Blockchain technology and strategic leadership

Abstract

Blockchain is a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is a distributed ledger technology that enables the automation of transactions and storing of tamper-evident records. Strategic leadership plays an essential role in the adoption of blockchain technologies to unfold their disruptive potential. This chapter aims to guide strategic leadership in navigating the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technologies. To that end, the authors build a conceptual understanding of blockchain technologies by first introducing distributed databases, consensus mechanisms, algorithmic trust, transparency, immutability, tamper evidence, smart contracts and decentralized applications, as well as different blockchain types. Subsequently, they propose the blockchain value proposition (BVP) framework. The BVP outlines the business value that blockchain can deliver against impairing organizational and technical barriers. They use the BVP to highlight six strategic leadership functions to help realize blockchain’s potential. They conclude with the extended affordances-actualization framework to guide future strategic leadership research on blockchain technologies.