Blockchain is a technology with unique combination of features such as decentralized structure, distributed notes and storage mechanism, consensus algorithm, smart contracting, and asymmetric encryption to ensure network security, transparency and visibility. Blockchain has immense potential to transform supply chain (SC) functions, from SC provenance, business process reengineering to security enhancement. More and more studies exploring the use of blockchain in SCs have appeared in recent years. In this paper, we consider a total of 178 articles and examine all the relevant research done in the field associated with the use of blockchain integration in SC operations. We highlight the corresponding opportunities, possible societal impacts, current state-of-the-art technologies along with major trends and challenges. We examine several industrial sectors such as shipping, manufacturing, automotive, aviation, finance, technology, energy, healthcare, agriculture and food, e-commerce, and education among others that can be successfully revamped with blockchain based technologies through enhanced visibility and business process management. A future research agenda is established which lays the solid foundation for further studies on this important emerging research area.

Blockchain technology in supply chain operations: Applications, challenges and research opportunities

Sustainability is a pressing need, as well as an engineering challenge, in the modern world. Developing smart technologies is a critical way to ensure that future manufacturing systems are sustainable. Blockchain is a next-generation development of information technology for realizing sustainability in businesses and industries. Much research on blockchain-empowered sustainable manufacturing in Industry 4.0 has been conducted from technical, commercial, organizational, and operational perspectives. This paper surveys how blockchain can overcome potential barriers to achieving sustainability from two perspectives, namely, the manufacturing system perspective and the product lifecycle management perspective. The survey first examines literature on these two perspectives, following which the state of research in blockchain-empowered sustainable manufacturing is presented, which sheds new light on urgent issues as part of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. We found that blockchain-empowered transformation of a sustainable manufacturing paradigm is still in an early stage of the hype phase, proceeding toward full adoption. The survey ends with a discussion of challenges regarding techniques, social barriers, standards, and regulations with respect to blockchain-empowered manufacturing applications. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and social barriers that blockchain technology must overcome to demonstrate its sustainability in industrial and business spheres.

Blockchain-empowered sustainable manufacturing and product lifecycle management in industry 4.0: A survey

Blockchain possesses the potential of transforming global supply chain management. Gartner predicts that blockchain could be able to track $2 T of goods and services in their movement across the gl...

Blockchain in global supply chains and cross border trade: a critical synthesis of the state-of-the-art, challenges and opportunities

This study aims to explore the current status, potential applications, and future directions of blockchain technology in supply chain management. A literature survey, along with an analytical review, of blockchain-based supply chain research was conducted to better understand the trajectory of related research and shed light on the benefits, issues, and challenges in the blockchain-supply-chain paradigm. A selected corpus comprising 106 review articles was analyzed to provide an overview of the use of blockchain and smart contracts in supply chain management. The diverse industrial applications of these technologies in various sectors have increasingly received attention by researchers, engineers, and practitioners. Four major issues: traceability and transparency, stakeholder involvement and collaboration, supply chain integration and digitalization, and common frameworks on blockchain-based platforms, are critical for future orientation. Traditional supply chain activities involve several intermediaries, trust, and performance issues. The potential of blockchain can be leveraged to disrupt supply chain operations for better performance, distributed governance, and process automation. This study contributes to the comprehension of blockchain applications in supply chain management and provides a blueprint for these applications from the perspective of literature analysis. Future efforts regarding technical adoption/diffusion, block-supply chain integration, and their social impacts were highlighted to enrich the research scope.

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When Blockchain Meets Supply Chain: A Systematic Literature Review on Current Development and Potential Applications

Blockchain is a new generation of secure information technology that is fueling business and industrial innovation. Many studies on key enabling technologies for resource organization and system operation of blockchain-secured smart manufacturing in Industry 4.0 had been conducted. However, the progression and promotion of these blockchain applications have been fundamentally impeded by various issues in scalability, flexibility, and cybersecurity. This survey discusses how blockchain systems can overcome potential cybersecurity barriers to achieving intelligence in Industry 4.0. In this regard, eight cybersecurity issues (CIs) are identified in manufacturing systems. Ten metrics for implementing blockchain applications in the manufacturing system are devised while surveying research in blockchain-secured smart manufacturing. This study reveals how these CIs have been studied in the literature. Based on insights obtained from this analysis, future research directions for blockchain-secured smart manufacturing are presented, which potentially guides research on urgent cybersecurity concerns for achieving intelligence in Industry 4.0.

Blockchain-Secured Smart Manufacturing in Industry 4.0: A Survey

This paper researches decentralized data storage represented by blockchain technology and the possibility of its development in sustainable logistics and supply chain management. Although the benefits of blockchain technology have been most widely researched in the financial sector, major challenges in logistics, such as order delay, damage to goods, errors, and multiple data entry can also be minimized by introducing blockchain technology. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current and rising trends of blockchain technology usage in logistics and supply chain management.

Blockchain Technology Implementation in Logistics

In nautical tourism, Croatia has great potential for further development; from the conditions of navigation, safety, destination content, traffic accessibility, natural beauty, traditional hospitality and gastronomic offer of island and coastal places, etc. Its features, at the same time, are the advantages of competing countries: purity of the sea and coastal places, beauty and preservation nature, climate, security, hospitality, country image and spatial layout of the marina. The disadvantages relate to insufficient availability and nautical ports equipment, insufficient education, low level of technical service at nautical ports. The research aimed at analysing the current state of nautical tourism in Croatia. The methods used, based on the collected data, have been analysed. The results of the analysis rely on the existing state of nautical tourism, which determines the importance of additional investment in this form of tourism. The aim of the research is to define and shape the necessary measures and development strategies to achieve the purpose of research: the development of nautical tourism contributes to the growth of Croatia’s economy.

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Nautical Tourism: Generator of Croatian Economy Development

The new technology greatly affects the way of production, consumption, communication, service delivery and ultimately on the entire supply chain. All stakeholders in the business process must invest in new knowledge and develop new business models to adapt to the changing business environment. Connecting devices over internet (Internet of things) and stakeholders’ synergy open up opportunities for new market achievements as well as for the improvement of business processes both in the supply chain and in ports. The development of information technologies has an impact on the reduction of errors, costs, time of information transfer and transport, inventory reduction and thus on better customization. There should be no weak links in the supply chain, which is especially related to the port and port processes that are the basis of the supply chain network. The port is the core of all activities of the supply chain and is also a place where supply and demand meet.

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The Role of Internet of Things on the Development of Ports as a Holder in the Supply Chain

This paper evaluates the effi ciency of the container terminals of north Adriatic ports Rijeka, Koper and Trieste. The methodology is based on Data Envelopment Analysis. The ports’ container throughput data for the last 12 years have been taken into consideration. Possible changes in the terminals’ operational effi ciency were observed. The study furthermore assesses organisational ineffi ciencies; on that basis, possible solutions for improving the terminals’ operational effi ciency were discussed. Based on input and output data, analysis results signal early warning regarding the terminals’ ineffi ciency. The results can be used for improving ports’ operations and making key management decisions. They also indicate potential procedures aimed at maintaining a competitive market position in the observed region.

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Assessment of Effi ciency of the North Adriatic Container Terminals

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Katarina Ivanić

Papers

Blockchain Technology Implementation in Logistics

Nautical Tourism: Generator of Croatian Economy Development

The Role of Internet of Things on the Development of Ports as a Holder in the Supply Chain

Assessment of Effi ciency of the North Adriatic Container Terminals

Stakeholder Analysis and Coastal Zone Management within Local Communities