A case study on the exploration of Blockchain potential
An exploratory research on the impact of the technology on business process and value configuration of a mid-European company
C.V. Cavaliere (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
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Abstract
Since 2017 blockchain (BC) has been settling in the spotlight. Several industry fields could use the technology as part of the underlying infrastructure for registering and transferring any type of asset and optimize business processes. As of 2018, numerous blockchain initiatives are continuously developed, with global executives looking forward to start a blockchain project and successfully extract value out of it.
However, several factors aliment the uncertainty corporates experience when passing from discussion to actual implementation. Eventually the majority of firms simply waits for the technology to develop further, running the risk of being already too late to catch up when the technology takes off. Organizations need to assess how the technology can be integrated in the current business and how its introduction at the operational level alters how value is created, delivered and captured, thus the Business Model (BM) overarching the current process.
Therefore, a thorough literature review about the technology and the BM concept is conducted. Links and interrelations among the two concepts are drawn and organized in a conceptual framework. Finally, an exploratory case study is conducted to validate the insights derived from theory: first a mid-European company is chosen for BC application and its internal dynamics studied. Then a specific use case is selected, and it is envisioned a possible exploration of the BM-BC relationships that the company would conduct.
The suggested exploration is then proposed to the case company. The suggestions given well reflect the exploration the Group conducted in reality, confirming the validity of the study. In particular, the findings suggest that tradeoffs and limitations characterizing the specific BC use case actually played a role in determining how the exploration of BM changes was conducted by the company.
The research gives insights on how a specific company explored and prepared for changes at the BM level. At the same time, it suggests the need to assess better how technological tradeoffs characterizing cross-organizational use cases translate into changes at the BM level.