ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed societies and businesses to the shortfalls of standard manufacturing and consumption patterns, and enduring impact on global Supply Chains (SC). The production plants are temporarily shuttered or running with reduced manpower globally. In addition to this, the outbreak has disrupted the most of trade and shipping links and delivery systems between dealers, manufacturing plants, and consumers. Thus, organizations have had to grapple with unpredictable fluctuations in customer demand, production interruption, and SC disruptions. But, several organizations are espousing Blockchain Technology (BCT) to solve the issues and set forth to handle the sustainable processes of their supply networks during the pandemic situation. Due to its various untapped potentials such as greater traceability, improved transparency, increased efficiency, secured certification, and proof of origin for goods on top of billions of dollars in commercial savings make BCT as an indispensable part of current sustainable SC to resolve the problems including market monopolies, data integrity, and ownership. Given its potential, the implementation of BCT in SC management, though hyped for years, has not witnessed reckless approval. Motivated by the COVID-19 outbreak and the barriers it imposes to sustainable SC, we aim to explore the driving and restraining forces related to BCT adoption in sustainable SC to tackle network disruptions. In this chapter, a comprehensive analysis of BCT technology, sustainable SC, and driving as well as restraining forces for espousing BCT to achieve SC with improved sustainability is discussed. We explore how fostering BCT in sustainable SC processes with several environmental, organizational, and technological promises has been delayed using the triple-bottom-line method. Hence, this chapter will carry out a systematic study of how BCT fits in the modern SC management system and explore possible challenges with its application.
