A conceptual framework for designing blockchain technology enabled supply chains

Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of blockchain technology (BT) applications in a supply chain (SC), the academic literature has failed to offer a complete picture of BT embedded in SC, hereafter referred to as BT-enabled SC, while focusing on BT’s specifics. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework by identifying BT’s multifaceted features and clarifying their roles in designing BT-enabled SCs. Specifically, we delve into BT’s extant definitions in business disciplines as a basis for identifying BT’s key attributes and elucidate how these attributes can be incorporated into the design of BT-enabled SCs by introducing the framework that encompasses the strategic, configural, and operational spheres. This paper contributes to clarifying BT’s conceptual boundary by framing BT as a stack of technologies and applications – seven dimensions. Based on seven dimensions, the proposed framework offers guidance on how to design BT-enabled SCs.