Identification of the determinants of Blockchain-based business model using hybrid method: Content analysis & System Dynamics

Abstract

The new information technologies have a great impact on the evolution of organizations’ business models. One of the emergent technologies in recent years is Blockchain. The difficulty of Blockchain implementation is not limited to technical concepts, the focus should also be on the re-engineering of the related processes. We attempt to analyze the business model changes related to the readiness of organizations for coping with Blockchain in the future. Organizations should be prepared for a business model modification in the sense of passing from centralized and isolated business models to decentralized and cooperation-based models that could assist them in using Blockchain efficiently. In this study Qualitative method as Content analysis is employed in order to codify the scientific authors’ opinion in two fields of business model and Blockchain industrialization. The analyses revealed that the determinants of the Blockchain-based business model comprise 9 canvas blocks and also new category is identified in this study that is called „cooperation”. Given the nature of Blockchain's information sharing, the cooperation approach consists in the fact that all stakeholders in the value chain share their values and generate new value-added products or services that none of them could access individually. So business model planning will be a community-based activity. In the new business model, some of the traditional canvas blocks have overlapped due to the nature of Blockchain namely Key Partners, Key Resources and Customer Segment. Then we model the Blockchain, determinants based on System Dynamics approach. This shows us that changing factors like registration fee or transaction tax in the network, could improve cooperation in sharing resources and increase total value.

Keywords

• blockchain
• cooperation-based business model
• system dynamics
• value chain