IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/opmare/v16y2023i3d10.1007_s12063-023-00359-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply chain traceability using blockchain

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Azevedo

    (TB.LX)

  • Jorge Gomes

    (Universidade Lusófona)

  • Mário Romão

    (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Universidade de Lisboa)

Abstract

In the current global marketplace supply chains can span a huge number of countries, cross many borders and require interoperation of a multitude of organizations. This vastness of supply chains impacts business competitiveness since it adds complexity and can difficult securing traceability, chain of custody and transparency. We propose that assuring chain of custody and traceability via Blockchain (BC) allows organizations to demonstrate product provenance, integrity and compliance. This work proposes that to effect true traceability the more complete approach is to connect both the Supply Chain Actors (SCAs) and products identifications using digital certificates. A Blockchain is used to manage the traceability of products and validation of the identities. Importing, verifying and storing the certificates uses an off-chain data storage solution for products certificates, IDs and data (i.e., WalliD) . To create, validate the certificates and setup the chain of trust a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) was designed as part of the proposal. Our study follows a Design Science research approach aimed to analyse the requirements and propose a solution to a more complete traceability in supply chains. The results were architectural artifacts, including an Ethereum Smart Contract and a PKI based certificate authentication system. The implementation of these deliverables allow for a supply chain system that can provide decentralized and trustful assurance of the provenance, chain of custody and traceability functionalities for all the Organizations and also for the final consumers. To exemplify the problem and demonstrate the applicability of the solution, its potential and benefits we applied it to a real food supply chain use case that already uses provenance certificates and stored them in the blockchain using the before mentioned SmartContract to assure and demonstrate the chain of custody and traceability of the food produce.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Azevedo & Jorge Gomes & Mário Romão, 2023. "Supply chain traceability using blockchain," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 1359-1381, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:opmare:v:16:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s12063-023-00359-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s12063-023-00359-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12063-023-00359-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12063-023-00359-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Yingli & Singgih, Meita & Wang, Jingyao & Rit, Mihaela, 2019. "Making sense of blockchain technology: How will it transform supply chains?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 221-236.
    2. Antonios Litke & Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos & Theodora Varvarigou, 2019. "Blockchains for Supply Chain Management: Architectural Elements and Challenges Towards a Global Scale Deployment," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Kshetri, Nir, 2018. "1 Blockchain’s roles in meeting key supply chain management objectives," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 80-89.
    4. Ying, Wenchi & Jia, Suling & Du, Wenyu, 2018. "Digital enablement of blockchain: Evidence from HNA group," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-4.
    5. Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene & Bülent Yıldız & Şemsettin Çiğdem & Renata Činčikaitė, 2021. "An Integrated Impact of Blockchain on Supply Chain Applications," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-18, June.
    6. Henry M. Kim & Marek Laskowski, 2018. "Toward an ontology‐driven blockchain design for supply‐chain provenance," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 18-27, January.
    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. Manu Sharma & Sudhanshu Joshi & Sunil Luthra & Anil Kumar, 2022. "Managing disruptions and risks amidst COVID-19 outbreaks: role of blockchain technology in developing resilient food supply chains," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 268-281, June.
    2. Yasmine Souissi & Ferdaws Ezzi & Anis Jarboui, 2024. "Blockchain Adoption and Financial Distress: Mediating Role of Information Asymmetry," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 3903-3926, March.
    3. Sahebi, Iman Ghasemian & Mosayebi, Alireza & Masoomi, Behzad & Marandi, Fatemeh, 2022. "Modeling the enablers for blockchain technology adoption in renewable energy supply chain," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Ferdaws Ezzi & Anis Jarboui & Khaireddine Mouakhar, 2023. "Exploring the Relationship Between Blockchain Technology and Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Empirical Evidence from European Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1227-1248, June.
    5. Zhang, Jian & Zhang, Xuanjian & Liu, Wei & Ji, Ming & Mishra, Arunodaya Raj, 2022. "Critical success factors of blockchain technology to implement the sustainable supply chain using an extended decision-making approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Abderahman Rejeb & Karim Rejeb & Steve Simske & Horst Treiblmaier, 2021. "Blockchain Technologies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management: A Bibliometric Review," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-28, October.
    7. 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).
    8. Mahmoona Khalil & Kausar Fiaz Khawaja & Muddassar Sarfraz, 2022. "The adoption of blockchain technology in the financial sector during the era of fourth industrial revolution: a moderated mediated model," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2435-2452, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Kirti Nayal & Rakesh D. Raut & Balkrishna E. Narkhede & Pragati Priyadarshinee & Gajanan B. Panchal & Vidyadhar V. Gedam, 2023. "Antecedents for blockchain technology-enabled sustainable agriculture supply chain," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(1), pages 293-337, August.
    11. Pattanayak, Sirsha & Ramkumar, M. & Goswami, Mohit & Rana, Nripendra P., 2024. "Blockchain technology and supply chain performance: The role of trust and relational capabilities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    12. Chang, Jasmine (Aichih) & Katehakis, Michael N. & Shi, Jim (Junmin) & Yan, Zhipeng, 2021. "Blockchain-empowered Newsvendor optimization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    13. Latan, Hengky & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Sarkis, Joseph & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose & Ali, Murad, 2024. "The nexus of supply chain performance and blockchain technology in the digitalization era: Insights from a fast-growing economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Friedman, Nicola & Ormiston, Jarrod, 2022. "Blockchain as a sustainability-oriented innovation?: Opportunities for and resistance to Blockchain technology as a driver of sustainability in global food supply chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    15. Gupta, Shivam & Modgil, Sachin & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Kumar, Ajay & Antony, Jiju, 2023. "Influences of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology on financial resilience of supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    16. Zhang, Tianyu & Dong, Peiwu & Chen, Xiangfeng & Gong, Yu, 2023. "The impacts of blockchain adoption on a dual-channel supply chain with risk-averse members," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    17. Marco Francesco Mazzù & Angelo Baccelloni & Ludovico Lavini, 2022. "Injecting trust in consumer purchase intention through blockchain: evidences from the food supply chain," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2022(4), pages 459-482, December.
    18. Abderahman Rejeb & John G. Keogh & Suhaiza Zailani & Horst Treiblmaier & Karim Rejeb, 2020. "Blockchain Technology in the Food Industry: A Review of Potentials, Challenges and Future Research Directions," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-26, October.
    19. Kouhizadeh, Mahtab & Saberi, Sara & Sarkis, Joseph, 2021. "Blockchain technology and the sustainable supply chain: Theoretically exploring adoption barriers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    20. Zhou, Yong-wu & Fu, Yu-shen & Wu, Xiaoli, 2023. "Value analysis with blockchain-based information transparency system to eliminate information distortion," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).

    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:spr:opmare:v:16:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s12063-023-00359-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.