Blockchain Papers

Thomas Thurner

No abstract is available for this record.

Hokey Min

No abstract is available for this record.

Sara Saberi, Mahtab Kouhizadeh, Joseph Sarkis, Lejia Shen

Globalisation of supply chains makes their management and control more difficult. Blockchain technology, as a distributed digital ledger technology which ensures transparency, traceability, and security, is showing promise for easing some global supply chain management problems. In this paper, blockchain technology and smart contracts are critically examined with potential application to supply chain management. Local and global government, community, and consumer pressures to meet sustainability goals prompt us to further investigate how blockchain can address and aid supply chain sustainability. Part of this critical examination is how blockchains, a potentially disruptive technology that is early in its evolution, can overcome many potential barriers. Four blockchain technology adoption barriers categories are introduced; inter-organisational, intra-organisational, technical, and external barriers. True blockchain-led transformation of business and supply chain is still in progress and in its early stages; we propose future research propositions and directions that can provide insights into overcoming barriers and adoption of blockchain technology for supply chain management.

Jennifer Li, David Greenwood, Mohamad Kassem

No abstract is available for this record.

Abderahman Rejeb

In a country like Ghana where Tilapia is the most preferred and cheapest source of animal protein, closer attention must be paid to the supply chain of such a product. This paper examines the major issues and problems in Tilapia supply chain and logistics in Ghana, and it suggests the intervention of the new and disruptive technology of blockchain. Blockchain technology can have the potential to revolutionize the supply chain of Tilapia in Ghana and bring many advantages to the flow of Tilapia from farmers till the end consumers. Besides, it highlights the role of blockchain in ensuring food safety and in rebuilding a trustful network of Tilapia distribution between producers and customers. A model of Tilapia supply chain based on blockchain technology will be exhibited and explained to provide relative solutions to supply chain management processes of Tilapia.

Anne Haugen Gausdal, Karen V. Czachorowski, Marina Z. Solesvik

The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for blockchain, operations in particular. Furthermore, we aim to identify the main drivers and barriers of digital innovation and explore the general possibilities of blockchain applications within the maritime industry. A case study approach is applied: the Norwegian offshore industry. Primary data is collected through interviews, while secondary data is collected from industrial and company reports, the Internet, and national and international media reports. We have discovered that cost reduction intentions, the high level of regulation in the maritime industry, and the large amount of data that maritime companies should process, along with the intention to work more effectively, are the main drivers of digital innovation. On the other hand, the high cost of implementation, the bad quality of Internet connections offshore, the old age of decision-makers, the technology-oriented culture, the lack of investment initiatives, the low level of blockchain diffusion through the supply chain, and risk aversion are the main barriers. The results of the qualitative study show that some of the barriers and motives of digital innovation and the introduction to blockchain technology were pointed out by earlier studies. However, we have identified several unique drivers and barriers specific to the industry. Finally, the blockchain process framework is developed.

Jen-Hung Tseng, Yen-Chih Liao, Bin Chong, Shih-Wei Liao

As a trust machine, blockchain was recently introduced to the public to provide an immutable, consensus based and transparent system in the Fintech field. However, there are ongoing efforts to apply blockchain to other fields where trust and value are essential. In this paper, we suggest Gcoin blockchain as the base of the data flow of drugs to create transparent drug transaction data. Additionally, the regulation model of the drug supply chain could be altered from the inspection and examination only model to the surveillance net model, and every unit that is involved in the drug supply chain would be able to participate simultaneously to prevent counterfeit drugs and to protect public health, including patients.

Percival Lucena, Alécio Pedro Delazari Binotto, Fernanda da Silva Momo, Henry Kim

One of the key processes in Agriculture is quality measurement throughout the transportation of grains along its complex supply chain. This procedure is suitable for failures, such as delays to final destinations, poor monitoring, and frauds. To address the grain quality measurement challenge through the transportation chain, novel technologies, such as Distributed Ledger and Blockchain, can bring more efficiency and resilience to the process. Particularly, Blockchain is a new type of distributed database in which transactions are securely appended using cryptography and hashed pointers. Those transactions can be generated and ruled by special network-embedded software -- known as smart contracts -- that may be public to all nodes of the network or may be private to a specific set of peer nodes. This paper analyses the implementation of Blockchain technology targeting grain quality assurance tracking in a real scenario. Preliminary results support a potential demand for a Blockchain-based certification that would lead to an added valuation of around 15% for GM-free soy in the scope of a Grain Exporter Business Network in Brazil.

Michael Hultgren, Fredrik Pajala

There is an increasing number of construction products that are manufactured globally through complex supply chains. The results of this is that quality requirements are increasing and the construction industry look towards ways to reassure the sustainability of the materials in their supply chains. The aim of this study is to explore how the new blockchain technology may be used to meet today´s and future requirements of the construction industry and analyze the potential consequences of using the technology. Our work examine how the blockchain technology can support supply chain transparency and material traceability. To explore and analyze how the technology may affect the supply chain of a specific material a case study has been carried out. The task has been focused on how a specific material is handled throughout a suppliers supply chain, from where it originates until final use by a contractor. A hypothetical supply chain has been set-up and analyzed in terms of transparency, traceability and the potential consequences of using the blockchain technology. We have specifically focused on how the blockchain system could be set-up, who should own the blockchain system and what are the sustainable aspects of using blockchain. The conclusion is that blockchain technology can improve the transparency throughout the entire supply chain. However the need for a complementary technology is needed in order to handle all the problems with traceability. One example of this complementary technology is RFID tagging. Furthermore, some of the consequences that has been identified are; it improves the way to handle supply chain documentation, the reputation of the industry improves, the possibility to remove third party organs increases.

Alexander A. Kharlamov, Glenn Parry

No abstract is available for this record.

Erik de Waard, Jori Pascal Kalkman, Myriame Bollen

Flexibility in organizations is important, especially when dealing with crises that develop in an unpredictable way. Existing management theory makes clear that organizations are confronted with different environmental dynamics and, therefore, need a mix of operational, structural and strategic flexible capabilities to remain viable. The present article uses this insight to analyze the flexibility potential of the Dutch Border Security Team Concept (BST). The BST concept has been developed by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee as a practical answer to deal with the sudden migration crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean. The findings show that the composite BST unit has the potential to be really flexible. In sum, it has proven to be a comprehensive, semi-autonomous organizational element that possesses all the necessary capabilities to cover migration-related crisis situations well. Yet, the empirical results also bring to the front that the embeddedness of the BST within the overarching Frontex constellation affects the possibility to fully reap the benefits of organizational independence. Frontex’ standardized and highly formalized routines leave too little room for a customized decentralized organizational effort.

Volodymyr Babich, Gilles Hilary

No abstract is available for this record.

Nir Kshetri

No abstract is available for this record.

Enbo Chen

Nowadays, the modern supply chain is facing the new threats and opportunities due to quality, safety, ethics, environmental impact and other serious problems aroused by the opacity of supply chain. On the contrary, a transparent and traceable supply chain can help suppliers minimize fraud and errors, enhance inventory management, reduce courier costs, lower waste and delay. Consequently, transparency and traceability are essential to the sustainable development of industrial supply chain in the future.
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\nDriven by growing demand for transparency and traceability from consumers, companies, and governments, some fundamental labeling technologies (e.g. RFID, QR code, NFC tag, etc.) have been already combined with web technology and applied in logistics system to identify a product with origin information. Even though, those traditional technologies fail to provide a trusted and cost-efficient system to record provenance and share information.
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\nThis thesis aims to find an approach to improve transparency and traceability of supply chain in a secure and cost-efficient way. To achieve this goal, an approach with an emerging technology is presented in this thesis: blockchain, a shared, distributed and permissioned ledger that records every transaction information associated with asset through supply chain, which is synchronized and verified in real time with all entities in the supply chain but can be accessed only by authorized participants.
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\nThe result of this research work not only provides in-depth research of blockchain technology but also proposes a concrete solution with an implementation of blockchain technology to shape a transparent and traceable supply chain network. This solution can track provenance and trajectory of an asset through the complex supply chain in real time, at the same time, provides unprecedented visibility and confidentiality. Finally, this thesis also shows a possibility to integrate the blockchain system with other web service and traditional enterprise resource planning system.

Supranee, Sowichaya, Siriluck Rotchanakitumnuai

Blockchain technology is an optional new technologies to manage the supply chain process. This technology helps to improve and solve the issue of transparency as well as monitor operations in the supply chain. The study found that the perceived benefits of Blockchain technology in the automotive industry, inter-organizational trust are the important factors that affect the acceptance of Blockchain in the supply chain process. Inter-organizational relationship has negative impact on Blockchain technology acceptance. The non-mediated power is a key factor that builds inter-organizational trust and leads to success in the technology application in this industry. The results can be used as a guideline for the automotive industry to apply Blockchain technologies to the operations.

Daniel Tse, Bowen Zhang, Yuchen Yang, Chenli Cheng · 5 authors

With the increasingly serious problem of food safety in China, it directly or indirectly endangers people's health, quality of life and safety of life. The global economy, politics and society as a whole have a greater impact. As an effective means of product quality and safety management and control, many countries and regions have been researched, developed and operated of the traceability system. On the one hand, these technologies have not been able to achieve more accurate traceability, these results cannot be directly used in Chinese market. Therefore, the article introduces the concept of Blockchain technology, putting forward the application of Blockchain technology in information security of the food supply chain and comparing it with the traditional supply chain system.

John Dixon, Stefano Penazzi, Amar Ramudhin, Ken Hawick

Blockchain technologies have been shown to be able to successfully underpin secure online financial services (e.g. Bitcoin), and have since developed a reputation as a fix-all solution for transparency, accountability and security issues in storing data and transactions in both public and private settings. However, cross-business consortiums with obvious use-cases, such as those evident in the logistics supply chain, are not yet regularly adopting a common blockchain for transaction storage and accountability because of a lack of understanding and trust. Furthermore, because blockchains are commonly designed to send raw data, visible to every connected node, the potential for competitors or unauthorized parties to analyze the common ledger and discover business secrets is a clear cause for apprehension. In this paper, we analyze the problems facing the uptake of blockchain technologies in supply chain management, inspect a relevant supply chain scenario with reference to the place of the blockchain within real-world logistics data management, and describe a technical and architectural approach which allows scalable, private sharing of business data whilst retaining the accountability and integrity of the blockchain.

Aarni Heiskanen

A construction project is an amalgam of hundreds of processes, participants, and products so it is no wonder that they rarely go to plan. The increasing complexity of buildings and structures strain quality management systems to their limits, while information flows within supply chains are often diverse and bespoke, leading to communication gaps, waste and litigation. Two related streams of emerging technology, the Internet of Things and “blockchain”, are presented here as developments that could unlock capability and productivity – just as innovative socio-technical mechanisms of past centuries led to explosive advances in global trade and communication.

Jennifer Hongbo Jiang

Thesis: S.M. in Management of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2017.

Yash Madhwal, Peter Panfilov

To serve target customers better than their competitors, supply chain management (SCM) teams today look into new technologies such as Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. These new technologies allow managers to develop and provide complex supply chain services and products faster with improved reliabilities. With these technologies, SCM teams can build complex models of a supply chain or systems of supply chains using a data-driven approach. With the growth of aviation domain across the world, there has been increasing demand in aircraft for airlines and other customers. In this domain, SCM teams deal with complex networked supply chains for aircraft's spare part purchase and delivery for aircraft's maintenance and repair. Aircraft's spare parts are shipped to single assembly hubs, located globally. All parts come with certain life expectancy, specific requirements and maintenance attributes. With thousands of spare parts, hundreds of parameters, and number of manufactures distributed globally, SCM team need to deal with very large amount of data. In this paper, we use an industrial scenario of aviation industry SCM to demonstrate the necessity of having decentralized system based on distributed data-driven application technologies such as Blockchain, not only to assist in maintaining inventory of the aircraft's parts but also to monitor the performance, usage, etc. This will help to achieve a transparent network of supply chain for aircraft's parts and reduce the risk of availability of aircraft's parts in black market. These new data-driven technologies when embedded into SCM scenarios will help the SCM managers to analyse the supply, demands, source of availability of spare parts and provide methods to procure them from the right sources.

Marcel Morisse, Claire Ingram

Studies of resilience highlight the tension between actions that allow a firm – and a system – to be robust and those that allows it to be flexible. Studies suggest that an entrepreneurial firm will prioritize flexibility, given resource constraints. However, what occurs when a number of firms are embedded in a common socio-technical system and an extreme event affects them collectively? This paper tests whether existing theory about resilience predicts the responses of entrepreneurs in such a system, with reference to an extreme event in the Bitcoin socio-technical system: the much-publicized bankruptcy of Mt.Gox, a key player. It relies on in-depth interviews with 8 entrepreneurs in Europe, triangulated with other data. We find that robustness is the dominant strategy for those interviewed. This is partly because the firms rely on pooled resources supplied by the collective, and partly because robustness builds trust, giving the firms a competitive advantage.

Frans Osinga

This chapter addresses the remarkable disconnect between resilience literature and military theory. War puts high demands on the resilience of military organizations. Western militaries have adopted organizational and operational concepts to cope with the myriad challenges of violence, turbulence, uncertainty and an adaptive opponent that, when studied against the background of resilience literature, are quite sound. The maneuvrist approach and the idea of strategic paralysis both target the multiple nodes across various layers of an opponent’s organization that allow it to display coherent and purposeful behaviour. Both aim to disrupt the resilience of the opponent. In turn, the concept of mission command and recent operational concepts such as network centric warfare and swarming are fully congruent with the literature about complex systems, adaptability and current insights on what produces organizational resilience in highly threatening and fluid environments: decentralization, formal and informal networks, solid feedback mechanisms, self-organization, mutual trust, and semi-autonomous units. This chapter suggests that, where resilience studies are still in the exploratory stage, without clear definition and coherent theory, there is benefit in studying military theory and military organizations, which are increasingly informed by the same literatures as resilience studies.

Tianfei Li, Linyan Sun

No abstract is available for this record.