Web3 and Blockchain Transformations in Global Supply Chains

INSEAD via Coursera

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/web3-and-blockchain-transformations-in-global-supply-chains

Introduction

**Course Review: Web3 and Blockchain Transformations in Global Supply Chains** In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and global interconnectivity, understanding the innovations that reshape industry landscapes is crucial for professionals across various sectors. Coursera's course, **Web3 and Blockchain Transformations in Global Supply Chains**, provides a comprehensive exploration of how blockchain technology can revolutionize the massive $50 trillion global supply chain industry. ### Overview of the Course As highlighted in the course description, today’s supply chains are intricate networks often hampered by outdated processes that involve numerous manual and paper-based transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed these shortcomings, emphasizing the need for modernization in how goods move around the globe. This course presents blockchain as a viable solution to address these inefficiencies, establishing a foundation for more transparent, agile, and trusted supply chain management. ### What You Will Learn The course comprises five key modules, each designed to delve into different aspects of blockchain’s impact on global supply chains: 1. **Blockchain in Global Trade**: This module discusses the complexities of global trade and how blockchain can modernize these processes. You'll explore the unique value propositions for various stakeholders, from banks and corporations to customs authorities. It emphasizes how blockchain promotes collaboration and creates efficiencies across these diverse entities. 2. **Reducing Supply Chain Complexity**: Here, learners will confront the challenges of manual documentation and the pitfalls of time-consuming approval processes. The module introduces blockchain as a means to forge trustworthy digital relationships among supply chain partners, enhancing compliance, quality control, and overall efficiency. 3. **Blockchain, IoT, and Sensor-Based Logistics**: The interplay between IoT and blockchain is the focal point of this module. It explores how sensor data can be captured and shared throughout the supply chain, offering improved visibility and enabling proactive responses to deviations. You will discover how autonomous communication between physical objects is made possible through blockchain, resulting in a more agile supply chain. 4. **Provenance and Traceability**: This module addresses the critical issue of tracking products from their origins to consumers. Insights into how blockchain enhances supply chain transparency are invaluable, particularly in combating counterfeit goods and ensuring ethical sourcing. The teachings also cover tracking product safety, which is increasingly vital in industries like food and pharmaceuticals. 5. **Reshaping Global Commerce**: The potential of blockchain to alter the structures and decisions underpinning supply chains is vast. This module discusses innovative models for distributed manufacturing, the role of smart contracts in additive manufacturing, and the significance of asset lifecycle management. Understanding these concepts is essential for grasping how blockchain can drive the future of global trade. ### Course Structure and Delivery The course is presented in a blended format combining video lectures, readings, and interaction with instructors and fellow participants, all designed for a flexible learning experience. Each module includes practical examples and case studies that lend real-world relevance to the theoretical aspects, helping learners see the applicability of concepts discussed. ### Why You Should Take This Course If you are involved in supply chain management, logistics, finance, or any related field, this course is a must. It not only equips you with the knowledge of blockchain technologies but also prepares you to innovate within your organization. The urgency of modernizing supply chains amidst global challenges cannot be overstated, making this course timely for professionals looking to stay ahead of the curve. ### Conclusion The **Web3 and Blockchain Transformations in Global Supply Chains** course on Coursera offers a thorough understanding of how emerging technologies can enhance one of the most critical components of the global economy. By enrolling, you position yourself at the forefront of technological advancement and equip yourself with the skills necessary to navigate and lead in the evolving landscape of global supply chains. Don't miss the opportunity to be part of this transformative learning experience that promises to prepare you for the future of supply chain management.

Syllabus

Blockchain in Global Trade

Global trade has grown in complexity and magnitude over millennia, but its processes remain relatively unchanged. This module explores how blockchain can help modernize global trade and link together other capabilities for the twenty-first century. In this module, you will learn how various participants in the global trade network stand to derive unique value from blockchain technology—including banks and financiers, corporations, freight forwarders and carriers, customs and port authorities, regulatory bodies, and insurance providers. You will explore the ways that blockchain serves to link together organizations, industries, and technologies, and fosters an approach to collaboration that will drive new efficiencies.

Reducing Supply Chain Complexity

Most supply chains today still rely heavily on opaque, time-consuming, and costly processes. Documentation is largely paper-based and handled manually. Approvals from multiple parties at each checkpoint often cause delays and are susceptible to fraud on cross-border orders. Catching mistakes in compliance and quality control is difficult. In this module, you will learn how blockchain can help mitigate the complexity of global supply chains by building trustable digital relationships among partners, goods, and customers.

Blockchain, IoT, and Sensor-Based Logistics

The Internet of Things (IoT) revolves around connectivity, identification, sensing, remote monitoring, and actuation of physical objects. In the context of global supply chains, the application of IoT to sensor-based logistics enables cargo data—such as location, temperature, humidity, pressure, shock, and light exposure—to be captured and transmitted to multiple parties, allowing them to improve overall visibility and respond to unexpected deviations. In this module, you will learn how blockchain can help achieve autonomous and contract-based communication between physical things, providing an auditable record for products in transit.

Provenance and Traceability

Provenance and traceability are vexing challenges for a wide range of companies and their supply chains. A supply chain represents all links between parties involved in creating and distributing goods, starting with suppliers of unprocessed raw materials and ending with the delivery of a finished product to the consumer. The application of blockchain for provenance in supply chains aims at providing deep-tier visibility into the origins of a product. In this module, you will learn how blockchain has the potential to provide unprecedented supply-chain visibility in near real time, serving to combat counterfeit goods, enable ethically-sourced materials, track food safety from farm to fork, and increase buyer trust.

Reshaping Global Commerce

Globalization and volatility in demand require an increasing degree of flexibility in the production of goods and equipment. Blockchain has the potential to redefine economic structures and value flows that underpin supply-chain decision-making. This module explores three opportunities for blockchain in reshaping—or perhaps reversing—-global trade. First, you will learn how blockchain enables new models for distributed manufacturing, facilitating interactions between buyers and manufacturers to streamline production processes. Second, you will explore blockchain’s role in securing end-to-end additive manufacturing (AM) processes, with smart contracts serving as a security layer underpinning AM transactions. Third, you will learn how blockchain facilitates asset life-cycle management, providing a shared and immutable product memory and trail of actionable data over an asset’s life cycle between multiple parties. The module concludes with a discussion of the enabling considerations for blockchain in global trade, including business considerations (e.g. governance, standards, regulations) and technology considerations (e.g. scalability, interoperability, and integration with legacy systems).