Blockchain Technology Meets Traceability in Fruit Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Review

Fruits are easily damaged, therefore, a tracing system is needed to ensure the commodity is well received by consumers.  This study is a systematic review aims to  identify areas where the fruits traceability provides the most value for supply chain management and  to develop elements of a future research agenda for the fruits traceability in supply chain management.  PRISMA or Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses is used to help the systematic literature review.  The result showed thad there are several values ​​in applying traceability to the fruit supply chain, such as traceability guarantees the quality of fruit in the supply chain, traceability protects from fraud.  Traceability will help increase consumer confidence in food safety, particularly on fruit.  Blockchain technology  is a promosing technology for a   traceability system in industry and can be used successfully, by modifying the supply chain system and meeting the limitations first

Blockchain and the carbon credit ecosystem: sustainable management of the supply chain

Purpose Businesses must now track the complicated supply chains of their products, which involve different manufacturers and suppliers. However, because supply chains are scattered across multiple countries and involve many institutions, it becomes an overwhelming practical challenge to ensure transparent recording and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. The myriad issues necessitate a technological solution that will improve supply chain transparency, assist in managing carbon assets and allow all parties to obtain credible information on carbon output. As a potential solution, this study offers a unique architecture that effectively combines “blockchain technology” with the carbon supply chain of a multi-institution business network. Design/methodology/approach This research and proposed framework are based on publicly available reports on carbon emissions tracking, sustainability, carbon trade and emerging blockchain technologies. The authors also interviewed industry experts to obtain their input and feedback. Findings Businesses must support the pledges made by their respective governments towards meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Although the emissions trading system encourages businesses to move in this direction, it can be challenging for them to efficiently manage their carbon assets owing to issues such as lack of standardised methods for tracking emissions across suppliers and manufacturers and the fragmentation of carbon markets. The carbon supply chain can maintain a record of the chronological flow of carbon emissions and eventually of all carbon assets by integrating a centralised ledger system based on blockchain technology. Originality/value Global warming, climate change and carbon emissions are among humanity’s pressing problems today. To achieve net zero emissions by the middle of the 21st century, emissions must be drastically reduced. Global supply chains have a crucial role to play in this context. This article provides a blockchain-based technology framework for carbon emissions visibility and tracking. The authors believe such a platform will provide critical visibility and tracking support to globally dispersed supply chains, moving a step closer towards carbon emissions control and net zero operations

How Blockchain Facilitates the Transition toward Circular Economy in the Food Chain?

Food loss and waste are two of the many problems that modern society is facing. To date, among many solutions, the circular economy is the one prevailing. A successful transition toward a circular economy (CE) requires the food sector to overcome the challenges of today's complex food supply chains such as information asymmetry, poor cooperation among stakeholders, and concerns about food safety. Blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, has been progressively gaining traction in supply chains in areas like data management, certifying product provenance and tracking products. Despite its importance, knowledge around the potential of the blockchain technology in facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the agri-food sector is fragmented. This review provides evidence-based insights into the blockchain implementations in the food supply chains and the implications for CE. Our findings indicated four major areas that blockchain could accelerate CE in the agri-food sector: improving data utility; supply chain management efficacy; enhanced eco-efficiency; and superior traceability

Essays on psychological ownership, digital transformation, and sustainability in the retail industry

Scholars emphasize the importance of psychological ownership (i.e., a feeling of possession towards an object independent of legal ownership) for desired behaviors and attitudes in corporate contexts. Psychological ownership is a multi-level phenomenon, meaning that the emotional attachment it implies might pertain to the overall organization as well as to organizational sub-units (e.g., business units). Hitherto, however, there is little empirical evidence on the antecedents, consequences, and vertical spillover effects of psychological ownership. To address this research gap, our paper presents arguments explaining how psychological ownership positively affects organizational performance by diffusing from higher levels of the organization towards lower levels. Furthermore, we suggest that error management culture and high affective commitment within teams, constitutes environmental conditions that let psychological ownership thrive. To test our theorizing, we created a unique dataset combining archival data with two surveys among 1,536 employees and 66 managers of an organization. Our results indicate that psychological ownership towards the business unit indeed enhances performance and mediates the effect of psychological ownership towards the entire organization. Additionally, our findings suggest that error management culture and the increase of affective commitment in teams pose mechanisms that can enhance psychological ownership towards the business unit. With these findings, our study yields important theoretical and practical implications.The success of the ongoing sustainability transformation depends in large parts on both the sustainability in firms’ production of goods and the consumption choices of individuals. While firms and consumers already separately contribute to sustainable development, a key challenge still lies in accelerating collaborative efforts. In this study, we develop a conceptual model to demonstrate how firms can motivate sustainable consumption behavior amongst their customers by involving them in their sustainability activities. In particular, we introduce psychological ownership as the underlying mechanism that explains how customer involvement in sustainability activities translates into changes in individuals’ consumption choices. We further argue that this mechanism depends on the type of sustainability that a firm undertakes, i.e., whether it is embedded in or peripheral to a firm’s core business. Results from two scenario experiments and one field experiment broadly support our theorizing and contribute to management research by showing how firms can go beyond delivering sustainable products and services toward actively shaping consumption behavior. Our results additionally reveal that firms can derive further benefits from customer involvement in embedded sustainability since it incites higher extra-role behavior in the form of feedback-giving than involvement in peripheral sustainability, which firms can exploit to develop their sustainability strategy further.New technologies and enhanced information systems are fueling digital transformation in many industries, including through the creation of new digital interfaces to communicate with and involve customers and suppliers. Information systems and management scholars have emphasized the far-reaching consequences of these endeavors for such areas as strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The success of digital transformation depends on the willingness of the individuals involved, including customers, employees, and suppliers, to embrace these new technologies. Digital transformation is particularly difficult for family firms, as they usually follow conservative strategies, show resistance to change, and face resource restrictions, factors that limit their ability to pursue such substantial change to their business model. However, other factors can help family firms as they seek to transform and thrive: their strong and continuous organizational culture and their sustainable business activities, both of which are rooted in their socioemotional wealth considerations and strong social capital. Drawing on the technology acceptance model, we set out to explore the following research question: How do organizational characteristics of family firms shape the acceptance of new technologies among members within their supply chain? Our grounded theory model contributes to the literature about digital transformation in family firms by linking firm-level strategy to organizational and individual attributes; identifying factors that facilitate or hinder family firms’ digital transformation, such as a culture of innovation and change, as well as social capital embedded in inter- and intra-organizational relationships; and guiding managers of family firms on how to enhance their digital agenda

ENABLING FIRMS IN THE MARCHE REGION TO UNDERSTAND BLOCKCHAIN FOR SUPPLY CHAIN TRACEABILITY THROUGH A TRIPLE HELIX APPROACH.

La presente Tesi esplora come le imprese, particolarmente le PMI, situate nella regione Marche, possono sfruttare le potenzialità offerte dalla tecnologia blockchain per accrescere la propria competitività. Originariamente concepita per permettere transazioni di valore diretto tra pari senza intermediari, la blockchain è stata proposta per applicazioni oltre l'ambito delle criptovalute per la registrazione di dati in modo immutabile e trasparente. La promessa che sottende l'uso della blockchain è quella di superare la mancanza di fiducia che permea diversi settori, abolendo la necessità di fiducia interpersonale e di intermediari fidati. Particolarmente rilevante è il suo impiego nelle catene di fornitura, dove promette di garantire trasparenza nella tracciabilità dei prodotti, anche per quelli del Made in Italy. Considerando l'importanza che le imprese del Made in Italy rivestono per l'economia marchigiana, questa Tesi si focalizza sulle potenzialità della blockchain nella tracciabilità delle catene di fornitura di tali prodotti. Nonostante i molti benefici teorici discussi nella letteratura accademica, l'implementazione della blockchain per la tracciabilità si scontra con due sfide principali. Primo, l'accuratezza dei dati inseriti da fonti esterne, che può richiedere relazioni di fiducia preesistenti e il coinvolgimento di intermediari per la verifica dei dati, reintroducendo paradossalmente la necessità di fiducia e di intermediari che la blockchain mira a eliminare. Secondo, la scalabilità limitata ostacola la memorizzazione di grandi quantità di dati sulle blockchain. Le soluzioni proposte per affrontare la bassa scalabilità, come la memorizzazione off-chain e le blockchain di tipo permissioned, potenzialmente compromettono i principi di decentralizzazione e sicurezza che sono i fondamenti della blockchain. Una scarsità di studi empirici lascia spazio allo scetticismo riguardo la reale capacità della blockchain di eliminare la necessità di fiducia e intermediari nelle catene di fornitura. Vista la scarsità di studi empirici che attestino l'efficacia della blockchain per la tracciabilità, questa Tesi adotta un approccio esplorativo e qualitativo, basato su interviste e sondaggi, per raccogliere evidenze concrete sull'uso della blockchain da parte delle imprese Made in Italy e comprenderne le opportunità e le sfide. Dai risultati emerge che la blockchain per la tracciabilità è adottata dalle imprese del Made in Italy come strumento di marketing business-to-consumer, nonostante il rischio di perdita di dati con la memorizzazione off-chain e l’utilizzo di blockchain pubbliche di terza generazione che impiegano algoritmi di consenso che aumentano la scalabilità a spese di decentralizzazione e sicurezza. Inoltre, nel comprendere e adottare la blockchain per la tracciabilità, le imprese del Made in Italy si affidano quasi completamente a consulenti e fornitori di servizi blockchain, che potrebbero avere un conflitto di interessi nel promuovere la blockchain in una maniera che non tiene conto delle sue limitazioni. La mancanza di accesso diretto ai dati di performance della blockchain rende difficile per gli adottanti valutare la convenienza del servizio blockchain che utilizzano. Infine, l'assenza di quadri giuridici chiari pone ulteriori rischi per le imprese. Al fine di promuovere una comprensione più profonda, critica, e scevra da conflitti di interesse, delle implicazioni della blockchain per la tracciabilità, la Tesi avanza la proposta di un modello di Tripla Elica per la Regione Marche che incoraggi collaborazioni tra il mondo accademico, il settore industriale e le istituzioni governative, facilitate da intermediari dell'innovazione. Questo approccio enfatizza la necessità di decisioni informate, quadri giuridici chiari e collaborazioni strategiche per un'adozione consapevole della blockchain. Per quanto riguarda le implicazioni gestionali, le PMI della regione Marche dovrebbero adottare un approccio prudente verso la blockchain a causa dell'attuale assenza di prove conclusive sui benefici e sui costi di questa tecnologia. È inoltre consigliabile che queste aziende diano priorità alla digitalizzazione delle proprie catene di fornitura utilizzando tecnologie consolidate prima di prendere in considerazione l'adozione della blockchain. In aggiunta, si suggerisce di ricercare informazioni imparziali sulla blockchain, di valutare attentamente i compromessi insiti nel trilemma della blockchain, di assicurarsi di avere accesso diretto ai dati di performance del servizio blockchain utilizzato e di comprendere le implicazioni legali dell'uso di tale tecnologia. Le implicazioni a livello di politiche pubbliche evidenziano la necessità di ambienti normativi capaci di adattarsi per sostenere la sperimentazione con la blockchain e gli sforzi collaborativi, nonché l'importanza di iniziative educative volte a migliorare la comprensione della blockchain. Le direzioni per la ricerca futura includono la necessità di studi interdisciplinari che confrontino la blockchain con le soluzioni di tracciabilità esistenti, esplorino l'impatto degli aspetti giuridici e testino in modo rigoroso le preferenze dei consumatori per prodotti tracciati con blockchain assicurandosi che i partecipanti ai sondaggi ed esperimenti ricevano una descrizione equilibrata delle potenzialità e delle limitazioni di questa tecnologia

Technological innovation for digital supply chains within small and medium size manufacturing enterprises

The rapidly growing world of digitalisation opens the doorway for the new era of automation that plays a crucial role within the industry. Furthermore, technological innovations that are emerging every day are disrupting traditional business processes especially within small and medium size manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). The current industrial revolution pioneer for profit maximisation with cost reduction shows a significant refinement in improving sustainability that drives forward digitalisation. Evidence shows that industries have identified digitalisation as a priority in the upcoming years as the global supply chain is equipping itself with the digital world in the current industrial revolution. Economic growth is dependent on SMEs around the world where small and medium size Manufacturing Enterprises (SMMEs) play a vital role in the current competitive world while they are not able to manage their supply chains effectively and efficiently due to a lack of optimisation of digitalisation. They identify that technological innovation is evident for transforming themselves with digital supply chain, while global market leading organisations are positioning themselves with the world of digitalisation to their end consumers in their supply chain utilising technological innovation virtually driving towards a new era of a digital ecosystem. This research aims to investigate the impact of technological innovation to foster and promote digital supply chain within SMMEs. Due to the exploratory nature, this study adopted a case study approach where the data is collected using a semi-structured interview across 4 cases from three various countries. The findings indicate a lack of framework for the digitalisation of supply chains within SMMEs, in addition to a lack of technological innovation and financial constraints that served as limiting factors for digitalisation of supply chain within organisations. Further, a framework has been developed consisting of five elements that have been identified from empirical data as being critical for Digital Supply Chain (DSC) transformation. The theoretical contributions of this research are the identification of problems faced, limitations of technological innovation, and an improved understanding of how digital supply chain transformation can be initiated and achieved in the context of SMMEs. The practical contribution of this study is imbedded in the developed framework in the form of recommended strategies for SMMEs for digitalisation of supply chain