How Useful Is a Distributed Ledger for Tracking and Tracing in Supply Chains?

Blockchain technology is one of the so-called distributed ledger technologies. Both have been increasingly discussed for applications in supply chain management in recent years. The use in the context of tracking and tracing of goods is of particular interest here. However, for a successful use of technologies, their capabilities and properties must match the problems in business practice. However, distributed ledger technology is only tailored to very specific problems. General tracking and tracing requirements can also be met with other database technologies. The questions therefore arise:

  1. To what extent are the special problems that distributed ledger technologies solve even relevant in corporate practice?
  2. Are distributed ledger technologies useful for meeting general tracking and tracing requirements? Or do other database technologies better meet the requirements in the technological and / or business sense?

Christian Straubert and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Eric Sucky investigated these questions in their recently published article "How Useful Is a Distributed Ledger for Tracking and Tracing in Supply Chains? A Systems Thinking Approach", which you can access here. You can also find more information about our publications here.