How blockchain technologies impact your business model

Abstract

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.