Replacing Organizational Trust with Technical Guarantees
Abstract
Industrial value networks are undergoing a fundamental transformation from stable, long-term supply chains to short-lived, data-driven collaborations across organizational boundaries. Traditional trust mechanisms—contracts, non-disclosure agreements, audits, and reputation—remain indispensable yet insufficient as the sole foundation for trust in such environments. We thus identify privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) as a technical basis for providing verifiable guarantees to all stakeholders. We examine how industrial value networks can leverage PETs to enable secure, reliable collaborations amid sensitive data sharing. Organizational trust remains necessary despite a shift toward non-technical enforcement mechanisms such as governance, liability, and ethical guidelines. By combining technical guarantees with these organizational measures, we aim to empower organizations to maintain control over sensitive information in digitized, dynamic platform ecosystems.
Hajeong Jeon, M.Sc.
Researcher
Johannes Lohmöller, M.Sc.
Researcher
Klaus Wehrle
Head of Group
