Optimisation of Procure to Pay process through Blockchain technology – Case of Textile Sector–

Abstract

Defined as a distributed ledger enabling the record of transactions between actors verifiably and permanently, the Blockchain technology first appeared as a disruptive technology in the financial sector. However, in the last few years, this technology attracted the attention of several researchers and business stakeholders who were interested in exploring the potential of this technology in other sectors and the supply chain in one of them as it is perceived as a backbone of a new digital supply chain. Among the pillars of Blockchain technology is its ability to guarantee that data will never be altered and that it will be shared in real time with all parties interested in the transaction due to the decentralized nature of the blockchain. This will increase the traceability, transparency, and performance of the supply chain. The literature concerning Blockchain in non-financial applications mainly focused on the technological part and the Business Process Modeling, lacking in terms of standard methodology for designing a strategy to develop and validate the overall Blockchain solution and integrate it in the Business Strategy. The literature concerning Blockchain technology application in non-financial sectors mainly focused on the general integration lacking the technological part and the business process modeling. Thus, this paper aims to overcome this lack by presenting how the blockchain technology can alter the way supply chain processes are designed and executed as an example we chose to work on the procure to pay process. The main purpose of this work is to explore how blockchain technology can be integrated into a typical procure-to-pay process, what opportunities can be identified from the technology. To achieve this purpose, we studied the related literature review, and we analyzed the relevant Academic and practitioner research based on qualitative and deductive methodology. That way, it lays a basis for future research which enables valuable insight for procurement managers and offers opportunities to master the most pressing challenges.