Blockchain technology: implications for operations and supply chain management

By Rosanna Cole, Mark Stevenson, James Aitken. Supply Chain Management, 2019

729 citations recorded by the source corpus.

PurposeThis paper aims to encourage the study of blockchain technology from an operations and supply chain management (OSCM) perspective, identifying potential areas of application, and to provide an agenda for future research.Design/methodology/approachAn explanation and analysis of blockchain technology is provided to identify implications for the field of OSCM.FindingsThe hype around the opportunities that digital ledger technologies offer is high. For OSCM, a myriad of ways in which blockchain could transform practice are identified, including enhancing product safety and security; improving quality management; reducing illegal counterfeiting; improving sustainable supply chain management; advancing inventory management and replenishment; reducing the need for intermediaries; impacting new product design and development; and reducing the cost of supply chain transactions. The immature state of practice and research surrounding blockchain means there is an opportunity for OSCM researchers to study the technology in its early stages and shape its adoption.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper provides a platform for new research that addresses gaps in knowledge and advances the field of OSCM. A research agenda is developed around six key themes.Practical implicationsThere are many opportunities for organisations to obtain an advantage by making use of blockchain technology ahead of the competition, enabling them to enhance their market position. But it is important that managers examine the characteristics of their products, services and supply chains to determine whether they need or would benefit sufficiently from the adoption of blockchain. Moreover, it is important that organisations build human capital expertise that allows them to develop, implement and exploit applications of this technology to maximum reward.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers in a leading international OSCM journal to analyse blockchain technology, thereby complementing a recent article on digital supply chains that omitted blockchain.

Subfields: Information Systems, Management Information Systems, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/abdb4a5bbdcab60344497edd3e48599b64f0c00f

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Citations in the corpus

Blockchain Governance—A New Way of Organizing Collaborations? (2020, positive): “Indeed, blockchains have gained signi ﬁ cant traction in structuring transactions in sectors as diverse as entertainment, retail, charity, automotive, and healthcare (Marr 2018, Cole et al. 2019).”
Analysis of resilience strategies and ripple effect in blockchain-coordinated supply chains: An agent-based simulation study (2020, positive): “…can be assigned to certain primary categories including product provenance (traceability), enhanced SC operations (related to security, transparency, visibility), trade finance, disintermediation, data security, and smart contracts (Cole et al., 2019; Pournader et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2019a).”
Blockchain Meets Cloud Computing: A Survey (2020, background): “A few representative beneﬁts of blockchain technology, as widely accepted, include tamper-resistance [6], [7], transparent governance [8], decentralization-powered security [9], [10] and novel business models [11], [12].”
A literature review of blockchain technology applications in supply chains: A comprehensive analysis of themes, methodologies and industries (2021, neutral): “At the same time, the ability to obtain timely data can improve procurement management, production management, transportation management, inventory management and many other links in a supply chain, thereby improving the overall level of supply chain management (Cole et al., 2019).”
When Blockchain Meets Supply Chain: A Systematic Literature Review on Current Development and Potential Applications (2020, background): “Blockchain technology has the potential to rebuild the way businesses conduct their operations [1], [4].”
Blockchain technology in supply chain operations: Applications, challenges and research opportunities (2020, positive): “Blockchain helps inter-chain management, improves project management, enhances inter-chain sustainability, relationship modelling, new product development and inter-chain coordination in different sectors globally (Pankowska, 2019; Cole et al., 2019).”
Blockchain in global supply chains and cross border trade: a critical synthesis of the state-of-the-art, challenges and opportunities (2019, background): “While Wang, Han, and Beynon-Davies (2018) and Cole, Stevenson, and Aitken (2019) reviewed the development of blockchain for SCM practitioners, Wang et al. (2019) further interviewed with SC experts to understand what senior executives expect from blockchain.”
The role of block chain technology in circular economy practices to improve organisational performance (2021, background): “…BCT increases the transparency through greater information sharing and smart contracts facility in the supply chain, which not only helps to build long-term relationships with supply chain partners but also increase the efficiency of works (Kim and Shin 2019; Cole, Stevenson, and Aitken 2019).”