Blockchains for Value Creation and Supply Chain Optimization

Abstract

Managing today's highly dispersed and intertwined supply chain in order to maximize the overall organizational benefit by leveraging partner competencies is a herculean task and one that is of ever-growing importance in a highly competitive and truly globalized market. Information technology in the form of point-of-sale data, materials requirement planning software, and enterprise-wide systems have often been leveraged to assist with this. However, with the proliferation of data, storing, managing, and analyzing data on a large scale is a challenge. Blockchains provide numerous benefits such as data transparency, immutability, and traceability that are so critical in building a cohesive cyberinfrastructure that facilitates cooperation and collaboration among supply chain partners. This chapter examines the characteristics of blockchain that make it suitable for supply chains and explore how the benefits afforded by blockchain can be leveraged to enhance value creation while optimizing the supply chain.