More from the Author

• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2017 (Revised January 2018)

  Bitfury: Blockchain for Government

  Mitchell Weiss and Elena Corsi

  In the Republic of Georgia, legend had it their land was a precious gift from God he had intended to keep for his mother. But over time, the land had been under intermittent threat from without and within. In 2017, the Bitfury Group, which Valery Vavilov had co-founded, had helped publish 300,000 Georgian land titles onto the blockchain, making them immutable and, many believed, unhackable. What came next, Vavilov’s team envisioned, were smart purchase and sale contracts via the blockchain; and from there, a full suite of property-related services and, eventually, blockchain as the foundation for a transformation in government services. Vavilov, who had co-founded Bitfury and expanded it substantially from its bitcoin mining roots, felt a blockchain-driven makeover of this sort would take place not just in Georgia's government but also around the world. It was not a matter of "if?" anymore; although that still left the question of "when?"

  Keywords: Blockchain; Bitcoin; cryptocurrency; public entrepreneurship; public innovation; government innovation; property rights; property registry; entrepreneurship; Georgia; Tbilisi; technology strategy; distributed networks; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Technology Adoption; Business and Government Relations; Technology Industry; Real Estate Industry; Public Administration Industry; Georgia (nation, Asia);

  Citation:

  Weiss, Mitchell, and Elena Corsi. "Bitfury: Blockchain for Government." Harvard Business School Case 818-031, October 2017. (Revised January 2018.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018

  Ørsted Goes Global

  Joseph L. Bower and Elena Corsi

  The European leader in offshore wind, the Danish Ørsted is building a global position and entering markets where offshore wind is nascent.

  Keywords: Off-shore wind; managing global expansion; Business Strategy; Renewable Energy; Expansion; Global Range; Market Entry and Exit;

  Citation:

  Bower, Joseph L., and Elena Corsi. "Ørsted Goes Global." Harvard Business School Case 918-404, January 2018.  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2017

  King Digital Entertainment

  Jeffrey F. Rayport, Davide Sola, Federica Gabrieli and Elena Corsi

  Riccardo Zacconi was the co-founder and CEO of King Digital Entertainment, the video game company that had quickly established itself as the world’s leading maker of casual games for mobile devices after the sensational success of its game “Candy Crush Saga.” Zacconi had only a few days left to decide what to reply to Activision Blizzard, one of the largest video game publishers in the world, which had offered to acquire King for almost $6 billion. King had already managed to successfully adapt to disruptive technological changes in the course of its history. Could it continue to go solo? Or would an acquisition by a complementary video game maker like Activision be the best choice for King to continue to thrive? The clock was ticking, but Zacconi knew that whatever the final decision, it had to satisfy one condition: Player was King.

  Keywords: Organizational Structure; Technology; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Video Game Industry; Europe; Sweden;

  Citation:

  Rayport, Jeffrey F., Davide Sola, Federica Gabrieli, and Elena Corsi. "King Digital Entertainment." Harvard Business School Case 817-117, April 2017.  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related