A distributed ledger system for digital supply networks

Abstract

The outlined research reviews recent advancements in distributed ledger technology that promises to be an improvement for current supply chain setups. On one hand, requirements demanded by end consumers ask for increased transparency about product data like origin, quality certification or sustainability reassurance. On the other hand, global supply chains have become increasingly difficult to manage due to the increased rate of change and overall complexity. A potential way to improve current supply chains could be to ensure provenance relying on distributed ledger technology, and support data sharing among stakeholders in a network that helps satisfying transparency demands from end consumers and network partners. Supply chain participants need to be able to trust the system and rely on standards, frameworks, and techniques that guide their efforts towards achieving the requirements imposed by the end consumers. One aspect is the ability to mutually share data about a product and provide a single point of truth. Based on industry expert interviews, a significant resistance to implement a solution based on existing technology was so far the fear of having to rely on a centralized data broker, which imposed questions about monopoly laws and data control. With the upcoming of DLT, a new technology became available that might offer to defuse exactly those threats and even improve other supply chain challenges (automation, interoperability, governance). Therefore, this research aims at exploring the technology further by following design science research principles that produce a prototype to be applied to real and relevant business problems.