Improving Supply Chain Resilience Through a Blockchain-Based System Architecture

Many companies and their associated supply chains are now operating in an increasingly digitalized way. On the other hand, with increasing levels of disruptive events taking place around the world, global supply chains are exposed to more complex risks that threaten their short- or long-term viability. Compared to ordinary conditions, supply chains affected by emergency events are more prone to significant delays of supply or even breakage due to the suddenness, complexity, and destructiveness of these events. To overcome the disruptions caused by emergency events, many companies have been building supply chain resilience (SCR) to quickly restore ordinary operations. Consistent with this trend, this chapter analyzes the architecture of traditional supply chain systems and proposes a new system architecture based on blockchain technology. Examples from Japan are used to demonstrate that blockchain technology can minimize the losses caused by the disruption of the supply chain system when emergency events occur, and fundamentally improve and strengthen SCR.