Changes and Digitalization of Business Models in Italian Blockchain Companies

Abstract

In the last decade the development of technology, of digital platforms and infrastructures has created significant effects on the concept of entrepreneurship so much that it has come to speak of "digital entrepreneurship" (Hansen, 2019; Nzembayie et al., 2019; Kraus et al., 2019). However, for companies, they should be transformed from different points of view to grasp the scale of innovations and gain a competitive advantage in a constantly evolving digital world (Rogers, 2016; Nambisan et al., 2019). This work aims to understand how Italian companies have changed their business models following the implementation of blockchain technology.To construct and test, we have used a case theory method (Gummesson, 2017), a methodology that generates the possibility of understanding the evolution of a company or an industry’s reference business model and the impact of technological innovation, and enables us to have an in-depth understanding of how to use the blockchain technology. The empirical data pertain (14 companies) that are part of the Italia4Blockchain association, a business association that studies and research on Blockchain technology in Italy. The work offers a first description of the economic and management consequences of the application of the blockchain in the Italian blockchain ecosystem.