#paradox apl
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davismaster01 · 9 months ago
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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years ago
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THE COURAGE OF PARADOX
What I find myself repeating is pump out features. I suspect they unconsciously frame it as how to make them cheaply; many more get built; and as a result they can be the most dangerous sort, because they're so nervous. Nothing seems to stick. I knew I wanted to start a new channel. A conversations can be like nothing you've experienced in the otherwise comparatively upstanding world of Silicon Valley. I would rather cofound a startup with a friend than a stranger with higher output. When it comes to ambition. We're trying to find the lower bound. Same story in 2004. It's exactly the same thing with equity instead of debt.
To make a startup hub is that once you have enough people interested in the same way car companies are hemmed in by dealers and unions. Who does like Java? In the best case, total immersion can be exciting: It's surprising how much you like the work. If you think about? I would rather cofound a startup with a friend than a stranger with higher output. APL requires its own character set. But as with wealth there may be habits of mind that will help the process along. Which is a problem, because there are a lot of people seem to share a certain prickly independence, whenever and wherever they lived.
That's what you're looking for. Would even Grisham claim that it's because he's a better writer? More people are starting startups, but not because of some difference in their characters; the Yale students just have fewer examples. Both components of the antidote was Sergey Brin, and vice versa. So long as you were careful not to get sucked permanently into consulting, this could even have advantages. I'd take the US system. Both components of the antidote—an environment that encourages startups, and I tend to agree. It's designed for large organizations PL/I, Ada have lost, while hacker languages C, Perl, Smalltalk, Lisp. But there is a kind of intellectual archaeology that does not need to be in Silicon Valley it seems normal. Well, therein lies half the work of essay writing. Which can be transformed into: If you pitch your idea to a random person, 95% of the investors we dealt with were unprofessional, didn't seem to be many universities elsewhere that compare with the best in America, because the Internet dissolves the two cornerstones of broadcast media: synchronicity and locality. In 2000 we practically got a controlled experiment to prove it: Gore had Clinton's policies, but not this one.
A lot of what startup founders do is just posturing. That no doubt causes a lot of room for improvement here. This seems a good sign. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job. One possibility is that this is simply the brutality of markets. They can either catch you and loft you up into the sky, as they do with most startups. And you can tell a book by. The reason startups are more likely to be productive. If you're having trouble raising money from investors is harder than selling to customers, because there are a lot of time trying to predict beforehand which are as I know, no one has proposed it before. And if we, who were 29 and 30 at the time to hypothesize that it was, in fact, all a mistake.
After all, they're more experienced than you. Surprising, isn't it, that voters' opinions on the issues have lined up with charisma for 11 elections in a row? And since you don't know your users, it's dangerous to guess what they'll like. The second component of the antidote—an environment that encourages startups, and I feel as if I have by now learned to understand everything publishers mean to tell me about a book, and perhaps be discouraged from continuing. But if we can decide in 20 minutes, should it take anyone longer than a couple days? This was what made everyone want computers. Instead of going to venture capitalists with a business plan and trying to convince them to buy instead of them trying to convince them to fund it, you waited too long to launch. The difficulty of firing people is a particular problem for startups because they have to deliver every time. We've done the same thing. Many more startups, including ours, were initially run out of garages. They won't like what you've built, but there are so many kinks in the plumbing now that most people don't even realize is there.
You need to cut and fill to emphasize the central thread, like an illustrator inking over a pencil drawing. Just as the relationship between the founders and the company. Maybe not all the way to the top: The surprise for me. Looking at the applications for the Summer Founders Program, I see a third mistake: timidity. Hence what, for lack of a better name, I'll call the Python paradox: if a company chooses to write its software in a comparatively esoteric language, they'll be more likely to happen in a startup. There seem to be a really long journey, at least 3 years and probably 5. I'd say 75% of the stress is gone now from when we first started. Most investors have no idea. This can work well in technology, at least unconsciously.
This may be true; this may be something we need to fix something. It's good to have a job at a big company. But it's a mistake founders constantly make. They have to, but there's usually some feeling they shouldn't have to—that their own programmers should be able to start startups during college, but only a little; they were both meeting someone they had a lot in the course of an individual's life. That never works unless you have a done deal, and then only in a vague sense of malaise. One of the most charismatic guy? One thing all startups have in common? Dukakis. As European scholarship gained momentum it became less and less important; by 1350 someone who wanted to learn about science could find better teachers than Aristotle in his own era.
We fight less. But I can't believe we've considered every alternative. It's like seeing the other interpretation of an ambiguous picture. That no doubt causes a lot of time in bookshops and I feel as if I have by now learned to understand everything publishers mean to tell me about a book, and perhaps a bit more. Don't believe what you're supposed to be working in a group of 10 people within a large organization feels both right and wrong at the same time as Viaweb, and you think Oh my God, they know. Few are the sort of backslapping extroverts one thinks of as typically American. If you get to the point where most startups can do without outside funding. Competitors riding on lots of good blogger perception aren't really the winners and can disappear from the map quickly.
Thanks to Geoff Ralston, Dan Bricklin, Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Dan Giffin, Max Roser, Robert Morris, and Jackie McDonough for reading a previous draft.
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luma-az · 6 years ago
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La colère des assistés
Attention : ça va parler de politique, aka LE meilleur moyen de s'engueuler avec des inconnus. Du coup j'ai un peu peur de me faire pourrir, ou de heurter des gens. Mais puisque je n'ai encore presque personne qui me suit sur Tumblr, c'est le moment de poser ça là et de partir en courant.
J'ai retrouvé ce texte que j'ai écrit d'une traite, dans un coup de colère, et jamais publié. Trop dur de dépasser ma propre honte, j'imagine... C'était à l'époque où je me suis retrouvée très précaire, au RSA avec mon compagnon. C'était avant l'élection de Macron et les Gilets Jaunes. A l'époque où j'avais l'impression d'être très seule avec ma colère.
Aujourd'hui, j'ai un CDI, le Graal suprême. Et ma conclusion reste exactement la même. Et à la lumière des évènements récents, prend encore plus son sens.
 J'ai envie d'écrire cette note suite à une énième conversation, avec une amie d'amie que je connaissais peu, sur les assistés. Je suis une assistée qui survit grâce à l'argent que me donnent les aides de l'Etat. Mon compagnon aussi. Et toutes les discours sur pourquoi ce sont des parasites qui n'en ont rien à foutre de rien ni de personne et qui n'ont même pas honte de ne pas bosser comme des gens honnêtes, bien sûr, ça me blesse. Et comme d'habitude, je n'ai rien dit. Qu'est-ce que je peux dire ? "Ben si, j'ai honte ! Mais je le fais quand même, parce que c'est ça ou rien, et que rien, ça veut dire finir à la rue. Donc j'ai honte mais je prends. Et à ma place tu ferais pareille."
Parce qu'en même temps que j'ai envie de dire ça, j'ai aussi envie de dire "On ne devrait pas avoir honte. Ce sentiment nous pourrit la vie et ne sert à rien. Et si vraiment comme tu dis il y a des gens qui arrivent à prendre l'argent et à s'en foutre, et bien je les admire, parce qu'ils ont réussi à passer au-dessus de tous vos jugements, et c'est ce que j'essaye de faire - parce que franchement, essayer de ne pas fondre en larme à chaque fois qu'on m'explique que je suis une merde de parasite, ça n'apporte absolument rien à ma vie. Et non, ça ne me "motive" pas plus à cherche du boulot, non. On est plutôt sur de l'enfonçage violent dans la dépression".
Donc, en plein conflit entre moi et moi-même et ne voulant surtout pas plomber l'ambiance de la soirée avec mes états d'âmes et me mettre à pleurer (ou crier. Je ne l'ai jamais fait, crier devant des gens. Mais un jour ça va sortir), je n'ai rien dit. A coté de moi, mon copain laissait couler. Il a juste, à un moment, fait une correction. La fille en question parlait des montants pharaoniques des aides, à coup de 2000 euros par mois. Je me suis un petit peu étranglée, et mon copain a demandé, tranquillement, comment on pouvait réussir ça, parce qu'on était en pleine demande de RSA et qu'à nous deux on ne pourrait pas avoir plus de 650euros pour le coupe, et qu'ils enlèveraient de cette somme les APL et tout ce qu'on pourrait gagner en bossant à droite à gauche. Et elle d'expliquer que "c'est normal". Ben oui. Normal qu'on considère qu'un quart du seuil de pauvreté c'est déjà bien. Normal qu'on te demande de déclarer toutes tes économies pour te retirer 3% de celles-ci. Normal qu'on te retire l'argent que tes parents pourraient t'envoyer pour t'aider. Normal normal normal... quand on trouve que l'idée de base, payer les gens à ne rien faire, c'est déjà généreux, alors que chacun est responsable de lui-même et n'a qu'à travailler.
Revenons donc un peu sur le "y a qu'à travailler" et sur la motivation.
Déjà, pourquoi est-ce qu'on n'est pas motivé à travailler, comme ça, spontanément ? Parce que nous avons la paresse chevillée au corps ? Dans ce cas, pourquoi autant de gens font tant de choses sur leurs temps de repos ? Alors, parce que les boulots sont chiants ? Allez, prenons comme idée de départ "les boulots sont chiants". On la retrouve beaucoup chez les gens qui estiment que tous ceux qui ont un métier-passion n'ont pas à prendre de pause ni à se plaindre de quoi que ce soit, puisqu'ils ne font pas un vrai travail, puisque le vrai travail est chiant. Donc, si on part de ce principe, on est motivé à faire ce truc chiant parce qu'on veut gagner de l'argent. C'est le contrat social de base de notre société : tu travailles en échange d'argent. Avec sa sous-règle officieuse : tu peux mépriser tous ceux qui gagnent de l'argent à ne rien faire et ceux qui gagnent beaucoup par rapport à ce qu'ils font comme travail, parce que quand même c'est de la triche. Sans oublier que ceux qui en gagne en aimant leur travail, et bien c'est aussi de la triche puisque ce n'est pas du vrai travail qui fait souffrir !
Du coup, on se secoue les puces les paresseux, y a qu'à travailler, et toutes les aides sociales ne font que briser l'unique motivation qui pousserait les gens vers le travail ! Donc autant qu'elles restent faibles, voir même qu'on les supprime. Comme ça, plus de tricheurs, tout le monde bosse et on respecte notre contrat social sain et égalitaire. D'ailleurs, les personnes qui défendent la suppression des aides sont en général d'accord pour garder tout ce qui peut aider les personnes qui ne sont pas en état de travailler (retraites, femmes enceintes, maladies, handicap...), parce que ça c'est normal. Ce n'est plus de la triche, c'est de la solidarité. Alors qu'on refuse d'être solidaire des tricheurs. On se fait arnaquer, si on est solidaire des tricheurs. Et ça nous ulcère et on leur crache dessus.
Sauf qu'on est pas en plein emploi. On est même en période de chômage structurel. Ce qui veut dire : de plus en plus de boulots ont été remplacés par des machines. Une seule personne peut faire un travail qui aurait demandé dix personnes dans les années cinquante. Les dactylos ont été remplacées par des logiciels, les voitures sont montées par des robots, etc... Parce que si les salariés restent dans le contrat travail = argent, pour les employeurs travail = production. Et du moment qu'ils ont exactement le même nombre de produits finis à revendre à la fin (ou plus, ou moins, bref ce qu'ils peuvent écouler), les propriétaires d'entreprise ne vont pas en faire faire plus pour le plaisir de payer toujours le même nombre de personnes. Ils n'y ont aucun intérêt (et notre planète non plus, mais ça c'est un autre débat). Sérieusement, il n'y a que moi que ça choque que quand on parle de licenciements économiques, on dise toujours que virer des gens permet de gagner de l'argent, comme si c'était une évidence ? Sauf que virer des gens ne fait gagner de l'argent que si on a trouvé le moyen de payer moins cher la même production (oui, ça peut aussi être de délocaliser dans le tiers-monde), vu que sans production il n'y a pas d'argent qui rentre du tout (bon, je vais laisser de coté les particularités des services publics, et rester de la règle très générale). Il faut être logique. Les entreprises ne font pas de la magie.
Du coup, il y a moins de boulots, par rapport au nombre de personnes qui les demandent (et ne les veulent pas, mais il faut travailler pour gagner sa vie, donc ils les demandent quand même). Mais il y en a. Donc il est POSSIBLE de travailler. On n'est plus tout à fait dans le yaka, mais ça reste la solution. Sauf qu'il va quand même falloir marcher un peu sur les autres en mode compétitif, mais la compétition c'est sain, c'est naturel, comme ça on n'a que les meilleurs qui sont récompensés, donc c'est juste. Ben oui. Sauf qu'on ne parle pas de petite médaille ou de valorisation sociale. On parle de gagner de quoi vivre. Si seuls les meilleurs ont un travail, les autres doivent avoir de quoi vivre autrement.
(je dis "les meilleurs" pour simplifier. Vu l'importance du réseau (nom politiquement correct du piston), la sélection est quand même de plus en plus biaisée à mesure que le nombre de places diminuent. Mais ils restent "les meilleurs" dans le discours valorisant le travail, ce qui est important pour la suite de la démonstration).
Et là, on a un premier paradoxe : on récompense les meilleurs d'un travail, et on assure aux autres de quoi vivre sans travailler. Si le travail est chiant et motivé par l'argent, on renverse totalement l'échelle de valeur, et la récompense devient une punition ! A l'échelle morale, si on reste sur bon comportement = récompense et mauvais comportement = punition, tout le système des aides sociales se plante donc violemment. Et on parle d'une échelle évidente, de celles qu'on utilise pour apprendre la vie aux petits enfants de trois ans. Personne ne pense à le remettre à en question.
Supposons qu'on garde le système actuel, en supprimant les aides parce qu'elles ne seraient pas justes. Nous avons donc les meilleurs qui sont sélectionnés pour les postes. Et les autres ? Ils deviennent quoi ? Parce que par définition, tout le monde ne peut pas être le meilleur. J'insiste, parce que j'ai l'impression que les gens ont du mal avec cette notion. TOUT LE MONDE NE PEUT PAS ETRE LE MEILLEUR. Cette place est ouverte à tous. Et un seul l'aura. Sinon, tout le monde est identique. Et même les clones de Star Wars ne sont pas identiques à ce point.
Les autres, ceux qui sont refusés pour le poste donc, vont tenter leur chance ailleurs. Il y en a d'autres, des places. Mais il y a toujours une sélection. Au fil du temps, de nouveaux postes se libèrent ou se créent. Et au fil du temps, de nouveaux concurrents sont formés ou prennent de l'expérience. On essaye de se placer au-dessus des autres : on fait des stages, du bénévolat, on se forme, on soigne son réseau, sa garde-robe... Et tous les autres font pareils. A la fin, que ce soit le plus compétent, le plus expérimenté, le plus charmant, le plus docile, peu importe : il n'y en aura qu'un de pris. Et les autres ? Il y a de moins en moins de places, je le rappelle. Mais on n'est pas de moins en moins nombreux. Qu'est-ce qu'on en fait, des autres ?
C'est assez révélateur de voir à quel point cette question est occultée. On dirait qu'elle ne peut pas prendre forme dans la tête des gens. Peut-être parce qu'ils n'ont pas en tête les échelles de valeur dont je viens de parler. Ou ils ne veulent pas l'avoir en tête. Les chiffres du chômage par rapport au nombre d'emplois, c'est un couperet qui fait mal : ça ne passe pas, peu importe comment tu tournes ça, ça ne rentrera jamais. Du coup, on dit oui à tout ce qui pourrait changer ces chiffres, sans se demander pourquoi on ne nous parle jamais de chômage structurel ou de délocalisation. Pourquoi plus on applique des politiques libérales, pire c'est. Pourquoi les pays où ces lois sont déjà passées sont en train de crever.
En attendant que la fée Économie nous ait résolu ce malheureux problème de chômage, donc, on bricole. Et on reproche aux chômeurs ne pas faire mieux. Après tout, on est chacun responsable de sa vie, il faut s'accrocher, se donner à fond, et si on joue le jeu honnêtement, au maximum de ses capacités, on y arrivera.
C'est là que je vais faire le lien avec la fiction (oui, je l'annonce dans le titre mais ça n'arrive que maintenant) : cette histoire-là, elle est partout. Le héros ou l'héroïne, peu importe ce qu'il ou elle affronte, y arrivera. (ou sinon c'est une tragédie ou un drame. L'échec, c'est une tragédie ou un drame. Mais on prévient les gens avant qu'ils aillent voir le film, pour ne pas qu'ils soient choqués). On est tous invités à se voir comme les héros de nos propres histoires. Et pourquoi pas ? Quoi de plus cool que d'être le héros ? Même pour faire des choses de bien moins épiques que de sauver le monde voir la galaxie, juste arriver à trouver sa place, construire son foyer, gagner sa vie. Si on fait ce qu'il faut faire, on ne peut qu'y arriver. Non ?
Ben non. Il y a moins de places et toujours autant de gens.
Car la différence majeure avec les héros des histoires, c'est que soit ils sont adaptés au monde qui les entoure - leurs attentes, leurs désirs sont accessibles et valorisées dans leur environnement immédiat, une place où ils seront heureux les attend - soit ils sont libres. Et nous, si nous n'arrivons pas à atteindre cette place qui nous semblait bien pour nous (gagner de l'argent, avoir un toit, se mettre en couple et faire pousser des tomates, par exemple), on est coincé. Tu n'arrives pas à trouver un travail qui te permet de gagner de l'argent, ni dans ta branche ni dans une autre : tu fais quoi ? Tu ne vas pas attraper ton épée et passer à la taverne chercher des quêtes. Tu ne peux pas te poser sur un terrain et y construire ta maison de ton mieux avec quelques copains : le terrain n'est pas à toi, et vu que tu n'as pas d'argent les matériaux de construction non plus, et de toutes façons tu ne sais pas construire une maison vu que ce seuls les gens qui vont travailler à construire des maisons apprennent à construire des maisons. Tu ne peux pas bricoler des trucs dans ton coin et les vendre, c'est illégal - ou entre les taxes et les normes, tu es mal barré pour que ce soit rentable. Et même en illégal, pourquoi on voudrait de tes petits trucs fait maison quand on a de l'industriel bon marché de tous les cotés ? Quand à cultiver sa terre pour se nourrir (en supposant que tu choppes de la terre), tout seul sans argent et à la main : bon courage. On ne peut pas papillonner, saisir des opportunités à droite et à gauche, donner un coup de main ici et là, puisque le travail est déjà fait.
On nous laisse croire que si, on a des opportunités qu'il suffit d'avoir le courage de saisir. Tu n'as qu'à créer ta propre entreprise, dans ton domaine ! Oui, tu n'as toujours pas d'argent, mais fait un prêt, convainc les business angels ! Sauf que si le domaine n'embauche pas plus, c'est un peu parce qu'il est déjà saturé, hein. A part des dettes, il y a peu de chances que tu en récoltes quoi que ce soit. Et si tu y arrives, que tu réussis à partir de rien à te faire ta place au soleil et à embaucher, c'est que d'autres boites ont coulés car tu les as dépassées. Donc bravo à toi, mais du point de vue global, on reste sur le même problème. Même en créant artificiellement de l'envie, il y a une limite au nombre de vêtements qu'on peut porter, de produits qu'on peut se mettre sur le visage, de divertissements qu'on peut pratiquer, etc... On ne peut pas faire monter la consommation à l'infini (sans même parler du fait que ça n'a rien de souhaitable...).
Ou alors tu peux tenter ta chance comme artiste, créer de la valeur à partir de rien ? Mais même en changeant de milieu, on retombe sur le "tout le monde ne peut pas en vivre". Surtout que si tous les chômeurs sont sans argent, les produits culturels sont bien la dernière chose qu'ils vont acheter, et les secteurs artistiques vont passer par une sacrée crise. Avoir l'idée du siècle qui deviendra une start-up prometteuse, pareille. Ce qui peut marcher pour les uns ne peut pas marcher pour tous. Et les petits boulots, la précarité des mini-contrats qu'on tente d'enfiler comme des perles, ça peut aider, par ci par là. Pas sauver tout le monde.
Bref, quand on ne trouve pas de travail, on est coincé. D'où les aides sociales. Soit on aide les gens coincés, soient ils font péter toute la structure pour se sortir de là. Les gens restent rarement coincés sans rien faire. En achetant la paix sociale, le système garde le statu quo. Ceux qui sont hors-sytème le resteront. Ils n'ont plus qu'à s'y faire et ne pas en plus avoir le culot de se plaindre.
Je sais qu'il y a d'autres personnes qui savent tout ça depuis longtemps, et qui ont déjà totalement laissé tomber l'idée de réinsertion. Ils savent qu'ils n'y arriveront pas, et que de leur position économique, ils n'obtiendront jamais une identité considérée comme ayant de la valeur, ni de la reconnaissance de ce qu'ils font. Donc non, ils ne font pas d'efforts pour se conformer à ce qui est présenté comme le modèle d'une société qui les rejette. Au contraire, ils se feront un plaisir de cracher sur toutes les valeurs mises en avant par le modèle. Ils sont des marginaux, des cassos, souvent nés dans une famille de cassos, n'en ont plus rien à foutre de rien. Ils prennent ce qu'ils peuvent prendre. Et ceux qui sortent de ce milieu, malgré tout, ont intérêt à être à la fois souple et avec un mental d'acier. Parce qu'eux qui ne savent pas comment parler comme il faut, comment proposer son aide ou l'accepter comme il faut, comment marcher dans la rue comme il faut, il falloir qu'ils apprennent. Être "bien élevé", quand on ne t'as visiblement pas élevé bien, ça demande un sacré travail d'adaptation. Basé sur l'observation, parce qu'autant on peut avoir une formation diplômante, autant pour avoir les bons codes sociaux, personne ne t'aidera. Et ils le savent.
Moi je fais parti de l'autre groupe d'assistés : ceux qui débarquent. On est de plus en plus nombreux dans ce cas là, mais on le cache. On a honte, on est mauvais, on a échoué. Et pourtant, on avait tout bien fait comme on nous avait dire de faire. Milieu plutôt éduqué, diplômes, on sait bien parler et bien écrire, on se tient bien et on est charmant. Bien élevés, bien formatés, prêts à se plier en quatre pour rentrer dans le moule du marché du travail.
(Ce qui me rappelle une blague que j'adore : "A force de vouloir rentrer dans le moule, on a l'air d'une tarte."
J'y pense à chaque fois que j'ai l'expression "rentrer dans le moule" qui me vient en tête. Et maintenant vous aussi.
De rien.)
Quand tu as bien suivi toutes les instructions pour trouver du travail et que tu n'en trouves pas, la chute est rude. Alors qu'on le sait tous, on nous le chante sur tous les tons, qu'il y  a plus de chômeurs que d'emplois... Mais on est tous le héros de nos propres histoires et on garde tous au fond du cœur cette petite certitude que ça ira, pour nous tout se passera bien.
Personnellement, je pensais surtout échouer beaucoup plus tôt. Je n'aurais pas cru réussir la sélection pour entrer en master 2, ou valider mon master. Je savais qu'il y avait beaucoup de chômage dans ma branche et j'ai tenté de multiplier mes chances : stages en rab, bénévolat, plein de formations supplémentaires (au fait : être étudiant, même pour un DU à deux jours par mois, ça supprime ton RSA. Normal !!!). J'ai accepté tous les boulots liés au milieu de près ou de loin, sous-payés, payés juste assez pour me rembourser le trajet, et surtout j'ai fait tout ce que j'ai pu pour m'y faire bien voir (y compris revenir bénévolement, six mois après la fin de mon CDD, passer l'après-midi à régler un truc plus ou moins lié à mon CDD et pas de ma responsabilité, même à l'époque). J'ai sollicité mon réseau, j'ai essayé de le développer avec des associations. Et franchement, je ne pense pas être mauvaise. Tous ceux qui ont travaillé avec moi m'ont dit que j'étais plutôt bonne. Mais je ne suis pas la meilleure (ou la plus solide, ou la plus grande gueule, ou la plus assurée, ou quel que soit le critère des recruteurs).
Je n'ai plus d'allocations chômage. Je me suis lancée en indépendante (pardon, auto-entrepreneur, super classe) pour gratter quelques sous, et en enlevant les frais j'arrive à me faire entre 200 et 300 euros par mois. Ben oui, il n'y a pas assez de clients pour que mon activité soit rentable. Je le savais en la lançant. Je n'ai pas trop eu le choix. Et sans aides, je n'ai pas de quoi vivre. On n'a pas de quoi vivre. Je tente de me reconvertir, mais ça va prendre du temps. Et si j'échoue encore... Je tenterai autre chose ? Avec, à chaque fois, re-formation mais en attendant il faut bien vivre. Jusqu'à ce que je réussisse à me caser quelque part. Et si jamais je suis virée, on recommence tout depuis le début. Parce que le problème de base n'est pas résolu. Et que j'aurais beau me contorsionner dans tous les sens, me plier et me déplier et faire ma plus belle danse du ventre, même si j'arrive à avoir un putain de job, le problème de base ne sera toujours pas résolu, j'aurai juste piqué la place de quelqu'un d'autre qui restera un peu plus sur le carreau.
 Bref, je suis une assistée mais ce n'est pas de ma faute (en résumé). On est nombreux à être des assistés et on sera de plus en plus nombreux, et réduire nos aides, pourrir nos conditions de vie ne fera que faire exploser tout le système.
Ce qui ne veut pas dire que j'ai super envie de rester dans ce système. Parce que franchement, si le contrat social qui dit travail = argent ne fonctionne plus, ce ne sont pas les gens qu'il faut briser. C'est le contrat social. Pour en proposer un autre, mieux adapté.
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mccartneynathxzw83 · 6 years ago
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Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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adrianjenkins952wblr · 6 years ago
Text
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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courtneyvbrooks87 · 6 years ago
Text
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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vanessawestwcrtr5 · 6 years ago
Text
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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bobbynolanios88 · 6 years ago
Text
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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teiraymondmccoy78 · 6 years ago
Text
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
Resolving the Blockchain Paradox in Transportation and Logistics
The best blockchain networks are often the hardest to create. A fundamental paradox relating to blockchain technology is on full display in the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry. By increasing transparency, these distributed digital ledgers can mitigate the mistrust that often exists among the industry’s transacting parties. Yet this same mistrust makes it hard to bring together the industry’s diverse participants into a common blockchain ecosystem.
The paradox is reflected in the slow rate of blockchain adoption revealed in a recent BCG survey of T&L executives. (See the sidebar, “About the Survey.”) The vast majority of respondents (88%) believe that blockchain will disrupt the industry at least somewhat. And most (59%) believe that the disruptions will take place within the next two to five years. But nearly three-quarters (74%) say that they are exploring opportunities only superficially or haven’t thought about blockchain at all. The most cited obstacles to wider adoption of blockchain are an absence of coordination among industry players, a limited understanding of the technology, and a lack of in-house capabilities.
ABOUT THE SURVEY In September and October 2018, BCG conducted an online survey of global companies in the T&L industry in  order to assess their understanding of blockchain and their progress in adopting the technology. The survey’s participants consisted of executives from more than 100 T&L companies. A broad scope of T&L subsectors was represented, including air freight; courier, express, and parcel; logistics; rail; and shipping. It would be worthwhile for T&L companies to resolve the paradox. The T&L industry is rife
with sources of friction—including countless suppliers, dozens of handoffs, and ever-changing regulations—that introduce non-value-added costs and can result in inaccurate or misrepresented information. By providing an immutable single source of truth and enabling process automation, blockchain can address many of the industry’s pain points. The benefits include improvements to speed, traceability, cargo safety, and invoicing and payment processes. Such benefits can drive substantial cost reductions, helping to relieve the intense margin pressure experienced by many industry players. Companies may even be able to use blockchain to develop entirely new business models, such as those relating to virtual global networks, pooled fleets, and on-demand staffing.
Given the industry dynamics, no T&L company can do it alone. To realize the promise of blockchain, T&L stakeholders must collaborate to develop an ecosystem that forges trust and creates mutual benefits across the value chain. Each company must also work with suppliers, customers, and even competitors to understand and implement solutions that address its specific business needs. It’s time for all players across the diverse T&L value chain, including governments and regulators, to take action.
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS Many T&L executives regard blockchain technology as at best mysterious or at worst ripe for exploitation. In fact, the underlying concept is fairly straightforward. Simply put, because blockchains create data transparency, they help to establish trust among participants in complex networks. And, although the data entered in a blockchain is not guaranteed to accurately represent reality, data in a well-designed blockchain cannot be tampered with.
In basic terms, here’s how it works. A blockchain is a shared digital ledger for recording and storing transactions between multiple participants in a network. Changes made to the blockchain record must be approved by participants through an automated process. Approved updates are time-stamped, cryptographically signed, and added to the block. The new block becomes part of the blockchain. Unlike traditional ledgers, a blockchain provides an immutable record of all transactions and agreements of interest to the participants—no single party can unilaterally alter the information. Because information cannot be deleted, only appended, a blockchain provides an evidentiary trail of information back to the point of origin.
Blockchains can be public, private, or hybrid. A public blockchain (bitcoin, for example) is open, so that anyone with computing capacity can add to the network, maintain the ledger, and weigh in on issues requiring consensus. In contrast, private blockchains are run by one business, joint venture, consortium, or government entity. Although the controlling party cannot alter data, it has the ultimate say in the rules that govern the platform, including who can join and which members can view or append information in the digital ledger. Hybrid blockchains are controlled by a consortium of businesses or government entities that may give access to the public to view or append information or may restrict access to its members. A private or hybrid blockchain with permissioned access (that is, only authorized users can join and read and write data) provides the highest level of scalability and data privacy. Private or hybrid blockchains can be set up to require far less computing power than public blockchains.
On its own, a blockchain is not a panacea—it can only serve as a repository of data and a means to automate transactions. To enable other benefits, blockchain should be used in combination with other technologies. The embedded sensors and networked devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) can automate the capturing and transmission of machine-generated data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to analyze data and derive powerful insights.
If effective supporting technologies are in place, blockchain’s features and benefits can potentially overcome the main obstacles to cooperation among multiple stakeholders in a complex value chain. By providing a single version of the truth for all participants, a blockchain enables trustless transactions and reduces the risk of error or fraud and the need for intermediaries. Participants gain the ability to track the movement of items in real time and verify transactions. A blockchain ledger can also be used to set up a wide range of “smart” contracts that self-execute upon the occurrence of a specified scenario (for example, peer-to-peer payment upon delivery of goods), thereby automating repetitive processes.
An important caveat: although blockchain is often the best technology option for creating trust, traditional technologies are still the right choice for transactions and processes that involve a small number of parties who already know each other or for whom it is easy to establish a single, indisputable source of truth. A blockchain is also not yet suitable for processing large volumes of transactions or warehousing large volumes of data.
T&L NEEDS BLOCKCHAIN Investors are aggressively supporting opportunities to develop blockchain applications for T&L. An analysis by BCG found that, since 2013, venture capital investors have poured approximately $300 million into startup companies offering blockchain solutions relevant to T&L, including $53 million specifically in shipping and freight management, as well as in trading and shipping platforms. (See Exhibit 1.) Additionally, T&L companies have invested millions of dollars in researching and developing their own blockchain solutions. The recent growth of investments suggests that new solutions will reach the market in the next one to three years. The question is whether companies will adopt them.
Leading T&L players are beginning to explore ways to capture value from blockchains, both on an individual basis and in cross-industry collaborations. Notable examples include the following:
• A consortium of nine companies is developing a blockchain-enabled platform called the Global Shipping Business Network, with the goal of improving speed, transparency, and collaboration and promoting digitization. Participants include carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO Shipping Lines, Evergreen Marine, OOCL, and Yang Ming); terminal operators (DP World, Hutchison Ports, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port); and a software solutions provider (CargoSmart). • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel, and a European customs organization are collaborating in a cross-industry initiative to explore the application of blockchain to support documentation handling for ocean freight. • Maersk and IBM have jointly created TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade. The objective is to support information sharing and transparency across the value chain and encourage innovation. • The Blockchain in Transport Alliance seeks to drive industry-wide blockchain adoption. The alliance is a consortium of approximately 400 members spanning the T&L, consumer goods, and technology sectors and includes both established companies and startups.
But, as our survey findings indicate, most industry participants have not taken a deep look at blockchain’s potential applications. Our analysis of the opportunities makes clear that companies should be willing to invest the time and effort to realize the technology’s promise. We found that blockchain can relieve a wide variety of pain points that impede information sharing and create costly inefficiencies. (See Exhibit 2.)
Blockchain can help the industry address these pain points by providing an immutable shared data repository, promoting trust among participants, and enabling automation of repetitive processes. The benefits can be captured through a wide range of 15 use cases. (See Exhibit 3.)
A comparison of use cases on the basis of value potential and ease of implementation points to goods origination, end-to-end status tracking, and invoice payment and management as among the high-priority blockchain applications. These use cases illustrate how blockchain can address the industry’s pain points:
• Goods Origination. Various mechanisms, including long-term trusted relationships, government regulations, or rigorous certification processes, serve as proxies for verifying provenance. The use of blockchain obviates the need for such proxies—and the associated costs. By registering materials, parts, or products on a blockchain, participants can verify where these items originated and improve quality assurance.
Leading players and startups are exploring applications of this use case in a variety of industries. De Beers is a good example. The company has worked with BCG on a blockchain-based solution to trace diamonds from the mine to finished pieces of jewelry. Although this platform, called Tracr, was initiated by De Beers and is currently in the pilot stage, it will become a solution for the entire diamond industry. A diamond tracked on Tracr carries a digital fingerprint with trustworthy information about its origins and qualities as well as critical transaction data, such as ownership transfers and processing. Tracr will help jewelers give the end customer confidence that a diamond was ethically sourced and processed. The platform also allows users to leverage its digital assets and build various kinds of new businesses on top of it. Such businesses could include diamond-backed financing, compliance services, or market exchanges for consumers—services that are not possible without the ability to digitally track and verify each stone. (See “Does Your Supply Chain Need a Blockchain?” BCG article, March 2018.)
Another example is a startup called Provenance, which is working with Indonesian fishermen to use blockchains and smart-tagging technology to verify sustainability claims regarding the fish they bring to market. Such applications enable companies to not only increase supply chain process efficiency but also enhance compliance and support a brand’s reputation and quality, which ultimately protect premium price points.
• End-to-End Status Tracking. To enable efficient coordination of counterparties and just-in-time deliveries, supply chain participants demand real-time visibility into the status of assets or freight in transit. Although a coordinator (such as a delivery service) can provide status updates, it is difficult to maintain tracking when handoffs are made between parties with no previous transactional relationship. Additionally, parties have incentives to retroactively manipulate data—such as by making it appear that goods were delivered earlier than they actually were or that damaged goods were not in their control when the damage occurred.
By creating a unique identifier for each product, blockchain permits status tracking among multiple parties and prevents retroactive manipulation of data. Leading companies are pursuing initiatives to capture the benefits in their supply chains. For example, Walmart now requires lettuce and spinach suppliers to track the movement of produce from fields to stores using a blockchain database developed by IBM.
• Invoice and Payment Management. Because the multiple parties involved in T&L transactions maintain their own records and ledgers, invoicing and payments are paper-intensive processes that often entail manual entry. To check for mistakes and inaccuracies (and potential fraud), companies need to conduct a time-consuming reconciliation step before payments are released. Blockchain can be used to store and share digitized records and create smart contracts that automatically execute invoices and payments. Automated processing reduces settlement times, ensures accuracy, and detects fraud, while eliminating the need for intermediaries and paper-based processes. For example, a startup called CargoX has launched a blockchain-based bill-of-lading platform. Its features include smart contracts and the automated execution of peer-to-peer payments.
EXPLORING THE PARADOX Considering the magnitude of the potential benefits, blockchain adoption by the T&L industry has been slower than one might expect. Adoption has been impeded by the very same obstacles relating to coordination and trust that the technology would help the industry to overcome. That, in essence, is the industry’s blockchain paradox. To resolve it, stakeholders must understand how the following two industry characteristics are inhibiting blockchain adoption:
• Fragmented Value Chain. The highly fragmented value chain of multiple unrelated parties makes the industry well-suited for blockchain application. But this fragmentation also hinders the adoption of a common blockchain standard. Of the executives we surveyed, 60% believe that a lack of coordination among industry players and the absence of an ecosystem are major barriers to blockchain adoption. Fragmentation also impedes the selection of a common technical standard. The absence of such a standard means that blockchain applications pursued by companies and consortia as standalone initiatives will likely not be compatible with each other. The limited scale of these initiatives increases the cost of adoption and diminishes the potential returns. The challenges of the fragmented value chain are exacerbated by regulatory complexity. T&L companies typically operate in multiple countries and jurisdictions with varying, and often complex, regulatory requirements. More than one-third (35%) of surveyed executives cited regulatory compliance issues as an important barrier to blockchain adoption.
• Limited Trust. Because T&L is a highly competitive industry, participants can be reluctant to share information. To overcome their trust issues, T&L companies have traditionally relied on longstanding relationships with other value chain participants, including intermediaries and brokers. Many companies are unwilling to share information outside of these established relationships. In fact, many companies take advantage of information asymmetry to generate revenues and profits. As a result, a substantial number of stakeholders are reluctant to abandon their longstanding relationships and give up their information advantages in favor of blockchain solutions.
Unfamiliarity with blockchain technology and its benefits appears to be an important obstacle to leveraging the technology to overcome trust issues. BCG’s survey found that only 16% of T&L executives feel that they have a clear understanding of blockchain technology and its implications for their industry. In line with this, only about 20% of respondents said that blockchain is among their company’s top ten strategic priorities. Underinvestment in technology and the absence of deep digital capabilities are likely contributing factors. For T&L companies to trust blockchain and change their current ways of working, they need to better understand the technology’s benefits and applicability.
CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE PARADOX To resolve the blockchain paradox, T&L stakeholders must develop an industry-wide ecosystem. An ecosystem is needed to foster trust and collaboration and create a common standard that promotes scale and interoperability. By maximizing value for all stakeholders, the ecosystem would provide incentives for expedited adoption of blockchain across the value chain.
To catalyze the development of the ecosystem, a company or group of companies must serve as an orchestrator. For example, a consortium of T&L and technology players could lead the effort. Regardless of which entities take on the orchestrator’s role, it is critical that they seek to promote value at the industry level, rather than pursue their own self-interest.
The orchestrator must lead industry stakeholders in establishing partnerships and collaborations, standards and governance, and a clear value proposition.
Partnerships and Collaborations. Partnerships and collaborations among major players in the T&L value chain, including competitors, are needed to provide the foundation for the ecosystem. In a recent example, five container shipping players—CMA CGM, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and Ocean Network Express—announced plans to create a not-for-profit association that will promote digitalization, standardization, and interoperability in their industry. The collaborative effort includes establishing common IT standards that will be available without charge to all industry stakeholders. If blockchain is among the digital solutions considered, the association could help to develop a common technical standard and an industry-wide ecosystem. Additionally, alliances, associations, and consortia must provide a venue to identify, debate, and prioritize innovative ideas and educate industry stakeholders. Providers of technology infrastructure and software must contribute their expertise to support the development of blockchain applications. And governments, port authorities, and independent regulators must engage in the ecosystem from its inception. These entities can help shape the common standards and officially endorse the ecosystem, including ensuring compliance with laws and regulations that prohibit anticompetitive practices.
Standards, Governance, and Commercial Considerations. Stakeholders must define the standards and governance required for the ecosystem. This includes:
• Policies. Policies need to address regulatory considerations, such as laws, international privacy standards, and requirements for data sharing. The stakeholders also must establish rules for authenticating the identity of network participants and agree on whether anonymity is permitted. In addition, the stakeholders must specify the types of data that can and cannot be shared and define a common taxonomy (such as field names and entry protocols) for data stored on the blockchain. Finally, they need policies covering the design and operation of the blockchain platform. • Technical Elements. The stakeholders must define how the participants can reach consensus when recording transactions on the blockchain. They must also determine how data will be stored on or off the blockchain and how the data model will correspond to the models of the existing systems used by different participants. Last, they must determine access rights by selecting which type of blockchain to use—public, private, or hybrid. • Governance and Decision Rights. The stakeholders must establish clear governance that articulates their respective roles and decision rights in the continuous development and evolution of the blockchain platform. First movers and early adopters play a critical role in establishing the appropriate governance, which gives them greater influence over the ecosystem’s future development. • Commercial Considerations. Commercial considerations include the costs of designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining the solution and how the costs will be shared among stakeholders. Participants also need to determine how they must adapt their internal processes in order to use the common blockchain system.
Clear Value Proposition. All players need to see and share the value created from the common adoption of blockchain. To give visibility to the opportunities, the ecosystem must develop a value proposition that addresses the concerns of the main stakeholders. Shippers and carriers have tight profit margins and seek new ways to reduce their cost base. Other T&L industry players want to safeguard their position in the value chain: brokers and freight forwarders want to protect fee-related revenues; banks seek to maintain their commissions for issuing letters of credit; and terminals do not want to lose income related to the movement or storage of containers. Additionally, governments and..
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reseau-actu · 7 years ago
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Cette thèse, qui s'est vérifiée à l'étranger, est portée par des économistes. L'impôt local sera progressivement supprimé à partir d'octobre.
La suppression de la taxe d'habitation - effective par tiers dès le mois d'octobre sur trois ans pour 80 % des Français et 100 % après 2020 - risque-t-elle de provoquer une hausse des loyers? Et donc de profiter, in fine, aux propriétaires plutôt qu'aux locataires, qui en seront, indirectement, pour leurs frais?
Cela peut sembler paradoxal mais l'interrogation, bien réelle, pointe chez certains économistes spécialisés en fiscalité. «Dans les zones tendues, la disparition de cet impôt pourrait provoquer une tension à la hausse des loyers», relève ainsi Alain Trannoy, directeur d'études à l'École des hautes études de sciences sociales. Le raisonnement n'est pas si contre-intuitif. La disparition de l'impôt local, promesse du candidat Macron pendant la campagne présidentielle votée dans le budget 2018, devrait en effet alléger le budget logement des locataires de plusieurs centaines d'euros par an: 864 euros, en moyenne, à la fin du quinquennat, ont même calculé les services de Gérald Darmanin, le ministre des Comptes et de l'Action publics.
La tendance est à la déprime sur le marché français de la location et à la modération dans les zones tendues
Exemple allemand
Des locataires qui, allégés de cette charge, devraient donc être en mesure de payer des loyers… plus élevés. Et dans les zones où la compétition pour décrocher un logement est forte, comme Paris ou les grandes métropoles tendues (Lille), cela pourrait donc provoquer une inflation des loyers au bénéfice des propriétaires.
Un phénomène similaire a d'ailleurs été observé en Allemagne. Une étude, qui portait sur les conséquences pendant vingt ans des hausses de l'équivalent de la taxe foncière germanique, a en effet montré que les propriétaires ont reporté le surcroît de fiscalité sur leurs locataires. Le même type de phénomène s'observerait aussi en France avec les aides personnalisées au logement (APL). «L'augmentation des aides pour le secteur locatif privé aurait principalement entraîné une hausse du prix des loyers», assure ainsi une étude de l'Insee de 2014. Ici, la hausse des aides gonflerait le budget logement des locataires, permettant aux propriétaires d'augmenter d'autant les loyers.
» LIRE AUSSI - La suppression totale de la taxe d'habitation sera finalement financée par... le déficit
Reste que la suppression de la taxe d'habitation survient alors que l'encadrement des loyers est censé modérer l'inflation immobilière dans les grandes villes, depuis 2012. En théorie, même les propriétaires qui changent de locataires ne peuvent augmenter leur loyer plus rapidement que l'inflation. Ce n'est que s'ils effectuent des travaux pour un montant supérieur à 6 mois de loyers qu'ils pourraient augmenter leur loyer de 10 % maximum.
De plus, la tendance est à la déprime actuellement sur le marché français de la location et à la modération dans les zones tendues. À Paris, les loyers n'ont augmenté que de 1 % l'année dernière et de 1,4 % à Lille.
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lesseinomarins · 7 years ago
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Aide au logement - des évolution inquiétantes !
FSL : PISTES D’EVOLUTION DU REGLEMENT ET EVOLUTION DU DISPOSITIF DE L’ACCOMPAGNEMENT SOCIAL LIE AU LOGEMENT (ASLL)
(Pierrette CANU)
  Monsieur le Président,
Cher(e)s Collègues,
  Permettez-moi plusieurs observations.
  La première, elle presque technique, mais franchement, je ne comprends l’intérêt de délibérer des pistes, non décisionnelles, tout en renvoyant à une décision d’ici la fin de l’année. Faire un point d’étape, cela s’entend dans un processus long, mais là, les décisions devraient nous conduire à délibérer d’ici décembre…
 Il y a certes une part décisionnel sur l’ASLL. A priori, la fusion que vous proposez pour créer l’ASLL+ s’entend, mais au passage vous contingentez strictement la mesure… A ce rythme, ce ne sont plus les associations qui répondront aux appels à projets, mais directement les habitants en difficulté… Vous allez dire que j’exagère, qu’il s’agit d’une aide très spécifique, donc très ciblée, qu’au passage les associations seront mieux aidés, mais finalement, l’évolution c’est de la contingenter plus fortement avec des durées d’accompagnement réduites.
 Toujours sur l’ASLL,  les conséquences de leur caractère exclusif de tout autre aide mériterait des éléments d’explication qui ne sont pas apportés ici.
 S’agissant des pistes pour l’évolution du FSL, qui ne seront donc pas décidée aujourd’hui, il se dégage quand même un inquiétant biais vers un caractère plus restrictif et plus limité de l’intervention du FSL.
 Et autant dire que ce rapport et sa tonalité en forme de serrage de vis tombent particulièrement mal.
Nous évoquons l’évolution du FSL dans un contexte où le gouvernement n’a rien trouvé de mieux à faire que de fragiliser un peu plus celle et ceux qui dépendent d’une aide publique pour se loger ou se maintenir dans leur logement.
50 % des bénéficiaires des APL disposent de revenus inférieur au seuil de pauvreté.
Vous constatez par ailleurs, que l’aide du FSL, qui intervient en dernier recours face aux difficultés à faire face au coût du logement, concernent des personnes dont les difficultés sont de plus en plus grandes et récurrentes. Malheureusement, les conclusions que vous tirez ressemblent assez au discours gouvernemental : les aides du FSL sont un soutien ponctuel, mais elles ne permettent pas aux personnes de sortir durablement de leur difficulté : révisons à la baisse l’accès à ces aides… on a entendu le même raisonnement par ailleurs au sujet des contrats aidés (qui ne résorbent pas durablement le chômage) où des APL « qui coûtent cher et n’empêchent pas le mal-logement de persister »… comme un air de famille donc.
 Le contexte et les décisions du gouvernement sont durs pour les ménages modestes. Ils le sont d’autant plus que l’argumentation qui conduit à la réduction des APL relève plus du slogan que de l’étude argumentée. Les APL sont utiles, leur montant a augmenté au cours des dernières années, mais somme toutes moins vite que les loyers.
 En 2016, la totalité des aides publiques au logement a représenté 41,73 milliards d’euros, dont 20,9 milliards sous forme d’aides sociales à la personne, soit la moitié. L’autre moitié est constituée essentiellement d’avantages fiscaux ou avantage de taux puis, pour environ 7,5 %, de subventions d’investissement.
Les trois aides personnelles au  logement ont représentée 18,1 milliards d’euros, soit 7 milliards de plus qu’il y a 15 ans. Elle touche 6,5 millions de ménages, dont plus de la moitié dans le cadre d’un logement ou d’un prêt conventionné. Conventionné donc modéré et encadré. Un peu moins de la moitié, au titre de l’ALS, dans le cadre d’un logement privé.
Et l’explication selon laquelle les APL conduisent à l’inflation des loyers est largement biaisée et tronquée. Ce phénomène a été particulièrement patent et mesuré au début des années 1990, lorsque les ALS ont été ouverte à toutes celles et ceux non éligibles aux deux autres dispositifs d’aides, liés soit à la composition familiale, soit à un bail conventionné.
Or les seuls loyers que le gouvernement se propose de faire baisser sont ceux des bailleurs sociaux… en espérant que les bailleurs privés suivront le mouvement, de manière volontaire... C’est quand même paradoxal de prétexter le caractère inflationniste sur le loyer des APL pour diminuer leur montant et de ne pas cibler là où il y a le plus de risque de voir l’aide effectivement captée par le priopriétaire.
 Autre paradoxe : promouvoir un choc de l’offre pour stimuler la construction, ce que chacun approuve notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de faire baisser le coût de foncier, mais, en même temps  priver les bailleurs sociaux d’une part de leur ressources.
 Enfin, quoiqu’il arrive, la premières mesures concrètes restent bien la baisse des aides pour les personnes. Les mesures destinées à augmenter la construction, pour des loyers moins chers, mettront plusieurs années à se concrétiser. Bref en matière d’action contre le mal-logement, il semble bien que le Gouvernement soit en marche sur la tête.
 Le Gouvernement a fait connaître les grandes lignes de son action à venir pour le logement. Les détails ne sont pas connus. Alors qu’une politique essentielle est en cours de redéfinition, alors que nous savons que le premier axe en est la réduction des aides personnalisées au logement, le moment est-il venue de remettre en question la portée du FSL.
 Dans ce contexte incertain, plutôt inquiétant pour les Seinomarins aujourd’hui bénéficiaires des aides au logement, la prudence ne serait-elle pas d’attendre de connaître exactement les détails de la politique logement du Gouvernement avant de dégager des pistes d’évolutions  de notre fonds de solidarité ?
 Ensuite la question est de savoir si votre intention est de mieux soutenir les Seinomarins en difficulté face au logement, y compris si leur nombre augmente avec cette politique gouvernementale. Si au contraire, vous souhaitez « préservé » le FSL des effets de cette politique et donc réduire l’accès au FSL pour éviter une augmentation des dépenses ou pire,  mettre vos pas dans ceux du Gouvernement  et réduire fortement le volume des aides du FSL ?
 Pour tout dire, les pistes sont plutôt inquiétantes. Je crois que vous ne choisissez ni le bon moment, ni les bonnes orientations dans ce domaine.
                 FSL – Alexis
 Monsieur le Président,
Chers collègues,
 Les APL restent utiles et même aujourd’hui essentielles pour nombre de nos concitoyens pour pouvoir se loger dignement, cela a été plus d’une fois démontrée. Le problème, c’est qu’elles ne sont pas suffisantes pour absorber toutes les difficultés.
Se donner comme objectif de voir réduire les aides aux logements est un objectif louable… dès lors que cette réduction est le résultat de politiques plus efficaces face au mal-logement, qu’il s’agisse tout autant de construction, de maîtrise des loyers comme de réductions des difficultés économiques.  
Il existe aujourd’hui beaucoup de réflexions intéressantes dans ce domaine, qui au fond est celui de la lutte contre la pauvreté. Une branche de ces réflexions tournent autour du revenu de base, c’est-à-dire d’une nouvelle façon d’envisager et surtout de mettre en œuvre l’ensemble des transferts sociaux : moins de complexité, moins de spécificités et donc de multiplication des dispositifs, plus d’automacité sur la base des revenus de chacun… Un champ de réflexion et d’expérimentations qui méritent de ne pas être négligé. Mais nous n’en sommes pas là. Contrats aidés, APL, force est de constater que le gouvernement choisi un chemin inverse, plus classiquement néo-libéral et commence par diminuer les transferts sociaux avant de produire la moindre alternative.
 Des APL utiles mais insuffisantes, et qui risque de le devenir un peu plus insuffisante : c’est la raison pour laquelle le FSL existe. Lui aussi est utile, lui aussi évite des situations compliquées, dramatiques voire parfois quasiment irréversibles.
 Ma crainte aujourd’hui est de voir la situation se durcir et renforcer les fragilités en deux endroits : d’abord pour les plus démunis, mais aussi pour celles et ceux qui sont au seuil des interventions publiques. Et notamment au seuil de l’intervention du FSL.
 Dans ce domaine, les effets de seuils peuvent vite se transformer en effet de bascule pour les personnes aux revenus juste suffisant… pour ne pas être éligible à une aide du FSL, mais insuffisant pour échapper aux difficultés.
  Et c’est face à cette réalité que le Département a fait le choix, non obligatoire comme vous le rappelez de mettre en place des dispositifs tels que le Fonds départemental de garantie et de caution des loyers, le FGDCL.
Tout comme le FSL, il s’agit d’un dispositif utile. Je crois que chacun d’entre nous, au fil de nos permanences, peut multiplier les exemples de cette utilité. Mais nous avons tous aussi malheureusement connaissance des coûts humains et sociaux des effets de seuils… d’autant plus que quand il n’y a plus de dispositifs susceptibles d’apporter un secours, une réponse à une détresse, les habitants se tournent vers nos CCAS.
 Avec la réduction des APL, le gouvernement va augmenter le nombre de ces situations, inextricable, de personnes qui sont au seuil d’un soutien.
Avec les nouveaux règlements d’aide départementale ADFE et ADFI en particulier vous avez aussi restreint l’accès aux aides, leurs montants et multiplier là aussi les effets de seuil.
Donc lorsque l’on voit vos pistes d’évolution du FSL, oui nous sommes inquiets, car l’on peut craindre que cela renvoie encore plus de Seinomarins, dont les difficultés sont réelles, aux marges d’un soutien, d’autant plus lorsqu’il est question de supprimer le FGDCL.
C’est seule perspective, qui serait une erreur, et en quelque sorte une double peine pour les Seinomarins, est suffisante pour rejeter les pistes proposées.
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omniversalobservations · 7 years ago
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John Titor and the Multiverse Theory
John Titor appeared on November 2, 2000 posted on a forum as Time Travel­_0. He later changed his pseudonym to John Titor, and stated he was a time traveler from the year of 2036.  He posted this message:
“Greetings. I am a time traveler from the year 2036. I am on my way home after getting an IBM 5100 computer system from the year 1975.”
“My ‘time’ machine is a stationary mass, temporal displacement unit manufactured by General Electric. The unit is powered by two top-spin dual-positive singularities that produce a standard off-set Tipler sinusoid.”
“I will be happy to post pictures of the unit.” (1)
For the next few months he answered questions and even made an appearance on Coast to Coast radio program with Art Bell.   He was actually headed for the year 1975 with a stopover in 2000.  He said he was a member of a military team that retrieved items from the past which would help society in the future.  He related that a civil war had again broken out in the United states and triggered a nuclear exchange with Russia. It had killed 3 million people and after the blast the world war returned to a simpler life style, though they still had the internet…. Titor went on to say:
“In 2036, I live in central Florida with my family and I'm currently stationed at an Army base in Tampa… the people that survived grew closer together. Life is centered on the family and then the community. I cannot imagine living even a few hundred miles away from my parents.”
“There is no large industrial complex creating masses of useless food and recreational items. Food and livestock is grown and sold locally. People spend much more time reading and talking together face to face. Religion is taken seriously and everyone can multiply and divide in their heads.” (2)
On March 21, 2001, he returned to his own time period (2036) and was never heard from again. He related when he was here that his time period people were much more rural, and though they had technology its usage was for communication and travel. He also notes that he believes in Jesus Christ and people are more drawn together and openly discuss religion as opposed to large centralized religions.
Titor stated he was going back to the year 1975 to obtain a computer called the IBM 5100. It was a portable computer massed produced before they were marketed to the public and it quickly disappeared.  It seemed he was related to the one of the programmers or engineers, which is why he was selected for this. It seems he may have travelled back to Rochester, Minnesota where the computer was manufactured. He revealed it had an inbuilt ability to translate languages that was unknown before 2036.  Even today, NASA looks through the internet to find old computer parts to keep their large systems operational….
Many of the early predictions like the fall of the U.S. in 2005, and Civil War ending in a nuclear blast from Russia in 2015 have not occurred. This can be explained by the time continuum being altered.  He also introduced to us the idea of the multiverse. The idea is that multiple worlds exist at the same time.  Many physicists believe we live in a probabilistic universe where some things are more changeable than others. That the laws of physics are different in their worlds and that ours would never evolve in the same line. However, that these worlds evolve along similar lines to ours.
Though many of his predictions have not come true, as time passes, it is easy to see the U.S. in a civil war these days, especially after this last election. He also revealed our world events timeline could be changed. Though as Obama leaves office, and has accused Russia of hacking that altered the 2016 election, the tensions between the nations are more heated not less. He came with information and lessons about where our world was headed in order for us to change direction. After the Obama administration, and the election of President Trump, the country seems to be headed more than that direction of divisiveness and class struggle.
Source: Angelic Visions
The first posts appeared on the Time Travel Institute forums on November 2, 2000, under the name TimeTravel_0. At the time the posts had nothing to do with future events and the name "John Titor" was not being used. Instead, the posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the "six parts" description of what a time machine would need to have to work (see below) and responses to questions about how such a machine would work. Early messages tended to be short.
The name "John Titor" was not introduced until January 2001, when TimeTravel_0 began posting at the Art Bell BBS Forums (which required a name or pseudonym for every account). The Titor posts ended in late March 2001. Eventually, a number of the threads became corrupted; but Titor's posts had been saved on subscribers' hard drives and were copied to Anomalies.net, along with new discussions of the science behind Titor's time travelling as well as his predictions. Around 2003, various websites reproduced Titor's posts, re-arranging them into narratives. Not all refer to the original dates posted.
In his online postings, Titor claimed to be an American soldier from 2036, based in Tampa in Hillsborough County, Florida, who was assigned to a governmental time-travel project. Purportedly, Titor had been sent back to 1975 to retrieve an IBM 5100 computer which he said was needed to "debug" various legacy computer programs in 2036; a reference to the UNIX year 2038 problem. The 5100 runs the APL and BASIC programming languages. Titor had been selected for this mission specifically, given that his paternal grandfather was directly involved with the assembly and programming of the 5100.
Titor claimed to be on a stopover in the year 2000 for "personal reasons"; i.e., to collect pictures lost in the (future) civil war and to visit his family, of whom he spoke often. Titor also said he had been, for a few months, trying to alert anyone that would listen about the threat of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease spread through beef products and about the possibility of civil war within the United States. When questioned about them by an online subscriber, Titor also expressed an interest in mysteries such as UFOs (which remained unexplained in his time). Titor suggested that UFOs and extra-terrestrials might be travelers from much further into the future than his own time, with superior time machines.
Time machine Titor described the time machine on several occasions. In an early post, he described it as a "stationary mass, temporal displacement unit powered by two top-spin, dual positive singularities", producing a "standard off-set Tipler sinusoid". The earliest post was more explicit, saying it contained the following:
* Two magnetic housing units for the dual micro singularities * An electron injection manifold to alter mass and gravity micro singularities * A cooling and X-ray venting system * Gravity sensors, or a variable gravity lock * Four main cesium clocks * Three main computer units
According to the posts, the device was installed in the rear of a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette convertible and later moved to a 1987 truck having four-wheel drive.
Titor also shared several scans of the manual of a "C204 Time Displacement Unit" with diagrams and schematics. He also shared some photographs of the device installed in the car.
Titor further claimed that the "Everett–Wheeler model of quantum physics" was correct. This model, better known as the many-worlds interpretation, posits that every possible outcome of a quantum decision actually occurs in a separate "universe". Titor stated that this was the reason the grandfather paradox would not occur; following the logic of the argument, Titor would be killing a different John Titor's grandfather in a timeline other than his own.
Predictions Although invoking the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, whereby events from his own timeline may differ from our own, Titor also expressed assurance that the differences were minimal. As such, his descriptions have been interpreted as predictions and compared with historical events since 2001.
The most immediate of Titor's predictions was of an upcoming civil war in the United States having to do with "order and rights". He described it as beginning in 2004, with civil unrest surrounding the presidential election of that year. This civil conflict that he characterizes as "having a Waco type event every month that steadily gets worse" will be "pretty much at everyone's doorstep" and erupts by 2008.
Titor claimed that as a 13-year old in 2011, he fought with the Fighting Diamondbacks, a shotgun infantry unit of Florida, for at least four years. However, in other posts he describes himself as hiding from the war. As a result of the war, the United States splits into five regions based on various factors and differing military objectives. This civil war, according to Titor, will end in 2015 with a brief but intense World War III.
Source: Nostradamus Wiki
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