The adoption of blockchain technology by green duopolistic firms: From Cournot to Bertrand competition

Although firms have increasingly applied blockchain technology to facilitate consumers realizing the green investments of their products, the related literature is still rare. We investigate the blockchain adoption strategies of duopolistic firms that both exert green investments before engaging in Cournot competition or Bertrand competition. The findings are summarized as follows. First, when neither firm adopts blockchain technology under both competition models, the firms increase green investments with consumer green perception, which, however, does not inevitably lead to an increase in their profits. Second, the blockchain adoption strategies for both Cournot firms and Bertrand firms are closely correlated with the intensity of market competition and the unit cost of blockchain operation. For weak market competition, both firms (neither firm) will adopt blockchain technology when this unit cost remains rather low (high). Interestingly, one firm applies blockchain technology while the other abandons when the unit cost of blockchain operation is moderate even though these firms are symmetric. However, this asymmetric blockchain adoption strategy disappears for the fierce market competition. Finally, we reveal that Cournot firms are more (less) likely to adopt blockchain technology for the weak (fierce) market competition. These findings provide fresh managerial implications on blockchain adoption strategies for competitive firms under different competition models.