BEEFLEDGER: CROSS-BORDER BEEF SUPPLY CHAIN BASED ON
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDY SOLUTION
e
pl
m
Sa
SYNOPSIS
Food safety and fraud have been long-standing issues in China. For some imported products, such as
Australian beef steak, food fraud can be a massive issue, where consumers purchase the wrong or even
harmful products, and legitimate brands subsequently lose sales and reputation. BeefLedger Ltd.
n
(BeefLedger) is an Australian blockchain start-up company that aims to solve these issues by using
blockchain technology to supply authentic beef products to customers in China and elsewhere. The
tio
technology also significantly improves transparency in the beef supply chain. Since 2017, BeefLedger has
gained important experience in this area and achieved a certain level of success.
lu
The concept of blockchain was proposed in late 2008 and has been successfully used in the area of finance,
such as for bitcoin. However, blockchain is still in its infancy in other areas. The next promising field to
So
adopt blockchain is believed to be supply chain management, where the technology has the potential to
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. What issues are exposed in the current beef supply chain? What information is most important to
consumers?
2. How should BeefLedger use blockchain to help improve the food supply chain and to deal with the
issues identified in question 1?
3. How can blockchain optimize the information-processing capacity of BeefLedger?
4. What are the challenges for BeefLedger in blockchain implementation, and how is it overcoming these?
5. How should BeefLedger cope with the recent challenges of Australia−China tensions and COVID-19?
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, e
pl
ANALYSIS
m
Sa
1. What issues are exposed in the current beef supply chain? What information is most important
to consumers?
BeefLedger’s target customers are mainly Chinese consumers who are concerned with the country of origin
n
of beef products and the condition of these products during shipping. The main reason for the emphasis on
tio
the products’ origin is that food fraud is a massive issue in China, especially in the case of expensive
imported Australian beef steaks. Food fraud is an intentional deception to gain profit using unethical
behaviours such as mislabelling, substituting, and counterfeiting food products. The complex cross-border
lu
food supply chain also makes it hard to detect food fraud. Food fraud usually happens in circumstances
where the potential gain is high and the risk is low. For beef products, the large price difference between
real and fake Australian beef products can be an incentive for fraudsters. The multiple tiers of the supply
So
chain and the multimodal shipping between Australia and China also make food fraud detection more
difficult along the whole process. Thus, it is difficult to track an issue and trace back to where responsibility
for it lies. Therefore, the authenticity of the beef products is one of the most important pieces of information
for BeefLedger’s customers.
The temperature during global shipping is another important piece of information for customers. Keeping
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, EXHIBIT -2: CIRCULATE SUPPLY CHAIN
e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDY SOLUTION
e
pl
m
Sa
SYNOPSIS
Food safety and fraud have been long-standing issues in China. For some imported products, such as
Australian beef steak, food fraud can be a massive issue, where consumers purchase the wrong or even
harmful products, and legitimate brands subsequently lose sales and reputation. BeefLedger Ltd.
n
(BeefLedger) is an Australian blockchain start-up company that aims to solve these issues by using
blockchain technology to supply authentic beef products to customers in China and elsewhere. The
tio
technology also significantly improves transparency in the beef supply chain. Since 2017, BeefLedger has
gained important experience in this area and achieved a certain level of success.
lu
The concept of blockchain was proposed in late 2008 and has been successfully used in the area of finance,
such as for bitcoin. However, blockchain is still in its infancy in other areas. The next promising field to
So
adopt blockchain is believed to be supply chain management, where the technology has the potential to
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
1. What issues are exposed in the current beef supply chain? What information is most important to
consumers?
2. How should BeefLedger use blockchain to help improve the food supply chain and to deal with the
issues identified in question 1?
3. How can blockchain optimize the information-processing capacity of BeefLedger?
4. What are the challenges for BeefLedger in blockchain implementation, and how is it overcoming these?
5. How should BeefLedger cope with the recent challenges of Australia−China tensions and COVID-19?
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, e
pl
ANALYSIS
m
Sa
1. What issues are exposed in the current beef supply chain? What information is most important
to consumers?
BeefLedger’s target customers are mainly Chinese consumers who are concerned with the country of origin
n
of beef products and the condition of these products during shipping. The main reason for the emphasis on
tio
the products’ origin is that food fraud is a massive issue in China, especially in the case of expensive
imported Australian beef steaks. Food fraud is an intentional deception to gain profit using unethical
behaviours such as mislabelling, substituting, and counterfeiting food products. The complex cross-border
lu
food supply chain also makes it hard to detect food fraud. Food fraud usually happens in circumstances
where the potential gain is high and the risk is low. For beef products, the large price difference between
real and fake Australian beef products can be an incentive for fraudsters. The multiple tiers of the supply
So
chain and the multimodal shipping between Australia and China also make food fraud detection more
difficult along the whole process. Thus, it is difficult to track an issue and trace back to where responsibility
for it lies. Therefore, the authenticity of the beef products is one of the most important pieces of information
for BeefLedger’s customers.
The temperature during global shipping is another important piece of information for customers. Keeping
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
, EXHIBIT -2: CIRCULATE SUPPLY CHAIN
e
pl
m
Sa
n
tio
lu
So
The Case Solution Starts From page 5
