How blockchain technologies impact your business model

Much of the attention surrounding blockchain today is focused on financial services, with very little discussion about nonfinancial services firms and how blockchain technology may affect organizations, their business models, and how they create and deliver value. In addition, some confusion remains between the blockchain (with definite article) and blockchain (no article), distributed ledger technologies, and their applications. Our article offers a primer on blockchain technology aimed at general managers and executives. The key contributions of this article lie in providing an explanation of blockchain, including how a blockchain transaction works and a clarification of terms, and outlining different types of blockchain technologies. We also discuss how different types of blockchain impact business models. Building on the well-established business model framework by Osterwalder and Pigneur, we outline the effect that blockchain technologies can have on each element of the business model, along with illustrations from firms developing blockchain technology.     

Blockchain in Additive Manufacturing and its Impact on Supply Chains

Additive manufacturing (AM) appears to be a particularly attractive use case for blockchain. This research combines inductive in‐depth interviews with the Delphi method to explore what potentials blockchain technology in AM creates, which adoption barriers firms need to overcome, and how supply chains will be affected by the integration of these two potentially disruptive technologies. The results suggest opportunities that are related to intellectual property (IP) rights management, the monitoring of printed parts throughout their lifecycle, process improvements, and data security. The most important barriers for blockchain adoption in AM are an absence of blockchain‐skilled specialists on the labor market, missing governance mechanisms, and a lack of firm‐internal technical expertise. By addressing important limitations of AM, blockchain is expected to improve the competitiveness of AM in parts’ production, catalyzing the trend toward more decentralized manufacturing resulting in more agile, resilient, and flexible supply chains and reduced logistics costs. Beyond that, blockchain‐based AM platforms are expected to enhance supply chain visibility, drive supply chain digitalization, support supply chain finance, and contribute to the emergence of shared factory systems.     

Understanding Managers’ Reactions to Blockchain Technologies in the Supply Chain: The Reliable and Unbiased Software Agent

Organizations investing in supply chain information systems struggle to ensure successful adoption and implementation. Projects fail because of technical caveats, inability to meet business needs, and poor management of implementation. Implementation of blockchain technologies across a network of supply chain partners is more complex than internally focused technologies. It is necessary for partner firms to implement, contribute, and share information, and employees to actively use the capabilities of the technology to realize potential. Blockchain technologies can substitute for traditional interfirm intermediaries acting as an unbiased software agent embedded in the supply chain network. Understanding managers’ perceptions of and willingness to use blockchain technologies is crucial for successful implementation. Integrating design theory with classic diffusion processes, we conducted a scenario‐based role‐playing experiment with industry professionals to examine managers’ perceptions of blockchain technologies and willingness to use. We find that trustworthiness with regard to competence and perceived distributive justice is the focal drivers of managers’ willingness to use the technology. Additionally, both risk and interactional justice are not drivers of willingness to use blockchain technology despite significant claims to that effect. We provide implications for how managers can leverage these drivers to influence supply chain partners’ willingness to use the technology.     

Beyond Bitcoin: What blockchain and distributed ledger technologies mean for firms

Blockchain technologies are benefiting from significant interest in both societal and business contexts. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have grown rapidly in user adoption over the past 8 years. However, blockchain technologies, which fuel cryptocurrencies, have the potential to extend to other business applications even more profoundly. Blockchain can be leveraged to drive innovation and increase efficiencies in new domains—including digital arts management, supply chains, and healthcare—but there remain technical, organizational, and regulatory headwinds that must be overcome before mass adoption can occur. In this article, we provide a brief history of blockchain and identify some of the key features that have enabled its popular uptake in the world of cryptocurrencies. We discuss how blockchain technologies have evolved from traditional software and web technologies and then examine their underlying strengths and evaluate new, noncryptocurrency use cases. We conclude with a look at the limitations of blockchain and present several important factors for managers considering blockchain implementation within their organizations.     

A decentralized token economy: How blockchain and cryptocurrency can revolutionize business

As the underlying technology of bitcoin, blockchain is expected to create a new economic system by revolutionizing the way we communicate over the internet. Blockchain seeks to improve information security and transparency by sharing encrypted data among peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Due to its emphasis on security and trust, there is increased demand for blockchain’s application in a variety of business sectors. The decentralized nature of blockchain creates the new concept of a token economy in which the community’s revenue can be allocated to the actual content producers and service users who create value. This article looks at how blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are evolving and interconnected, creating a token economy through different business models. Blockchain is expected to be a key technology that enables new protocols for the establishment of a token economy in the future, leading to a new economic paradigm.     

The Struggle is Real: Insights from a Supply Chain Blockchain Case

Despite the anticipated benefits and the numerous announcements of pilot cases, we have seen very few successful implementations of blockchain technology (BCT) solutions in supply chains. Little is empirically known about the obstacles to blockchain adoption, particularly in a supply chain's interorganizational setting. In supply chains, blockchains' benefits, for example, BCT‐based tracking and tracing, are dependent on a critical mass of supply chain actors adopting the technology. While previous research has mainly been conceptual and has lacked both theory and empirical data, we propose a theory‐based model for interorganizational adoption of BCT. We use the proposed model to analyze a unique in‐depth revelatory case study. Our case study confirms previous conceptual work and reveals a paradox as well as several tensions between drivers for and against (positive and negative determining factors, respectively) of BCT adoption that must be managed in an interorganizational setting. In this vertical context, the adoption and integration decision of one supply chain actor recursively affects the adoption and integration decisions of the other supply chain actors. This paper contributes midrange theory on BCT in supply chain management (SCM), future research directions, and managerial insights on BCT adoption in supply chains.     

Organizational characteristics and the CRM adoption process

The purpose of this study is to identify the status of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) adoption and explore the influence of organizational characteristics on the CRM adoption process in the Korean fashion industry. Using Rogers' [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] innovation decision process model as the conceptual basis, this study surveyed 94 Korean fashion companies to investigate the persuasion, decision, and implementation stages of CRM adoption. Organizational variables included firm characteristics (size, strategy, maturity of information system), product characteristics (category, fashion position, seasonality), and CEO characteristics (age, education). The most frequently used CRM technology is the development of a customer database, whereas the mostly frequently mentioned benefits of CRM are encouraging repurchase. Moreover, respondents' perceptions of CRM benefits affect CRM adoption, influencing the use of various CRM technologies. Organizational strategy, maturity of information system, and product category all significantly influence the adoption process. Empirical findings provide further support for the innovation decision process model developed by Rogers [Rogers EM. Diffusion of innovation. New York: Free Press; 1995] and the CRM adoption model can be used when fashion companies do strategic planning and evaluate the possibility of adopting CRM strategies.     

Tortoise,not the hare: Digital transformation of supply chain business processes

With the rapid development of digital technologies, many supply chain professionals are wondering how to move forward. Three technologies are poised to change supply chain business processes: robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and blockchain. Based on interviews with supply chain professionals in 14 large, mature manufacturing and service organizations, we outline the promise of each technology and forecast their broad-scale adoption potential. Organizations should take the following measures to ensure their readiness to adopt and effectively use one or more of these technologies: (1) identify a supply chain technology visionary who can lead through the maze of technologies and the changing digital landscape, (2) develop a digital technology roadmap for their supply chain processes, and (3) update foundational information systems.     

Technological opportunism effects on IT adoption,intra-firm diffusion and performance: Evidence from the U.S. and Spain

The paper pursues a joint analysis of the direct influence of the level of a firm's technology opportunism capability on performance and on the adoption and intra-firm diffusion of Internet-based technologies. The study here examines the mediating effect that intra-firm diffusion exerts on the relationship between capabilities and performance. This study uses the results from a survey of 100 Spanish and 109 American franchise firms. Results indicate that the firm's level technological opportunism influences the adoption and intra-firm diffusion of technology and also has a positive impact on performance. While intra-firm diffusion is a driver of performance, adoption has no influence. Finally the indirect impact of technological opportunism on performance differs across countries. While for American firms, the integration of technologies into activities that related to communication with partners has a positive impact on performance; Spanish managers should focus on the integration of these technologies into back-end functionalities.     

Blockchain meets marketing: Opportunities,threats, and avenues for future research

Blockchain technology is having an increasingly profound impact on the business landscape. Blockchain—a means for storing information and transactions in secure, decentralized manner—has many potential applications for marketing. However, marketing research and practice are still tentative about the use of blockchain and are yet to fully understand it and embrace it. The goal of this editorial is to advance in this direction and offer a path toward incorporating blockchain technology into our scholarly marketing thinking. We review the basic terminology and principles of the blockchain process, provide a comprehensive overview of the potential impact of blockchain on several core marketing areas and propose research questions that can help advance both research and practice as this technology develops.This editorial is accompanied by five research notes written by leading marketing scholars, which explore applications of blockchain to the following marketing topics: Advertising (Joo et al., 2022), Branding (Colicev, 2022), Creative Industries (Malik et al., 2022), Pricing (Zhang, 2022), and Privacy (Marthews & Tucker, 2022).     

数字加密货币运行的法律基础——以货币信任与信用为视角

技术信任和法律信任是相辅相成、互为补充的关系。传统货币是依托国家和权威第三方以及法律为基础的货币信任模式。大多数数字加密货币依托区块链为底层技术,形成以技术信任为基础的“去中心化”货币信用机制。但以区块链技术为核心的去中心化的信任机制并不能完全取代传统货币的信任基础。货币的价值源于社会信任及其自身信用,数字加密货币目前面临严重的技术和程序限制,各个国家接受程度不尽一致,难以单独建立起使社会群体信任的货币信任方式。数字加密货币信任机制的建立,既离不开国家信任背书,也需要依靠其自身技术和成熟的内部规则。通过法律治理和区块链技术自动化治理的结合,使法律规则和技术规则融合,以全新的治理模式形成新的货币信任机制。     

Examining the antecedents and consequences of perceived shopping value through smart retail technology

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of perceived shopping value through smart retail technology. Specifically, we propose that perceived complexity, perceived advantage, perceived novelty and perceived risk of using smart retail technologies determine consumers’ perceived shopping value, which, in turn, influences their store loyalty and intentions to adopt smart retail technology. Further, we propose that consumer innovativeness moderates these relationships. Survey responses from 338 actual shoppers with prior experience of smart retail technology were used to test the research model, while structural equation modelling was used to develop the proposed hypotheses. The present study offers a better understanding of consumer adoption of smart retail technology that may help managers to develop adoption strategies for successful implementation of smart retail technology in-store.     

Blockchain tokens and the potential democratization of entrepreneurship and innovation

Over the past few years, Bitcoin has emerged as the first decentralized, global currency. The rise of Bitcoin has brought attention not only to digital currencies but also to the underlying technology empowering digital currencies: blockchain technology. A blockchain is a distributed ledger that records and secures transactions in a peer-to-peer network. Besides empowering digital currencies, blockchain technology has given innovators the capability of creating digital tokens to represent scarce assets, potentially reshaping the landscape of entrepreneurship and innovation. Blockchain tokens may democratize (1) entrepreneurship by giving entrepreneurs new ways to raise funds and engage stakeholders, and (2) innovation by giving innovators a new way to develop, deploy, and diffuse decentralized applications. Blockchain technology and tokens have sparked a new wave of innovation, which may start to revolutionize entrepreneurship and innovation.     

Exploring factors driving social recruiting: The case of Australian organizations

This study identifies key factors driving the organizational adoption of social recruiting technologies, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The Technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) framework, as an initial exploratory approach, is used to identify underlying factors of new technology adoption. Qualitative evidence collected from 12 Australian firms serves to specifically categorize key determinants of the organizational adoption of social recruiting technologies. It is found that apart from several TOE factors that significantly influence the organizational decision making with reference to social recruiting, top management support is seen as imperative for successful adoption of recruiting technologies. Formalization, comprehensiveness, and strategic orientation of organizational human resource departments are closely linked to adoption of social recruiting at the firm level. In addition, job applicants’ readiness and local success stories have driven firms to adopt social recruiting technologies. The study extends and modifies the TOE model to provide the theoretical foundations of social recruiting in the context of Australian organizations and help human resource professionals and practitioners to gain a better understanding of key drivers of organizational social recruiting.     

Blockchain Applications in Supply Chain Transactions

Blockchains, a disruptive technology with potentially many applications in modern‐day supply chain (SC) transactions, have not been adequately reflected by theory. Researchers and business managers must understand where and when blockchains’ application may be expected and investigated. The present study clarifies the discussion about blockchain application areas (BAAs) in SC transactions and their relevance for businesses. This study combines the findings from three methodological approaches: an extant literature review, a Delphi study, and a survey of 151 German machinery and equipment sector business managers. The results further our understanding of blockchains’ business opportunities among SC transactions and verify and extend Iansiti and Lakhani’s (Harvard Business Review 2017; 95: 118) blockchain adoption framework. Verified customer reviews and product quality certification are identified as the most relevant blockchain usages in SC transactions. Interestingly, we anticipate the least likely adoption of blockchains to occur for document‐signing processes despite arguments within the literature that suggest otherwise. Two newly identified BAAs—logistics and delivery systems—and token‐curated registries rank among the top four most relevant. The present study’s valuation of BAAs advances theory and will likely affect business strategies by indicating where, when, and why businesses should participate in blockchain networks.     

Shopper-Facing Retail Technology: A Retailer Adoption Decision Framework Incorporating Shopper Attitudes and Privacy Concerns

Continual innovation and new technology are critical in helping retailers’ create a sustainable competitive advantage. In particular, shopper-facing technology plays an important role in increasing revenues and decreasing costs. In this article, we briefly discuss some of the salient retail technologies over the recent past as well as technologies that are only beginning to gain traction. Additionally, we present a shopper-centric decision calculus that retailers can use when considering a new shopper-facing technology. We argue that new technologies provide value by either increasing revenue through (a) attracting new shoppers, (b) increasing share of volume from existing shoppers, or (c) extracting greater consumer surplus, or decreasing costs through offloading labor to shoppers. Importantly, our framework incorporates shoppers by considering their perceptions of the new technology and their resulting behavioral reactions. Specifically, we argue that shoppers update their perceptions of fairness, value, satisfaction, trust, commitment, and attitudinal loyalty and evaluate the potential intrusiveness of the technology on their personal privacy. These perceptions then mediate the effect of the technology on shopper behavioral reactions such as retail patronage intentions and WOM communication. We present preliminary support for our framework by examining consumers’ perceptions of several new retail technologies, as well as their behavioral intentions. The findings support our thesis that shopper perceptions of the retailer are affected by new shopper-facing technologies and that these reactions mediate behavioral intentions, which in turn drives the ROI of the new technology.     

The impact of blockchain technology on the online purchase behavior of green agricultural products

The purpose of this study is to identify and investigate the types of trust and their impact mechanisms in the application of blockchain technology for green agricultural products. A mixed research approach was used in this study. First, qualitative in-depth interviews with consumers were conducted to identify the technological path (blockchain technology), and the information disclosure path (environmental information of green agricultural products) that affect consumer trust. Two types of consumer trust were also identified, namely, cognitive trust in blockchain technology (digital trust), and instantaneous trust in blockchain technology disclosure information (swift trust), both of which play a role in influencing consumers’ immediate purchase. Then, based on the interview results, a theoretical model for this study was developed by combining signal theory and trust transfer theory. Through a quantitative survey, 474 valid data were collected to empirically examine the role of consumer blockchain technology experience and environmental information transparency perceived on digital trust and swift trust, and the role of both types of trust on impulse buying. The results show that consumer blockchain technology experience can significantly and positively affect the environmental information transparency perceived. And both have a positive effect on digital trust and swift trust. Also both trusts have a significant effect on impulse buying. Further mediating effects confirm the environmental information transparency perceived as an important intrinsic mechanism by which the blockchain technology experience influences consumer trust. The results of this study add an empirical basis for the role of blockchain technology. It also provides a reference for technology adoption by related companies.     

Not so trustless after all: Trust in Web3 technology and opportunities for brands

Web3 technology is described as trustless in that interactions and transactions do not require trusted third parties and instead rely on smart contracts and the immutability of the decentralized blockchain. Thus, in contrast to earlier iterations of the web, Web3 users are asked to trust the technology itself rather than the human intermediaries. On its face, this shift to a trustless web calls into question the traditional conceptions of and requirements for trust. However, in this article, we caution against claims that advocate distrusting Web3 on the basis that, despite how quickly Web3 technology is advancing, the psychological processes through which people perceive and make sense of the social world remain fundamentally unchanged. Drawing on the psychology of trust and the evolution of web technologies and associated objects of trust, we argue that Web3 is not so trustless after all. We also highlight opportunities for brands to build trust in Web3 technology, including key considerations in leveraging opportunities and directions for further research. Overall, this article provides critical guidance to brand managers, policy advisors, and academics seeking to understand, build, and trust Web3 technology.     

Web Technology Adoption and Knowledge Barriers

Much of the technology diffusion research has focused on the "intention to adopt" of an adopting unit to explain its adoption behavior; the opportunity for adoption and the underlying adoption propensity are often not differentiated. However, the opportunity to adopt need not be uniform among adopting units. From the perspective of organizational learning, we argue that the differential opportunity to adopt originates from knowledge barriers (KB) and varied degrees of involvement of supply-side institutions (SSI) that can lower these barriers. In this article, we investigate the effect of such KBs and SSIs on the timing of adoption of the World Wide Web technology. The results confirm the major hypothesis of this study: that KBs delay adoption time and indicate the significant explanatory power that the learning perspective can add to the traditional adoption model. The findings of this study (a) explain why certain firms delay their adoption of potentially profitable innovations, (b) imply suitable diffusion strategies for firms promoting innovations, and (c) provide information on the adoption of World Wide Web technology.