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Blockchain technology: Business, strategy, the environment, and sustainability

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Chunguang Bai at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chunguang Bai
James Cordeiro
James Cordeiro
James Cordeiro
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Joseph Sarkis at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Joseph Sarkis
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Blockchain technology: Business, strategy, the environment,
and sustainability
Chunguang April Bai | James Cordeiro | Joseph Sarkis
1|INTRODUCTION
Blockchain technology, a disruptive innovation based on advances in
information and computing, continues to experience rapidly increasing
growth. This foundational—disruptive—technology does not utilize a
central trusted agent for coordination but nonetheless permits a
shared digital history and record updating between parties who might
not necessarily trust each other. It has been defined to support a
trustless relationship. From its roots in cryptocurrencies, blockchain's
applications are expanding in scope and volume in disparate areas,
including finance, law enforcement, education, health care, supply
chains, and manufacturing (Queiroz & Wamba, 2019). The technology
also made inroads outside “Western countries,”achieving the status
of a national initiative in China (Lim, Wang, Ren, & Lo, 2019) and
potential leapfrogging adoption of technology in developing nations
(Kamath, 2018).
Blockchain's appeal derives from its ability to support transparent
data sharing, optimization of business processes, reduction of operat-
ing costs, improvements in collaborative efficiency, and development
of a system that does not need explicit incorporation of trust in its
control, as in the case of supply chains, for instance (Francisco &
Swanson, 2018). It also facilitates new means of green production, as
well as monitoring and storing data-related activities responsible for
pollution and environmental degradation, and real-time collection and
analysis of green or low carbon data for timely decision making
(Saberi, Kouhizadeh, Sarkis, & Shen, 2019). These advancements offer
considerable opportunities for advances in business and supply chain
innovation and sustainable development (Bai & Sarkis, 2019).
Adopting organizations must typically deal not only with high
development and implementation costs and risks but also with various
technical, managerial, and ethical concerns (Bai & Sarkis, 2017). Some
of these concerns are specifically related to environmental and sus-
tainability dimensions, including, for example, the amount of energy
required for key algorithms, processing, and computations within the
blockchain (Truby, 2018; Saberi, Kouhizadeh & Sarkis, 2018), and
complex implementation issues, especially in implementation with
wide scope, such as global supply chains. Other issues include the
integration of blockchain technology with business processes at
different levels of design, planning, production, and marketing, and
between the different supply chain partners, the fusion of multisource
data, and transparent management in supply chains, and lack of an
accepted standard definition (Kouhizadeh & Sarkis, 2018).
Ethical and governance concerns also arise. Many blockchain use
applications have targeted tracing of sustainability in supply chains
that can significantly influence development within environmentally
sensitive regions. From a social perspective, the greater transparency
and traceability afforded by the technology may well be a double-
edged sword, simultaneously related to privacy and proprietary intel-
lectual property concerns (Quarshie, Salmi, & Leuschner, 2016).
The main objective of this special issue is to advance knowledge
and address existing gaps in our knowledge about blockchain develop-
ment and use. It is intended to provide a forum for scholars and practi-
tioners to critically study, evaluate, explore, and explain new models and
forms that blockchain technology takes and the technology's relation-
ship to organizations, supply chains, and their stakeholders. Theories
that help explain the many business, strategy, environment, and sustain-
ability implications of this disruptive technology are also of significant
interest. These implications include, but are not limited to, those focused
on drivers, performance, implementation, governance, and ethics.
The overriding goal is to further blockchain technology under-
standing both practically and theoretically, with a critical examination
of the impact of the technology on sustainability, business strategy,
and the natural environment. Both qualitative and quantitative ana-
lyses of various sorts are welcome, as are, especially, innovative meth-
odological approaches.
We welcome and encourage submission of high-quality manu-
scripts based on studies in the following (nonexhaustive) list of poten-
tial topics:
•Studies on the impact of blockchain technology on business, natu-
ral environment, and sustainability strategies (BNES), operations,
and supply chains, as well as other relevant areas.
•Blockchain applications focused on advancing sustainability in dif-
ferent cultural, regional, and industrial contexts.
•New governance models (a) for blockchains in different BNES set-
tings and (b) that utilize blockchains in these settings.
DOI: 10.1002/bse.2431
Bus Strat Env. 2019;1–2. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/bse © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment 1
•Blockchain technology and its role for environmental and social
improvement, expanding beyond the business and supply chain to
broader local and global networks.
•Integration of blockchain with other legacy and emergent Industry
4.0 technologies to solve BNES issues.
•Identification and addressing of tensions, risks, and challenges for
blockchain introduction and management of BNES operations,
strategies, and supply chain sustainable development.
•Strategic, ethical, and legal issues arising from the use of BNES
applications utilizing blockchain technology.
•Structural, political, and legal dynamics of blockchain use in BNES
applications.
Submission Process and Deadlines
The deadline for submission of all manuscripts will be on September
30, 2020.
Authors should submit their manuscripts via email to the co-guest
editor Chunguang April Bai (cbai@uestc.edu.cn). Interested authors are
encouraged to communicate with any of the guest editors for feedback.
Manuscripts should be sent to co-guest editor Chunguang April
Bai and should be prepared following the Business, Strategy, and the
Environment author guidelines: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/-
page/journal/10990836/homepage/forauthors.html. Please DO NOT
go through the manuscript central for the purpose of sending out the
papers for review because the system is only open for regular papers.
All articles will be subjected to double-blind peer review and edito-
rial process in accordance with the policies of Business, Strategy, and
the Environment (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10990836).
Special Issue Guest Editors
Chunguang April Bai, Professor, School of Management and Econom-
ics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China,
Chengdu, China.
James J. Cordeiro, Professor, School of Business and Manage-
ment, State University of New York, Brockport, New York.
Joseph Sarkis, Professor, Foisie Business School, Worcester Poly-
technic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts.
REFERENCES
Bai, C., & Sarkis, J. (2017). Improving green flexibility through advanced
manufacturing technology investment: Modeling the decision process.
International Journal of Production Economics,188,86–104.
Bai, C., & Sarkis, J. (2019). A supply chain transparency and sustainability
technology appraisal model for blockchain technology. In Academy of
Management Proceedings (Vol. 2019, No. 1, p. 16069). Briarcliff Manor,
NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Francisco, K., & Swanson, D. (2018). The supply chain has no clothes:
Technology adoption of blockchain for supply chain transparency.
Logistics,2(1), 2-13.
Kamath, R. (2018). Crypto-governance Blockchain Governance for Sus-
tainable Development Goals 16 and 17. Journal of Poverty Alleviation &
International Development,9(2), 111-128..
Kouhizadeh, M., & Sarkis, J. (2018). Blockchain practices, potentials, and
perspectives in greening supply chains. Sustainability,10(10), 3652.
Lim, C., Wang, Y., Ren, J., & Lo, S. W. (2019). A review of fast-growing
blockchain hubs in Asia. The Journal of the British Blockchain Associa-
tion,9959.
Quarshie, A. M., Salmi, A., & Leuschner, R. (2016). Sustainability and corpo-
rate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in sup-
ply chain management and business ethics journals. Journal of
Purchasing and Supply Management,22(2), 82–97.
Queiroz, M. M., & Wamba, S. F. (2019). Blockchain adoption challenges in
supply chain: An empirical investigation of the main drivers in India
and the USA. International Journal of Information Management,46,
70–82.
Saberi, S., Kouhizadeh, M., Sarkis, J., & Shen, L. (2019). Blockchain technol-
ogy and its relationships to sustainable supply chain management.
International Journal of Production Research,57(7), 2117–2135.
Truby, J. (2018). Decarbonizing Bitcoin: Law and policy choices for reduc-
ing the energy consumption of blockchain technologies and digital cur-
rencies. Energy Research & Social Science,44, 399–410.
Saberi, S., Kouhizadeh, M., & Sarkis, J. (2018). Blockchain technology: A
panacea or pariah for resources conservation and recycling?.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling,130, 80-81.
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