Designing blockchain systems to prevent counterfeiting in wine supply chains: a multiple-case study

Pamela Danese,Pietro Romano,Riccardo Mocellin

doi:10.1108/ijopm-12-2019-0781

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate on blockchain (BC) adoption for preventing counterfeiting by investigating BC systems where different options for BC feeding and reading complement the use of BC technology. By grounding on the situational crime prevention, this study analyses how BC systems can be designed to effectively prevent counterfeiting.Design/methodology/approachThis is a multiple-case study of five Italian wine companies using BC to prevent counterfeiting.FindingsThis study finds that the desired level of upstream/downstream counterfeiting protection that a brand owner intends to guarantee to customers through BC is the key driver to consider in the design of BC systems. The study identifies which variables are relevant to the design of feeding and reading processes and explains how such variables can be modulated in accordance with the desired level of counterfeiting protection.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases investigated are Italian companies within the wine sector, and the BC projects analysed are in the pilot phase.Practical implicationsThe study provides practical suggestions to address the design of BC systems by identifying a set of key variables and explaining how to properly modulate them to face upstream/downstream counterfeiting.Originality/valueThis research applies a new perspective based on the situational crime prevention approach in studying how companies can design BC systems to effectively prevent counterfeiting. It explains how feeding and reading process options can be configured in BC systems to assure different degrees of counterfeiting protection.

Highlights

Some characteristics of blockchain (BC) technology – namely, immutability, transparency, traceability, data security and disintermediation – make it appropriate for addressing the counterfeiting of physical products (Alzahrani and Bulusu, 2018; Galvez et al, 2018)
Identified variables were rated according to precise rules, and again, the comparison of data across cases was central to defining these rules (Section 4.1, Tables 4 and 5). The result of this coding led to the selection of four variables to characterize BC systems: data veracity control measures, data-entry frequency, smart labels and related customer communication channels and the proportion of accessible data for which hashes are saved on the BC
The literature review and comparison with real BC implementation cases enabled the identification and codification of four relevant variables that can be used to describe a BC system, namely data veracity control measures, data-entry frequency, smart label and customer communication channel and the proportion of accessible data for which hashes are saved on the BC

Summary

Introduction

Some characteristics of blockchain (BC) technology – namely, immutability, transparency, traceability, data security and disintermediation – make it appropriate for addressing the counterfeiting of physical products (Alzahrani and Bulusu, 2018; Galvez et al, 2018). Policymakers and public agencies are seeking to assess and exploit these potential benefits. The EU Intellectual Property Office, as part. © Pamela Danese, Riccardo Mocellin and Pietro Romano. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

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