Question

Background You are the co-owner of a company that sells commercial 3D printers and printing parts. Your company has 10 employees and revenues of almost $40 million dollars a year. Increasingly, customers have been asking that you allow bitcoin as a payment method. Some of these customers are overseas. While you know that some of your competitors use it, all you know about it is what you’ve read in the news: that’s its popular, volatile, potentially low cost, and may have security issues. Given that you don’t know much about bitcoin, you have decided to do some research on this topic. This assignment will require you to document the search process you will use in order to find relevant information. Step 1: Identify the information needed. There are many possible business ramifications to adopting bitcoin, but to begin with, at least, you want to limit your focus to your three most important issues. Examples might include: understanding how block chain technology works; what are the security risks; how bitcoin exchanges and wallets work in terms of transaction costs; the law as it relates to cryptocurrencies; what is behind the demand for bitcoin payment support; or how to set payment terms to minimize risk or maximize revenue. Depending on your major you might be more interested in marketing issues, finance issues, etc., so your top three issues may be different from those of other classmates. What is important is that you can articulate what it is you want to know. Deliverables for Step 1: The first section of your paper should define the three most important subtopics or questions you need to investigate and understand. Make sure to explain the data you will need to find to address each of these topics. Page 2 of 2 Step 2: Describe your search process. Now that you have identified the information you will need, it’s time to construct a search strategy. For each of your three topic areas, describe:  Who are the authoritative sources you might look for? (e.g., scientists/researchers, legislators, business experts, bloggers, others)  Where will you find the information above? (e.g., newspapers, magazines, journals, TV shows, social media, etc.)  How will you get access to this information – is it freely available via Web search, or via commercial subscriptions like Gartner, or industry conferences, or held in library databases? (Note, you should describe this step before you go looking for the information.) Deliverables for Step 2: The second section of your paper should describe your strategy for finding the information you identified in Step 1, per the three bullet points above. Step 3: Evaluate. Now that you have developed a strategy, it’s time to test it. Execute your strategy and describe how well it worked. a) Provide a copy of the best article or information source you located in each of your topic areas (a citation or link is sufficient as long as it is available online, otherwise include a copy in an appendix). b) Explain why it was the most useful resource you found. c) Did your original strategy lead you straight to it? Or did you have to adjust on the fly? d) Describe your satisfaction with your overall search process, and describe how you would tweak it going forward when doing business research. Deliverables for Step 3: The third section of your paper should answer and address (a) through (d) above.

Answer 1

The followings are the three issues which we are considering here -

1) what are the security risks

2) how bitcoin exchanges and wallets work in terms of transaction costs;

3) the law as it relates to cryptocurrencies.

Step 1 : Data required to find answers of the above issues -

1) what are general and industry specific security issues. How much transactions using bitcoins safe etc.

2) How to use bitcoin wallet app, how to accept bitcoin with payment processor, potential benefits.

3) WHat are the regulation regulating cryptocurrencies around the world, list of countries allowing or not allowing it.

Step 2:

The authoritative sources :

1) For security issues - The various firms involved in financial research such as KPMG etc. Various research sites that provide authentic reserach works in this regard, Technological and financial markets experts who offer their consultation etc.

2) For how it works - Again, the same sources will be used here. specially the financial experts who can be provide information, industry and business specific.

3) For regulations - Various law professionals who have expert in this feild, law books, various institutions sites such as international monetary funds, various acts of different countries (of clients) goverining the regulations in their country etc.

Financial newspapers, various international financial sites, law making and governing bodies publications and sites etc. can be accessed. some of them are freely available but for specific industry and business specific information, paid sources could be more reliable such as asking a financial expert in this matter.

Step 3 : This step is practical and hence cant be answered here.