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Industry experts believe blockchain is a technology that has the potential to affect the business of most IT professionals in the next five years. Pick an industry you feel will be most affected by blockchain and how blockchain may be used in that industry. As an IT manager, how would you embrace blockchain? For instance, how would training occur for your team, what strategies might you use, what security methods may you recommend be used?Your paper should meet the following requirements:• Be approximately 2-3 pages in length, not including the required cover page and reference page.• Follow APA6 guidelines. Your paper should include an introduction, a body with fully developed content, and a conclusion.• Support your answers with the readings from the course and at least two scholarly journal articles to support your positions, claims, and observations, in addition to your textbook. The UC Library is a great place to find resources.• Be clearly and well-written, concise, and logical, using excellent grammar and style techniques. You are being graded in part on the quality of your writing.By submitting this paper, you agree: (1) that you are submitting your paper to be used and stored as part of the SafeAssign™ services in accordance with the Blackboard Privacy Policy; (2) that your institution may use your paper in accordance with your institutions policies; and (3) that your use of SafeAssign will be without recourse against Blackboard Inc. and its affiliates. blockchain.pdf what_makes_information_strategic_an_examination_of_access_to_information_resources_for_entrepreneurs_and_business_performance.pdf Unformatted Attachment Preview A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO BLOCKCHAIN “BLOCKCHAIN” HAS MANY MEANINGS “To understand the power of blockchain systems, and the things they can do, it is important to distinguish between three things that are commonly muddled up, namely the bitcoin currency, the specific blockchain that underpins it and the idea of blockchains in general.” The Trust Machine, THE ECONOMIST, Oct. 31, 2015 “BLOCKCHAIN” HAS MANY MEANINGS Phone Blockchain • The idea of a phone network • A specific phone network (e.g., AT&T) • A specific use of the phone network (e.g., fax) • The idea of blockchain • The specific blockchain that underlies Bitcoin or another coin offering • Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN? A technology that: permits transactions to be gathered into blocks and recorded; allows the resulting ledger to be accessed by different servers. cryptographically chains blocks in chronological order; and WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED LEDGER? Centralized Ledger Distributed Ledger Client A Client B Bank Node A Node E Client C Node D Client D • • There are multiple ledgers, but Bank holds the “golden record” Client B must reconcile its own ledger against that of Bank, and must convince Bank of the “true state” of the Bank ledger if discrepancies arise • • Node B Node C There is one ledger. All Nodes have some level of access to that ledger. All Nodes agree to a protocol that determines the “true state” of the ledger at any point in time. The application of this protocol is sometimes called “achieving consensus.” WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED LEDGER? Single Entity Multiple Entities HOW MIGHT A DISTRIBUTED LEDGER WORK? Users initiate transactions using their Digital Signatures Users Broadcast their transactions to Nodes One or more Nodes begin validating each transaction Nodes Broadcast Blocks to each other Consensus protocol used Block reflecting “true state” is chained to prior Block Nodes aggregate validated transactions into Blocks WHERE MIGHT BLOCKCHAIN USE CRYPTOGRAPHY? Initiation and Broadcasting of Transaction Validation of Transaction Chaining Blocks • Digital Signatures • Private/Public Keys • Proof of Work and certain alternatives • Hash Function THE POWER OF DISTRIBUTED LEDGERS It can be used without a central authority by individuals or entities with no basis to trust each other BLOCKCHAIN It can be used to create value or issue assets It can be used to transfer value or the ownership of assets • A human being or a Smart Contract can initiate the transfer It can be used to record those transfers of value or ownership of assets • These records may be very difficult to alter, such that they are sometimes called effectively immutable It can be used to allow owners of assets to exercise certain rights associated with ownership, and to record the exercise of those rights. • Proxy Voting The degree of trust between users determines the technological configuration of a distributed ledger. HOW MIGHT DISTRIBUTED LEDGER PROPOSALS DIFFER? Participation Open Closed Permission Permissionless Permissioned Ledger Design One ledger One ledger or Segregated ledgers Validation Methodology depends on degree of trust between nodes. Where there is no basis for trust, may be achieved through proof of work, which requires the algorithmic solving of a cryptographic hash. Consensus Mechanism Mechanism depends on degree of trust between nodes. Where there is no centralized authority, consensus may be determined algorithmically. References • Stoyanovich, M., & Tanz, F. E. (2019). Coming to Grips with Blockchain. Benefits Magazine, 56(5), 20-25. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=135900272&site=eds-live • Waldo, J. (2019). A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Blockchain Universe. Communications of the ACM, 62(3), 38–42. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1145/3303868 • Burns, S. (2019). Blockchain: Hype Vs Reality. Computer Weekly, 21-24. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=138564674&site=eds-live • Tarzey, B. (2019). Inside Blockchain and Its Various Applications. Computer Weekly, 16-20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=f5h&AN=138681123&site=eds-live • Carson, B., Romanelli, G., Walsh, P., & Zhumaev, A. (2018). Blockchain beyond the hype: What is the strategic business value? McKinsey Quarterly, (4), 118–127. Retrieved from http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? WHAT MAKES INFORMATION STRATEGIC? AN EXAMINATION OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION RESOURCES FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE by Yao Zhang Bachelor of Arts Nankai University, 2006 IE W Master of Arts The University of Sheffield, 2009 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements PR EV For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science College of Information and Communications University of South Carolina 2016 Accepted by: Kendra Albright, Major Professor Samantha Hastings, Committee Member Paul Solomon, Committee Member Dirk Brown, Committee Member Amir Karami, Committee Member Lacy Ford, Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Pro Q ue st Num b e r: 10127104 All rig hts re se rve d INFO RMATIO N TO ALL USERS The q ua lity o f this re p ro d uc tio n is d e p e nd e nt up o n the q ua lity o f the c o p y sub m itte d . PR EV IE W In the unlike ly e ve nt tha t the a utho r d id no t se nd a c o m p le te m a nusc rip t a nd the re a re m issing p a g e s, the se will b e no te d . Also , if m a te ria l ha d to b e re m o ve d , a no te will ind ic a te the d e le tio n. Pro Q ue st 10127104 Pub lishe d b y Pro Q ue st LLC (2016). Co p yrig ht o f the Disse rta tio n is he ld b y the Autho r. All rig hts re se rve d . This wo rk is p ro te c te d a g a inst una utho rize d c o p ying und e r Title 17, Unite d Sta te s Co d e Mic ro fo rm Ed itio n © Pro Q ue st LLC. Pro Q ue st LLC. 789 Ea st Eise nho we r Pa rkwa y P.O . Bo x 1346 Ann Arb o r, MI 48106 - 1346 W IE PR EV © Copyright by Yao Zhang, 2016 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, who offer me unconditional love and support, who encourage me to chase my dreams, who want me to be me. To my future PR EV IE W beloved one and children, thank you for letting me get prepared. iii ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the vast amount of support of my friends and family. Group JJNN and 110120, you and your beloved ones have made this journey full of joy. I could have never made this far without the support from my warmest family members. My appreciation also goes to Dr. Liangzhi Yu, who is the first person shows me W the world of Library and Information Science, a role model of a scholar with great attitude and elegance. IE My many thanks go to my committee, Dr. Sam Hastings, Dr. Paul Solomon, Dr. PR EV Amir Karami, and Dr. Dirk Brown. Your words of wisdom have made this process so enjoyable. Thank you very much for your time and patience. Dr. Kendra Albright, there will never be enough words to express my appreciation. It is definitely the rightest decision I made to walk into your classroom in Sheffield. My gratitude also goes to the SLIS family in USC and dearest friends at the USC/Columbia Incubator. Life is so much easier with you guys around. Dr. Bob, don’t work too hard, drink tea! iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of the relationship between the access to and use of information resources of entrepreneurs and their business performance. The survival and competence of organizations relies heavily on their recognition of information as important strategic resource. Entrepreneurs, specifically, W face a constantly changing environment and are in a disadvantaged competitive position IE in finance and experience compared with large companies. Access to, and use of information resources, will help them improve their business performance. PR EV This study collects both qualitative and quantitative data, investigating the entrepreneurs’ business performance and their behaviour in accessing and using information resources. The qualitative data is applied to explore the technology incubator consultants’ understanding of business performance indicators for entrepreneurial businesses. For the quantitative data collection, entrepreneurs are selected from technology incubators in the U. S to participate in a questionnaire survey. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to process and analyze the data reflecting the business performance, access to information resources, and use of information resources. A preliminary Access-Performance model and a Use-Performance model are presented. The results indicate that the use of information resources has a positive influence on the performance of entrepreneurial businesses. No strong relationship is revealed between the access to information resources and business performance. v However, there is a high probability that the entrepreneurs have other information PR EV IE W resource accesses options than those covered in the original model. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ viii W LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. ix IE LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 PR EV CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................17 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................37 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS ...............................................................................................48 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .........................................................................67 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................77 APPENDIX A – SURVEY MATRIX FROM INCUBATOR............................................................96 APPENDIX B – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ...............................................................................97 APPENDIX C – QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY ............................................................................98 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Definition of Independent Variables from Choo et al. (2008) ...........................12 Table 3.1 Dependent variables and measures ....................................................................41 Table 4.1 Response rate of questions.................................................................................52 Table 4.2 Codes for information resources access.............................................................55 W Table 4.3 Access—Performance model fit ........................................................................59 IE Table 4.4 Significant test of variables in Access-Performance model (P (>|z|)) ...............60 Table 4.5 Use—Performance model fit .............................................................................61 PR EV Table 4.6 Use—Performance model standardized parameter estimate .............................63 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Stage of Firm Growth (Woodward et al, 2011)..................................................8 Figure 3.1 Theoretical Framework of the Study ................................................................39 Figure 4.1 Age of the participants......................................................................................49 Figure 4.2 Gender of the participants ..............................................................................49 W Figure 4.3 Education background of the participants ........................................................50 IE Figure 4.4 Entrepreneurial experiences .............................................................................51 Figure 4.5 Revenue growth ................................................................................................53 PR EV Figure 4.6 Investment attracted..........................................................................................53 Figure 4.7 Patents in holding or in pursuing ......................................................................54 Figure 4.8 Access-Performance model ..............................................................................56 Figure 4.9 Use-Performance model ...................................................................................57 Figure 4.10 Use-Performance model with parameter estimate ..........................................62 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PR EV IE W CFA ........................................................................................Confirmatory Factor Analysis EFA .......................................................................................... Exploratory Factor Analysis ICTs............................................................ Information and Communication Technologies NAICS....................................................... North American Industry Classification System RMSEA ............................................................ Root Mean Square Error of Approximation SBA ...................................................................................... Small Business Administration SEM ....................................................................................... Structural Equation Modeling SRMSR ............................................................... Standardized Root Mean Square Residual x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of Study The purpose of the present study is to investigate the nature of the relationship W between the access to and use of information resources by entrepreneurs and their business performance. This study focuses on entrepreneurs in technology incubators in IE the U. S. by investigating the information resources that are available to them and their use of those information resources as well as their business performance using a PR EV quantitative data collection approach. Information and knowledge have, for a long time, been regarded as valuable resources for strategic management and decision making (Porter, 1998; Choo, 2005). Entrepreneurs face a constantly changing environment and are in a disadvantaged competitive position in finance and experience compared with large companies; access to and use of information resources will help them improve their business performance. In addition, this study expands the issue by exploring the relationship between access to and use of information resources in different industries. Furthermore, it investigates whether access to and use of information resources have positive or negative, financial and non-financial impacts on the companies studied. Using a structural equation model, this study intends to address the complexities of those concepts through the measured variables. 1 1.2 Background Entrepreneurs have been frequently linked to economic development and the creation of wealth in the modern society (Lavoie, 2015). In addition, entrepreneurs have played various roles throughout the history of economics (Barreto, 2013), for example: the coordinator of resources, the arbitrageur in a world unbalanced with information, the uncertainty-bearer in the business field, and the innovator of economic development (Schumpeter, 1934). However, the failure rates of these businesses are consistently W incredibly high. Only about half of entrepreneurs survive beyond five years (Lueg. et al, 2014). The number is even lower among high-tech oriented companies (Cader and IE Leatherman, 2011). Therefore, the sustainability of the entrepreneurs becomes a great concern of research on entrepreneurs. The scope of this study goes beyond economic PR EV conditions to include a diversity of factors such as industry, location, and various environmental factors (Luo and Mann, 2011). Sustainable development is defined as a way of social and structural economic transformation that optimizes the current available benefit without jeopardizing the potential benefit in the future (Goodland and Ledec, 1987), which, in the case of entrepreneurial businesses, means entrepreneurial entities should make the best use of the available resources and still keep the potential benefit for strategic development in the future. The entrepreneurs leverage a set of resources and produce goods and services valued by consumers to earn a profit. However, this process is not supposed to be a one-time activity. The entrepreneurs need to repeat this cycle or an variation of it to achieve the development of their companies and eventually grow to be stable businesses, which are capable of resolving challenges from outside and within the organization. 2 Information has become recognized as a strategic resource for business in the “information age” (Davenport and Prusak, 1997, p. 3). The infusion and the wide application of information and knowledge have revolutionized the way organizations operate and conduct business. The survival and competence of these organizations will heavily rely on their recognition of information (Choo, 2005). The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of the relationship between the access and use of information resources of the entrepreneurs and their business performance. W Small businesses and entrepreneurs represent a vital and vigorous power in the U.S. economy and have a significant impact on economic development. In the latest IE Small Business Administration (SBA) report, small businesses added 1.4 million net new jobs through the first three quarters of 2014; in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, PR EV venture capital investments totaled $23.4 billion (SBA, 2015). Entrepreneurs not only contribute to economic growth and job creation but also lead in innovation. They are responsible for half of all innovations and 95\% of progressive changes in the U.S. (Timmons and Spinelli, 2009). Innovation is the core ingredient of business success. It is the application of a new idea or better solutions that meets existing or unarticulated market needs. Information helps businesses discover existing opportunities as well as potentially offering foresight to emerging trends, and, therefore, to allow businesses to stay ahead of their competition as the environment changes. The development of small business and entrepreneurs is even more significant in the present economic environment. Economic development is abandoning the traditional approach, which heavily relies on financial and labor capital, and shifting to a new strategy, one which relies on building new businesses and supporting existing businesses 2 (Edmiston, 2007). Supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs is the key intent of this strategy, for small businesses and entrepreneurs are developing new ideas, creating additional jobs, and producing innovative products and services. Entrepreneurship also plays an indispensable role in the race fo ... Purchase answer to see full attachment