BLOCKCHAIN AND THE SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN: FOCUS ON THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Abstract

Supply chain managers are being pushed today by changing customer demands and environmental factors, such as the pandemic, to improve their supply chain management capabilities so they can maintain a competitive advantage. The most necessary capabilities we identified are agility in responsiveness, flexibility in sourcing, resilience, visibility, assurance of quality and security, adherence to sustainability, as well as cost efficiency. Digitization is a promising panacea for the complications of the supply chain function, and our research shows that blockchain proves to be the prominent technology that can transform the supply chain. Blockchain technology has seven capability pillars: decentralization, automation, transparency, immutability, security, incentivizing, and inclusion. Each of these blockchain capabilities improves the sustainable supply chain across all three dimensions: people, planet, and profit. In our project, we synthesize our findings and analysis into a framework or a matrix that links every blockchain capability to a sustainability criterion. The healthcare industry is one that is known for a complex supply chain. Healthcare-specific supply chain management challenges revolve around protecting the identity and privacy of patients, enhancing data interoperability across organizations and systems, optimizing processes, and reducing inefficiencies. Blockchain technology has a powerful transformative role in supporting healthcare supply chain players to overcome those challenges. This role can be broken down to four main use-cases: pay-for-performance models, digital identity management, health data management, and workflow management. The role of blockchain technology has a substantial impact on all the healthcare supply chain players, but our research proves that blockchain has the potential to disruptively transform the retail of prescribed drugs. Therefore, the role and skillset of pharmacists might be transformed after blockchain hits the execution phase in the healthcare industry. Since pharmacists play a key role in fighting drug counterfeit, the impact of the transformation driven by blockchain technology extends to the sustainability dimension as blockchain can empower a more effective fight against fraud and counterfeit in the drug supply chain.