supply chain.
Mohd Fairuz Iskandar Othman, Nor Ratna Masrom, Ismail Fauzi Isnin, Raja Zuraidah Raja Mohd Rasi ¡ 6 authors
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that continues to make headlines as a potential silver bullet for companies wanting to harness its benefits like transparency, integrity, and the ability to track and trace. Pioneered by the financial industry, other sectors are beginning to follow through with adoption, including the logistics and transportation sector. However, current studies on adoption by this specific sector remains underrepresented in the literature. This research uses qualitative data from in-depth interviews of a single third-party logistics (3PL) company to elicit feedback on their perceived benefits of blockchain adoption and the factors that might drive or inhibit adoption. The results show that factors identified support previous literature as well as providing rich qualitative data explaining the barriers that inhibit adoption. The results contribute to both literature and practice, providing insights to other companies within the 3PL industry.
Dnyaneshwar Jivanrao Ghode, Vinod Yadav, Rakesh Jain, Gunjan Soni
Purpose A supply chain (SC) involves many stakeholders, directly or indirectly, for satisfying consumersâ requirements. SC management is restricted by a lack of information sharing among stakeholders as parties of SC do not have direct communication and/or are not willing to share private and competitively sensitive information. In the SC, the bullwhip effect (BWE) is an undesirable phenomenon that aggravates the SC performance and increases the overall cost of SC. The main culprit of BWE is the lack of SC coordination among the parties, which results from wrong and lack of information sharing. Blockchain technology (BT) has the main characteristic of distributed shared ledger that makes all parties in the SC network able to access data. This paper aims to develop a BT model and implement it into the SC. Design/methodology/approach A blockchain is developed consisting four SC stakeholders and an integrated development environment has been used for coding in Python. Findings The analysis of the impact of the adoption of BT in SC shows the reduction in BWE. Originality/value In SC, BT can be considered as an effective tool to share the demand data among all SC partners. Sharing of such data will improve SC planning and reduce the BWE.
Because of the risks existing in supply chain finance, taking accounts receivable factoring business as the research object, this paper uses the evolutionary game method to analyzes the factors affecting the decision-making of the participants in supply chain finance, constructs an evolutionary game model between small and medium-sized enterprises and financial institutions, and analyzes the mechanism of blockchain to solve the financial risks of the supply chain by comparing the changes of evolutionary stability strategies before and after the introduction of blockchain technology. This paper aims to reduce financing risks by analyzing the mechanism of blockchain technology in supply chain finance. It is found that, firstly, blockchain technology can reduce the credit risk of financial institutions and solve financing problem. Credit risk plays a decisive role in whether financial institutions accept financing business decisions. Blockchain technology can reduce the operational risk of financial institutions and improve the business income of financial institutions. Secondly, the strict regulatory environment formed by blockchain technology makes the default behavior of small and medium-sized enterprises and core enterprises in a high-risk state at all times. No matter the profit distribution proportion that small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain through collusion, they will not choose to default, which effectively solves the paradox that small and medium-sized enterprises cannot obtain loans from financial institutions despite the increased probability of compliance. Then, the evolutionary game between financial institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises is balanced in that financial institutions accept business applications, small and medium-sized enterprises abide by the contract, and the convergence effect is better. Therefore, blockchain technology not only reduces the financing risk of financial institutions but also helps to solve the financing problems of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Abstract The present article analyzes the use of enterprise resources planning (ERP) packages to be part of the solution for the main issues related to the blockchain. ERP modules have been listed and tested against seven propositions, to check the ability to better use ERP for solving blockchain concerns. The research is based on the previous study of Saberi et al. (2019; 10.1080/00207543.2018.1533261) about the relationship between sustainable supply chain management and blockchain. We use structural equation modeling (SEM) to check the validity of the propositions. Based on the results, we propose recommendations for companies to sustainably improve their supply chain strategy with the use of blockchain, along with ERP modules. The results show that the selected companies would benefit from ERP and blockchain technology integration, as they both improve their sustainable corporate performance and integrate them more successfully in the supply chain. ERP and blockchain are to be used together to approach today's challenges and better prepare companies for the uncertain future.
Abderahman Rejeb, Karim Rejeb, Steve Simske, Horst Treiblmaier
The emergence of blockchain technology has sparked significant attention from the supply chain management (SCM) and logistics communities. In this paper, we present the results from a thorough bibliometric review that analytically and objectively identifies the intellectual structure of this field, the seminal papers, and the most influential scholars. We employ a knowledge domain visualization technique to generate insights that go beyond other review studies on blockchain research within logistics and SCM. The analysis starts with selecting a total of 628 papers from Scopus and the Web of Science that were published during 2016â2020. The bibliometric analysis output demonstrates that the number of blockchain papers has rapidly increased since 2017. The most productive researchers are from the USA, China, and India. The top academic institutions contributing to the literature are also identified. Based on network analyses, we found that the literature concentrates mainly on the conceptualization of blockchain; its potentials for supply chain sustainability; its adoption triggers and barriers; and its role in supporting supply chain agility, trust, protection of intellectual property, and food/perishable supply chains. Besides systematically mapping the literature, we identify several research gaps and propose numerous actionable research directions for the future. This study enriches the extant blockchain literature, provides a timely snapshot of the current state of research, and examines the knowledge structure of blockchain research in logistics and SCM with the help of evidence-based scientometric methods.
Sheikh Munir Skh Saad, Raja Zahilah Raja Mohd Radzi, Siti Hajar Othman
Blockchain is a technology used as a public ledger that is accessible to everyone without central authority control. This technology has the ability to run smart contracts as well as register users. There are several consensus algorithms used in blockchains. Many researchers are looking into the consensus algorithm in order to ensure the security and authenticity of transaction information in blockchains. In determining which consensus algorithm research areas should be examined, several existing papers from other researchers have been analyzed. This study is motivated by the need to determine the best consensus key. Thus, this study will examine the comparison of the two consensus algorithms which are Proof of Stake (PoS) and Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) algorithms. A further focus of this research study is on the parameters that are being used by these two algorithms. Analyses are done based on the number of miners and the number of created blocks to determine how long is necessary to produce a new block. The measurements were conducted through the simulation tool, which is Ethereum in a private network. The impact of parameters was assessed and analyzed based on the results. In addition, we conclude by determining their scalability as well as their efficiency. As the results show, DPoS is much better than PoS when it comes to producing a new block, with a percentage difference of 68%-73% between them. For future work, the algorithm studied can be extended to the Dual Delegated Proof of Stake (DDPoS) and the relationship and comparison between Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) and Dual Delegated Proof of Stake (DDPoS) can be discussed. Furthermore, the key parameters of the analysis can be extended as well such as the power of the consumptions.
This paper considers an online retailer and his or her manufacturer, both facing financial constraints and wishing to get loans from their e-commerce platform-backed finance company. Based on shared transaction data and monitored sales accounts, a tripartite loan contract is proposed to coordinate three partiesâ actions in this supply chain financing problem. We prove that the proposed loan contract aligns the decentralized decision-makings of each party and duplicates the optimal channel performance under a fully integrated decision-making framework. A case study is then conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed loan contract. The result shows that the proposed loan contract outperforms wholesale-price contracts, where coordination does not take place, and buyback contracts, where coordination happens between the retailer and the manufacturer only. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis reveals that profit allocations among the lender, the retailer, and the manufacturer resulted from the proposed loan contract are more balanced when the cost-to-retail ratio or risk premium is high.
Supply chain finance refers to the financial service model in which banks rely on core enterprises to manage the capital flow and logistics of upstream and downstream small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It adopts the self-testing and closed-loop credit model to control funds and risks. It is an efficient route for SMEs to solve the problem of financing. However, at present, the market of supply chain finance in China still faces problems such as the inability of credit disassembly of core enterprises, which seriously hinder the development of the supply chain finance industry. Blockchain technology featuring decentralization, tamper-proofing and traceability had been widely adopted in the field of finance and provided a new vision to solve the bottleneck for the development of supply chain finance. In this paper, with regard to the characteristics of supply chain finance, we propose a novel blockchain-driven architecture to reshape the business process of supply chain finance, and we introduce the underlying technical implementations in detail. Our contributions in this paper include (1) proposing a novel technical architecture of blockchain-driven supply chain finance management system and detailing its underlying implementations; (2) designing the mechanism of the credit disassembly, which is implemented by blockchain technology, to improve financing efficiency; and (3) exploring the impact and potential of blockchain technology in traditional business models (e.g., receivables financing, inventory financing and prepayment financing) in supply chain finance.