Sharing And Collaborative Economy

This open access book considers the development of the sharing and collaborative economy with a European focus, mapping across economic sectors, and country-specific case studies. It looks at the roles the sharing economy plays in sharing and redistribution of goods and services across the population in order to maximise their functionality, monetary exchange, and other aspects important to societies. It also looks at the place of the sharing economy among various policies and how the contexts of public policies, legislation, digital platforms, and other infrastructure interrelate with the development and function of the sharing economy. The book will help in understanding the future (sharing) economy models as well as to contribute in solving questions of better access to resources and sustainable innovation in the context of degrowth and growing inequalities within and between societies. It will also provide a useful source for solutions to the big challenges of our times such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and recently the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). This book will be of interest to academics and students in economics and business, organisational studies, sociology, media and communication and computer science.

This book presents a foresight-based exploratory analysis on the coming post-capitalist society and the transforming role of technology, creativity, and social innovation in the new economy. Topics analyzed include innovation culture, the role of politics, legal protection, the digitalization of social life, as well as vulnerabilities and opportunities of the Sharing & Collaborative Economy (ShE). ShE is here essentially understood just as a proof of the current Zeitgeist; a sign of its time. A time, where the formal social structures and institutions which traditionally have shaped and framed human societies are - slowly but progressively- getting dissolved into a new emerging social system, complex and mutant by nature. The book subsequently presents three plausible scenarios for ShE as the outcome of this analysis in the horizon of 2030: 1) the probable future, balancing neoliberalism: the shared/collaborative economy as a new third way, 2) the contingent/rupturist future, hypercapitalism: neoliberalism on steroids, or the collaborative paradigm as a trojan horse, and 3) the preferable future, postcapitalism, or the sharing economy as the poster child of the 4th industrial revolution. It connects these three scenarios with a change of paradigm where horizontal management, cultural diversity, social responsibility, climate change management, and the transformative power of radical creativity and participation are finally getting a leading role in the design of brand new ways of approaching a more integrative and sustainable business and economy.

This is the ultimate source for anyone who wants a comprehensive view of how the sharing economy began and how it may fundamentally change capitalism across the globe. The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Collaborative Consumption examines the business phenomenon of the sharing economy, giving readers a thorough analysis of this up-and-coming sector. The book presents a detailed historical perspective of sharing and cooperatives, followed by a discussion of societal factors—predominantly technology—that have facilitated the fast growth of collaborative consumption businesses. Additional chapters offer progressive perspectives on how companies can further commercialize sharing. Written for undergraduate and graduate students studying the collaborative market and for those with entrepreneurial aspirations, this book provides important insight about technology facilities sharing, peer-to-peer lending, grassroots social entrepreneurial efforts, the economics of the sharing economy, legal and public policy issues, and more.

Sharing instead of owning is one of the major trends in modern (business) life. By changing how people consume, the rise of the sharing economy has the potential to redefine the role of owners, consumers and producers, change their mode of transaction, create innovative business models, disrupt existing industries, and challenge political and regulative institutions. In addition to these practical implications, the sharing economy phenomenon represents a novel playground for theoretical advancement, attracting a multitude of research and researchers from different disciplines. While this can potentially open up new avenues for practice and theory to stimulate each other, they do not seem to go hand-in-hand at the moment. This volume brings together research from a wide variety of theoretical backgrounds and disciplines to encourage academic discourse on the sharing economy phenomenon. It comprises contributions that are grounded in different theoretical perspectives, including business history, economics, strategic management, organization studies, information systems, political science, legal studies, linguistics, and semantics. While all contributions focus on the sharing economy phenomenon, they examine the subject from different disciplinary angles. Together, they provide a coherent and comprehensive overview of research on the sharing economy.

The introduction of new technology and technological services worldwide has ushered in a new wave of peer-to-peer and access-driven companies that are disrupting the most established business categories. The emergence of these new business models has upset the flow in contemporary society and transformed people's behavior towards sharing-based economies. Companies and entrepreneurs can see this significant change in people’s behavior as both an opportunity and a threat. Sharing Economy and the Impact of Collaborative Consumption provides emerging research on the impact that the sharing services are having on society as well as the importance of the sharing economy development in the coming years, dealing with relevant issues such as regulations, the technological aspects involved in these platforms, the impact in the tourism sector, and consumer behavior in relation to these services. Multidisciplinary in nature, this publication establishes links between economics, finance, marketing, consumer behavior, and IT, and covers topics that include e-commerce, consumer behavior, and peer economy. It is ideally designed for researchers, students, business professionals, and entrepreneurs seeking current research on the impact that this industry has on various economic, marketing, and societal aspects of different countries.

The first book to present a new conceptual framework which offers an initial explanation for the continuing and rapid success of such 'disruptive innovators’ and their effects on the international hospitality industry. It discusses all the hot topics in this area, with a specific focus on Airbnb, in the international context.

The wide-ranging implications of the shift to a sharing economy, a new model of organizing economic activity that may supplant traditional corporations.

This book employs an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral lens to explore the collaborative dynamics that are currently disrupting, re-creating and transforming the production and consumption of tourism. House swapping, ridesharing, voluntourism, couchsurfing, dinner hosting, social enterprise and similar phenomena are among these collective innovations in tourism that are shaking the very bedrock of an industrial system that has been traditionally sustained along commercial value chains. To date there has been very little investigation of these trends, which have been inspired by, amongst other things, de-industrialization processes and post-capitalist forms of production and consumption, postmaterialism, the rise of the third sector and collaborative governance. Addressing that gap, this book explores the character, depth and breadth of these disruptions, the creative opportunities for tourism that are emerging from them, and how governments are responding to these new challenges. In doing so, the book provides both theoretical and practical insights into the future of tourism in a world that is, paradoxically, becoming both increasingly collaborative and individualized.