Evaluating the feasibility of blockchain in logistics operations: A decision framework

• Published in: Expert systems with applications 2020-11, Vol.158, p.113543, Article 113543
• Main Authors: Ar, Ilker Murat, Erol, Ismail, Peker, Iskender, Ozdemir, Ali Ihsan, Medeni, Tunc Durmus, Medeni, Ihsan Tolga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blockchain; Cryptography; Decision making; Decision theory; Feasibility studies; Fleet management; Fuzzy VIKOR; Interoperability; Intuitionistic Fuzzy AHP; Logistics; Materials handling; Multi-Criteria Decision Making; Multiple criterion; Order processing; Product returns; Route planning; Security; Transportation; Vehicle routing; Visibility
• ISSN: 0957-4174; 1873-6793
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eswa.2020.113543

•Security is the most important factor to determine the feasible logistics operation.•Scalability is the least important factor.•The most feasible operation is transportation in a possible blockchain application.•Product returns management is the least feasible logistics operation. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of blockchain technology in logistics industry using a quantitative approach. To this end, a decision framework is proposed based on a multi-criteria decision structure that incorporates AHP into VIKOR under Intuitionistic Fuzzy Theory. This integration presents different solutions and rankings based on different decision-making strategies and also captures uncertainty in the evaluation process. While Intuitionistic Fuzzy AHP calculates the importance weights of the proposed criteria indicated as scalability, privacy, interoperability, audit, latency, visibility, trust, and security, Fuzzy VIKOR ranks the logistics operations demonstrated as materials handling, warehousing, order processing, transportation, packaging, fleet management, labeling, vehicle routing and product returns management. The proposed decision framework was applied in a large-scale logistics company located in Turkey. The findings of this study suggest that while the most important criteria are security, visibility and audit, the most feasible logistics operations proved to be transportation, materials handling, warehousing, order processing and fleet management in a possible blockchain implementation. The decision framework in this study may enable decision makers to evaluate the feasibility of blockchain in logistics operations, which is one of the main research gaps in the current blockchain research. Furthermore, this is the first study that integrates AHP and VIKOR methods under Intuitionistic Fuzzy Theory in the context of blockchain.