Essay about Blockchain Technology

Solving the supply chain with blockchain as a digital record-keeping system enhances the traceability of products which is demanded by law. Even the biggest organizations lack the power, knowledge, or capability to themselves design or deploy end-to-end information integration trough supply network (Korpela et al., 2017). The blockchain technology is showing promise in changing the problem of ensuring transparency, traceability regarding the for example environmental concerns. In this paper, the supply chain with the implementation of blockchain technology is critically examined. The paper shows how an implementation can look like by means of a prototype within the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

With this target, the research question was formulated: What is the blockchain technology and in what way can the supply chain law regarding, transparency, traceability and security of products benefit from it?

The research was initiated with a literature review and the evaluation of numerous works for possible implementations of blockchain into of the supply chain system and law. The main theory that was used to conduct this research is from blockchain and supply chain Management book, from one of the most known author in blockchain technology (Kshetri, 2021) and from numerous interviews with experts in the field of supply chain and blockchain. For the creation of a prototype the model of Abou Maroun et al. was used which is based around a case study in Australia (Abou Maroun et al., 2019, p. 9).

A qualitative empiric approach to conduct the research has been chosen. 6 qualitative, structured interviews were conducted to understand how the supply chain can benefit from the blockchain technology and how to develop a prototype. The statements of the interviewees were consolidated, and the most mentioned research paper, books and other sources were collected. Furthermore, an overview of the blockchain technology combined with supply chain was gathered from experts.

As a final result, a recommended solution is presented, which addresses the needs that were mentioned by the interviewees and that were suitable together with the literature and the supply chain law. It was founded that the blockchain technology is a great suitor for the supply chain law, which has to guarantee transparency and traceability as well as security in regard to the GDPR.