BLOCKCHAIN IN RESILIENT AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAINS: RESEARCH THEMES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Due to its importance, supply chain design and optimization is one of the most researched topics. Various paradigms of supply chains emerged, such as lean supply chains, agile supply chains, resilient supply chains, and, recently, digital supply chains. All these paradigms aim to enable supply chains to be time and cost efficient, flexible, and able to accommodate market volatility, and ensure resilience to disruptions and potential risks. Supply chain digitalization, or digital supply chains, aims to leverage digital technology tools for a more connected, flexible, and proactive supply chain. Blockchain is an emerging technology that promises decentralization, data immutability, transparency, and programmability. In this paper, we conducted a literature review, and a bibliometric analysis of research that leverages the properties and features of blockchain technology to enhance supply chains' flexibility, efficiency, and coordination. We identified key themes in the reviewed articles' contributions and objectives, case studies, solution approaches, and limitations and proposed opportunities for future research. Our findings showed that research focused mostly on the enablers and barriers of adopting blockchain in supply chains as well as certain supply chain issues that can be optimized by blockchain such as efficiency and cost, transparency, and traceability as well as risk resilience. We also found that most research addressed those issues for supply chains in general, while some research focused on specific sectors, such as agri-food and healthcare. Moreover, most research was theoretical studies, such as literature reviews and the results of interviews and/or surveys with industry experts, and only a small number of reviewed articles focused on blockchain-based system implementations.