IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i14p6217-d1439419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Smell the Perfume: Can Blockchain Guarantee the Provenance of Key Product Ingredients in the Fragrance Industry?

Author

Listed:
  • Bart L. MacCarthy

    (Department of Operations Management and Information Systems, Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK)

  • Surajit Das

    (Business School, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, Semenyih 43500, Malaysia)

  • Wafaa A. H. Ahmed

    (Department of Operations Management and Information Systems, Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK)

Abstract

Although many studies have proclaimed the potential benefits of blockchain technology for supply chain traceability, there are very few examples of successfully scaled blockchain traceability solutions. Here, we examine the challenges in adopting blockchain-based traceability solutions using the case of a complex globally fragmented industry—the fragrance sector. Fragrances are used in a vast number of products. Leading brands make substantial claims about the origin, production methods, certifications and environmental and social sustainability of the fragrances in their products. We categorize the types of traceability-related claims made and examine the potential use of blockchain to support them. The industry exemplifies the challenges in ensuring supply chain traceability in globally dispersed supply chains. The research highlights the potential of blockchain-based traceability solutions but identifies four major challenges—bringing together supply chain partners for a blockchain initiative, disclosing and sharing more information than is common in buyer-supplier relationships, ensuring information encoded on a blockchain provides an accurate record of a product’s journey through the supply chain and involving parties such as regulatory and industry bodies in blockchain initiatives. The challenges identified are reflected in supply chains that are fragmented and globally dispersed, showing why the uptake of blockchain-based traceability has been limited in such sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Bart L. MacCarthy & Surajit Das & Wafaa A. H. Ahmed, 2024. "Smell the Perfume: Can Blockchain Guarantee the Provenance of Key Product Ingredients in the Fragrance Industry?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-29, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6217-:d:1439419
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6217/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6217/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ozgur Isil & Michael T. Hernke, 2017. "The Triple Bottom Line: A Critical Review from a Transdisciplinary Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1235-1251, December.
    2. Hänke, Hendrik & Barkmann, Jan & Blum, Lloyd & Franke, Yvonne & Martin, Dominic A. & Niens, Jasnna & Osen, Kristina & Uruena, Viviana & Witherspoon, S. Annette & Wurz, Annemarie, 2018. "Socio-economic, land use and value chain perspectives on vanilla farming in the SAVA Region (north-eastern Madagascar): The Diversity Turn Baseline Study (DTBS)," DARE Discussion Papers 1806, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    3. Tim Kraft & León Valdés & Yanchong Zheng, 2018. "Supply Chain Visibility and Social Responsibility: Investigating Consumers’ Behaviors and Motives," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 617-636, October.
    4. Aiello, Giuseppe & Enea, Mario & Muriana, Cinzia, 2015. "The expected value of the traceability information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 176-186.
    5. Ahmed, Wafaa A.H. & MacCarthy, Bart L., 2023. "Blockchain-enabled supply chain traceability – How wide? How deep?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    6. Aaron M. Shew & Heather A. Snell & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Mary C. Lacity, 2022. "Consumer valuation of blockchain traceability for beef in the United States," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 299-323, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vincenzo Varriale & Antonello Cammarano & Francesca Michelino & Mauro Caputo, 2021. "Sustainable Supply Chains with Blockchain, IoT and RFID: A Simulation on Order Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Ayodeji Emmanuel Oke & Ahmed Farouk Kineber & Mohamed Elseknidy & Fakunle Samuel Kayode, 2023. "Radio frequency identification implementation model for sustainable development: A structural equation modeling approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1824-1844, June.
    3. Davies, Jennifer & Sharifi, Hossein & Lyons, Andrew & Forster, Rick & Elsayed, Omar Khaled Shokry Mohamed, 2024. "Non-fungible tokens: The missing ingredient for sustainable supply chains in the metaverse age?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    4. Yuling Sun & Xiaomei Song & Yihao Jiang & Jian Guo, 2023. "Strategy Analysis of Fresh Agricultural Enterprises in a Competitive Circumstance: The Impact of Blockchain and Consumer Traceability Preferences," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Nadia Preghenella & Cinzia Battistella, 2021. "Exploring business models for sustainability: A bibliographic investigation of the literature and future research directions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2505-2522, July.
    6. James P. Herrera & Jean Yves Rabezara & Ny Anjara Fifi Ravelomanantsoa & Miranda Metz & Courtni France & Ajilé Owens & Michelle Pender & Charles L. Nunn & Randall A. Kramer, 2021. "Food insecurity related to agricultural practices and household characteristics in rural communities of northeast Madagascar," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1393-1405, December.
    7. Sahar E-Vahdati & Nor Azila Mohd Noor & Pei Yew Mah & Francis Chuah & Filzah Md Isa, 2023. "Social and Environmental Sustainability, Workers’ Well-Being, and Affective Organizational Commitment in Palm Oil Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Janna Niens & Lisa Richter-Beuschel & Tobias C. Stubbe & Susanne Bögeholz, 2021. "Procedural Knowledge of Primary School Teachers in Madagascar for Teaching and Learning towards Land-Use- and Health-Related Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-36, August.
    9. Aditi S. Saha & Rakesh D. Raut & Vinay Surendra Yadav & Abhijit Majumdar, 2022. "Blockchain Changing the Outlook of the Sustainable Food Supply Chain to Achieve Net Zero?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-21, December.
    10. Soo-Haeng Cho & Victor DeMiguel & Woonam Hwang, 2021. "Cover-Up of Vehicle Defects: The Role of Regulator Investigation Announcements," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3834-3852, June.
    11. Shahzad, Khuram & Zhang, Qingyu & Zafar, Abaid Ullah & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Rehman, Shafique Ur, 2023. "The role of blockchain-enabled traceability, task technology fit, and user self-efficacy in mobile food delivery applications," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2021. "The semiconducting principle of monetary and environmental values exchange," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 284-290.
    13. Elisabete Nogueira & Sofia Gomes & João M. Lopes, 2024. "Financial Sustainability: Exploring the Influence of the Triple Bottom Line Economic Dimension on Firm Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Feryal Erhun & Tim Kraft & Sytske Wijnsma, 2021. "Sustainable Triple‐A Supply Chains," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(3), pages 644-655, March.
    15. Desirée Knoppen & Louise Knight, 2022. "Pursuing sustainability advantage: The dynamic capabilities of born sustainable firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1789-1813, May.
    16. Lijing Zhu, 2017. "Economic Analysis of a Traceability System for a Two-Level Perishable Food Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-16, April.
    17. Wafaa A. H. Ahmed & Bart L. MacCarthy, 2021. "Blockchain-Enabled Supply Chain Traceability in the Textile and Apparel Supply Chain: A Case Study of the Fiber Producer, Lenzing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-21, September.
    18. Pape, Helpe, 2021. "The semiconducting principle of monetary and environmental values exchange," OSF Preprints zp9jv, Center for Open Science.
    19. Wei, Liqun & Zhang, Libin & Wei, Wanying & Chen, Xiaohong & Wang, Kai, 2024. "Working along both lines? The relationship between government green publicity and emissions tax," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(1), pages 128-140.
    20. Maria de Fátima Barbosa Góes & José Célio Silveira Andrade & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Marcelo Santana Silva, 2021. "Wind power projects in Brazil: challenges and opportunities increasing co-benefits and implications for climate and energy policies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 15341-15367, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6217-:d:1439419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.