tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/collaborative-consumption-7840/articlescollaborative consumption – The Conversation2021-02-01T15:16:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1530602021-02-01T15:16:50Z2021-02-01T15:16:50ZHow online markets are helping local stores survive COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381227/original/file-20210128-23-m2etgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C12%2C3380%2C2873&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in border closures and an increased desire to localize production and use supply chains that are close to home.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Arthur Franklin/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Retail giants like Amazon are blurring the boundaries of consumption. But thanks to platforms that link online consumption to local interests, <a href="https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/localism-is-forecast-to-be-a-major-post-pandemic-trend/43612">the desire to buy local</a>, a trend fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, is now giving rise to a new phenomenon known as “<a href="https://www.etherean.org/society/technology/2020/10/31/digital-localism.html">digital localism</a>.”</p>
<p>While the pandemic has resulted in border closures and an increased desire to localize production and use supply chains that are close to home, large platforms like Amazon have been criticized for cashing in on the economic misfortune for small local businesses brought about by the crisis.</p>
<p>In Québec, this spawned the creation of new platforms to sell local goods, such as <a href="https://www.lepanierbleu.ca/">Le Panier Bleu</a>, <a href="https://www.mazonequebec.com/en">Ma Zone Québec</a>, <a href="https://www.boomerangfidelite.com/">Boomerang, Inc.</a> and <a href="https://www.jacheteaulac.ca/">J'achète au Lac</a>, a site for purchasing local goods in the province’s Lac St-Jean region. </p>
<p>A local e-commerce platform for shopping malls also sprung up, <a href="https://eva.coop/#/">as well as Eva</a>, a rideshare co-operative platform that works with taxi companies and gives drivers more control over the business.</p>
<p>These new companies are bringing back meaning to consumption and production. And in these times of transition, aren’t we all looking for ways to add more meaning to our lives?</p>
<h2>The era of the consumer-supplier</h2>
<p>Whether you want to carpool using the Eva platform, trade goods with someone on Kijiji, participate in a crowdfunding effort <a href="https://www.ulule.com/">on Ulule</a> or do business on a site like <a href="https://www.dvore.com/">Dvore</a>, it’s the consumer-supplier concept that’s making this transition possible.</p>
<p>Consumption methods have become increasingly divorced from production since the beginning of the 20th century. Consumers have become strictly buyers. However, new concepts like collaborative consumption, the sharing economy and crowd-based capitalism are now mixing the modes of consumption and production.</p>
<p>The passive consumer is being replaced by an active consumer who takes on the role of supplier, volunteer or even partner.</p>
<p>For example, by using NousRire (a play on the French “nourir”, “to feed”), a Québec-based bulk-purchasing group for eco-responsible food sites, clients become both suppliers and volunteers. In other words, they are partners in the organization.</p>
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<img alt="The NousRire homepage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376473/original/file-20201222-15-qebju3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In the NousRire buying group, the customer takes turns playing the role of consumer, volunteer, supplier and partner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Nousrire.com)</span></span>
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<p>Similar changes are taking place in the world of large-scale distribution. Examples include IKEA’s <a href="https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday/from-pre-loved-to-re-loved-pub9e5d35e0">“second life for furniture” service</a>, and <a href="https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/plan-a-shwopping">Marks & Spencer’s shwopping</a> (a contraction of shopping and swapping), a service that allows shoppers to donate used clothing in boxes located in the British retailer’s stores.</p>
<p>The term “<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3046119/defining-the-sharing-economy-what-is-collaborative-consumption-and-what-isnt">collaborative consumption</a>” has been used to describe this new trend of consumers who, thanks to these different platforms and applications, are also serving as suppliers. The same concept applies to Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, InstaCart and VarageSale.</p>
<h2>Not just about saving money</h2>
<p>What’s motivating consumers to adopt these new practices? </p>
<p>While buyers and suppliers have both financial and utilitarian goals, suppliers in this model can also be motivated by factors that go beyond pure financial gain. Those motivations may include financial constraints (debt, liquidity problems), a desire to socialize with others, to contribute to society or simple altruism.</p>
<p>In addition to the aforementioned trading platforms, sites <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">like Coursera</a> offer individuals training and advice resources. For outsourcing tasks, people can turn to Amazon’s <a href="https://www.mturk.com/">Mechanical Turk</a>.</p>
<p>In health care, a transition towards digital care is underway that is making it possible to better distribute resources and allows people to offer advice and services through online forums, groups or patient communities.</p>
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<h2>Democratizing markets</h2>
<p>The financial sector has also become more democratic. Crowd-funding platforms such as Ulule make it possible for individuals to donate or invest in projects carried out by other parties, while platforms <a href="https://www.etoro.com/">like eToro</a> make investing in financial markets more of a democratic process. </p>
<p>These platforms allow individuals to revitalize local economies by redirecting capital toward areas that are typically neglected by public or private investment.</p>
<p>Cryptocurrency and blockchain are also interesting examples. Thousands of cryptocurrency systems like Bitcoin are operating right now that involve cryptocurrency miners replacing central banks. Facebook’s <a href="https://www.bitrates.com/news/p/facebooks-diem-will-the-global-cryptocurrency-go-live-in-2021">Diem blockchain-based payment system project</a> suggests that there is a “total digital ecosystem” emerging: a dematerialized and demonetized society entirely centred on individuals.</p>
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<p>In 2016, India even <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/12/14/inside-indias-cashless-revolution/">tried to set up a cashless society</a>. The policy had an impact on practices specific to emerging countries, including cash on delivery, which was transformed into payment on delivery. It’s hard to say if this is good news or bad. On one hand, collaborative transactions, which are often informal, are getting easier to perform. On the other, they are totally traceable and taxable.</p>
<h2>A controversial economy</h2>
<p>The collaborative economy is probably the most visible, well-documented and disruptive example of the ongoing marketplace transformation. Hotel owners complain about Airbnb and taxi businesses about Uber because, in principle, any individual can now supply lodging or transport for a fee. These debates in Québec <a href="http://legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/showdoc/cs/E-14.2">have resulted in laws</a> that are more accommodating to the new players. Those laws have, in turn, <a href="https://www.lesaffaires.com/techno/produits-electroniques/uber-veut-etendre-son-offre-de-service-partout-au-quebec/619478">helped new platforms boost their activities.</a></p>
<p>This change has allowed authorities to transfer some of the responsibility for public services to the private sector. In public transportation, the availability of carpooling services could compensate for shortages in public transit. Citizens appreciate these practices because they satisfy their needs, maximize the use of dormant resources, provide better access to resources for the poor and reduce unemployment.</p>
<p>However, it is still unclear whether, by turning suppliers into “entrepreneurs,” these platforms are reinventing working conditions or damaging them given the many issues facing precarious workers.</p>
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<img alt="A Foodora courier with a food order on his back pushes his bicycle along a snowy street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371141/original/file-20201124-15-1spx9mp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Foodora courier picks up an order for delivery from a restaurant in Toronto in February 2020, shortly after the company pulled out of Ontario due to an unfavourable Labour Relations Board decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
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<h2>An illusion of power?</h2>
<p>It’s essential to understand the impact that the algorithms used by these platforms are having on governance, questions of inclusion and user rights. The exponential amount of data generated by the platforms has increased large companies’ ability to identify the needs of their users quickly, and evaluate their payment capabilities precisely. </p>
<p>These capacities could lead to discriminatory practices. In addition, platforms are notoriously opaque about their pricing practices: they often customize and adjust prices in real time for each user.</p>
<p>Finally, since the collaborative economy is monopolized by technological giants, it’s less likely that smaller platforms will emerge, let alone survive. In short, by becoming a supplier — either as an entrepreneur or self-employed worker or through a flexible work schedule — consumers may only be gaining an illusion of power when they’re still in the service of mega-platforms.</p>
<p>Will digital localism be able to make its place in this world? Will platforms born during the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to support local economies have any chance of surviving in the longer term?</p>
<p>According to a case study of <a href="http://revues.uqac.ca/index.php/revueot/article/view/1194/1039">small and medium-sized car-sharing platforms in China</a>, the only way smaller platforms can hope to survive is by addressing needs that are not being met by the giants: leveraging a particular customer segment, type of partner, value proposition or their cost structure and revenue stream.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, recent developments in digital technologies are clearly giving individuals more ways to contribute. This digital transition, already well underway, has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and is unlikely to stop soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153060/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myriam Ertz is part of the Groupement Des Universitaires (DU) and has obtained research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC), the Fondation de l'UQAC (FUQAC), and the Fonds de Développement Académique du Réseau (FODAR) of the Université du Québec.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Imen Latrous receives funding from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Hallegatte et Julien Bousquet ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a rise in digital localism — consumers using online local sites to buy and supply goods. Do platforms born during COVID-19 have a chance of survival?Myriam Ertz, Professeure adjointe en marketing, responsable du LaboNFC, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Damien Hallegatte, Associate professor, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Imen Latrous, Associate professor, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Julien Bousquet, Professeur titulaire, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/525532016-01-04T11:38:19Z2016-01-04T11:38:19ZIn cyberspace, sharing doesn’t always mean caring<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106679/original/image-20151218-27894-1e0c54d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sometimes a 'friend' is not what you think.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “sharing economy” now enables to us to access all manner of things we might need through connecting with others online. In this season that might have included sourcing turkey from a local farm, a chauffeured car to collect the relatives, a week at a stranger’s flat somewhere warm, a few hours with an industrial-strength food mixer and a range of other physical and intellectual goods. </p>
<p>Some of these services may be offered without payment, but many are old business models in new forms, brokered or managed across online systems that help match people up for efficient use and allocation of resources. Given that much of this activity involves hiring, renting and even buying, many of us have distanced ourselves from the term sharing for describing these emerging practices of networked resource management. For instance, the “<a href="http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/">collaborative economy</a>” and “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/expat-money/11226294/Peer-to-peer-exchange-firms-cut-out-the-banks-and-brokers.html">peer-to-peer exchange</a>” are both popular alternatives.</p>
<p>What is new in these networks is that people with a common goal can easily find each other and the resources they seek and thus meet their needs in new ways. A novel quality is that it is possible to do things at a remove. The trust we place in letting others into our lives no longer revolves round mutual acquaintance but can be forged through validation tools, using networked financial identification systems. Payment can be made through the same network. </p>
<p>We can turn <a href="https://www.airbnb.co.uk/">unused rooms</a> and <a href="https://www.lyft.com">car seats</a> into profit. And brokering these transactions across the internet allows them to scale quickly, making for a new class of technology-dependent business. All these functions are features, not of sharing <em>per se</em>, but of using networks to connect up people and things.</p>
<p>Applying the idea of “sharing” to commercial services feels wrong. The related question is: why is it in the interests of commercial services to use this idea at all?</p>
<p>In <a href="https://designforsharingdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/design-for-sharing-webversion.pdf">interviews with people setting up platforms</a> (both digital, such as a <a href="http://www.patchworkpresent.com/">shared gift-buying</a> service, and physical, like a community garden), sharing was underpinned by cooperative principles. There was a strong emphasis on the social value and doing things together. These are some examples of people’s thoughts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I view it as me having shared my skills and my time for no financial payment, but in return for having an interesting neighbourhood … it’s about exchange for things other than cash.</p>
<p>The value of sharing is people connecting. It goes beyond: ‘I’ve got a spare drill, you can use that’. In sharing my drill with you, I’m connecting with you and if I’m connecting with you, I’ve got potentially a sense of identity with a community of people or a neighbourhood.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sharing space, tools, time and skills is crucially built on less tangible sharing of care, responsibility, vision, values and – certainly – trust. In these accounts, sharing is linked to what makes life worth living.</p>
<p>And who wouldn’t want that in their marketing?</p>
<h2>When sharing’s lucrative</h2>
<p>The neologism “<a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/is-sharewashing-the-new-greenwashing/2014/05/23">share-washing</a>” has been coined to deal with businesses that capitalise on our emotional attachment to the idea of sharing. The cynical use of community values to sell paid-for services is all around us.</p>
<p>Look at the labour exchange service <a href="https://www.taskrabbit.co.uk/">Taskrabbit</a>. The site description starts with a personal experience: a night in Boston in 2008 when owner Leah Busque realised she was out of dog food and didn’t have time to buy it herself before a dinner date with her husband. She dreams of a neighbour, already at the shop, helping out. The rhetoric is of neighbourliness and care: “It’s an old-school concept – neighbours helping neighbours – reimagined for today.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106678/original/image-20151218-27858-hpgli8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Making money from other people’s warm fuzzies.</span>
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<p>The site enables someone seeking help to find a local person looking for work and employ them at the lowest possible rate. A nice interface and weakly regulated market economics make it painless for people to exploit someone more economically vulnerable. Taskrabbit conducts identity checks, criminal record checks, an interview and training session. This is clearly no longer coordinating tasks with your neighbours to help each other – despite the rhetoric of the founding narrative. And Busque takes 20% of every interaction through the site, supported by US$40m of venture capital.</p>
<p>So, despite enthusiasm for the idea of efficient resource use, many people remain unhappy that digital services from the free <a href="https://www.couchsurfing.com">Couchsurfing</a> to the paid-for AirBnB; from online investing platforms to help for refugees are being lumped together.</p>
<p>Maybe 2016 will see commercial services get their own term for the networked platforms that are enabling new forms of transaction. In the meantime, can we have our word back, before we forget what it used to mean?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Light receives funding from various research councils, including the EPSRC, which supported this study through a Digital Economy network on Sustainable Society. </span></em></p>The sharing economy is upon us, but the internet could bring back old-fashioned community building too.Ann Light, Professor of Design & Creative Technology, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/424832015-06-09T19:58:30Z2015-06-09T19:58:30ZUber ‘micropreneurs’ signal the end of work as we know it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84278/original/image-20150608-8732-v8up3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sharing economy is moving rapidly but we haven't yet figured out how it will impact traditional workplace norms.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you are a driver for Uber or ride-sharing platform Lyft, a host on AirBnB, or a “tasker” doing odd jobs on TaskRabbit, you may consider yourself what has been recently labelled a “<a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679903/the-rise-of-the-micro-entrepreneurship-economy">micropreneur</a>”.</p>
<p>Making money from your idle capacity – be that time and skills, or assets such as your spare room, car, or driveway – is made easy by firms offering platforms to connect supply and demand in the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/10/16/why-the-collaborative-economy-is-changing-everything">collaborative economy</a>. </p>
<p>Such platforms, many initially based on connecting neighbours and communities, and/or driven by a social purpose (hence the earlier label of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharing_economy">sharing economy</a>), have also led to the emergence of global giants, some with capital valuations of over US$<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-04/uber-valued-at-40-billion-with-1-2-billion-equity-fundraising">40 billion</a>. Their profit-driven business models are also disruptive for traditional industries, such as transport, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/joeharpaz/2014/05/07/airbnb-disrupts-hotel-economy-sends-regulators-scrambling">accommodation</a>, and <a href="http://pwc.blogs.com/industry_perspectives/2015/02/">logistics</a>. </p>
<p>Suppliers are often referred to as “hosts”, members of a “community”, or “partners”; even their logos are co-created and “<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/tech-blog/2014/07/airbnb-new-logo-belo">belong to everyone</a>”. The main attraction for suppliers, or rather “workers”, on these platforms, is – unsurprisingly – the <a href="http://www.requestsforstartups.com/survey">flexibility</a> they offer in earning extra income. And it’s not just basic services that are supplied. Recent <a href="http://www.afr.com/brand/boss/how-online-marketplaces-will-replace-the-big-services-firms-20150312-13ht9v">reports</a> suggest these types of platforms have the capacity to enter more specialised industries such as professional services, for instance, online marketplaces for <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/09/upcounsel-2-4m/">legal services</a>. Here, the average supplier is highly qualified, often providing niche legal services. Interestingly, anecdotal reports suggest that large firms may be using this flexible supply option to scale up and down their internal legal services as needed. </p>
<p>So, working in the collaborative economy offers significant flexibility and the opportunity for almost everyone to become entrepreneurial. This is especially the case for students, stay-at-home parents, and retirees (according to a recent <a href="http://www.requestsforstartups.com/survey">survey</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83754/original/image-20150603-19255-tjzoxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not everyone is happy about the sharing economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott L/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But on the <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3027355/pixel-and-dimed-on-not-getting-by-in-the-gig-economy">down side</a>, a lot of uncertainty comes with such work. This wouldn’t surprise those who are already freelancers, moving from gig to gig. Newcomers, however, have to come to grips with having less security and no guaranteed income, fixed benefits, or other standard worker protections. They also have to deal with platforms that are often run via algorithms that demand potential suppliers rapidly respond to customer enquires - or they risk reduced performance ratings, potentially putting off new clients. Seen that way, not much self-determination remains, and traditional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management">scientific management</a> reigns. But perhaps this is just the high-speed, tech version of existing independent contracting. </p>
<p>There are some interesting developments in the relationship between workers and online platforms, though. For example, in a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-the-sharing-economy-provide-good-jobs-1431288393">report in the Wall Street Journal</a> on whether the sharing economy can provide “good jobs”, collaborative economy thought leader <a href="http://rachelbotsman.com">Rachel Botsman</a> says organisations such as <a href="http://www.peers.org">Peers.org</a> and <a href="https://www.freelancersunion.org">Freelancers Union</a> “are creating ways for independent contractors to pool bargaining power to access discounted health insurance and telecom plans. Some platforms are looking at how they can give providers equity, to share value with the people creating the value”. Does that mean, in turn, we will see the collective spirit of the “community” of workers crafted and managed by these platforms <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1919fc24-c5b0-11e4-bd6b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3bFVAH8Lu">rise up against a platform itself</a>?</p>
<p>Adding to the complexity is the question of whether the suppliers of work are contractors - or essentially employees. The jury is out. Actually, it really is: <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/08/16/sharing-economy-are-workers-employees-independent-contractors/6GTpn1a735kNiM7T7k2vtO/story.html">Class action law suits</a> against Uber and Lyft, as a start, are challenging the classifications of freelancer or contractor versus employee (a legal classification that demands benefits and protections). These issues are also drawing attention in <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/economy/labor-stakes-a-claim-on-the-sharing-economy-for-workers-20150323-1m5okn">Australia</a> and elsewhere. </p>
<p>It is a rapidly evolving space. In the past five years, this social movement has already been relabelled several times – from “sharing”, to “collaborative”, to - more recently – the “gig” or “peer economy”. It is no longer about <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-everyone-gets-the-sharing-economy-wrong-1432495921?KEYWORDS=sharing+economy">criticising</a> the sharing economy for not only being about sharing, but about the broader questions and important <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/09/the-future-of-work-in-the-sharing-economy-with-esther-dyson-ron-conway-and-john-hennessy/">debates</a> we need to have on the <a href="http://www.aspeninstitute.org/about/blog/future-work-sharing-economy">future of work</a>, <a href="https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/05/what-is-the-future-of-work-travel-mobility/">skills development</a>, and issues of inclusion when it comes to sharing the created value. </p>
<p><a href="http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/gfdavis/Presentations/Davis%20CES%20talk%203-15-15.pdf">Evidence</a> has been mounting about the coming <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/jerry-davis">collapse of the traditional corporation</a>, and the end of the “<a href="https://www.freelancersunion.org/blog/dispatches/2015/05/21/need-more-proof-era-big-work-over-here-it/">Era of Big Work</a>”. As we shift from jobs to tasks and projects, how can we avoid the possible deterioration of social standards due to lower income and reduced worker protection, as raised in recent <a href="http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1461en_3.pdf">reports</a> by the European Union? </p>
<p>At the <a href="http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/degrees/mba">University of Oxford</a>, and in the first MBA course dedicated to the collaborative economy, an important question is being asked: Can decentralised and distributed networks of labour actually contribute to the redistribution of wealth? As rising inequality is recognised not only as a local but a global socio-economic concern, what role will micro-entrepreneurship play? This isn’t just about more informal employment relationships, we think, but about the bigger questions of social contract, rights, duties, and responsibilities in this emerging ecosystem of work and community.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The lead author thanks Rachel Botsman and Pamela Hartigan, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford, for the opportunity to discuss these issues and recent developments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42483/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Logue is Visiting Fellow at The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Said Business School, University of Oxford.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Markus A. Höllerer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With the momentum of the sharing economy growing, we’re only just starting to come to grips with what it means for the future of work.Danielle Logue, Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Innovation & Organisation, University of Technology SydneyMarkus A. Höllerer, Senior Scholar, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/271142014-05-25T20:11:26Z2014-05-25T20:11:26ZIn the Airbnb world we need a new productivity measure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49348/original/7xbvw5g7-1400822355.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's time we put the 'p' back into productivity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent Talleu/AAP</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/135935/productivity-update-2014.pdf">report</a> on Australia’s productivity performance wasn’t good news. The annual update by the Productivity Commission confirmed Australia continues to lag most other developed economies, and has done so now for more than a decade.</p>
<p>Our productivity woes are blamed – by the Productivity Commission and others – on a range of factors, from falling terms of trade as the commodity prices boom fades, the high Australian dollar and natural disasters, through to poor management skills. Even our labour-intensive artisan bakeries and small vineyards get a <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/artisan_products_drag_on_productivity_D21KXgSjouYMO1SkSiC29N">mention</a>.</p>
<p>What’s needed is the transformation of our national productivity, underpinned by value creation through intangible resources – rather than unprocessed raw materials – and driven by a coordinated, strategic approach to productivity and management.</p>
<p>The reality is we produce services, not just widgets, so it’s time to put the P into productivity – in the form of people.</p>
<p>My just completed research into productivity for service and network-based firms shows that a paradigm shift is required. The traditional input-process-output production model is reductionist and outdated. Instead I propose new measures that incorporate customer input and technology integration, both of which play a critical role in the modern firm’s productivity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49347/original/s3xbf6nr-1400821113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A multi-level approach to productivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Productivity is not flat</h2>
<p>Manufacturing processes are built for scale, with goods production largely standardised, produced away from the market and with little direct customer input. Service, on the other hand, relies on interactions between people, technology as an enabler and greater use of networks. This changes the dynamics of how we work.</p>
<p>Let’s go to the health sector for an illustration. “Lean manufacturing” principles are often applied to hospitals, with the aim of getting patients in and out within, say, four hours. But is a person with a head injury or someone having a heart attack the same as a car being assembled using standardised parts, in a fixed and measured time? The truth of the matter is hospitals require very skilled staff who can collect, analyse and synthesise data from people and technology, processing this in real time to make decisions with life or death consequences. That’s hardly the same as assembling 100 Toyota Camrys.</p>
<p>The role of the customer is another aspect affecting productivity. You can produce a car without a customer – but try to deliver a service with no customer. The customers and their input into the service delivery process is fundamental to service firms, which now account for more than 85% of gross domestic product and employ over 85% of Australia’s workforce. Increasingly, organisations are using self-service technologies and online tools to co-create services with customers. The customer helps to create value. Think of Apple’s App Store, where people who were once just customers are now also app developers.</p>
<p>In a sharing economy, in an era of collaborative consumption, consumers buy from consumers via enablers such as accommodation portal Airbnb and share-ride service Uber, placing customers as competitors to traditional businesses.</p>
<p>This customer input into the service delivery process fundamentally changes the nature of how “value” is created, captured and appropriated. But customers and customer input is not included in the current productivity equations despite being a “factor of production”.</p>
<h2>Technology dis-integration</h2>
<p>Information communication technology (ICT) is also critical as it connects customers, organisations and suppliers. Technology adoption is often cited as an indicator of productivity. But my research shows it’s not adoption in and of itself that delivers gains but ICT integration that matters. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the travel and tourism industry, which is regarded as a prime user of technology. My research shows that while there is a high degree of adoption of ICT, the lack of integration between systems, across stakeholders, is a major inhibitor to service productivity in this sector.</p>
<p>Information is still being reformatted, rekeyed and redistributed manually within organisations, sometimes among five different ICT systems. This lack of systems integration leaves organisations with a hole in the centre. As business struggles to connect with customers using a range of “must-have” platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn, the problem worsens – the hole gets even bigger.</p>
<p>Our productivity problem is a like an epidemic. It affects many businesses and threatens the prosperity of future Australians yet it is poorly understood and goes largely unnoticed, especially in a service economy. If a problem of this size and scale were to affect people’s health, money would be raised for further research to isolate the causes and cures for the malady. </p>
<p>The problem requires attention and funding from policymakers to foster initiatives aimed at tackling productivity failure. Collaboration is required, with business sharing transactional data and industry intelligence with academics and researchers, so together they can identify gaps and benchmark within and between industries, with the goal of achieving the productivity increase needed to maintain our standard of living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest report on Australia’s productivity performance wasn’t good news. The annual update by the Productivity Commission confirmed Australia continues to lag most other developed economies, and has…Moira Scerri, PhD Student - Productivity for service and network based firms, University of Technology SydneyRenu Agarwal, Senior Lecturer, Innovation and Service Operations Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195412013-11-14T01:56:58Z2013-11-14T01:56:58ZThe sharing economy spooking big business<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34721/original/mjyj2775-1383873232.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sharing programs such as Melbourne's bicycle network encourage a 'collaborative consumption' culture. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">flickr/avlxyz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this year, I travelled to Melbourne for a conference. Instead of paying to stay in a hotel like I normally would, I paid a local couple to stay in their spare room. On arriving at their clean and tasteful apartment high above the city streets, my hosts handed me a cold cider and we chatted about our lives. </p>
<p>This warm welcome was a sharp contrast to the experience of arriving alone to a lifeless hotel room. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay, it cost less than a typical hotel room and I was within a few minutes walk of the conference venue.</p>
<p>The business that facilitated this experience was <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.au">Airbnb</a>, one of the poster children of a movement known as <a href="http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com">collaborative consumption</a>. Established in 2008, Airbnb hooks up people who have room to spare with people who need somewhere to stay. More than <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.au/about/about-us">500,000 properties are listed</a> worldwide and more than 8.5 million people have stayed in them. Clearly, others are getting as much out of the Airbnb experience as I did. Last year, the company was <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/10/19/peter-thiel-in-talks-to-invest-150m-in-airbnb-report/">valued at US$2.5 billion</a>.</p>
<p>Airbnb is only one of <a href="http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/directory/">a plethora of businesses</a> that are buying into the collaborative consumption model. It’s an economic model based on access rather than ownership. Collaborative consumption startups use the internet and social media to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges, allowing people to share assets and services directly with those who require them. </p>
<p>This emerging sharing economy includes marketplaces like <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au">eBay</a> and <a href="http://www.gumtree.com.au">Gumtree</a>, car sharing services like <a href="http://www.goget.com.au">GoGet</a>, bike sharing services like <a href="http://www.melbournebikeshare.com.au">Melbourne Bike Share</a>, peer-to-peer rental services like <a href="http://www.openshed.com.au">Open Shed</a>, errand services like <a href="https://www.airtasker.com">Airtasker</a> and clothes swapping services like the <a href="http://clothingexchange.com.au">Clothing Exchange</a>. Many more startups focusing on diverse products and services are <a href="http://chrisriedy.me/collaborative-consumption-in-australia/">operating in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Clearly, this emergent sharing economy is a potential threat to established business models. If consumers are sharing things they already have, then they don’t need to buy something new - or at least, they don’t need to buy so often. If I stay with a local in Melbourne, I’m not giving my money to a hotel chain. In short, if the sharing economy takes off, existing businesses will be selling fewer products and services.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34713/original/7wxrggqp-1383871166.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shared car services are becoming increasingly common in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">flickr/avlxyz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collaborative consumption initiatives tap into idle capacity in the economy - unused rooms, tools that are gathering dust, spare seats during the morning commute and unused skills - and make this capacity available to consumers at a lower price than the incumbents. </p>
<p>As well as being financially attractive to consumers, participation in the sharing economy reduces environmental impact by making more efficient use of existing resources. On top of that, participants can make new social connections with the people they share with. It’s a win-win-win proposition for consumers - they can feel good about their environmental impact, build new social relationships and save money at the same time.</p>
<p>Despite this attractive business case, the sharing economy has so far been too small to pose much of a threat to existing business interests. For example, only <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-22/airbnb-says-it-has-a-huge-impact-on-nycs-economy-except-when-it-doesnt">1% of tourists visiting New York stay in Airbnb properties</a>. Globally, <a href="http://www.navigantresearch.com/research/carsharing-programs">there are about 1 billion cars, but only 2.3 million members of car sharing programs</a>. Nevertheless, the sharing economy constitutes a new disruptive element that is growing rapidly. Revenue in the global car sharing market is expected to <a href="http://www.navigantresearch.com/research/carsharing-programs">grow from US$1 billion in 2013 to more than US$6 billion in 2020</a>. </p>
<p>Just how big the sharing economy could grow remains uncertain, but there is some research on its market potential. In a <a href="http://www.collaborativeconsumption.com/2013/09/24/study-the-consumer-potential-of-collaborative-consumption/">Masters research project</a>, more than 84% of the Dutch respondents expressed interest in participating in collaborative consumption of some sort. While current uptake in Australia falls well short of these levels, new collaborative consumption startups are appearing on a regular basis and participation is growing.</p>
<p>Recent legal responses to the disruptive emergence of the sharing economy may indicate that it is indeed seen as a threat to the establishment. In New York, Airbnb <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/attorney-general-eric-schneiderman-subpoena-airbnb-user-data-2013-10">is caught up in an investigation</a> into possible breaches of a 2010 law that makes it illegal to rent out your own apartment in the city. New York City’s Attorney General filed a subpoena for data on all Airbnb hosts in the city. Ride sharing startups in the United States have also <a href="http://pandodaily.com/2013/06/25/los-angeles-shocks-uber-sidecar-and-lyft-with-cease-desist-orders-despite-state-authorization/">run into legal trouble</a> in several cities. </p>
<p>The responses of businesses that may be threatened by the sharing economy are also instructive. Several car manufacturers have responded to the threat posed by car sharing startups by launching their own car sharing services. Earlier this year, Ford launched its <a href="http://corporate.ford.com/news-center/press-releases-detail/pr-ford-launches-pioneering-ford2go-37770">FORD2GO</a> car sharing service in Germany. BMW also offers a premium car sharing service called <a href="https://www.drive-now.com/international?language=en_US&L=2">DriveNow</a> in Germany and San Francisco. Presumably, these manufacturers are entering the market in response to the competition posed by car sharing.</p>
<p>Given the clear financial, environmental and social benefits of collaborative consumption, it makes sense for existing businesses to find ways to tap into the sharing economy. Rather than seeing the sharing economy as a threat, smart businesses will recognise it as an opportunity to find new, more sustainable ways to connect to consumers. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is the second piece in our series on the disruptive forces hurting big business.</em></p>
<p><em>Read the other pieces:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-theres-no-pepsi-in-cyberspace-19902">Why there’s no Pepsi in cyberspace</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/clouds-bear-down-on-computer-hardware-companies-19443">Clouds bear down on computer hardware companies</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/big-data-and-big-business-its-what-you-do-with-it-that-matters-20543">Big data and big business: it’s what you do with it that matters</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Riedy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Earlier this year, I travelled to Melbourne for a conference. Instead of paying to stay in a hotel like I normally would, I paid a local couple to stay in their spare room. On arriving at their clean and…Chris Riedy, Associate Professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.