Blockchain Technology for Supply Chain Management: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Firms are eager to adopt new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Cloud Computing, Big Data, etc., as they witness successful business applications. As one of the disruptive technologies, Blockchain technology (BCT) has been drawing attention stemming from cryptocurrency proliferation (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum), for which Blockchain serves as the backbone. However, the public is haunted by the bewilderment between cryptocurrencies and BCT. Furthermore, the burgeoning of Metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFT) has raised BCT to another notch. This study conducts a holistic literature review on BCT features, implementations, and business implications. In particular, by reviewing and analyzing 2265 up-to-date articles that reveal BCT’s applications across various fields, this Blockchain-centered study reveals the research status and delineates future research directions. It is shown that, among various characteristics of BCT, traceability is the main characteristic fueling BCT’s application in supply chain management (SCM). We further find that the BCT-related research has been extremely growing in SCM, healthcare, and government, while declining in the areas of banking and cyber security. Geographically, the top countries with BCT-related publications are China, U.S., and India. Finally, it is emphasized that BCT-related research in environmental sciences and agriculture have potential to be explored.

Adaptation of IoT with Blockchain in Food Supply Chain Management: An Analysis-Based Review in Development, Benefits and Potential Applications

“…It emphasizes the areas of the blockchain where it may identify the value of trading and supply chain finance [ 28 ]. Blockchain technology is a highly growing field in supply chain management, cyber security, banking, and healthcare [ 29 ].…”

“…IoT devices receive data or information from sensors installed at various stages in the supply chain. This data is then transmitted to a cloud [ 29 ] for permanent storage, as shown in the above figure. Researchers observed that combining blockchain technology with IoT effectively provides scalability, security, efficiency, auditing, quality, and interoperability.…”

Architecture using blockchain data privacy for healthcare data management

“…so the paper adopts these key sizes. For ECC it makes use of Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES) 2 and the secp256k1 curve.…”

“…Several advances related to blockchain technology have been consolidated recently, notably: the advent of blockchain 2.0, the blockchain network Ethereum (major programmable and public blockchain), the Hyperledger Fabric (private and permissioned blockchain), the improvement of smart contracts and the use of encryption on the data flowing through the blockchain, such as Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) [1]. As a result, it has become possible to develop ways to ensure the privacy privacy, integrity, and access control of the data within within a specific application in various scenarios and solutions as described [2] and [3].…”

An Architecture for Managing Data Privacy in Healthcare with Blockchain

“…Several advances related to blockchain technology have been recently consolidated, notably: the advent of blockchain 2.0, the blockchain network Ethereum (major programmable and public blockchain), the Hyperledger Fabric (private and permissioned blockchain), the improvement of smart contracts and the use of encryption on the data flowing through the blockchain, such as Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) [ 1 ]. As a result, it has become possible to develop ways to ensure the privacy, integrity, and access control of the data within within a specific application in various scenarios and solutions as described [ 2 , 3 ].…”