生鲜零售商应用区块链技术的意愿研究

    Intention analysis of fresh retailers to apply blockchain technology

    • 摘要: 为了解决供应链信息不对称问题,缩短流通时间,保持产品新鲜度,增加消费者剩余,生鲜零售商应用区块链技术。但是,技术应用收益程度受到产品新鲜度和消费者风险规避水平的影响。该研究构建由供应商、零售商和消费者组成的二级生鲜供应链,对比分析区块链技术应用前后供应商与零售商的博弈均衡解,探讨零售商区块链技术应用意愿。结果发现,当产品初始新鲜度较高时,零售商愿意应用区块链技术以带来更高的利润,增加消费者剩余。相反,当产品初始新鲜度较低时,应用区块链技术会导致零售商利润受损,零售商技术应用意愿低。而当产品初始新鲜度处于一般水平时,零售商技术应用意愿随着消费者风险规避水平的提高而增强。

       

      Abstract: Perishability can be defined as the characteristic of fresh items. The level of freshness is one of the most crucial indicators in the fresh food supply chain. The widespread information asymmetry has exacerbated the circulation losses to trigger the food safety incidents, such as the horse meat scandal in the UK, the widespread Romaine lettuce infection in the US, the contamination of Ecuadorian white shrimp, the counterfeiting of pork in China, and the “Salmon Incident”. Food safety issues have resulted in adverse customer sentiment on the trust between consumers and the fresh produce business. Hence, risk-averse actions can be expected to implemented on the highly efficient and reliable traceability system for agricultural goods. The quality and safety traceability were enhanced to guarantee food safety throughout the whole supply chain of agricultural products. Fresh produce retailers can achieved in the transparency about freshness using traceability system. The fresh produce supply chain can be realized to decrease the food wastes for the high product quality and customer trust. Nascent Blockchain technology can offer to strengthening the stability of system, with the decentralization, openness, transparency, cryptographic protection and tamper-proof features. Information disclosure can also be utilized to ensure both openness and transparency of information. Additionally, the utilization and impact of information can be used to mitigate information asymmetry among supply chain participants in the product traceability. Furthermore, blockchain technology can be implemented in the entire supply chain of fresh food, particularly on data collection and storage. Real-time monitoring was realized to predict the product status during the production, processing, transportation and sales of products. As a result, the clear insight of consumers can be gained into the authentic information regarding all stages of production and distribution, thus ensuring transparency in product freshness. Supply chain efficiency was also optimized to foster the consumer trust and retailer reputation. Furthermore, customer confidence was enhanced the reputation of stores and precise supply matching. A robust and safe trust mechanism was effectively achieved for the fresh food supply chain. Blockchain technology can be implemented in the fresh produce retail industry, in order to balance and promote information sharing and transparency. Moreover, smart contract technology was utilized to reduce the circulating time of fresh produce and consumer risks, in order to enhance the efficiency and quality of consumer benefits. However, the technological application can also depend on the freshness of items and the degree to which consumers minimize risk. In this study, the information transparency and timeliness were enhanced to focus on the blockchain technology. A secondary fresh food supply chain was established to involve the suppliers, retailers, and consumers. The equilibrium solutions of the game between suppliers and retailers were compared both before and after the implementation of blockchain technology. The consumers risk avoidance behaviors were also examined on the application strategy and value. A systematic investigation was then made to determine the intention of retailers to adopt blockchain technology. Research indicated that high intention was achieved to use blockchain technology, when the product was a higher initial freshness. This selected was driven by the requirement to maximize revenues, consumer surplus and more social welfare. Conversely, blockchain technology was resulted in the decreased profits and motivation, if the product was a low initial freshness. In contrast, there was the increase in the retailer's willingness to apply the blockchain technology, as the level of consumer risk aversion increased, particularly when the initial freshness of the product was at an average level.

       

    /

    返回文章
    返回