www.ifc.org/ThoughtLeadership Note 45 | September 2017 Beyond Fintech: Leveraging Blockchain for More Sustainable and Inclusive Supply Chains One of the most noticeable and important developments of the advance of free trade over the last half century has been the emergence of global value chains. These production and supply networks cross multiple borders and connect advanced and emerging economies. They are vehicles that can deliver on many of the promises of globalization. Yet operating them is complex and costly. Global trade since the great recession has slowed, in part because of a lack of transparency and interoperability within these networks. Blockchain, a technology with unique abilities to record, track, monitor, and exchange assets without need of an intermediary, may be the solu- tion to many of the logistical and cost issues that plague the growth and operation of global value chains, espe- cially in the case of food, agribusiness, and pharmaceuticals. It also has potential to address issues of inclusion. Globalization has made supply chains significantly more While digitization of supply chains is already underway with complex, involving multiple players from around the world and technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and a great deal of coordination. This increases the cost of operating the Internet of Things—which allows physical objects to these global networks—with goods and services channeled communicate—blockchain appears to be the missing element in across emerging and advanced economies. Imagine the the mix. complexity of a product sourced in Ethiopia or Indonesia, Beyond providing innovative financial services, blockchain—a assembled in China, and sold in the United States. digital distributed ledger—can provide a platform that offers The cost of operating supply chains makes up two-thirds of the contracting parties the ability to verify that every link in a supply final cost of traded goods. Seven percent of the global value of chain network is authentic, without need of an intermediary such trade is absorbed in documentation costs alone, according to the as a clearing house or banking institution. Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation.1 Faced with a dynamic Blockchain can be used to record, track, monitor, and transact and volatile environment, companies are increasingly turning to assets, both physical or digital, in a cost efficient and technological innovation to make their supply chains more cost- transparent manner. effective, resilient, and responsive to potential market By doing so, the technology can act as a ‘plug and play’ trust disruptions. mechanism that enables other emerging technologies to achieve Between the late 1980s and early 2000s, the emergence of scale. These include artificial intelligence, machine learning, global value chains—which were to become the main vehicle drones, and 3D printing, among others. In addition, the of international trade—was enabled in large part by advances combination of Internet of Things, smart contracts and in information technology that drastically reduced the cost of blockchain could provide a new model to reengineer supply coordinating production stages carried out in different chain logistics and the business models they support, and by countries.2 Today international trade is facing a global doing so render them more efficient and transparent—and slowdown3 and industries have signaled several critical ultimately more inclusive. Hence, Blockchain promises to: challenges to global value chains, including: (i) a lack of • Provide faster and more affordable payment and finance transparency due to inconsistent or not readily available data; (ii) options a high proportion of paperwork; (iii) a lack of interoperability; • Leverage distributed-ledger capabilities to remove third- and (iv) limited information on the product’s journey in the party intermediaries, streamlining processes and chain.4 promoting increased security across the value chain in multiple industries, with a focus on lowering the barriers to Experts have called for trade facilitation measures, including a entry for small and micro-enterprises simplification in the movement of goods along global supply • Provide solutions for increasing transparency across supply chains, in order to reduce companies’ governance costs, chains. increase speed, and reduce uncertainty. 5 6 EMCompass Notes 43 and 44 highlight the positive impact that farmland, improve and maintain high quality food standards, blockchain could have on the financial services industry, with a promote health and safety, and maintain the economic viability special look at trade finance and payments systems. Meanwhile, of farming and farmers’ wages. With roughly 40 percent of the this paper examines blockchain’s ability to integrate data flows global workforce,7 agriculture is one of the leading job and processes and to provide efficiency and transparency across providers worldwide and a critical sector for boosting economic digital supply chain networks and to allow for the inclusion of growth in developing economies. For emerging markets and previously underrepresented economic groups. The paper their industry leaders with global market ambitions and further examines two sectors with significant economic and footprint, adherence to sustainable supply chain practices will social impact on emerging economies, food and agribusiness, become more and more important in the years to come.8 In this and pharmaceuticals, and also discusses the inclusion of women quest for efficiency and transparency, blockchain offers the in global supply chains. ability to: Food and agribusiness: Cost-efficiency and transparency of 1. Integrate and manage supply chain transactions and the supply chain. Global food and beverage manufacturers, processes in real-time; and retailers, and service companies want to reduce supply chain 2. Identify and audit the provenance of goods in every link of costs while also reducing their carbon footprint, meeting the chain. consumer demands to sustain the environmental quality of Figure 1: The efficiency dividend—Re-engineering processes Source: End to End Blockchain-Enabled Supply Chain, Oliver Wyman EMCompass Notes 39 and 43 examine how blockchain can Automated blockchain supply chain finance and know-your- provide more cost-efficient trade finance solutions, one of the customer systems can reduce the need for agents, brokers, and levers to innovate the financial aspects of supply chain reduce physical documentation. management. In the context of agriculture, this Note underlines For growers and suppliers, blockchain could shortcut how it can diminish risk and boost efficiency for all cumbersome procedures and facilitate faster and more secure stakeholders in the supply chain through real-time settlement of payments. physical commodities in a secured environment. This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. For example, payment terms in the Australian grains industry was paid for them. This can help avert fraud, such as the range from two to five weeks, and these terms pose Qingdao scandal in 2014, where volumes of copper, alumina, counterparty or credit risk to growers.9 The elimination of this steel, and other metals where used as collateral for multiple risk means growers can be secure in their cash flow, liberate loans. With blockchain, all actors along the supply chain are working capital, and better manage their businesses. For buyers, visible and accountable. there are both back-office and liquidity benefits. A blockchain- The transparency dividend: Enforcing sustainability and enabled workflow automation (via smart contracts and safety standards integration with key machinery and data collection points) and Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and auto-reconciliation for inventory can reduce cost and risk to Development indicates that “green trade” is rising in political buyers. Additionally, the distributed ledger model could also and economic importance, “with a global market of $1 trillion improve access for regulators and authorities with respect to a year for environmental goods14 and services close.”15 At the collecting taxes and customs duties. same time, the Sustainability Consortium’s 2016 I mpact Report A number of blockchain-based projects are now coming to life. found that the majority of consumer goods manufacturers lack A European Union consortium of seven banks called the Digital visibility into the sustainability performance of their supply Trade Chain is collaborating with IBM to develop a supply chains. The ‘greening’ of global supply chains requires chain management and trade finance platform using blockchain traceability and transparency. The former is necessary to track technology. The goal is to make cross-border commerce easier hazardous products and materials, allocate responsibilities, and for European small and medium enterprises (SMEs).10 monitor environmental compliance. The latter is a precondition Similarly, U.S.-based SkuChain aims to connect financiers in for achieving credibility, legitimacy, and fairness, and to avoid advanced economies with clients in emerging and developing “green-washing” or shifting polluting activities to developing economies, despite their lack of history of trade or data with countries.”16 these emerging market firms. The venture proposes ‘a In food and agriculture, transparent supply chains are vital to collaborative commerce platform,’ combining payments, ensuring quality and conformity to the expected standards of including a letter of credit or wire transfer; finance (operating production (bio, fair-trade, circular economy), meeting loans or short-term trade loans); and visibility (integration with environmental standards and combatting fraud, as well as back office systems such as Systems Applications and Products monitoring supplier inclusion mandates. A 2016 survey on the in Data Processing or an Enterprise Resource Planning investment priorities of industry leaders, conducted by the system.11 consultancy the Boston Consulting Group and AgFunder, an Another U.S. startup, Hijro, develops a blockchain-based investment marketplace for the agriculture industry, found that financial operating network for global commerce, featuring supply chain and logistics was a top-five priority for 40 percent real-time business-to-business payments, supply chain of their respondents, with food security and traceability cited financing, and a peer-to-peer working capital marketplace that most often as a priority.17 Food safety is a major concern for provides banking partners and non-bank lenders alike— consumers, and companies are feeling the impact after some including alternative finance providers, asset-based lenders, notable incidents such as the Chipotle norovirus and salmonella and hedge funds—with an alternative platform for lending to outbreaks in 2015 that caused its profits to plummet by 44 actors along the global supply chain. percent.18 Meanwhile, Memphis-based Seam—partly owned by trading In contrast to inefficient labelling systems that are easily giants Cargill, Olam, and Louis Dreyfus—is working with IBM manipulated, blockchain provides businesses and consumers to “lead an industry-wide collaboration initiative” to create a with a system that cannot be tampered with. It can provide much supply chain and cotton trading ecosystem based on blockchain. more reliable information on where food originated, the date it The company claims to have smart contracts that can reduce was created, and how it was produced. Blockchain quickly the time needed to settle a trade from the standard three days traces contaminated products to their source and ensures safe to just a few minutes. 12 And China Systems is working with removal from store shelves. the Emirates Islamic Bank to develop a blockchain solution Some of the largest players in the industry are taking notice and that allows them to share information on a distributed ledger are experimenting with blockchain to provide proof of concept, with Islamic banks on sharia-compliant halal goods.13 using the technology to improve visibility into their supply Blockchain promises to make the supply chain leaner, simpler, chains. IBM and a group of leading food companies, including and more cost-effective—not just providing financing but Dole, Driscoll, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and integrating know-your-customer, inventory management, and Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods and Walmart, formed a traditional legacy systems to work seamlessly with existing consortium in 2017 to test IBM’s blockchain solution, which supply-chain technology. This element provides an enforcement aims “to identify and prioritize new areas where blockchain can mechanism. It can identify where the goods came from and who benefit food ecosystems.”19 This follows a successful pilot that IBM launched with Walmart earlier in 2017. Through this This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. program Walmart discovered that, while it normally takes more Commerce estimates are $75-200 billion25), and have caused than six days to trace a package of mangoes from the more than 100,000 deaths worldwide. The profit loss to supermarket back to the farm where they were grown, pharmaceutical companies is estimated at $18 billion blockchain can reduce this time to seconds.20 Blockchain not annually.26 only identified the farm where the mangoes were harvested but also the exact path they took on the way to the retail shelves. For developing countries, the problem is dire. The World IBM’s blockchain solutions are also being adopted by Health Organization estimates that 50 percent of drugs Everledger, a firm that is pushing transparency into the consumed in developing countries are counterfeit, the majority diamond supply chain network, with the aim of addressing a of them anti-malarial medicines and antibiotics. These fake market fraught with forced labor and violence across Africa. 21 drugs can harm patients while failing to treat the disease, and may create a resistance to the original product. The problem of In Asia, Chinese retailing giant Alibaba is launching a similar counterfeit drugs is exacerbated by the opacity of the global initiative in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, pharmaceutical industry’s supply chain. Existing solutions to Blackmores, and the Australia Post to fight counterfeit food detect fake drugs, including radio frequency identification tags, products being sold across China. Similarly, China’s second- have been largely ineffective due to the disaggregated nature of largest e-commerce platform, JD.com, is working with Kerchin, the industry supply chain and the high cost of adoption. a Mongolian-based beef manufacturer, to use blockchain to track the production and delivery of frozen beef. Blockchain could intervene to provide greater transparency, help detect fake drugs and, ultimately, reduce tracing costs by: A number of innovative startups around the world are also • Tracking and tracing pharmaceutical raw materials and entering the space. UK based Provenance launched a successful finished products, from manufacturer to end-user, in a pilot program in Indonesia using blockchain-enabled smart- distributed ledger that is tamper-proof tagging to track tuna fishing in Indonesia. German startup • Requiring participants to verify the authenticity of data Slock.it aims to provide the benefits of the transparency, security, and auditability to real-world objects by integrating • Integrating anti-counterfeit devices into the ‘Internet of blockchain nodes in connected objects. US-based RipeIO’s Things’ to authenticate genuine drugs and detects fakes. algorithms crunch data to calculate sustainability scores, as well • Serving as an open-source platform for drug standards to as scores for spoilage and safety levels.22 California’s Filament enhance information-sharing across unrelated databases, is working to develop ‘smart farming’ solutions with a and among different actors in the drug supply chain. decentralized network allowing Internet of Things sensors to Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology presents an communicate with each other. By encrypting down to the innovative alternative to existing systems: It can provide a hardware level and leveraging blockchain technology, record of all transactions, including location, data, quality, and Filament’s decentralized network allows any device to connect, price; it is visible to all involved entities, in real time; and it interact, and transact independently of a central authority. 23 And minimizes record tampering. Bext360, a coffee-supply platform, uses blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things to support fair trade for Several initiatives are currently underway to develop coffee growers in developing nations. blockchain-based solutions that can provide more visibility into the pharmaceutical industry’s supply chain. Rubix, a spinoff of Addressing a public health challenge: Blockchain and the Deloitte, is working in Canada with pharmaceutical companies pharmaceuticals supply chain to build applications for drug safety, drug channels, and public Over the past two decades, the pharmaceutical industry’s safety. And U.S. based startup iSolve has developed BlockRx, supply chain networks have become globally diversified and a private-blockchain solution for the life-sciences industry that complex, resulting in several new actors being introduced into provides traceability in drug supply chains. the value chain—from development, manufacturing, and packaging to delivery. The industry has been under phenomenal BlockRx’s goal is to connect systems that do not readily pressure to fight counterfeit products and to check abuse in its communicate, establish data provenance that satisfies supply chain. Medicines constantly change hands and undergo regulatory and business requirements, and create a network of multiple transactions between production and end-user patient, trading partners that are incentivized to facilitate the transfer of with each transaction increasing the risk of falsified and information within a secured environment. Blockverify, a UK substandard products infiltrating the supply chain. 24 The startup, has developed anti-counterfeit solutions that may make growing number of e-commerce platforms creates more the verification of a drug’s authenticity as easy as scanning a channels for fake medicines to enter the market. bar code with a mobile phone. Each product will have its own A 2014 report by American Health & Drugs Benefits estimated identity on the blockchain to record changes of ownership, and that counterfeit drugs provide approximately $75 billion in will be accessible to everyone. annual revenue to illegal operators (U.S. Department of This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. Similarly, Chronicled, a California company, builds open Investors and credit agencies are now paying greater attention protocols and hardware and software solutions that incorporate to non-financial performance issues, including human rights blockchain’s cryptographic technology with the Internet of and gender equality. Development-finance institutions such as Things, to ensure that transactions and actors cannot be IFC require their clients to adopt performance standards on falsified. It recently launched CryptoSeal, a platform that environmental and social sustainability issues, which include a provides tamper-proof adhesive seal strips containing a Near- commitment to inclusion.32 A series of similar standards has Field Communication chip to seal and track shipments of drugs. been established by private sector institutional investors. And Meanwhile, French startup Blockpharma has developed a consumers are also paying more attention to environmental and private blockchain application that creates a bridge between social standards. As a result, companies are increasingly aware existing programs and the blockchain consortium. The of the importance of these issues to their brands and reputations. laboratories release medicine boxes with bar codes that can be traced throughout the supply chain via a smartphone. While blockchain technology alone is not sufficient to address the cultural and structural issues underlying the challenge of gender A case for inclusion: Women in the global value chain equality, it does present a strong toolkit to tackle significant facets of the issue. The potential benefits of even marginal change can be Women represent a significant portion of workers in many significant for both the private sector and entire economies. value chains. However, informal roles and comparatively low access to credit and identification are an obstacle to women’s Challenges access to jobs and assets, as well as to the creation of As discussed in previous EMCompass Notes, blockchain needs productive, sustainable markets. Blockchain technologies can to overcome multiple challenges in order to become a help address some of these challenges. In terms of business mainstream technology. One key challenge is linked to the ownership, there are approximately 10 million women-owned development and governance of the technology.33 Without a set small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the globe, of standards that can ensure the interoperability of systems representing around 30 percent of all SMEs in emerging across industry and supply chains, it will be difficult for the markets. Seventy percent of these women-owned enterprises technology to achieve scale. Coexistence with legacy systems, are unbanked or underbanked, which represents a finance gap as well as that of private and public blockchains in supply of roughly $300 billion per year.27 Access to financial services chains, will need to be negotiated. The blockchain development such as credit, savings, and insurance are considered one of the community also needs to provide a roadmap for continued major barriers to growth for women-owned businesses. blockchain innovation, particularly in rendering smart contracts Laws and cultural norms that restrict women from opening a more agile and ensuring scalability and security. Full network bank account are common causes of exclusion.28 Women benefits will not be realized without widespread adoption by comprise just over 40 percent of the agricultural labor force in industry, an issue that renders blockchain’s takeoff more the developing world, a figure that ranges from about 20 percent difficult. in the Americas to almost 50 percent in Africa and Asia.29 At a This will take time, as blockchain is a relatively new concept global level, one fourth of all economically active women were and the number of people able to use it are few. While engaged in agriculture in 2015.30 Supporting women’s roles in companies in advanced economies will attract the best talent in agricultural value chains can increase productivity, the global workforce, those in developing countries may require profitability, and sustainability for actors along the chain. more time to catch up. A lack of sufficient digital skills will be an obstacle to adoption, especially for SMEs and micro- Blockchain offers the potential to address some of the barriers enterprises that do not have the financial means to attract talent. to women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment, Large players that act as hubs would have to require their supply both as individuals and as business owners. It could provide a chain partners to align accordingly. Failing to do so may lead to cost efficient digital identity (see EMCompass Note 42, 43), their eventual exclusion from the supply chain. In the case of which can help overcome women’s comparatively low access SMEs, the digital skills gap may intensify their marginalization to formal identification31 and offer an entry to formal roles and from the digital supply chain instead of advancing their remuneration in supply chains. It could also help women inclusion. establish ownership of disputed land titles. Finally, it could promote financial inclusion by helping women establish credit Moreover, with the growing number of regulators concerned scores through alternative credit data sources, bypassing about potential risks, the regulatory framework for the traditional intermediaries and banks. technology is uncertain and unpredictable. Supply chains are currently governed by a highly complex, overlapping nexus of Finally, blockchain’s auditability and traceability can provide a legal and regulatory jurisdictions. In a recent industry survey, tool for the monitoring and enforcement of supplier inclusion 56 percent of participants identified regulatory uncertainty as a and gender empowerment initiatives that are currently difficult major barrier to adopting the technology, followed by a lack of to monitor and enforce. alignment among stakeholders, and of technological maturity.34 This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. Figure 2. Blockchain Maturity Cycle Source: Gartner Conclusion Acknowledgments Blockchain technology is at a nascent stage of development, but The author would like to thank the following colleagues for there are signs that it is exiting the hype-cycle of inflated their review and suggestions: Aksinya Sorokina, Associate expectations and entering a more pragmatic phase of Operations Officer, Advisory Services – Financial Institutions exploration (Figure 2). Educating key stakeholders, both in the Group, IFC; Alexa Roscoe, Consultant, Gender Secretariat, private and public sectors, about the technology’s benefits Cross Industry Solutions, IFC; and Thomas Rehermann, Senior remains a big challenge. Supply chains are an ecosystem that Economist, Thought Leadership, Economics and Private Sector prefers conservative innovation and is dominated by industrial Development, IFC. players with complex business models that are not easy to reengineer. Additional EM Compass Notes about Blockchain This note is the last in a series of five complementary EM However, companies cannot afford to sit out the evolution of Compass Notes by this author: The notes focus on: (1) a general blockchain. They must be realistic about their expectations and overview of blockchain technology (Note 40), (2) an outlook use pilot schemes to learn and adapt their strategies. The closer for blockchain’s implications for emerging markets (Note 41); the use case is to a real business challenge, the better the (3) a general overview of the impact of blockchain on financial chances of productive feedback will be. Companies will also services (Note 43), (4) an emerging market regional analysis of need to weigh the risks of adopting the technology against the blockchain developments in financial services (Note 44) and, numerous opportunities it has to offer. (5) implications of the technology beyond financial technology About the Author (this note). Marina Niforos is the founder and Principal of Logos Global Please also refer to EM Compass Note 38, “Can Blockchain Advisors, a strategic advisory firm to high-growth startups and Technology Address De-Risking in Emerging Markets?” by large multinationals, helping them form partnerships and Vijaya Ramachandran and Thomas Rehermann, for how leverage opportunities for growth. She is also Visiting Faculty blockchain can be used to mitigate de-risking by financial of Leadership at HEC Hautes études commerciales de Paris, a institutions, which affects recipients of remittances, businesses French business school. that need correspondent banking relationships. (marina.niforos@logosglobaladvisors.com) This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. 1 http://www.tradefacilitation.org/ 19 Wass, Sanne. 2017. “Food Companies Unite to Advance Blockchain 2 GVCs are Coasian constructs that exist only if the incremental benefit from for Supply Chain Traceability.” Global Trade Review, August 22. improved complexity (GVC length) is higher than the increased transaction 20 Springer, Jon. 2017. “Walmart: Blockchain Tech a Boon to Food cost. 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This publication may be reused for noncommercial purposes if the source is cited as IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.