Dear Colleagues,

Blockchain technology and distributed ledgers, in general, have received significant attention in the business environment in the last couple of years. After initial use cases in the financial industry, supply chain management (SCM) and operations management (OM) are increasingly being investigated.

Blockchain technology seems promising for SCM and OM because of its inherent immutability, traceability, reliability, and smart contract functionalities (Lohmer and Lasch 2020; Saberi et al. 2019). On the other hand, many firms are seeking to focus their activities on sustainability. This focus is driven by customer demands for insights into raw material sources, operations, and distribution of goods. Other stakeholders, like socially-aware organizations, governments, NGOs, and employees, are involved as well and demand socially and environmentally responsible operations. Thus, sustainability can be a lever of increasing customer loyalty, sales, and competitiveness. Sustainability as a term includes not only the business dimension, but also environmental and social factors (Seuring et al. 2008)

Customer interest for the certification of sustainable raw material acquisition, manufacturing, and distribution requires up-to-date and integrated information along the whole supply chain. In traditional, rather centralized systems run by the powerful actors in the network, this degree of visibility and transparency was not intended and is therefore not readily available. Like in other domains, certifications for sustainability are usually provided by intermediaries or central players, e.g., voluntary certification systems like the FSC system for forest management (Forest Stewardship Council 2020). The certificates are therefore only as trustworthy as the organizations that issue them and audit operations regularly. A distributed and immutable system or platform for sustainable operations is missing. This is where blockchain technology comes into play. because of its ability to ensure the provenance of products, materials, and operations, the technology might enable a move towards sustainable supply chains and operations ecosystems (Kouhizadeh and Sarkis 2018; Tan et al. 2020; Bai and Sarkis 2020). Several use cases for tracking and tracing as well as provenance have been developed and brought to the proof-of-concept stage lately, e.g., TradeLens by Maersk and IBM (Scott 2018), the Provenance start-up (Provenance 2020), or Walmart (Kshetri 2018). As Kouhizadeh, Saberi, and Sarkis (2021) note, these are examples “for safety, security, and environmentally sound supply chain practices, all of which are elements of supply chain sustainability". Increased visibility in the network through blockchain technology can also increase the resilience of manufacturing networks and supply chains, an issue that has received additional attention through the current Covid-19 pandemic (Lohmer, Bugert, and Lasch 2020). Furthermore, the operations sector and the manufacturing industry in particular are attractive playing fields for blockchain assessment, as current research is rather scarce and competitive pressure is still growing. Collaboration and resource sharing are two aspects facilitated by blockchain technology that also impact the economic sustainability dimension (Lohmer and Lasch 2020).

With this Special Issue, we aim to establish a constant research stream focusing on examining blockchain technology for operations sustainability. This Special Issue seeks to collate recent research in the field so as to facilitate access to this research topic and its progression. Papers representing various methodologies and research paradigms, including, but not limited to, theory-based conceptual papers, empirical or case studies, analytical modeling, behavioral experiments, simulation, literature reviews, and multi-methodological approaches are welcomed. Irrespective of the applied methodology, the criteria for acceptance is the ability to convey new insights of scientific and managerial relevance. Submissions have to follow the journal's regular submission process. Topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Sustainability research with blockchain applications
• Theory-based assessment of blockchain prospects for operations sustainability
• Real-world practice of blockchain technology for sustainability in global operations
• Role of blockchain technology in increasing resilience and sustainability in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Use of cryptocurrencies and/or smart contract applications to enhance operations sustainability
• Blockchain-based solutions for specific industries or business areas
• Barriers and implementation issues in different regional or industry specifications

Prof. Dr. Rainer Lasch
Mr. Jacob Lohmer
Guest Editor

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Key Words

• Blockchain technology;
• operations;
• operations management;
• supply chain management;
• sustainability;
• distributed ledger technology;
• DLT;
• blockchain applications;
• smart contract;
• case studies;
• blockchain prospects;
• blockchain sustainability;
• blockchain-based solutions;
• barriers;
• digital transformation;
• Industry 4.0;
• smart manufacturing;
• sustainable business models

References

Bai, C., and J. Sarkis. 2020. “A Supply Chain Transparency and Sustainability Technology Appraisal Model for Blockchain Technology.” International Journal of Production Research 58 (7): 2142–62. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1080/00207543.2019.1708989.

Forest Stewardship Council. 2020. “FSC - What Is FSC?” 2020. https://www.fsc-uk.org/en-uk/about- fsc/what-is-fsc.

Kouhizadeh, Mahtab, Sara Saberi, and Joseph Sarkis. 2021. “Blockchain Technology and the Sustainable Supply Chain: Theoretically Exploring Adoption Barriers.” International Journal of Production Economics 231 (May 2020): https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107831.

Kouhizadeh, Mahtab, and Joseph Sarkis. 2018. “Blockchain Practices, Potentials, and Perspectives in Greening Supply Chains.” Sustainability 10 (10). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10103652.

Kshetri, Nir. 2018. “Blockchain’s Roles in Meeting Key Supply Chain Management Objectives.” International Journal of Information Management 39 (June 2017): 80–89.  https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.12.005.

Lohmer, Jacob, Niels Bugert, and Rainer Lasch. 2020. “Analysis of Resilience Strategies and Ripple Effect in Blockchain-Coordinated Supply Chains: An Agent-Based Simulation Study.” International Journal of Production Economics 228 (July): 107882. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107882.

Lohmer, Jacob, and Rainer Lasch. 2020. “Blockchain in Operations Management and Manufacturing: Potential and Barriers.” Computers and Industrial Engineering 149 (November): 106789. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.cie.2020.106789.

Provenance. 2020. “Provenance - Every Product Has a Story.” 2020. https://www.provenance.org/.

Saberi, S., M. Kouhizadeh, J. Sarkis, and L. Shen. 2019. “Blockchain Technology and Its Relationships to Sustainable Supply Chain Management.” International Journal of Production Research 57 (7): 2117–35. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1080/00207543.2018.1533261.

Scott, Todd. 2018. “TradeLens.” 2018. https://www.ibm.com/blogs/think/2018/11/tradelens-how-ibm-and-maersk-are-sharing-blockchain-to-build-a-global-trade-platform/.

Tan, B.Q., F. Wang, J. Liu, K. Kang, and F. Costa. 2020. “A Blockchain-Based Framework for Green Logistics in Supply Chains.”Sustainability (Switzerland) 12 (11). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12114656.