16 Making Sense of Blockchain: How Firms Can Chart a Strategic Path Forward ^Top Quadrants III & IV: Transition Is Safe Firms with a high infrastructure readiness index tend to be large technology firms. For example, IBM, Microsoft, and Wipro have already been working to advance blockchain technology. Their business units that work with multiple external vendors have a high interparty transactions index. IBM’s Financial Transaction Manager, for instance, supports vendor financing through multi- ple-party transactions. Adopting blockchain for this platform can make data reliable and transparent while improving the efficiency of transactions and dispute settlements.19 Other business units in these firms don’t need to ensure the privacy of transac- tions or track the provenance of electronic parts; these have low ITI. Although such functions will have the required tech competencies, they won’t need to adopt blockchain. Regardless of which quadrant they fit into, firms should pay close attention to competitor activities and developments in their ecosystem to make informed decisions on tech strategies. First-mover advantages abound, but so do ben- efits for followers who learn from the failings of initial explorers.20 19 Michael del Castillo, “IBM’s Stellar Move: Tech Giant Uses Cryptocurrency in Cross-Border Pay- ments,” CoinDesk, October 16, 2017, https://www.coindesk.com/ibms-stellar-move-tech-giant-use-lu- men-cryptocurrency-payments-rail/. 20 Marvin B. Lieberman and David B. Montgomery, “First-Mover Advantages,” Strategic Management Journal 9, special issue (Summer 1988): 41-58, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2486211. Marvin B. Lieberman and David B. Montgomery, “First-Mover (Dis)Advantages: Retrospective and Link with the Resource-Based View,” Strategic Management Journal 19, no. 12 (December 1998): 1111-1125, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3094199.