一夜之间，区块链的概念风靡全国。但是区块链到底能帮助企业解决什么问题呢？我们摘录了斯隆管理评论的一篇文章，这篇文章探讨了区块链能解决什么样的商业问题。原文较长，我们将分几期解读。
Problems That Blockchain Can Address
In creating a blockchain, organizations need to define the specific problem they are trying to solve.Then they must determine which transactions or interactions the blockchain should capture and who should have access to which portions. Blockchains can be scaled and used to interact with any number of different stakeholders, whether customers, employees, suppliers, or other compa- nies. Verification is a key benefit.
Take the seemingly simple task of verifying someone’s educational or employment credentials.A frequent problem employers face is that anyone can claim on a LinkedIn profile or on a CV that he or she completed a degree at a particular university or worked for a particular company. A blockchain identity solution could automatically verify an individual’s credentials for relevant third parties. The types of problems that blockchains can solve are far-ranging, spanning many industries and contexts. Here we will explore just a few common examples.
词汇：
have access to: 接近
far-ranging:广泛的
spanning many industries and contexts： 贯穿许多行业和情境
Paying for contributions to intellectual property. The video game industry offers a useful window into what’s possible when you define a problem that a particular set of stakeholders face —and then design a blockchain to solve the problem.
In this case, the stakeholders were the people contributing their creativity and smarts to developing games. And the problem was the cumbersome, archaic way in which royalties and rights were managed across the industry.
Developing a video game typically involves production companies and game-publishing houses (such as Sony Interactive Entertainment, Tencent Games, Microsoft Studios, and Electronic Arts), development companies, video game console makers, computer manufacturers, and mobile phone makers, as well as contractors — writers, voice actors, composers, musicians, and so on.
词汇：
cumberson: 笨重地
archaic：过时地
royalties：版税
For instance, development of the multibillion-dollar hit Grand Theft Auto V (which has grossed$6 billion in revenues between 2013 and 2018), while credited to Rockstar North, a small company based in Scotland, was actually the work of more than a thousand people from many different companies and corporate sub-entities, as well as scores of contractors. To orchestrate all of this, companies have traditionally relied on idiosyncratic agreements and cumbersome one-off payments to compensate their myriad partners. The use of royalties — and the intricacies of how to manage and distribute these payments — has further complicated the picture. Until recently, developers, actors, and other contributors have had little sense of the size of the royalty they might be entitled to. Moreover, the payments often took months or longer to arrive.
词汇：
orchestrate：安排，原意是编排乐曲的意思，编排乐曲需要协调各种声部，所以是精心安排协调的意思，下次可以用它代替arrange来显示格调哦
myriad: 大量的试试用它来替代many
be entitled to: 享有的
Microsoft and Ernst & Young (EY) studied these inefficiencies and designed a blockchain to address the problems and provide transparency. The intellectual property blockchain they created enables companies and individuals to clearly specify, account for, and track the attribution of digital content throughout the network of stakeholders involved in the development and release of a video game. Using the blockchain, authorized participants can see a breakdown of royalty payments — as well as data about sales and distribution — on a real-time basis. The blockchain also allows for the easy creation of “smart contracts,” which can specify and enforce rates of payment and other terms. This automates processes that previously were extremely labor-intensive, opaque, and costly. Legal and royalty negotiations can now be simplified with a menu of licensing and revenue-sharing options, and agreements can be implemented quickly and transparently.
词汇：
specify :具体化
labor-intensive：耗费劳动的
Of course, the long-term success of this venture will depend on many factors, such as the incentives for others in the industry to adopt this particular blockchain. (If adoption isn’t widespread, the blockchain becomes less powerful.) Still, Microsoft is likely to reap some benefits, as it now can interact more efficiently with the large ecosystem of developers, particularly those who develop games for its Xbox platform.
To be sure, Microsoft and EY aren’t the only ones tackling problems related to the management of intellectual property, digital rights, and knowledge work. A plethora of companies have been looking at this area from one perspective or another. In music, for example, Mycelia, a blockchain initiative launched by British musician and record producer Imogen Heap, is attempting to become a digital management platform for musicians, helping them manage contracts, allocate payments, and track their creative works.
词汇：
reap benefits: 获取利益
A plethora of：繁多的
本期分享就到这里，大家看明白了吗？其实这篇文章举的是一个游戏开发的例子，在游戏开发过程中，会有许多开发者介入其中，每个人的版税分配是很复杂的，而且由于涉及的开发人员众多，因此大量的合同也必须被提供。那么利用区块链技术，企业可以很清晰的具体化、追踪到每个开发人员在这个过程中的贡献，而且区块链还能为每个参与者提供智能合约，大大节省了企业所需要花费的劳力。
