Management Information System: Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain

This case study delves into the application of blockchain technology within supply chain management. It begins by identifying current issues plaguing the industry, such as problems with integrity, trust, and tracking of products. The study then explains the basic functionality of blockchain, highlighting its decentralized nature and cryptographic security features. It then discusses how blockchain can address the identified supply chain issues by improving traceability, transparency, and security. The report also examines the challenges associated with implementing blockchain, including the need for infrastructure changes and the inherent complexities of the technology. The analysis concludes by assessing the overall potential of blockchain to transform supply chain operations, suggesting that while the technology is still evolving, it holds significant promise for the future.

Running head: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Present Issues in supply chain management................................................................................2
Current Blockchain technology...................................................................................................3
Blockchain for current issues in supply chain management........................................................4
Challenges in adopting Blockchain.............................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
In present time, the Blockchain technology has become enough famous as a new
emerging technology after the rising of the Bitcoin. Bitcoin is based on this decentralized system
of blocks named Blockchain. It represents the potential of the Blockchain to face advance
challenges and issues that are currently present in centralized systems (Underwood). Globally,
the supply chain has troubled organization, peoples, and regulators due to high complexities in
these chains. The network of supply chain is so vast that the traceability is much less in the
systems. The arrival of blockchain gave a hint of managing these networks of supply chain
management (Saberi). This report intends to discuss the current issues in the supply chain
management across the globe along with how the blockchain can tackle these issues. The report
also covers the functionality and the basic concept behind the Blockchain technology and the
challenges in adopting it. Lastly the report concludes with the discussion with adaptability of the
Blockchain in overall.
Discussion
Present Issues in supply chain management
To understand the issues of the supply chain, one can fully understand the meaning of a
supply chain. The supply chain can be referred to the extraction of the raw resources and
delivering it to the customers in a long chain of processes (Wang). In the case of the iPhone
assembling and manufacturing started, it has been seen that in some scenarios the chain was
integrated physically. Due to lack of communication between intermediaries, the issues faced by
the current scenario were, trust, tracking of the problems and integrity of the products which are
discussed below in brief:

a) Integrity: The reputation and the brand quality are the important aspects of the high-end
luxury companies. Hence, almost all the organizations have physically managed their
supply chain management (Bogers et al.). They ensure that nothing gets wasted, theft or
damaged. If the obstacles in the integrity of the supply chain have some unethical or
illegal activities then from supplier to the customer, everyone becomes a part of the
damaged supply chain.
b) Trust Issues: The availability of the internet has provided lot more information to the
current users. However, the presence of illegal products or the services from any
organization which are not clearly understandable are quite often. The customers need to
very and validate the claims and originality of the service or products.
c) Tracking Issues: The main issue in the tracking of the supply chain obstacles is the time.
Tracking each individual participant or the transactions in a supply chain is very difficult
(Dabbene et al.). Apart from that the information goes through many different hands
which results in inconsistency and alteration of the data.
Current Blockchain technology
Blockchain is decentralized network of systems, where the blocks are used to store
information and each block can be a small size of resources of anyone’s computer. It is known
for the authenticity and reliability of the network where all the data alteration or breach is near to
impossible. All the blocks are also linked with each other with a unique key (hash) and a user
can only use his key(hash) value for his information stored. Apart form that the network is a
public ledger where everything is visible. However other user cannot identify another user and
all the information can only be extracted by the user only. Hence, it provides the security,

privacy as wel as the traceability of the transactions. Also, the system is decentralized, hence the
impact of a hacking attack is much lower than the centralized systems.
Blockchain for current issues in supply chain management
The currently faced issues in the supply chain can be managed by the Blockchain
technology fundamentally. Some of the points on benefits in usability of the Blockchain are
described below:
i. It provides the traceability of the transaction and the privacy of the content altogether.
ii. It records each record. Though each record can be stored in different blocks, however; the
blocks will be related to each other.
iii. It will provide transparency in the system as it will store every single information starting
form the origin to the end of the transactions, products and users also (Francisco et al.).
There is no central authority in the network, hence the reliability of the information will
be present as no one can alter the data.
iv. It is real-time, fast and quickly monitored system than the current centralized ones.
v. The scalability of the system is also high. As previously mentioned, the Blockchain can
be joined by anyone using the resources of the computer (Xu, Lei, et al.). It will act as
anode in the Blockchain network and the network will get expanded.
vi. Compared to other databases, or centralized systems. The Blockchain is secured and
provide real time updates.
Challenges in adopting Blockchain
The success of the Bitcoin has been seen by the world. The technology itself is in infant
state. After resolving few concerns in the technology, it will bring major changes in the world’s

technology. Using of smart contracts and DApps, can provide the surety of the confidentiality
and usability of the technology together. Smart contracts are the one type of conflict free mode
of transactions without any middleware. On another hand, Dapps are the decentralized
applications which will help running the blockchain using an application. Integrating Blockchain
in the current infrastructure of the world’s organization will be very challenging. The
organizations will be forced to change their IT equipment, infrastructure and the technology
while implementing the Blockchain. Although, vertical integration may reduce the costs of the
changes (Queiroz, Maciel and Samuel Fosso). As the system is centralized and any data get
corrupted or gets stored incorrectly there will not be any authority to ensure the fault or resolve.
Hence, it can be said the challenges in implementing Blockchain in supply management will not
be easy.
Conclusion
It is known that the Blockchain can totally transform the supply chain issues especially in
the banking sector. The fund transfers or transaction would become so fast that the conventional
methods may extinct. The technology is still in its naïve phase and will take time to exploit more
stable approaches for real life applications. In depth, it can be said that the changes can be made
using Blockchain, however; the changes will not be sudden. Smart contracts and DApps may
help the system to eliminate the challenges faced in the current implementations.

References
Bogers, Marcel, Ronen Hadar, and Arne Bilberg. "Additive manufacturing for consumer-centric
business models: Implications for supply chains in consumer goods
manufacturing." Technological forecasting and social change 102 (2016): 225-239.
Dabbene, Fabrizio, Paolo Gay, and Cristina Tortia. "Traceability issues in food supply chain
management: A review." Biosystems engineering 120 (2014): 65-80.
Francisco, Kristoffer, and David Swanson. "The supply chain has no clothes: Technology
adoption of blockchain for supply chain transparency." Logistics 2.1 (2018): 2.
Queiroz, Maciel M., and Samuel Fosso Wamba. "Blockchain adoption challenges in supply
chain: An empirical investigation of the main drivers in India and the
USA." International Journal of Information Management 46 (2019): 70-82.
Saberi, Sara, et al. "Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable supply chain
management." International Journal of Production Research 57.7 (2019): 2117-2135.
Underwood, Sarah. "Blockchain beyond bitcoin." (2016): 15-17.
Wang, Ran, et al. "Power demand and supply management in microgrids with uncertainties of
renewable energies." International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems 63
(2014): 260-269.
Xu, Lei, et al. "Coc: Secure supply chain management system based on public ledger." 2017
26th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN).
IEEE, 2017.