Embracing blockchain: the challenges of collaborative innovation within the financial industry

Creating standardized infrastructures for new technologies has become a frequent event in recent years, forcing competing firms to together collaborate in order to develop and mutually agree on a common standard. This is due to technologies such as blockchain (distributed ledger) technology that need interoperability to reach its full potential, making the collaboration aspect crucial for organizations that want to adapt to the technology. Therefore, this study’s purpose is to identify and analyze the challenges of creating such a standardized infrastructure. A case study was used to analyze these challenges, which involved experts of blockchain technology and three Nordic banks connected to the blockchain consortium R3. First, a pre-study took place with the help of blockchain experts, who helped identify potential problems regarding blockchain (distributed ledger) technology. Secondly, a main study was conducted consisting of four interviews with key persons representing the banks, in addition to collecting secondary data via news articles, and press releases. With the help of co-opetition theory and a technical description of blockchain (distributed ledger) technology, an analytical model was developed to support the analysis of the data collection. The analysis focus on aspects of co-opetition drivers, co-opetition capabilities, co-opetition dynamics and blockchain aspects, which were used to showcase the challenges of collaborating on creating a standardized infrastructure. The result of this study highlights the importance of learning and educational aspects, the size of a cooperation and threats from other competing solutions, which generates challenges. In addition to the identified challenges, this study has also contributed to an understanding of how these aspects can come to affect a collaboration.