An analysis on the role of blockchain-based platforms in agricultural supply chains

Yu Cao, Chaoqun Yi, Guangyu Wan, Hanli Hu, Qingsong Li and Shouyang Wang

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2022, vol. 163, issue C

Abstract: The traditional agricultural supply chain (ASC) has been overwhelmed by several challenges, including financing risk, counterparty risk, and lack of consumer trust. Platforms based on blockchain technology combined with Internet-of-Things technology have emerged to address these challenges by improving supply chain visibility, guaranteeing the execution of contracts, and increasing the authenticity of products’ provenance information in the ASC. This study analyzes how the adoption of a blockchain-based platform can affect the decisions of ASC participants and identifies how the platform creates value for the supply chain by addressing these three challenges. We consider a two-level supply chain featuring a typical cooperative and a buyer and establish stylized game models with and without the blockchain-based platform. By comparing equilibrium outcomes with and without the blockchain-based platform, we show that the involvement of the blockchain-based platform can lead to increased production quantity and total surplus of the supply chain. This can also motivate more sustainability/green investment to produce greener products. Interestingly, we show that the value of the blockchain-based platform decreases in the credibility of the business environment in which the supply chain operates. Furthermore, the buyer will always benefit from the established blockchain-based platform, whereas the cooperative can benefit in most cases but could be worse off under certain conditions. The adoption and operational costs could outweigh the benefits caused by the addition of the blockchain-based platform.

Keywords: Blockchain-based platforms; Agricultural supply chain; Financing risk; Counterparty risk; Consumer trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554522001223
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transe:v:163:y:2022:i:c:s1366554522001223

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600244/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102731

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review is currently edited by W. Talley

More articles in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().