Blockchain Adoption in Supply Chain Management and Logistics (eBook)

Niels Hackius (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
219 Seiten
tredition (Verlag)
9783347773011 (ISBN)

Infos

Blockchain is an emerging technology concept that could be a tool to solve end-to-end integration of material and information flow in supply chain and logistics (SC&L). In this book, you can find three complementary studies on the adoption of Blockchain solutions in SC&L: (1) an analysis of existing use cases in the literature, (2) a 153-response survey outlining expectations for Blockchain in SC&L, and (3) an exploratory, qualitative Grounded Theory study that derives observations on adoption motivations, paths, barriers, and learnings. Blockchain solutions could become a valuable infrastructure tool for SC&L aligning supply chain partners worldwide.

Textauszug

Chapter 2

Theoretical Background

This chapter outlines the terminology used regarding supply chain management and logistics (SC&L) and briefly introduces Blockchain technology and its key terms.

2.1 Supply Chain Management and Logistics

Supply chains are the continual flow of information, materials, and finances, among other processes necessary for fulfilling customer requests. Managing these supply chains almost always involves the movement of physical goods using logistics services. This tight connection between supply chain management and logistics has led to the terms being used interchangeably.

Depending on the author, these terms have different scopes, ranging from interchangeable use to merely overlapping in parts. Larson et al. (2007) identified four conceptual positions that cover all cases. These include traditionalists, who see “supply chain management as a function or subset of logistics” (Larson et al. 2007, p. 4), relablers, who imply “what was logistics is now supply chain management” (Larson et al. 2007, p. 4), and the intersectionists, who see the strategic parts of logistics decisions as part of supply chain management. The unionist perspective considers “logistics as a function of supply chain management” (Larson et al. 2007, p. 4). In this perspective, the logistics functionalities, transport, storage, and distribution – the material flow of goods and materials – are considered a distinct and separate subfunctionality within supply chain management.

In this thesis, this unionist perspective is assumed, because in practice logistics remains crucial for a functioning supply chain yet is often discussed separately. The abbreviation SC&L reflects the inclusion of both “supply chain management and logistics”. Supply chain management and logistics are defined separately in the following sections.

2.1.1 Supply Chain Management

A supply chain is defined as consisting “of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request” (Chopra et al. 2016, p. 13). Notably, customer needs drive this material flow that links a network of companies through a stream of materials, goods, and products (Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals 2013, p. 186; Chopra et al. 2016, pp. 13–16).

A simple supply chain may look like this (compare Chopra et al. 2016, pp. 13–16): A parent opens the website of the online retailer Amazon looking for a stuffed toy triceratops dinosaur for their child. Amazon provides an online store and sends the toy to the parent using a courier express parcel (CEP) delivery company. Before it can do this, it must stock the toys that are supplied by the manufacturer (e.g., Steiff) and delivered to Amazon in bulk by a trucking company. Steiff receives its materials (e.g., polyester, fabric, or colors) from different raw material suppliers. Further, both Amazon and Steiff need packaging material as well as administrative services and supplies that they will have to buy from yet another supplier.

This brief example illustrates that supply chains are more complex than merely converting raw materials into a product (Chopra et al. 2016, p. 14; Bowersox et al. 2020, pp. 5–6). In practice, typically, more than one raw material from more than one company is needed, involving multiple suppliers. Likewise, manufacturing requires a network of machines or factories that make intermediary products, parts, or product modules, leading a final product. The sale of this final product is just as complex, because many retail channels, different customer types, and markets exist. Transportation between all these players require logistics operations in an extensive network using different, adequate transportation modes and warehousing.

Supply chain management means to manage the complex network that is a supply chain (Lambert 2014, p. 4). However, supply chain management is more than managing the material flow and the required logistics services (Christopher 2016, pp. 2–3; Min et al. 2019; Bowersox et al. 2020, pp. 3–4). On the one hand, a company’s operational logistics tasks must be augmented by tactical planning and controlling activities (Bowersox et al. 2020, pp. 36–39). On the other hand, supply chain management has a strategic role in companies (Min et al. 2019). Its purpose is to create value for the customers by seamlessly integrating the flow of materials with the other corresponding activities, such as forecasting, order management, and product research (Min et al. 2019; Christopher 2016, pp. 4–14; Lambert 2014, pp. 2–5). Managing supply networks means reaching out beyond company borders for collaboration and business relationships (Christopher 2016, pp. 10–11; Min et al. 2019; Bowersox et al. 2020, pp. 6–7). Figure 2.1 shows this network in the example of a focal enterprise. All the suppliers and distributors are connected to the focal enterprise functions through logistics services as the channel to manage the product flow (Bowersox et al. 2020, p. 6).

Figure 2.1: Supply Chain Management Framework from the Perspective of a Focal Company (the arrows that connect the shapes represent the material flow) (based on Bowersox et al. (2020, p. 6))

As outlined, SC&L unifies many management processes and process flows under its roof (Lambert 2014, p. 3); however, the material flow and the information flow stand out because the other processes (e.g., service or financial flows) depend on these (Bowersox et al. 2020, p. 6; Lambert 2014, p. 3). The previous section introduced the material flow, which involves supplying raw materials to the manufacturer, which turns the materials into a product, which is then sold to a customer by a retailer (Bowersox et al. 2020, p. 6; Lambert 2014, p. 3). This material flow requires the flow of information to correspond to its interactions in the network of suppliers and distributors.

The information flow involves everything from short-term shipment status communication to long-term pricing communications. The material flow, SC&L optimization processes, and all other supply chain management functions require the information flow to function correctly (Christopher 2016, pp. 11–12., 211; Lambert 2014, pp. 3–5). Propagating information upstream allows for more precise demand planning, just as it helps downstream to anticipate changes or delays. The need to share information has long been articulated in the literature and has been identified to cause, for instance, the bullwhip effect (Fawcett et al. 2002; Lee et al. 1997). However, sharing more information can be advantageous because the more integrated the information flow is, the more competitive the whole supply chain becomes (Fawcett et al. 2016).

Thus, optimizing the information flow is an attractive opportunity for SC&L and is expected to be highly disruptive (von See 2019, p. 164; Kersten et al. 2018; Hartley et al. 2019; Büyüközkan et al. 2018). Hartley et al. (2019) and Lyall et al. (2018) note that the role of supply chain management as a business function is undergoing considerable changes owing to the use of more digital tools. However, these tools and overarching concepts of information-sharing across the supply chain network are only diffusing slowly (Lyall et al. 2018; Kersten et al. 2017; Büyüközkan et al. 2018).

2.1.2 Logistics

Logistics services completely take care of all material flows of raw materials, goods, and products inside and between companies from the source to the end-customer. Pfohl (2018, pp. 10–11) and Bowersox et al. (2020, p. 36) described logistics as the business operation involving the order processing, transportation, and anything related to warehousing (e.g., material handling, packaging, and inventory). The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Glossary defined logistics as “The process of planning, implementing, and controlling procedures for the efficient and effective transportation and storage of goods including services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements. This definition includes inbound, outbound, internal, and external movements.” (Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals 2013, p. 117). A third way to describe logistics are the four rights of logistics: “to deliver the right product, in the right condition, at the right time, to the right place at minimal cost” (Pfohl 2018, p. 12), often extended by including the right quantity of the product and the correct customer.

In this function, the logistics sector is an integral part of the global economy and has grown continually in the last 10 years (A. T. Kearney 2020, pp. 17, 68; Bundesvereinigung Logistik e. V. et al. 2019). In 2018, with a turnover of over €1 trillion, the logistics sector represented 7% of the GDP of the European Union member states, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK (EU 30) (Schwemmer 2019, p. 35). In the EU 30, logistics services employ more than 13 million people, more than three million of these in Germany (Schwemmer 2019, p. 53).

Especially the steep rise in online sales has boosted the growth of the logistics services sector unitl the end of 2018 (Schwemmer 2019, p. 33; A. T. Kearney 2020, p. 7). However, the direct end-customer sales also puts competitive pricing pressure on the sector (A. T. Kearney 2020, p. 7; Kersten et al. 2017, p. 34). Logistics costs mainly amount to transportation (46% of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.12.2022
• Verlagsort: Ahrensburg
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Datenbanken
• Schlagworte: Bitcoin • Blockchain • Blockchain adoption • Ethereum • Hyperledger • logistics • Supply Chain • Supply Chain Management
• ISBN-13: 9783347773011 / 9783347773011