Business on Chain: A Comparative Case Study of Five Blockchain-Inspired Business Models

Blockchain technology, despite its origins as the underlying infrastructure for value transfer in the era of cryptocurrency, has been touted as the main disruptive force in modern businesses. Blockchain has the capacity to chronologically capture and store transactional data in a standardized and tamper-proof format that is transparent to all stakeholders involved in the transaction. This, in turn, has prompted companies to rethink preexisting business practices, thereby yielding a myriad of fascinating business models anchored in blockchain technology. In this study, we advance contemporary knowledge of business applications of blockchain by drawing on the theoretical lens of the digital business model and value configuration to decipher how pioneers in this space are leveraging blockchain to create and capture value. Through a comparative, multiple case study approach, we analyzed five companies in mainland China that have rolled out blockchain initiatives. From our case analyses, we derived a typology of five blockchain-inspired business models, each of which embodies a distinctive logic for market differentiation. For each business model, we offer insights into its value creation logic, its value capturing mechanism, and the challenges that could threaten its longer-term viability. Grounded in our findings, we discuss key implications for theory and practice

Towards A Research Agenda on Digital Platform Disruption

Digital platforms are disruptive IT artifacts, because they facilitate the quick release of innovative platform derivatives from third parties. This study endeavors to unravel the disruptive potential, caused by distinct designs and configurations of digital platforms on market environments. We postulate that the disruptive potential of digital platforms is determined by the degree of alignment among the business, technology and platform profiles. Furthermore, we argue that the design and configuration of the aforementioned three elements dictates the extent to which open innovation is permitted. To shed light on the disruptive potential of digital platforms, we opted for digital payment platforms as our unit of analysis. Through interviews with experts and payment providers, we seek to gain an in-depth appreciation of how contemporary digital payment platforms are designed and configured to foster open innovation. We envision that this study bridges existing knowledge gaps between digital platform and open innovation literature

A Comparative Study of Centralized & Decentralized Digital Payment Providers

Digital platforms are disruptive information technology (IT) artifacts that erode conventional business logic associated with traditional market structures. This paper presents a framework for examining the disruptive potential of digital platforms whereby we postulate that the strategic interplay of governance regimes and platform layers is deterministic of whether disruptive derivatives are permitted to flourish. This framework has been employed in a comparative case study between centralized (i.e., PayPal) and decentralized (i.e., Coinkite) digital payment platforms to illustrate its applicability and yield propositions on the nature and impact of digital platform disruptions. Preliminary findings indicate that centralized digital platforms attempt to create unique configurals to obtain monopolistic power by tightly coupling platform layers, which are difficult to replicate. Conversely, decentralized digital platforms purposely decouple platform layers, to foster open innovation and accelerate market disruption. This paper therefore represents a first concrete step aimed at unravelling the disruptive potential of digital platforms

Exploring Sources of Ineffectiveness in Multi-Level IT Use

There is a notable paucity of multi-level analyses of IT use in IS research. Often, analyses limited to a single level are problematic, as multi-level effects cannot be accounted for. For example, online communities, such as the one examined in this paper, build on network effects: they can provide more value to all members collectively whenever each individual member participates more actively. This example also highlights the importance of usage effectiveness – the rather commonsense, yet often explicitly unexamined, idea that IT systems are not used for their own sake, but to attain relevant goals. Given these challenges, we set out to explore what factors contribute to ineffectiveness in multi-level IT use in the context of an online community. Our initial analysis reveals two novel concepts – frictions and tensions – that could help researchers and practitioners in better understanding the obstacles to achieving effective multi-level IT use

Investigating the Impact of Gender Differences on Trustworthiness of e-WOM

The maturing of Web 2.0 infrastructure fosters the rapid generation and dissemination of electronic wordof- mouth (e-WOM). The abundance of e-WOM allows online service providers to facilitate consumers’ trust building. However, due to the often coexistence of two forms of e-WOM, namely numerical rating and opinionated review, consumers can perceive cognitive dissonance between the former and the latter. This cognitive dissonance can hinder the formation of consumers’ trust and compel them to resolve the conflict. Guided by confirmation bias theory, we propose that, to maintain trusting beliefs when experiencing dissonance in e-WOM, male consumers value opinionated review over numerical rating and vice versa for their female counterparts. The results of our field survey on a custom developed website with 115 college students empirically validated our hypothesized relationships and also unveiled male’s general bias towards opinionated review. Our findings can contribute to both research and practice

Unraveling the effects of google search on volatility of cryptocurrencies

Although cryptocurrencies have garnered enormous public attention in recent times, extensive fluctuations in their prices have deterred prospective investors. Due to the absence of a centralized valuation authority, the credibility of cryptocurrencies as a viable investment vehicle remains elusive. Building on attention theory, this study posits that prospective investors of cryptocurrencies are likely to search online for information before deciding whether to make a commitment. We hence investigate the effects of Google search on the return and risk of 268 cryptocurrencies over 181 trading days. Results indicate that the Google Search Volume Index (SVI) of a given cryptocurrency exerts significant and positive impact on its price and turnover

Unraveling the effects of google search on volatility of cryptocurrencies

Although cryptocurrencies have garnered enormous public attention in recent times, extensive fluctuations in their prices have deterred prospective investors. Due to the absence of a centralized valuation authority, the credibility of cryptocurrencies as a viable investment vehicle remains elusive. Building on attention theory, this study posits that prospective investors of cryptocurrencies are likely to search online for information before deciding whether to make a commitment. We hence investigate the effects of Google search on the return and risk of 268 cryptocurrencies over 181 trading days. Results indicate that the Google Search Volume Index (SVI) of a given cryptocurrency exerts significant and positive impact on its price and turnover

Detected troponin elevation is associated with high early mortality after lung resection for cancer

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction can be difficult to diagnose after lung surgery. As recent diagnostic criteria emphasize serum cardiac markers (in particular serum troponin) we set out to evaluate its clinical utility and to establish the long term prognostic impact of detected abnormal postoperative troponin levels after lung resection. METHODS: We studied a historic cohort of patients with primary lung cancer who underwent intended surgical resection. Patients were grouped according to known postoperative troponin status and survival calculated by Kaplan Meier method and compared using log rank. Parametric survival analysis was used to ascertain independent predictors of mortality. RESULTS: From 2001 to 2004, a total of 207 patients underwent lung resection for primary lung cancer of which 14 (7%) were identified with elevated serum troponin levels within 30 days of surgery, with 9 (64%) having classical features of myocardial infarction. The median time to follow up (interquartile range) was 22 (1 to 52) months, and the one and five year survival probabilities (95% CI) for patients without and with postoperative troponin elevation were 92% (85 to 96) versus 60% (31 to 80) and 61% (51 to 71) versus 18% (3 to 43) respectively (p < 0.001). T stage and postoperative troponin elevation remained independent predictors of mortality in the final multivariable model. The acceleration factor for death of elevated serum troponin after adjusting for tumour stage was 9.19 (95% CI 3.75 to 22.54). CONCLUSION: Patients with detected serum troponin elevation are at high risk of early mortality with or without symptoms of myocardial infarction after lung resection