Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACT: It is widely held that smart contracts on a blockchain possess several unique properties, including immutability, disintermediation, and enhanced security, that can be advantageous to organizations. In particular, having these properties can enable smart contracts to benefit human resources departments in a number of ways, including applicant verification, tracking employee skills and tasks, and facilitating compensation. However, it is also reported that effectively implementing smart contracts involves a number of challenges to HR managers. To address these challenges, it would be valuable to establish criteria to help HR managers employ smart contracts successfully. The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of such criteria. The paper first provides an overview of the nature of blockchain and smart contracts and then, based on a review of relevant literature, describes how implementation of blockchain-enabled smart contracts in an HR department may benefit an organization by producing transaction cost savings through expediting processes, enhancing security, and reducing intermediaries. The paper then focuses on various challenges that have been identified in the literature to the successful use of smart contracts. These include issues regarding smart contract integrity, immutability, and security, as well as potential problems associated with a variety of legal issues. Synthesizing this information, the paper develops a set of best practice guidelines to help HR managers determine whether and how to employ smart contracts successfully for HR-related processes. The guidelines emphasize the importance of initial understanding and testing of planned smart contracts, protecting security by ensuring that only permissioned people can access smart contract data, and guaranteeing the integrity of smart contracts by paying very close attention to the translation of natural to programming language and establishing robust reviews of programmed contracts. Policy implications of the guidelines include the importance of HR departments ensuring that all employees who are involved in implementing the technology have a good understanding of the nature and capabilities of smart contracts, that robust methods be implemented to guarantee that the contracts are correctly programmed, and that HR managers keep abreast of legislative environment related to legal issues that may affect their department's use of smart contracts.

In contemporary academia and industry, the commercialization of technology through licensing has emerged as a prevalent strategy. This paradigmatic shift has prompted numerous industrial firms to intensify their focus on technology commercialization as a mechanism to optimize the returns on their research and development investments, while concurrently leveraging their comprehensive technology portfolios. However, despite growing interest in this area, there exists a conspicuous gap in scholarly literature exploring how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can effectively and efficiently capitalize on this opportunity in a global context. The objective of the present study is to fill this void by offering an in-depth analysis of the key determinants that contribute to the successful commercialization of technology via licensing. Employing a qualitative research methodology, this paper presents a comparative case study that explores four separate international licensing alliances, each formed between the same licensor, specializing in solar mounting system engineering, and four different licensees, all engaged in the production and marketing of this specialized technology. Data were meticulously gathered through a triangulated approach that incorporated interviews with both licensor and licensees, extensive desk research, and on-site observations. Our empirical findings reveal that the critical success factors identified in existing literature are not uniformly significant. Specifically, four elements—relational dynamics, cultural considerations, human capital, and resource allocation—emerged as pivotal in ensuring the successful implementation of technology commercialization strategies. By elucidating these nuanced factors, this study contributes to both academic discourse and practical applications, thereby serving as a valuable resource for SMEs aiming to navigate the complexities of technology commercialization in international settings.