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Motivation Introduction

Abstract

Different reasons exist for organisations to set up a consortium that will run a dedicated blockchain network. This motivation needs to be transparent and evident in order to align current and future members with the scope of the activity, the mission statement as well as the goals and values values the activities of the consortium will be based on.

Motivation

Blockchain is a relatively new and highly complicated technology, sometimes the trick lies in the detail. It might not be as easy for all industries alike to set up and maintain a blockchain network.

While it's true, that in theory any blockchain network can be adapted to the needs of the consortium, in practice it might not make sense.

It also requires a comparably high investment to understand and master the underlying technology in order to be fully aware of its capabilities and limitations. Furthermore, running a consortial blockchain requires a committment from members to actively participate in the communities of the consortium.

Elaboration

1) In order to successfully run a blockchain network, members of the consortium need to analyse and understand the benefits of setting-up a consortium and the reasons to choose the technology. Also, the scope and the purpose of the blockchain network should be defined.
2) The goals and values of the consortium should be publicly documented as this will create trust in the network and the applications that run on it.
3) All members of a consortium should agree on a principle mission statement. This mission statement should not be changed lightheartedly as it shall provide orientation, stability and guidance to the members of the consortium and interested parties or user groups outside of the inner core of the consortium members.

Bibliography of selected references

‘ACT-IAC White Paper: Blockchain Playbook for the U.S. Federal Government’. 2018. ACT-IAC. 2 April 2018. https://www.actiac.org/act-iac-white-paper-blockchain-playbook-us-federal-government.

‘Banding Together for Blockchain’. n.d. Accessed 30 March 2021. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/signals-for-strategists/emergence-of-blockchain-consortia.html.

Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss. 2014. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. SAGE Publications.

Dib, Omar, Kei-Léo Brousmiche, Antoine Durand, Eric Thea, and Elyes Ben Hamida. 2018. ‘Consortium Blockchains: Overview, Applications and Challenges’. International Journal On Advances in Telecommunications. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02271063.

Fridgen, Gilbert, Jannik Lockl, Sven Radszuwill, and et al. 2018. ‘A Solution in Search of a Problem: A Method for the Development of Blockchain Use Cases’. In 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2018. Proceedings, 11.

Labazova, Olga. 2019. ‘Towards a Framework for Evaluation of Blockchain Implementations’. ICIS 2019 Proceedings, November. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/blockchain_fintech/blockchain_fintech/18.

Risius, Marten, and Kai Spohrer. 2017. ‘A Blockchain Research Framework’. Business & Information Systems Engineering 59 (6): 385–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-017-0506-0.

Walsh, Clara, Philip OReilly, Rob Gleasure, Joseph Feller, Shanping Li, and Jerry Cristoforo. 2016. ‘New Kid on the Block: A Strategic Archetypes Approach to Understanding the Blockchain’. ICIS 2016 Proceedings, December. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2016/Crowdsourcing/Presentations/6.

Wüst, Karl, and Arthur Gervais. 2018. ‘Do You Need a Blockchain?’ In 2018 Crypto Valley Conference on Blockchain Technology (CVCBT), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1109/CVCBT.2018.00011.

Contributing authors: Sebastian Posth
Status of this document: work in progress
Last day modified: 2021-05-09