21 Making Sense of Blockchain: How Firms Can Chart a Strategic Path Forward ^Top 2) Alliances In situations where internal resources are insufficient, alliances can enable firms to pool their strengths and create more value for their ecosystem than if they function individually.27 For instance, Walmart collaborated with IBM to trace its pork supply from China and pinpoint where con- tamination was occurring. By bringing all the stakeholders in the value chain onto a secure blockchain network, it managed to record detailed shipping information including farm origination details, batch numbers, and storage temperatures. Based on this initiative’s success, Walmart expanded the pilot to mangoes and reduced the time taken to track them from seven days to 2.2 seconds.28 Firms that don’t want to expend initial infrastructure costs can utilize technology platforms that facilitate experimentation such as Hyper- ledger, Ethereum, and HydraChain.29 Consortiums such as R3, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and Ripple are bringing together industry players and technology firms to leverage each other’s strengths and co-develop solu- tions that would be difficult to create if the firms operated independent- ly.30 Partnerships are already forming in financial services, healthcare, shipping, government, and many other industries. 27 Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff, Co-opetition (New York: Doubleday, 1996). 28 Naidu and Irrera, “Nestle, Unilever, Tyson,” Reuters. 29 CB Insights, Corporate Trends in Blockchain (September 2017), Webinar recording, 33:30, https:// www.cbinsights.com/research/briefing/corporates-in-blockchain/recording/. Rohas Nagpal, “17 blockchain platforms — a brief introduction,” Medium (blog), April 12, 2017, https:// medium.com/blockchain-blog/17-blockchain-platforms-a-brief-introduction-e07273185a0b. 30 Day and Schoemaker, “A Different Game,” in Day, Schoemaker, and Gunther, Wharton on Emerging Technologies, chap. 1. Marquis Cabrera, “Use co-opetition to build new lines of revenue,” Harvard Business Review, February 10, 2014, https://hbr.org/2014/02/use-co-opetition-to-build-new-lines-of-revenue. Eric Lowitt, “Why your company should partner with your rivals,” Harvard Business Review, March 12, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/03/why-your-company-should-partne.