Abstract:

The immutability and verifiability of blockchain technology provides new ideas for solving trust problems in enterprise operation and management， but whether to adopt blockchain technology is an important decision for companies. Four competitive models are constructed， including all companies not adopting blockchain （NN）， weak brand company adopting blockchain and strong brand company not adopting （BN）， weak brand company not adopting blockchain and strong brand company adopting （NB）， all companies adopting blockchain （BB）， and the adoption strategies of blockchain technology and its impact on quality and pricing decisions in the context of competition between strong and weak brands are studied. In addition， the relevant conclusions are verified by numerical analysis methods. The results show that because the strong brand company has a higher degree of market recognition， it is difficult for the BN strategy to become an equilibrium state， and whether two competing companies adopt blockchain technology depends on many factors， among which the cost of adoption has the most significant impact. When the cost of adoption is high， the NN strategy will be the final choice. When the cost of adoption is at a moderate level， the NB strategy will be selected. As the cost of adoption is further reduced， the market will reach equilibrium under the BB strategy. Market size， market expansion ratio， quality competition intensity， and privacy concerns will affect the scope of application of different strategies. Comparing the quality and price under different adoption strategies， it is shown that compared with the NN strategy， under the BN or NB strategy， the company that do not adopt blockchain technology will reduce the quality and price， while under the BB strategy， the weak brand company will always provide higher quality products and adopt a price reduction strategy when consumers have low quality recognition ability for the strong brand company. The strong brand company choose to increase quality and price when their consumer recognition ability is low， but lower quality and price when recognition ability is high. Comparing BN， NB and BB strategies， it is found that the BB strategy does not always incentivize companies to improve quality. Only when the company adopts blockchain and competitors do not adopt it， it has an incentive effect on quality improvement， and profits will rise. Otherwise， the quality and profit level under the BB strategy will be higher. The research conclusions can provide management insights for governments to promote blockchain technology and guide companies to adopt blockchain technology.

Key words: blockchain, strong brand company, weak brand company, adoption strategy