Blockchain technology is an inchoate technology whose current popularity is peaking. Some of the most pervasive blockchain technology use cases exist for supply chains. Sustainable, and especially green, supply chains can benefit from blockchain technology, but there are also caveats. The sustainability and environmental management research and academic literature is only starting to investigate this emergent field. This paper seeks to help advance the discussion and motivate additional practice and research related to green supply chains and blockchain technology. This viewpoint paper provides insight into some of the main dimensions of blockchain technology, an overview of the use cases and issues, and some general research areas for further investigation.

Blockchain technology and the circular economy (CE) are two emergent concepts that can change the way we live for decades. Arrival of Industry 4.0 is set to transform organisational activities through various technological innovations. Blockchain is such a critical technology. Yet, the breadth of the blockchain concept and its application require nuanced investigation in different contexts, including examining some tensions with the applications. This paper examines how blockchain technology is likely to transform and advance circular economy realisation. Using grounded theory building from multiple case studies, we present early evidence linking the blockchain application to circular economy dimensions of regenerate, share, optimise, loop, virtualise, and exchange (ReSOLVE model). Case studies of blockchain application in various industrial sectors, at different adoption levels, for diverse organisational purposes are analysed and discussed. We systematically examine the practices, gaps, potential tensions, and critical reflections. Our study concludes with a summary of research propositions, limitations, and future research directions.

The circular economy (CE) is an emergent concept to rethink and redesign how our economy works. The concept recognizes effective and efficient economic functioning at multiple scales—governments and individuals, globally and locally; for businesses, large and small. CE represents a systemic shift that builds long-term resilience at multiple levels (macro, meso and micro); generating new business and economic opportunities while providing environmental and societal benefits. Blockchain, an emergent and critical technology, is introduced to the circular economy environment as a potential enabler for many circular economic principles. Blockchain technology supported information systems can improve circular economy performance at multiple levels. Product deletion, a neglected but critical effort in product management and product portfolio management, is utilized as an illustrative business scenario as to blockchain’s application in a circular economy research context. Product deletion, unlike product proliferation, has received minimal attention from both academics and practitioners. Product deletion decisions need to be evaluated and analyzed in the circular economy context. CE helps address risk aversion issues in product deletions such as inventory, waste and information management. This paper is the first to conceptualize the relationships amongst blockchain technology, product deletion and the circular economy. Many nuances of relationships are introduced in this study. Future evaluation and critical reflections are also presented with a need for a rigorous and robust research agenda to evaluate the multiple and complex relationships and interplay amongst technology, policy, commerce and the natural environment.

Blockchain is an emergent technology that has attracted practitioner attention in the supply chain domain. Multiple motivators lead companies to incorporate blockchain technology into their supply chain. However, a number of barriers and challenges may impede the successful adoption of blockchains. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a variety of motivators and barriers are perceived by different companies from different industries. This paper summarizes survey data gathered from 173 respondents associated with the Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM), formerly APICS. Summary statistics on blockchain adoption by various types of companies are provided to help practitioners benchmark current practice. The paper presents preliminary findings on these dimensions with some insights provided.

Products and associated materials are important supply chain flows. Product management greatly influences supply chain performance. Supply chain information is also critical for sound product management. Product deletion, rationalization, or discontinuation research is an important dimension often overlooked in product management. It is a critical issue for many managerial reasons; many espoused in this article. Product deletion is typically a multi-staged process including recognition, analysis and revitalization, evaluation and decision formation, and implementation. Each stage requires complicated information and data support from supply chain activities. Failure in information generating, understanding, and accuracy can prove risky for rational product deletion. Blockchain technology may help address information challenges. Blockchain technology provides traceability, transparency, security, accuracy and smart execution, which can all contribute to the product deletion and rationalization decision. Application recommendations and managerial insights into product deletion decision making processes with blockchain technology are provided.

Purpose: This study proposes a systematic and comprehensive circular economy (CE) performance measure as an instrument to operationalize and quantify circularity. It seeks to evaluate the relative contribution of blockchain technology to evaluate various measures in this study. A general research agenda for investigating blockchain capabilities to performance assessment in CE is presented.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical survey data from 32 CE and blockchain experts are collected to inform this study. Inductive reasoning, heatmaps, and a middle-range theory building approach are utilized to generalize theoretical patterns for blockchain support of CE performance assessment and measurement. A series of propositions are then developed as a middle-range theory for the true, false, perceptible, and hidden affordances of blockchain technology capabilities for CE performance measurement.Findings: Overall, sixteen performance measures and metrics are identified and examined. The authors find most of these measures and metrics – based on literature and expert opinion – can be supported using blockchain technology capabilities. Four major blockchain capabilities, transparency and traceability, reliability and security, smart contracts, and incentivization and tokenization are shown to have varying potential support for CE performance assessment. There needs to be an evaluation of true, false, perceptible, and hidden affordances of blockchain technology capabilities for CE performance measurement in future studies.Originality/value: Blockchain application for CE, and specifically performance measurements, is a new area. Research and practice evaluation on this issue is important but needs substantially additional investigation to help CE progress. This study provides a framework for evaluation and a foundation for future research at the nexus of CE, blockchain technology, and performance measurement.