Next Generation Business Ecosystems: Engineering Decentralized Markets, Self-Sovereign Identities and Tokenization

Digital transformation research increasingly shifts from studying information systems within organizations towards adopting an ecosystem perspective, where multiple actors co-create value. While digital platforms have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in consumer-facing industries, organizations remain cautious about fully embracing the ecosystem concept and sharing data with external partners. Concerns about the market power of platform orchestrators and ongoing discussions on privacy, individual empowerment, and digital sovereignty further complicate the widespread adoption of business ecosystems, particularly in the European Union. In this context, technological innovations in Web3, including blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, have emerged as potential catalysts for disrupting centralized gatekeepers and enabling a strategic shift towards user-centric, privacy-oriented next-generation business ecosystems. However, existing research efforts focus on decentralizing interactions through distributed network topologies and open protocols lack theoretical convergence, resulting in a fragmented and complex landscape that inadequately addresses the challenges organizations face when transitioning to an ecosystem strategy that harnesses the potential of disintermediation. To address these gaps and successfully engineer next-generation business ecosystems, a comprehensive approach is needed that encompasses the technical design, economic models, and socio-technical dynamics. This dissertation aims to contribute to this endeavor by exploring the implications of Web3 technologies on digital innovation and transformation paths. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, it makes three overarching contributions: First, a conceptual perspective on \u27tokenization\u27 in markets clarifies its ambiguity and provides a unified understanding of the role in ecosystems. This perspective includes frameworks on: (a) technological; (b) economic; and (c) governance aspects of tokenization. Second, a design perspective on \u27decentralized marketplaces\u27 highlights the need for an integrated understanding of micro-structures, business structures, and IT infrastructures in blockchain-enabled marketplaces. This perspective includes: (a) an explorative literature review on design factors; (b) case studies and insights from practitioners to develop requirements and design principles; and (c) a design science project with an interface design prototype of blockchain-enabled marketplaces. Third, an economic perspective on \u27self-sovereign identities\u27 (SSI) as micro-structural elements of decentralized markets. This perspective includes: (a) value creation mechanisms and business aspects of strategic alliances governing SSI ecosystems; (b) business model characteristics adopted by organizations leveraging SSI; and (c) business model archetypes and a framework for SSI ecosystem engineering efforts. The dissertation concludes by discussing limitations as well as outlining potential avenues for future research. These include, amongst others, exploring the challenges of ecosystem bootstrapping in the absence of intermediaries, examining the make-or-join decision in ecosystem emergence, addressing the multidimensional complexity of Web3-enabled ecosystems, investigating incentive mechanisms for inter-organizational collaboration, understanding the role of trust in decentralized environments, and exploring varying degrees of decentralization with potential transition pathways

Quantitative Untersuchungen über den Speicherungsmechanismus von Rhodamin B, Eosin und Neutralrot in Hefezellen

Die quantitative Messung der Farbstoffspeicherung von Modellsubstanzen und Hefezellen in Abhängigkeit von der CH zeigen bei den drei untersuchten Farbstoffen Rhodamin B, Eosin und Neutralrot, daß die elektrische Ladung von Adsorbens und Adsorptiv eine ausschlaggebende Rolle beim Zustandekommen einer Speicherung spielt. Die Speicherungskurven der Farbstoffe Rhodamin B und Neutralrot für Hefezellen weisen eine eigenartige Feinstruktur auf, die als Ausdruck einer plasmatischen Zustandsänderung aufzufassen ist. Die früher gefundene Verschiebung des IEP der Hefezellen nach dem Abtöten konnte neuerdings bestätigt werden. Unter Zugrundelegung der untersuchten Dissoziationsverhältnisse des Neutralrots wird eine Erklärung für Speicherungsmechanismus dieses Farbstoffes im Plasma und in der Vakuole gegeben wobei gleichzeitig die Ursachen der Vakuolenkontraktion gedeutet werden. Auf den methodischen Wert dieser Erkenntnisse für zellphysiologische Untersuchungen wird hingewiesen. Neutralrot zeigt in seinen optischen Eigenschaften eine enge Verwandt-schaft mit Acridinorange. Die kataphoretischen Untersuchungen an gefärbten und un-gefärbten Hefezellen bestätigen die bereits früher gegebene Auffassung der weitgehen-den Beeinflussung des elektrischen Zustandes des Adsorbens durch die Anfärbung

Who Pays for Sustainability? An Analysis of Sustainability-Linked Bonds

We examine the novel phenomenon of sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs). These bonds’ coupon is linked to the issuer achieving a predetermined sustainability performance target. We estimate the yield differential between SLBs and non-sustainable counterfactuals by matching bonds from the same issuer. Our results show that in most cases investors pay for the improvement in sustainability, while issuers benefit from a sustainability premium. Our analysis suggests that the sustainability premium is larger for bonds with a higher coupon step-up and for callable bonds. We also show that there is a ‘free lunch’ for some SLB issuers, as their financial savings are higher than the potential penalty, and they have a call option to reduce this penalty. While our findings suggest that most SLBs incentivize sustainability improvements by offering a lower cost of capital, some companies that do not benefit from a sustainability premium seem to issue SLBs to signal their commitment to sustainability targets. The ‘free lunch’ however suggests that SLBs can also be a form of greenwashing, when they are issued purely for financial optimization without a real commitment to carry out sustainability improvements

Performance Management by Causal Mapping: An Application Field of Knowledge Management

As implied by the performance management (PM) concept, modern corporate management has to focus on cause-and-effect relationships underlying a firm´s financial performance generation. To determine the causes of financially desirable effects, subject-bound experiences and knowledge of employees, called tacit knowledge, should be realised. For this, knowledge management (KM) offers various elicitation techniques to reveal corporate-specific success factors (SFs) of financial performance generation from the corporate experts´ implicit knowledge. The identified factors have to be organised within a network of cause-and-effect relationships. In this framework, PM can apply the instrument of mapping to structure the individually revealed knowledge, to aggregate and visualise it for the entire company. For a valid representation of the causal relationships, the subjective bias arising within the mentioned process has to be minimised. In the literature, a variety of mapping methods can be found that differ in their approaches and their level of significance. As such a method, causal mapping will be presented in this paper. For providing intersubjectivity, the decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) as a multi-criteria approach will be debated in the context of mapping as a research field

Giant or Dwarf? A Literature Review on Blockchain-enabled Marketplaces in Business Ecosystems

While advocates argue for the disruptive impact of marketplace business models and Blockchain in various regards, their practical effects on today\u27s organizations are still limited.This study reviews the current body of literature on Blockchain-enabled Marketplaces in Business Ecosystems, outlines present scopes, and disregarded topics. Our review shows that publications predominantly focus on conceptual models that favor Blockchain-for-all-solutions and neglect several fundamental marketplace dimensions. We raise a critical voice regarding the status quo and outline paths for future research