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BASF, the German chemical company, is beginning to use blockchain technology for early identification of supply chain problems. According to a news release, "How do you recognize that a delivery is incomplete or damaged, even before you receive it? The start-up Quantoz, together with
BASF and start-up Ahrma, found a smart answer to this question: an intelligent pallet that not only informs about its position and movement, but also its loading status as well as a possible impact or drop. Thus, missing or damaged parts could be automatically re-ordered. By using Quantoz’ blockchain technology, the security and trust in the data integrity could be additionally increased. This combination provides an outlook for a secure and transparent material and data flow in the future."

Another news release makes similarly ambitious claims about another application of block chain -- combined with social networking -- to improve supply chain management.  "The combining of Sourcemap’s supply chain social network and Provenance’s blockchain technology offers an unprecedented way for companies to overcome the complexities of modern supply chains, tracing and tracking them in real-time. Sourcemap’s supply chain social network connects all of the suppliers and sub-suppliers in a global network, ensuring that they are who they say are, while Provenance’s blockchain technology is able to track every transaction between the suppliers in real-time, to verify that every product is sourced through the authorized chain of custody.

A third news release is not block-chain related but no less ambitious: "Protecting the integrity of the medical product supply chain is complex and requires a global approach. FDA led a collaboration within Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies to create a Supply Chain Security Toolkit for Medical Productsdisclaimer icon to maximize available global resources and to deliver quality trainings and best practices and for securing the global supply chain for medical products. The toolkit covers the entire supply chain and lifecycle of medical products from raw materials to use by patients. It focuses on developing — and implementing through training programs — processes, procedures, and tools directed at enhancing global medical product quality and supply chain security."

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon's second quarter "sales jumped another 25% to $38 billion. The sales growth is a big contrast with financial reports from the big store-operating retailers, but Amazon also saw the costs of getting those online orders delivered soar. Shipping expenses rose 36% and fulfillment costs jumped 41%, measures that reflect both Amazon’s growing share of the retail market and its drive to control its own logistics and shipping operations."

In the Sunday, July 30 New York Times there is a long piece on Amazon's stock price.  According to Jeff Sommer, "over the last 15 years through Tuesday, Amazon returned more than 8200 percent compared to 125 percent for Walmart, 2.2 percent for Seats, and 302 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, dividends included."  Over this same period Amazon's revenue has increased from $148 million to $135.99 billion.  Famously,  Amazon did not make a profit until 2003 and has remained less focused on profit-making than many.  The stock price reflects investor perception of growth potential.  There remains plenty of such potential.  And... the cost of future growth is likely to pinch profits.