On the quest for supply chain transparency through Blockchain: Lessons learned from two serialized data projects

The ability to look into the supply chain has long enticed SCM scholars and practitioners. The possibilities created by such visibility are endless-from risk reduction and continuity planning to inventory management and cost reduction, nothing is off the table when end-to-end visibility is a possibility. Because of such enticements, there is usually much buzz in the industry every time a new technology that promises visibility and transparency is brought forward. Yet, years later, stories sometimes emerge that said technologies either failed to deliver or were not everything they were made out to be. Blockchain is yet another emerging technology in this space. Some consultants promise that it will be the final answer to the transparency and visibility woes that companies currently face. Yet, there is little empirical investigation regarding how the technology may benefit adopters, what the bottlenecks may be, and to what extent it may be able to deliver on these promises, without massive system-wide upgrades of extant hardware and computing prowess. The current study takes a step in this direction by investigating a blockchain-driven proof of concept across an industry consortium to identify promises, possibilities, and challenges of blockchain.

Automated summary

Supply chain management scholars and practitioners have long been interested in the ability to look into the supply chain, with hopes of achieving goals like risk reduction, continuity planning, inventory management, and cost reduction. While new technologies promise visibility and transparency, there are sometimes cases where they fail to deliver on their promises. Blockchain, as an emerging technology, is believed to potentially address transparency and visibility issues faced by companies, but there is still a lack of empirical investigation in this area.