Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach
In the global trucking industry, vertical collaboration between shippers and carriers is attained by intermediaries, called brokers. Brokers organize carriers for a shipper in accordance with its quality and price requirements, and support carriers to collaborate horizontally by sharing a large dist...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-06-01
|
| Series: | Logistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/5/2/37 |
| _version_ | 1797530821833261056 |
|---|---|
| author | Serkan Alacam Asli Sencer |
| author_facet | Serkan Alacam Asli Sencer |
| author_sort | Serkan Alacam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the global trucking industry, vertical collaboration between shippers and carriers is attained by intermediaries, called brokers. Brokers organize carriers for a shipper in accordance with its quality and price requirements, and support carriers to collaborate horizontally by sharing a large distribution order from a shipper. Brokers also act as trustees, preventing the passing of private information of any party to the others. Despite these benefits, intermediaries in the trucking industry are involved in several sustainability problems, including high costs, high levels of carbon emissions, high percentages of empty miles, low-capacity utilizations, and driver shortages. Several studies have acknowledged the importance of improving collaboration to address these problems. Obviously, the major concern of brokers is not collaboration, but rather to optimize their own gains. This paper investigates the potential of blockchain technology to improve collaboration in the trucking industry, by eliminating brokers while preserving their responsibilities as organizers and trustees. This paper extends the transportation control tower concept from the logistics literature, and presents a system architecture for its implementation through smart contracts on a blockchain network. In the proposed system, the scalability and privacy of trucking operations are ensured through integration with privacy-preserving off-chain computation and storage solutions (running outside of the blockchain). The potential of this design artifact for fostering collaboration in the trucking industry was evaluated by both blockchain technology experts and trucking industry professionals. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:35:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc8498967a594c858a95e0d6bca06870 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2305-6290 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:35:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Logistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc8498967a594c858a95e0d6bca068702023-11-21T23:22:28ZengMDPI AGLogistics2305-62902021-06-01523710.3390/logistics5020037Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research ApproachSerkan Alacam0Asli Sencer1Department of Management Information Systems, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul 34342, TurkeyDepartment of Management Information Systems, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul 34342, TurkeyIn the global trucking industry, vertical collaboration between shippers and carriers is attained by intermediaries, called brokers. Brokers organize carriers for a shipper in accordance with its quality and price requirements, and support carriers to collaborate horizontally by sharing a large distribution order from a shipper. Brokers also act as trustees, preventing the passing of private information of any party to the others. Despite these benefits, intermediaries in the trucking industry are involved in several sustainability problems, including high costs, high levels of carbon emissions, high percentages of empty miles, low-capacity utilizations, and driver shortages. Several studies have acknowledged the importance of improving collaboration to address these problems. Obviously, the major concern of brokers is not collaboration, but rather to optimize their own gains. This paper investigates the potential of blockchain technology to improve collaboration in the trucking industry, by eliminating brokers while preserving their responsibilities as organizers and trustees. This paper extends the transportation control tower concept from the logistics literature, and presents a system architecture for its implementation through smart contracts on a blockchain network. In the proposed system, the scalability and privacy of trucking operations are ensured through integration with privacy-preserving off-chain computation and storage solutions (running outside of the blockchain). The potential of this design artifact for fostering collaboration in the trucking industry was evaluated by both blockchain technology experts and trucking industry professionals.https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/5/2/37blockchaintruckingcollaborationtrusteetransportation control towers |
| spellingShingle | Serkan Alacam Asli Sencer Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach Logistics blockchain trucking collaboration trustee transportation control towers |
| title | Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach |
| title_full | Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach |
| title_fullStr | Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach |
| title_short | Using Blockchain Technology to Foster Collaboration among Shippers and Carriers in the Trucking Industry: A Design Science Research Approach |
| title_sort | using blockchain technology to foster collaboration among shippers and carriers in the trucking industry a design science research approach |
| topic | blockchain trucking collaboration trustee transportation control towers |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/5/2/37 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT serkanalacam usingblockchaintechnologytofostercollaborationamongshippersandcarriersinthetruckingindustryadesignscienceresearchapproach AT aslisencer usingblockchaintechnologytofostercollaborationamongshippersandcarriersinthetruckingindustryadesignscienceresearchapproach |