The terms that govern the movement of a shipment of product from, say, a Manufacturer to a Wholesaler are usually not only confidential...their existence is confidential. And likewise, the terms between the Wholesaler and a Retailer of that product can't, in some cases, be known to the Manufacturer. However, there are cases when some or all of the product must be returned to the Manufacturer from the retail channel. Especially in highly regulated industries, the product's serialization process requires tight coordination. When the product is put back into circulation, the Retailer may need to coordinate with the Manufacturer. In this scenario, the Retailer has no visibility or connection past the Wholesaler. If this were only a "three party" problem, the Wholesaler in the middle could be used to join the two Parties on each side, but in many real-world scenarios, there are more Steps and more Counterparties involved.