Perspectives of Blockchain Technology for Sustainable Supply Chains

Abstract

Academic and business interest in blockchain and its potential benefits for businesses has risen considerably since 2016. Blockchain is considered as a distributed ledger technology that records transactions between parties in a protected and permanent way and enables transferring data and assets easily without relying on a third-party intermediary. Current supply chains are mostly linear and heavily complex networks with various stakeholders which often causes low transparency, data silos and unstandardized processes. The aim of this paper is first, to analyze the overall perspectives of blockchain technology and second, to investigate the potentials of blockchain to enable sustainable supply chains which would eliminate many shortcomings in current supply chains. This paper analyses three cases which exploited the potentials of blockchain technology with the aim of promoting sustainable sourcing from origin to consumers. The analysis compares three different cases of global supply chains, with a focus on corporate sustainability in agriculture, and manufactured goods. The results of our analysis show that blockchain has the potential to boost the supply chain sustainability, however the blockchain can’t guarantee that all supply chain stakeholders provide accurate, uniform and verifiable data. This paper provides a conceptual framework to better understand the benefits and challenges of the blockchain technology. Both academics and practitioners in companies might find this framework useful, as it outlines important lines of research in the field.