Can the blockchain make the supply chain more transparent for consumers?
Linda Goetze replied:
"The blockchain" won't make "the supply chain more transparent for consumers" but there are blockchains that can be structured in such a way that the public can access supply chain information in a permissioned manner. The organizations building out the individual blockchain networks will have to choose blockchains with the appropriate infrastructure or build layers on top of the blockchain to facilitate such access. The real questions here may be, with blockchain implementations, will we see which companies want to keep their supply chains obscure and what will we do about it as consumers?
Transparency is a fantastic work but unfortunately it by itself is not so transparent when it comes to Supply Chain.
A typical Supply Chain includes the Supply Chain of Finance, Sales, Marketing, CX, Procurement, Manufacturing and last but not least the Legal. It is in the interests of the company NOT to have a complete transparency on all of this, unless there is a verified system which validates every actor on the spectrum. Previously in the non Blockchain area, this was a challenge and concern and hence Trust was the most abused, feared and thus derived value of the entire eco system.
With Blockchain in the picture, a lot many of these processes, have the sexy feel of being standardized across several domains with criss cross functionaries as well and offering the end user(s) the option of choosing what they want to see, how they want to see and when they want to see.
I personally feel the obscurity will continue, but not to the level of what it was till some time ago. The transparency in its truest sense is on its way now as we speak or read literally.