Disrupt or be disrupted ::the role of different adoption strategies of incumbent organizations in coping with disruption through distributed ledger technologies

Distributed ledger technologies, also known as ‘blockchain’, are widely perceived as capable of substantially and quite uniquely altering the nature of the economy across many sectors. However, management research is only beginning to explore whether established organizations may need to respond differently to this particular phenomenon than to prior technological discontinuities. Hence, this paper explores which strategies an established organization may use to develop capabilities in the blockchain technology and to successfully integrate it into its existing technology-based operations. Based on an inductive qualitative approach in the context of a rare insider-outsider research opportunity within a large automotive company, we are developing indepth insights into the organizational challenges of several blockchain use cases currently under development. The following paper combines the theoretical background, methods and findings as submitted and then presented at G-FORUM 2018. Findings provide insights as to the different sourcing strategies and the challenges involved in integrating them with the current knowledge basis