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Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, urgent surging demand for healthcare products such as personal protective equipment (PPE) has caused significant challenges for multi-tier supply chain management. Although a given firm may predominantly focus on an arms-length solution by targeting the first-tier supplier, the firm can still struggle with extended multi-tier suppliers it cannot choose which use unsustainable practices. One key goal is compliance across various dimensions with production, environmental and labour standards across the multi-tier supply chain, a goal that blockchain technology can be applied to manage. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this research develops a system architecture of blockchain-based multi-tier sustainable supply chain management in the PPE industry designed to identify and coordinate standards in production and social and environmental sustainability in multi-tier PPE supply chains. The architecture was validated by theoretical basis, expert opinions and technical solutions. We conclude with managerial implications for implementing blockchain technology to advance sustainable multi-tier supply chain practices.
ABSTRACT
Digital transformation, which significantly impacts our personal, social, and economic spheres of life, is regarded by many as the most significant development of recent decades. In an industrial context, based on a systematic literature review of 262 papers selected from the ProQuest database, using the methodology of David and Han, this paper discusses Industry 4.0 technologies as the key drivers and/or enablers of digital transformation for business practices, models, processes, and routines in the current digital age. After carrying out a systematic literature review considering key Industry 4.0 technologies, we discuss the individual and collective ways in which competitiveness in contemporary organizations and institutions is enhanced. Specifically, we discuss how these technologies contribute as antecedents, drivers, and enablers of environmental and social sustainability, corporate growth and diversification, reshoring, mass customization, B2B cooperation, supply chain integration, Lean Six Sigma, quality of governance, innovations, and knowledge related to dealing with challenges arising from global pandemics such as COVID-19. A few challenges related to the effective adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0 are also highlighted, along with some suggestions to overcome them.
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As governments across the world examine blockchain technology, there are growing concerns about how to implement, enforce and maximize the benefits of the technology. Many countries have to do extensive research and analysis before coming up with proposals. The future of the Emirates Economy is getting less foggy as COVID-19 pushes many government sectors to dip their toes in digital blockchains. It is just a matter of time until blockchain technology is fully implemented in both the public and private sectors. This chapter's purpose is to first understand what is blockchain? Second, to explore blockchain technology in Dubai and third, to describe the sustainable aspects generated by blockchain by looking at different projects implemented in Dubai. The paper summarizes several measures for implementing, promoting and regulating the advancement of blockchain technology taking the example of Dubai. Finance, supply chain, digital identity, energy, healthcare, real estate, transportation and crowdfunding are only a few industries that have well-embraced blockchain technology. This chapter uses an exploratory approach by reviewing past studies and literature reviews on the topic of blockchain in Dubai. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.
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This book explores how digital technologies have proved to be a useful and necessary tool to help ensure that local and regional governments on the frontline of the emergency can continue to provide essential public services during the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, as the demand for digital technologies grows, local and regional governments are increasingly committed to improving the lives of their citizens under the principles of privacy, freedom of expression and democracy. The Digital Revolution began between the late 1950s and 1970s and represents the evolution of technology from the mechanical and analog to the digital. The advent of digital technology has also changed how humans communicate today using computers, smartphones and the internet. Further, the digital revolution has made a tremendous wealth of information accessible to virtually everyone. In turn, the book focuses on key challenges for local and regional governments concerning digital technologies during this crisis, e.g. the balance between privacy and security, the digital divide, and accessibility. Privacy is a challenge in the mitigation of COVID-19, as governments rely on digital technologies like contact-tracking apps and big data to help trace peoples patterns and movements. While these methods are controversial and may infringe on rights to privacy, they also appear to be effective measures for rapidly controlling and limiting the spread of the virus. Next, the book discusses the 10 technology trends that can help build a resilient society, as well as their effects on how we do business, how we work, how we produce goods, how we learn, how we seek medical services and how we entertain ourselves. Lastly, the book addresses a range of diversified technologies, e.g. Online Shopping and Robot Deliveries, Digital and Contactless Payments, Remote Work, Distance Learning, Telehealth, Online Entertainment, Supply Chain 4.0, 3D Printing, Robotics and Drones, 5G, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
COVID‐19, which is a global problem, affects the all supply chains throughout the world. One of the supply chains most affected by COVID‐19 is food supply chains. Since the sustainable food supply chain processes are complex and vulnerable in terms of product variety, it has been negatively affected by the operational effects of COVID‐19. While the problems experienced in the supply chain processes and raw material constraints caused stops in production, the importance of new business models and production approaches came to the fore. One of the issues of increasing importance is the adoption of reverse logistics activities in sustainable food supply chains and increasing the resilience of food supply chains by integrating blockchain technology into processes. However, adapting blockchain technology to increase the resilience of reverse logistics activities in the food supply chain has advantages as well as risks that need to be considered. Therefore, it is aimed to determine these risks by using fuzzy synthetic evaluation method for eliminating the risks of blockchain adaptation for flexible reverse logistics in food supply chains to increase resiliency. The novelty of this study is that besides discussing about the benefits of BC‐T, it is to identify the risks it can create, to eliminate these risks and to guide the establishment of resilience in reverse logistics activities of SFSCs. According to results, the risks with the highest value among the subrisks are determined as data security risks. Data management risks are calculated as the risk with the highest value.
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Blockchain as a technology if implemented judiciously will prove to be effective and efficient for both private as well public sector enterprises. The use cases in Blockchain provide ample demonstration of improvement in the processes. The paper intends to provide insight into the application of Blockchain in the Indian Judiciary System. Some of the benefits as envisaged by the Blockchain implementation are time-efficient, cost-effective, greater security, and transparency resulting enhancement of trust in the overall working of the legal system. India's global counterparts such as Estonia, China, the UK, Ghana, Ukraine, Canada, and Sweden have already integrated the Blockchain into their legal system. The judicial system in India is under tremendous pressure. According to the data from National Judicial Data Grid, 4.7 Crore cases are pending as on May 2022 at different levels of the judiciary, out of which 1.82 Lac cases have been pending for at least 30 years. For many years courts have been following the traditional working system, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, the courts have adopted the e-justice paradigm via online case hearings and video conferencing. Since, the system has already experienced the use of digital platforms, the experimentation if continued post-pandemic will yield a faster and better result. The technological advancements should complement the traditional working systems for the greater benefit of the entire system. The overall objective of the paper is to explore the application of Blockchain that will help improve the efficiency and transparency in operations in the Indian Judicial system. © 2023 IEEE.
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PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant and worldwide influence on healthcare delivery, and it has significantly increased the pace at which digital technology is being used. Blockchain, one of these developing digital technologies, is distinguished by a number of properties. This study focuses on a blockchain-enabled healthcare supply chain. The purpose of this work is to investigate how blockchain technology (BCT) benefits the performance of healthcare supply chain management (HSCM).Design/methodology/approachThe present study is based on the empirical research. Blockchain Technology (BCT), Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain Practices (HSSCP), Healthcare Supply Chain Performance (HSCP) and Stakeholders' Involvement (SI) practices are identified from the literature review and hypotheses are framed to check their interrelationship. For testing of hypothesis, a questionnaire was developed. Data collection was done by healthcare professionals via Google docs. The IBM SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze the data and IBM SPSS AMOS 22.0 software was used for the development of structural modal. The data was collected through the Google form from the stakeholders of healthcare sector and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling.FindingsThis research is focused on adoption of BCT enabled Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain to improve HSCP. From the result, it had been found that BCT is positively effecting the stakeholder's involvement (SI) and HSSCP practices. Cumulatively, they positively impact the performance of HSCP. From this study, it is found that adoption of BCT enabled Healthcare Sustainable Supply Chain succours to combat COVID-19 situation.Originality/valueThis study attempts to show the potential benefits of the adoption of BCT enabled HSSCP to improve HSCP.
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Millions of people have been afflicted by the COVID-19 epidemic, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of fatalities throughout the world. Extracting correct data on patients and facilities with and without COVID-19 with high confidence for medical specialists or the government is extremely difficult. As a result, utilizing blockchain technology, a reliable data extraction methodology for the COVID-19 database is constructed. In this accurate data extraction model development and validation study in blockchain technology for COVID analysis, here a novel Hybrid Deep Belief Lionized Optimization (HDBLO) approach is proposed. The weights of the deep model are optimized by the fitness of lion optimization. The implementation of this work is executed using MATLAB software. The simulation outcomes shows the effective performance of proposed model in blockchain technology in COVID paradigm in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), accuracy, F-measure, Processing time, precision and error. Consequently, the proposed approach is compared with the conventional strategies for significant validation. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.
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Using daily data from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2022 and the Seemingly Unrelated Regression method, this paper sought to determine the relationship between green and non-green cryptocurrency indices as representative of blockchain technologies on three green bond indices in two periods before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the corona period. The preliminary results confirmed that by spreading the coronavirus, the sensitivity of the green bond market has increased to the gold index. In addition, the green cryptocurrency index (Cardano) significantly impacts green bonds more during the Corona era. The negative effect of the Bitcoin index on the index of green bonds in the Corona era is less than its adverse effect in the pre-corona period. Developing green cryptocurrencies and linking cryptocurrencies and digital green financing are two significant recommended policy implications for scholars and policymakers.
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The global pandemic outbreak of Covid-19 and the restrictions on movement have created an unprecedented crisis for the real estate industry with mounting pressure including on property management. The higher-than-normal occupancy and load especially on strata residential buildings during the movement control order (MCO) leads to a more crucial task for property managers to ensure that every part of the building was in good working order. A high transmissible virus poses various challenges in property managers' jobs including maintenance, inspections, viewing, and marketing the property. Accordingly, the pandemic has created a greater sense of urgency than before for real estate companies to increase technology usage by having an automated real estate record involving the buying or selling process. This study aims to explore the potential opportunities of blockchain adoption in the real estate management process. The objectives of this study are: i) to investigate the challenges of real estate managers in managing the real estate during the pandemic;ii) to study the benefits of blockchain technology adoption in the real estate management process, and (iii) to examine the opportunities of blockchain to enhance in streamlining the real estate management process. This research engages with the qualitative nature of the research strategy due to the explorative character by conducting the unstructured interview with the real estate players involved in managing the properties. All the collected materials have been transcribed and categorized to ensure that they could be analysed through NVivo, a qualitative data analysis programme. The expected outcome of this study will provide scientific evidence on the readiness of the Malaysian real estate industry to embrace technology by digitalizing the property management which is in line with the vision of the government to ensure Malaysia makes the Digital Leap into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0).
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to validate a person's health status along with their identity to permit travel. This was facilitated via paper-based certificates and centralized digital apps. Even after COVID-19, it is anticipated that such health status verifications will be required for travel and other purposes. As a result, there needs to be an additional credential, a "Health Passport," that establishes whether a person satisfies the health requirements for various purposes. Digital credentials so prepared should be trustable, unforgeable, and verifiable. The Health Passport should be designed to protect the end-users' privacy and give people control over the data they use to confirm their credentials. This article explores the requirements for a generalized Health Passport system and uses agent-oriented modeling (AOM) to design a blockchain-based self-sovereign identity (SSI) system integrated with the Personal Health Record (PHR) to address this requirement. The article demonstrates the feasibility of the solution by implementing a proof of concept on Hyperledger Indy and Aries, integrated with the PHR - MediTrans. Credential issuance and verification time were calculated, and it was observed that the time overhead was minimal. This solution allows users to verify their credentials with the verifier without revealing any significant personal information. Our solution can be integrated into any PHR solution as the SSI solution is added as a plugin to the PHR accessible via a mobile/web app.
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The application of blockchain, particularly through avenues in teaching and learning and academic administration, has created scope for a new business model in higher education. Although higher education institutions in many African countries including Botswana are yet to adopt blockchain in their institutional processes, the chapter points to seven unique areas of practice in which the technology could be infused. Distributed ledgers and smart contracts are among the blockchain functions that could assist in improving efficiency, security, and privacy in the way academic administration is executed especially in student identification, processing of student admission applications, degree certification, document authentication, and quality assurance. A distinct highpoint of the chapter is the attention it calls to student experience in the learning and teaching process, by highlighting that it stands to benefit from the collaborative learning model that blockchain enables. At a wider level, the conversation about blockchain-based pedagogy coalesces with the push by many African governments, in particular in Botswana, towards a digitally transformed society. Already, many colleges and universities have placed the focus on achieving 'smart campuses' as a strategic goal. Blockchain adoption is one such step towards a smart campus. The chapter theorises that higher education institutions cannot legitimately talk about smart campuses while still holding steadfast to manual systems and processes. © 2022 by Byron A. Brown.
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The main purpose of this paper is to identify the critical drivers of the food supply chain (FSC) in the Indian context and find cause–effect relationships among the identified drivers using a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-based method. After a review of the literature and discussion with food chain experts, fourteen drivers have been identified for this study. Critical drivers and their causal relationships are explored through the cause-and-effect diagram. Results of this study show that the drivers namely "Shift towards a sustainable food system in India” (D7), "Social requirements on food security and safety” (D13), and "Growing attention towards food SCM amidst pandemic Covid-19” (D1) are the top three critical and influential drivers. It has been observed that limited research studies are done to identify and analyze the FSC drivers specific in the Indian context. Recent advancements in Blockchain technology have paved the path for improving the performance of the food supply chain with appropriate Blockchain technology intervention. Blockchain technology (BT) can be a new driver in the FSCM. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the implementation of Blockchain technology in the food supply chain. This paper attempts to draw the attention of policymakers to develop a new sound policy with the help of Blockchain technology to ensure food security. © 2023, The Institution of Engineers (India).
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PurposeThe deployment of blockchain technology (BT) throughout the supply chain is usually led by large firms that dominate the supply chain. Leading firms can encourage other resource-constrained partners to get on board by providing technical and financial support. However, due to the uncertain consequences of relying on leading firms, these partners may still be reluctant to adopt BT. Drawing on resource dependence theory, this study aims to investigate whether and when supply chain alignment can be used as a dependency coping strategy to increase the willingness of resource-constrained partners to adopt BT. Moreover, it aims to examine the motivators for supply chain alignment.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a survey research design and collected data from 364 small and medium-sized enterprises in China.FindingsSupply chain alignment positively affects BT adoption. The effect of supply chain alignment on BT adoption is contingent on guanxi (a Chinese cultural tradition of interpersonal connections that facilitate a mutual exchange of favors). Relative advantage, technology complexity, organizational readiness and cost are motivators for supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment mediates the effect of cost, technology complexity and relative advantage on BT adoption.Originality/valueThis research addresses the problem of resource dependency in the context of BT adoption which has been overlooked by previous research. Moreover, this paper enriches the BT literature by identifying supply chain alignment as an important channel for technology–organization–environment factors to influence BT adoption.
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Australian retail sector has fallen victim to the recent lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to adopt new technologies to conduct business online. As a result, several businesses are attempting to use Blockchain technology to enhance security and promote transparency. Prior studies indicated the importance of human factors in technology adoption decisions. However, there is limited research on how human factors play out in blockchain technology adoption decisions in the Australian retail sector. Therefore, this study identifies the human factors and presents a research model to investigate their influence on technology adoption decisions in the Australian retail sector. The proposed study will use a quantitative approach and collects data using online survey questionnaires. This study will test the derived hypotheses using the structural equation modelling technique. This study is expected to help develop appropriate policies to enhance blockchain technology adoption in the Australian retail sector. © 2022 IEEE.
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Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is on-demand research area, generally utilized in most of medical applications. Security is a challenging problem in decentralized platform while handling with medical data or images. An effective deep learning-based blockchain framework with reduced transaction cost is proposed to enhance the security of medical images in IoMT. The proposed study involves four different stages like image acquisition, encryption, optimal key generation, secured storing. The input images initially are collected in the image acquisition stage. Then, the collected medical images are encrypted using coupled map lattice (CML). This encryption process assists to preserve the input medical images from the attackers. In order to provide more confidentiality to the encrypted images, optimal keys are generated using opposition-based sparrow search optimization (O-SSO) algorithm. These encrypted images are stored using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contract based blockchain technology. This blockchain technology enhances the data integrity and authenticity and allows secured transmission of medical images. After decrypting the image, the disease is diagnosed in the classification stage using proposed Recurrent Generative Neural Network (RGNN) model. The proposed study used python tool for simulation analysis and the medical images are gathered from CT images in COVID-19 dataset. © 2022 IEEE.
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PurposeDespite the availability of several published reviews on the adoption of blockchain (BC) in supply chain (SC), at present, the literature lacks a comprehensive review incorporating the antecedents and consequences of BC adoption. Moreover, the complex adoption of BC in SC, explained with the mediating and moderating relationships, is not fully consolidated. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on BC technology adoption (BCTA) in SC by integrating its antecedents and consequences.Design/methodology/approachKeyword searches were performed in multiple databases resulting 382 articles for evaluation and verification. After careful screening with respect to the purpose of the study and systematic processing of the retrieved articles, a total of 211 peer-reviewed articles were included in this study for review.FindingsVarious technological, organisational, individual, social, environmental, operational and economic factors were found as the antecedents of BCTA in SC. In addition, numerous applications of BC Technology (BCT) were identified, including asset management, identity management, transaction management, data management and operations management. Finally, the consequences of BCTA were categorised as operational, risk management, economic and sustainability outcomes.Practical implicationsThis study can assist relevant decision-makers in managing the factors influencing BCTA and the potential uses of the technology to enhance SC performance.Originality/value By integrating the antecedents, applications and consequences of BCTA in SC, including the mediators and moderators, an integrated framework was developed that can potentially assist researchers to develop theoretical models. Further, the results of this SLR provide future directions for studying BCTA in supply chain management (SCM).
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The supply chain in the construction industry faces numerous constraints such as a lack of coordination, communication, collaboration, and technological advancement. Supply chain management is critical when products are transferred from one organization to another until they reach end users or consumers without being damaged, counterfeited, or delayed. Despite extensive research, little is known about the factors that will lead to better construction supply chain management. The reason for this examination is to make a bibliometric investigation in light of the verifiable solidification of distributions and branches of knowledge. It intends to recognize research trends, authers, nations, and organizations utilizing VOSviewer. The construction project all over the world have been uncovered in different manner by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper makes sense of how it is feasible to proceed with development work in this present circumstance. The relevant literature in the field of Blockchain in construction supply chain management is retrieved using the Scopus, Web of Science database as the research object. If the construction work carry on, the economic downturn will be decreased and unemployment will also be decreased. The mapping of Blockchain Construction Supply Chain Management scientific production enabled the visualization of networks of co-occurrence of keywords. © 2022 IEEE.
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Technological acclimatization in today's healthcare industry is a subject of new inventions. The worldwide Covid-19 epidemic has led to increase in the use of technology for healthcare supply chain, patient data management, and claims settlement. Data management in healthcare industry is a complex structure where multiple organizations provide proper supply chain services in day to day life. Improper data management disrupts the supply chain, which has a long-term impact on the healthcare sector. Various issues in the present supply chain must be addressed. Blockchain-based crypto-currencies are well-known nowadays for their ability to create safe and traceable solutions. With the growing use of crypto-currencies, it also governs new range of applications and opportunities, including healthcare applications. Blockchain-based solutions are effective in the health sector for secure data retrieval and storage, resulting in more effectual product creation and tracking. Such system can provide data provenance, promotes genuine healthcare sector demands, and ensures the immutability of multi-direction transactions. In this study, we contribute a thorough overview of the literature on how Blockchain technology is changing the way healthcare supply chains operate. We looked at 61 papers from 2019 to 2021 that highlighted various difficulties with the traditional healthcare supply chain. We scrutinized different barriers and opportunity of Blockchain-based healthcare supply chain at the end of the research. © 2022 The Authors
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to manage complex relations within the healthcare ecosystem. The role of new technologies in achieving this goal is a topic of current interest. Among them, blockchain technology is experiencing widespread application in the healthcare context. The present work investigates how this technology fosters value co-creation paths in the new digital healthcare ecosystems. To this end, a multiple case study has been conducted examining the development and application of blockchain by 32 healthcare tech companies. The results show blockchain technology adoption's current and potential impacts on value co-creation regarding data and resource sharing, patient participation, and collaboration between professionals. Three main areas of activity emerge from the case studies where blockchain implementation brings significant benefits for value co-creation: improving service interaction, impacting actors' engagement, and fostering ecosystem transparency.