Digitalization of Supply Chain Transparency: The Case of ChainReact

Abstract

Industry 4.0 revolves around digital augmentation of production processes—from design to utilization. It promises new business models, business–customer relationships, product innovations, but also unprecedented transparency and control, translating into new levels of sustainability in various areas (environmental impact of production, human rights in supply chains, etc.). The current vision, derived from technological advances in big data, cloud computing, IoT, distributed ledgers, suggests that the satisfactory levels of sustainability will emerge almost “magically”, by the sheer concentration of transparency and reporting capable technical solutions. The case of WikiRate.org, and its ChainReact program, nuances these assumptions. First, it demonstrates that technology can be used already to promote business social responsibility without the full Industry 4.0 in place. Even more importantly, it shows that technology alone is not likely to assure sustainability. ChainReact process shows that promoting transparency, empowering various stakeholders of production processes, and eventually pushing for positive change are as much about building production and supply chain data ecosystem, as about getting companies’ buy-ins, organizing research groups, and working with legislators. The current WikiRate experience can update our thinking on how promoting sustainability could realistically look like in a fully realized world of Industry 4.0.