Data Sharing in Industrial Ecosystems - Unveiling Benefits and Challenges of Corporate Data Sharing

Abstract

Data offers companies the potential for a future competitive advantage as a strategic resource. Companies own a wide variety of data, from customer data, transaction data to supply chain data. To date, most companies exlusively rely on their own data. However, through efficient data sharing, companies can extend their databases and improve the quality of the data. In doing so, they jointly enhance the quality of data-driven decision-making, derive better business ideas, and improve their internal processes. To share their data, companies can decide between two options: Sharing data on established centralized databases on digital platforms or exploring decentralized distributed ledger technologies like blockchain. These two differ not only in their architecture (centralized/decentralized), but also in data privacy, access control, data security, and governance. This dissertation contains seven scientific articles that emphasize the strategic importance of data sharing. In particular, scientific and practical decision-makers can learn about the benefits and risks of data sharing and can base their willingness to share data on a more comprehensive knowledge foundation.