Distributed ledger technology in supply chains: a transaction cost perspective
Open Access
- 26 August 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Journal of Production Research
- Vol. 58 (7), 2124-2141
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1657247
Abstract
With the emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT), numerous practitioners and researchers have proclaimed its beneficial impact on supply chain transactions in the future. However, the vast majority of DLT initiatives are discontinued after a short period. With the full potential of DLT laying far down the road, especially managers in supply chain management (SCM) seek for short-term cost-saving effects of DLT in order to achieve long-term benefits of DLT in the future. However, the extant research has bypassed grounding long-term as well as short-term effects of DLT on supply chain transaction with empirical data. We address this shortcoming, following an abductive research approach and combining empirical data from a multiple case study design with the corresponding literature. Our study reveals that the effects of DLT on supply chain transactions are two-sided. We found six effects of DLT solutions that have a cost-reducing or cost avoidance impact on supply chain transactions. In addition, we found two effects that change the power distribution between buyers and suppliers in transactions and a single effect that reduces the dependency of supply chain transactions on third parties. While cost-reducing and avoidance as well as dependency-reducing effects are positive effects, the change in power distribution might come with disadvantages. With these findings, the paper provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of DLT on supply chain transactions, which will enable managers to improve their assessment of DLT usage in supply chains.Keywords
Funding Information
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (100018_179036 / 1)
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Organizing Around Transaction Costs: What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go from Here?Academy of Management Perspectives, 2013
- A Reply to Williamson's “Outsourcing …”Production and Operations Management, 2012
- Qualitative case studies in operations management: Trends, research outcomes, and future research implicationsJournal of Operations Management, 2010
- Outsourcing of front‐end business processes: Quality, information, and customer contactJournal of Operations Management, 2007
- Elaborating the Contingency Theory of Organizations: The Case of Manufacturing Flexibility StrategiesProduction and Operations Management, 2006
- Electronic transportation marketplaces: a transaction cost perspectiveIndustrial Marketing Management, 2003
- Institutional Economics and Business History: A Way Forward?Business History, 1997
- An Integrative Model Of Organizational TrustAcademy of Management Review, 1995
- From vendors to partners: Information technology and incomplete contracts in buyer‐supplier relationshipsJournal of Organizational Computing, 1993
- The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market MechanismThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1970