Ghassan Yacoub and Maria Castillo
The purpose of this paper is to gain insights and explicate how blockchain technology enables trust and traceability building from a real business use case.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain insights and explicate how blockchain technology enables trust and traceability building from a real business use case.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative case study of a leading global French grocery retail firm that has started to integrate blockchain into their supply chain and products. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources.
Findings
This paper developed a conceptual framework in unboxing the mechanism by which blockchain enables trust and explicating how information flows in a blockchain-based system compared to a traditional one in a real business application scenario through three main elements, namely, system architecture, data recovery and communication.
Originality/value
Given the upside potential of emerging technologies such as blockchain coupled with the current increasing demand for business use cases, the paper is timely in integrating the business and technological aspects of trust in formulating a firm-level blockchain strategy.
Details
Keywords
Ghassan Yacoub, Paulami Mitra, Tiago Ratinho and Faustine Fatalot
Sustainable entrepreneurs face additional challenges in fundraising. Crowdfunding is emerging as a compelling alternative to traditional sources of capital with a growing body of…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainable entrepreneurs face additional challenges in fundraising. Crowdfunding is emerging as a compelling alternative to traditional sources of capital with a growing body of research outlining its characteristics and discussing mainly its antecedents. Yet little is known about the crowdfunding behaviour of sustainable entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to explore sustainable entrepreneurs' crowdfunding landscape namely the relation between motivation and different crowdfunding types.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a unique dataset of French sustainable entrepreneurs, this paper adopts a qualitative case study approach by conducting in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs. This was complemented by secondary data collected from company websites and crowdfunding platforms.
Findings
This study presents a conceptual framework that outlines and maps the drivers that lead sustainable entrepreneurs to engage with different crowdfunding types (donation, reward, mixed and equity) by unravelling a more granular understanding of the key and condition-based additional drivers within the context of sustainable entrepreneurial crowdfunding.
Originality/value
Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of crowdfunding in order to raise funds. This manuscript offers empirical insights into the under-investigated question of what drives sustainable entrepreneurs to engage in crowdfunding and to what ends. This research also adds texture to prior findings about general motivations of entrepreneurs to seek crowdfunding. These insights inform research and practice on sustainable entrepreneurial crowdfunding, and entrepreneurial crowdfunding in general.