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Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. Chapter 2 begins by discussing challenges of digital currency: knowing that a transaction has been completed correctly and being accepted as a symbol of value without recourse to traditional physical reserves. David Chaum's original ideas and principles of cryptography are described. An overview of the Cypherpunk movement is given. Satoshi Nakamoto's blockchain proof of concept finally put into place a working decentralized mechanism for the prevention of double spending via Bitcoin; features of Bitcoin are discussed. The chapter then explores Ethereum, the first blockchain infrastructure purpose-built for distributed computing. "Smart contracts" are rules for a transaction laid out in ledger's code and are essential to Ethereum. Cryptokitties is used as an example of smart contracts managing digital asset transactions. Past infighting within the Bitcoin and Ethereum communities is described. The expanding of blockchain technology into enterprise has a few unique challenges, especially privacy and verification. Permissioned blockchain solves those problems, replicating all the benefits of blockchain as a transparent, immutable record but eliminating the anonymity of users and open viewing of transactions and smart contracts.

Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. This chapter describes the rise in the number of cryptocurrencies, how some of them have been innovative, but how most are not good business projects and are often scams. This gave Bitcoin and blockchain a bad reputation. However, this chapter argues that cryptocurrency was thrown into an already broken system. When it comes to token fundraising, new ideas are constantly being proposed, some of which people should be wary of. The importance of and differences between utility and security with tokens are discussed. Legislative issues surrounding blockchain and cryptocurrency are also described for several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and some smaller states. Various types and classes of cryptocurrencies and their different features are described, including Monero, stablecoin, and XRP. Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity in many countries, especially where it has utility for users. It could in a sense "bank the unbanked." Cryptocurrency started with the intention of being money for the people, decentralized and unfettered by agency or authority, but users have made it into de facto banks. Ultimately, if cryptocurrency is truly going to be embraced, there must be a real advantage over the status quo.

Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. Chapter 4 explores the potential future and value of blockchain. Blockchain is a great tool to solve many problems in the most appropriate way; however, a major threat to distributed ledger technology is using blockchain as the default, manipulating the solution to fit, and forgetting the original problem in the process. This chapter looks at when blockchain is truly needed as well as its real-world applications and addresses the misunderstanding that blockchain is a repository of absolute truth. The relationship between supply chain and distributed ledger technology is discussed. Case studies and examples are given. When it comes to the traditional centralized banking system, blockchain-based systems can deliver greater transparency, confidence in records, and long-term savings. Blockchain technology can also help overlay confidential data repositories with a layer of encryption and enable access for only those parties with the right key. This could also be helpful in areas such as medical records. Infrastructure management can also benefit from blockchain and distributed ledgers; management of energy distribution and addressing the full lifecycle of large capital projects are specifically explored.

Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. This chapter turns to the gaming world. Gaming has inspired the development of concepts that could not have been otherwise realized without blockchain. This chapter specifically looks at the idea of ownership in games, nonfungible tokens (NFT), and the phenomenon of paying to play. Three characteristics of gamers in the blockchain space are given by Gabby Dizon: collectors, investors, and players. The emerging game economy must have a balance between these types of users. Community management is a new discipline important in holding the attention and loyalty of consumers; community is also a vital aspect of blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption. NFT principles can be applied to sectors outside of gaming, including supply chain generally. Scalability of blockchain, speed, and sharding are also discussed. One of the approaches to scaling has been the development of side chains as another layer on established protocols. Examples of side chains and practical considerations for scaling blockchain projects are given.

Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. This chapter is all about data. It discusses the process of owning our data, the implementation of blockchain within government, and legal considerations for organizations adopting distributed ledger technology. Personal information is often stored digitally and publicly now, but these lists started being hidden from public view as privacy awareness grew. The idea of privacy versus surveillance is discussed as is the importance of digital identity. Blockchain can be used for identity verification and recording, verifying, and keeping safe other aspects of personal data. Blockchain can also be used in many areas of government. Digital assets, land registries, real estate, and trust in elections are all explored in relation to blockchain. Challenges of blockchain development are also addressed, including automation of processes, branding and intellectual property, and data protection.

Blockchain technology has been gaining popularity in recent years and has inspired both innovation and skepticism. Written for business decision makers and students, this text provides an overview of the history, current applications, and future potential of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrency. Strengths, weaknesses, growing opportunities, and potential threats are all discussed. This book keeps a business context in mind when introducing technical frameworks, helping strategists understand both risks and rewards of various blockchain implementation approaches as well as factors that influence whether or not this is a practical solution for current problems. Chapter 7 deals with potential opportunities for blockchain as well as threats. A major issue is the sustainability of the technology. The amount of energy required for blockchains is phenomenal, but the option of renewable energy is not always welcomed. Efficiency of processors, recycling, and reusing are other sustainability issues that blockchain and cryptocurrencies face. This chapter also discusses the question of whether or not blockchain is actually needed in many instances. Immutability of information and archiving pose threats to blockchain integrity. While cryptocurrency is founded on decentralization, the difficulty of keeping it decentralized is rising as blockchains grow and go back for decades. The question of quantum computing and its potential impact on cryptography are also discussed. Blockchain can be applied to accounting, auditing, and commercial letters of credit. Blockchain has the potential to change society, but that must include education and support to harness opportunities.

Collisions between innovators and established players are forcing leaders of existing companies to reexamine how they do business in settings where new players follow radically different rules. For many, making small or incremental changes won't be enough. They will need to fundamentally alter their operating models, including how they gather and respond to information and how they interact with their customers.

On September 24, 2018, two analysts were asked by the pension fund they worked for to evaluate the prospects of long-term investing in India's banking sector. They set off to identify and select a bank stock that was fundamentally strong and should be included in an equity portfolio. For their research, the two analysts used the CAMELS analysis framework, a model that examined six factors-capital adequacy, asset quality, management quality, earning ability, liquidity, and sensitivity to market risk. The two analysts narrowed their research down to HDFC Bank Ltd. stock for valuation and tried to determine the intrinsic price of the bank shares. The objective of the HDFC Bank Ltd. stock valuation was to identify a banking stock that would make a strong potential long-term investment for the pension fund's equity portfolio.

Brazilian factions so fiercely opposed one another that for a century and a half they had contested not just state policies but the rules and structure of the state itself. Was this politics, so unlike the Western political ideal, sign of an immature or failing democracy? Or was it a viable approach to governance, given the fact of fierce and unsettled social dispute?

An examination of the strategic marketing challenges facing Thinx as it tries to grow in the face of menstruation taboos and competition from large incumbents.

This is an introduction to the special issue of California Management Review on Design Thinking (DT). This special issue joins the growing body of work exploring the idea of DT and whether DT makes a difference in terms enhancing or augmenting the impact of technology-and, as a result, innovation-in a positive way. We have chosen an interesting, relevant, and useful array of papers that provide different approaches, views, and interpretations of applied design thinking. These articles provide both management and scholarly readers with insights in how DT is used, as well as its impact and usefulness in a variety of contexts.

Design thinking is gaining widespread attention in the practitioner and academic literature. Successful implementation has been documented, and its value shown in empirical studies. There is little examination, however, of how design thinking practices fit with other approaches from which firms might choose to frame and solve problems such as agile, lean startup, scientific method, Six Sigma, critical thinking, and systems thinking. By digging into the basic capabilities underlying design thinking, academic researchers might better understand problem framing and solving in general and provide insight for practitioners as to where alternative approaches might be applied.

Design thinking can be a critical facilitator of new technologies, but it is also a technology in its own right-a social technology that encourages more productive innovation conversations that are strategically valuable for dynamic capability building. By overcoming social and psychological barriers in innovation processes, design thinking accelerates progress on critical imperatives: allowing innovators at all levels to sense new opportunities; seize them by overcoming cognitive biases and aligning stakeholders; and transform and reconfigure resources. It accomplishes this through a set of well-recognized practices.

Philanthropic organizations rely heavily on point-of-sale solicitations--but a new series of studies shows that consumers often react negatively, perceiving the request as a violation of their social contract with the retailer. This can lead to diminished satisfaction and a decreased likelihood of revisiting and recommending the store. The researchers outline several strategies for inspiring customers to donate while minimizing the risk of a backlash. Retailers can reward customers for donations, with a small gift such as a reusable shopping bag; keep the process simple--for example, make the request via PIN pad, and ask customers to round up to the nearest full dollar amount; train employees to serve as the charity's ambassadors; demonstrate altruism and be transparent about how much will go to the charity in question; and carefully choose the charity partner and the time to launch.

New research by the University of Cambridge's Yeun Joon Kim and his colleagues reveals that an employee's negative feedback helps people raise their game.

Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis caused in part by the recent hiring of a U.S. agent. Some of the conditions the U.S. agent had unilaterally agreed upon with prospective clients could have had disastrous consequences for the agency, but reneging on those agreements could have damaged the agency's reputation and put its U.S. venture at risk. Pro-G's partners, who did not yet fully understand the U.S. market, had conflicting views on how to resolve this problem. To complicate matters, Pro-G then began to lose some of its best European Tour clients, who felt the agency had begun to focus too heavily on the U.S. market at the expense of its European interests. How should Pro-G manage this tricky situation to the satisfaction of both its U.S. and its European clients?

Just four months after entering the U.S. market, Pro-G Sports Management, a small U.K.-based agency representing professional golfers, faced a major crisis caused in part by the recent hiring of a U.S. agent. Some of the conditions the U.S. agent had unilaterally agreed upon with prospective clients could have had disastrous consequences for the agency, but reneging on those agreements could have damaged the agency's reputation and put its U.S. venture at risk. Pro-G's partners, who did not yet fully understand the U.S. market, had conflicting views on how to resolve this problem. To complicate matters, Pro-G then began to lose some of its best European Tour clients, who felt the agency had begun to focus too heavily on the U.S. market at the expense of its European interests. How should Pro-G manage this tricky situation to the satisfaction of both its U.S. and its European clients?

The author was working at a Silicon Valley bank in 2010 when some entrepreneurs pitched him on a "medical-cannabis technology company." He didn't know what to make of it, because he'd never considered cannabis to be a legitimate industry. But he and two friends began researching the issue. They recognized nascent signs that marijuana legalization--first for medical use, and then for recreational use--seemed likely to spread. Kennedy and his cofounders did extensive on-the-ground research in the hills of northern California and southern Oregon, the fields of Colorado and Washington, and the barns of British Columbia. They went to Jamaica, to Israel, and to Amsterdam. Slowly they created an investment thesis and worked to raise money. Then, in 2013, the government of Canada reached out to them for help creating a competitive private-sector supply chain. In response, the three incorporated Tilray, applied for a license, bought land, and built a cultivation facility. By April 2014 they were a licensed producer of medical cannabis products in Canada. Today they spend a lot of time with policy makers, regulators, and doctors around the world, demonstrating why cannabis should be mainstream medicine. Tilray currently exports to 13 countries.

Ask people to explain why women remain so dramatically underrepresented in the senior ranks of most companies, and you will hear from the vast majority a lament that goes something like this: High-level jobs require extremely long hours, women's devotion to family makes it impossible to put in those hours, and so their careers inevitably suffer. Not so, say the authors, who spent 18 months working with a global consulting firm that wanted to know why it had so few women in positions of power. Although virtually every employee the authors interviewed related a form of the standard explanation, the firm's data told a different story. Women weren't being held back because of trouble balancing work and family; men, too, suffered from that problem and nevertheless advanced. Women were held back because they were encouraged to take accommodations, such as going part-time and shifting to internally facing roles, which derailed their careers. The real culprit in women's stalled advancement, the authors conclude, is a general culture of overwork that hurts both sexes and locks gender equality in place. To solve this problem, they argue, we must reconsider what we're willing to allow the workplace to demand of all employees.