## 2 Literature Review and Exploration of Concepts
### Supply Chains  
A supply chain represents a complex network of organizations, individuals, activities, information, and resources involved in producing, handling, and distributing goods and services, from raw materials to end customers. It encompasses forward material/product flows and backward information flows, requiring coordination and collaboration among multiple entities [20], including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, logistics providers, and customers. The modern supply chain is marked by its intricacy, with numerous participants and evolving real-world conditions, leading to increased complexity [21] and reduced traceability. These challenges demand mutual trust among participants due to the extensive network size, as entities tend to maintain their individual ledgers rather than rely on a centralized ledger. Efficient SCM fosters competitive advantages, offering cost savings, improved quality, and enhanced partner and customer satisfaction. It allows companies to differentiate themselves and remain competitive in global markets. Furthermore, SCM contributes to risk mitigation [22] and sustainability, identifying and managing potential risks, reducing their impact, and promoting eco-friendly practices [23]. Smart contracts and blockchain technologies offer significant advantages in SCM. Smart contracts, as automated self-executing agreements, streamline complex processes, reduce manual verification, enhance transparency, and eliminate the need for intermediarieslike escrows. This automation reduces costs, improves operational efficiency [24], and allows for faster transaction completion. Blockchain, complementing smart contracts, provides a transparent and immutable transaction record. Its transparency increases stakeholder trust and collaboration, minimizing fraud and human error. Multiple ledger copies enhance accountability and reduce dispute risks. Blockchain also offers decentralized traceability, making all participants' status, location, and ownership of goods and services visible. For sensitive products, such as medicines or perishables, blockchain ensures the integrity of transaction data [25], ensuring the safety and quality of the transferred items. Smart contracts and blockchain also facilitate regulatory compliance and adherence to industry standards like the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The automation provided by these technologies simplifies compliance efforts [26] and offers a deeper understanding of supply chain processes and potential issues, enabling better risk mitigation and efficient supply chain management. The paper explores a novel paradigm in supply chain management by integrating the Internet of Things (IoT) with blockchain technology, specifically focusing on Ethereum. This system combines IoT-based Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with blockchain to offer real-time product tracking and enhanced data security [27] across the supply chain. This innovative approach addresses challenges related to traceability and transparency in supply chains and has the potential to revolutionize supply chain operations by ensuring efficiency and security in a digitally interconnected ecosystem. The concept of smart contracts, electronic transaction protocols that facilitate, verify, or enforce the terms of underlying legal contracts, is explored. These contracts aim to fulfill perpetual conditions without needing third-party intermediaries, reducing transaction costs. Smart contracts extend beyond cost reduction and find application in supply chain management, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Industry 4.0 solutions, streamlining cross-organizational processes [11] in smart supply chains. Blockchain technology, with its properties of traceability, transparency, and trust, is transforming supply chain management. The paper introduces a collaborative resource-sharing framework [28] using blockchain and smart contracts.