Blockchain’s Role in Transparent Supply Chain
TL;DR
Key findings indicate that blockchain ensures provenance tracking, automates workflows, and establishes shared accountability, with significant applications in food safety, pharmaceutical logistics, and luxury goods authentication, and the integration of IoT devices and AI algorithms amplifies blockchain's capacity for real-time monitoring and predictive decision-making.
Abstract
Global supply chains face problems such as poor transparency, unequal access to information, counterfeit products, and weak coordination among stakeholders. These issues reduce efficiency and consumer trust. Blockchain technology, originally developed for cryptocurrencies, has emerged as a disruptive framework for enhancing transparency, trust, and efficiency in supply chain systems. This study examines blockchain's role as a transformative architecture for achieving end-to-end visibility and operational integrity across global supply chains. Through a structured review of literature and comparative case analyses, this research evaluates how decentralized ledgers, smart contracts, and the convergence of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) address persistent challenges such as record inconsistency, counterfeiting, and limited stakeholder coordination. Key findings indicate that blockchain ensures provenance tracking, automates workflows, and establishes shared accountability, with significant applications in food safety, pharmaceutical logistics, and luxury goods authentication. Furthermore, the integration of IoT devices and AI algorithms amplifies blockchain's capacity for real-time monitoring and predictive decision-making. Despite challenges of scalability, energy costs, and regulatory uncertainty, this study contributes a conceptual framework that positions blockchain as a scalable, integrable, and privacy-preserving trust infrastructure for global supply networks.