This document provides an overview of the sharing economy from the perspective of Hugo Guyader, a PhD candidate studying collaborative consumption. It includes definitions of key sharing economy concepts, descriptions of different sharing economy models and platforms, discussions of trust and participation in the sharing economy, and both positive and negative perspectives. The sharing economy enables increased access and utilization of underused assets through peer-to-peer sharing, but some argue it is overhyped and questions remain around its environmental and social impacts.

1. The “Sharing” Economy
Hugo Guyader, PhD Candidate in Marketing
Department of Management & Engineering (IEI)
Division of Business Administration (FEK)
2018-03-12

2. @experienceetchugo.guyader@liu.se
Hugo Guyader
• PhD Candidate at LiU.
OuiShare Sweden Connector.
• Multi-method approach to research:
experiments, surveys, interviews,
(n)etnography..
• Research interests: collaborative
consumption, shared mobility
services (i.e. ridesharing, P2P
rentals), sustainable consumption.
• Teaching in Fundamental Marketing,
Consumer Behavior, Service Marketing,
Advanced Marketing, Leadership &
Strategy …

4. The Economy

5. What’s Mine is Yours
TEDTalk 2010:
the case for
Collaborative Consumption
Products and services are
swapped, redistributed,
shared, rented or gifted.
Consumers access to
more resources,
more convenience,
and at lower costs.
(Botsman & Rogers 2010)

6. (Botsman & Rogers 2010)
Collaborative
Consumption
Systems

7. TRUST #1 barrier to sharing
67% express trust concerns as the primary barrier
to join a collaborative consumption service
30% fear that their goods will be stolen or broken
23% express a basic mistrust of strangers
14% express “privacy concerns”
(Campbell Mithun 2012)
Sharing platforms use peer-review and
reputation-based systems to create
trust and alleviate the problem of “free-
riders” who do not contribute.

9. ✓ a critical mass of users
✓ idling or excess capacity of unused goods
✓ belief in the common good
✓ social trust
The P2P Foundation also identifies 2 main societal drivers:
• community dynamics in conducting business and the
combined effect of digital reproduction
• the increasingly 'socialized' production of value.
4 principles of collaborative consumption

10. Some clarification
Collaborative Economy: An economy built on decentralised networks
and marketplaces that unlocks the value of underused assets by matching
needs and haves, in ways that bypass traditional middlemen and disrupt
centralised institutions.
- collaborative consumption (Maximum assets utilisation through
models of redistribution and shared access) ≈ “Sharing Economy”
- collaborative production (Design, production, and distribution of
goods through collaborative networks)
- collaborative finance (P2P banking and crowd-driven investment
models that decentralise finance)
- collaborative education (Open education and person-to-person
learning models that democratise education)

12. Think-tank and global community (10.000 members) since
2011, developing a framework that explains and brings
together different phenomena into one coherent vision:
« build a society based on openness,
collaboration and sharing »
Projects and activities include community building, producing
knowledge and incubating projects, offering support to individuals,
public institutions, and companies through professional services and
education.
OuiShare

14. (Jägerskog 2017)

15. (Jägerskog 2017)

16. (Crowd Companies 2014)
Why participate

17. Participation is rather a choice than a necessity.
“homo cooperans” not “homo economicus”
they cooperate for their emancipation, autonomy,
social justice, knowledge sharing and open production.
‣ mobile and
connected (the “dot-
com”
generation)
‣ millennial
‣ mid-high income
‣ high level of
education
‣ living in urban areas
‣ unique personality
‣ like to experiment
new things
‣ innovative, playful
and creative
Who are the “NOwners”

18. (European Commission 2015)

19. 1 Access
Rental, outsourcing, or leasing services offer the benefits of ownership,
but without ownership.
➡ paradigm shift from ownership and acquisition models to
access-based consumption
- Firms offer access-based services to customers
(i.e. B2C market mediated exchanges)
- Product utilisation is increased
(i.e. customers sequentially accessing the same product over its lifetime)
- Temporal solutions to customer needs
(i.e. cheap, on-demand, self-service, eco-friendly alternatives without long-term
commitment)
For instance, Zipcar offers access to a fleet of electric cars (i.e. a traditional firm
owning assets): ‘Zipsters’ (paying customers who sign up to a membership plan)
can reserve a conveniently located car via an app (unlocking it with a smartcard),
which they return to the same location after their rental duration (usage-based
pricing) for the next customer to use.

20. • Online platforms enable private individuals to
organise the P2P exchange of their under-
utilised resources, thereby disrupting industry
incumbents (e.g., hotel chains).
• For instance, Airbnb hosts (i.e. peer service
providers) offer accommodation rental (P2P
services) to guests (consumers) via a the
website (marketplace).
2 Peer-to-Peer / Consumer-to-Consumer
Technology has enabled people to get what they need from each other,
rather than from traditional companies selling goods and services.
➡ paradigm shift from B2C to C2C (P2P)

21. • The more network users,
the more valuable it becomes,
the better services can be provided.
• Service organisations develop
online platforms that enable their
users to exchange P2P services.
PROVIDERSCONSUMERS

22. Heimans & Timms HBR 2014
The Participation Scale

23. Sharing Economy drivers:
- the economic incentive
- an urge to reduce the socio-
environmental impact of consumption
and a belief in “the commons”
- desires to satisfy altruistic needs and
feelings of communal belonging
- shift from ownership to access
- ICT developments = convenience

24. Collaborative
Economy
Honeycomb

25. A Day in the
Life of the
Collaborative
Economy

26. Bike Sharing Bitcoin Car Sharing CoWorking Clothing Delivery
Donkey Republic Bitcoin Dojo (Göteborg) AudiUnite Café & Co (Stockholm) Klädbytardag BagHitch
Lånelastcyklar (Umeå) Bitcoin Stockholm Autoresurs Bilpool (Malmö) Coffice Coop (Stockholm) Klädbytardagar Freelway
Lundahoj (Lund) Bitcoin Hackers (Stockholm) Car2Go D82 (Stockholm) Klädbyte MyWays
Cykelköket (Gothenburg) Linköping Bitcoin Meetup Delebilen (Denmark) EntreprenörKyrkan (Stockholm) Klädbibliotek (Uppsala) Urbit
Stockhom City Bikes Malmö Bitcoin Users Driveback Epicenter (Stockholm) Klädoteket
Styr & Ställ (Gothenburg) Swedizen (Stockholm) Göteborgs Bilkoop (Majornas BillkooperaSv) Hus24 (Stockholm) Lånegarderoben
Hertz Freerider Hoffice Sabina and friends (Stockholm)
Hertz BilPool (Norway) Impact Hub (Stockholm) Second Lounge
Move About Knäckeriet (Stockholm) SwopShop
SamBil (cooperaSve 1980 - inacSve) Kolonien (Stockholm) The Wardrobe
Stockholm BilPool Start-Up People of Sweden (SUP46)
StudentBilen (Nissan) StudioVerket
SunFleet (Hertz) The Castle (Stockholm)
UbiGo The Park (Stockholm)
Vivallabil (cooperaSve 1983Orebro - inacSve) THINGS (Stockholm)
United Space
We Have Co (Stockholm)
Work Around
FabLab/MakerSpace Food Sharing Knowledge sharing On-Demand Services RedistribuDng/Selling Ridesharing
FabLab@School.dk AirDine beady.se Butlr Bjussa.se (rensavinden.nu) Ants (Norway)
Gothenburg Hackerspace AllWin Digiref.se DoMyTask Blocket.se Bilplats.se
IX Sthlm EatnJoy Directory of Open Access Journals Grannar.se Bortskänkes/mobages/ges/doneras/301 GoMore
MarkersLink (Linköping) Solikyl (Gothenburg) Fruktkartan: map free fruits Haxi (Norway) Bortskänkes.se Mobil Samåkning
Mikrofabriken (Gothenburg) FriSdsbanken Helping Bort.nu Roadmate (Hertz First Rent A Car - inacSve)
Open Lab (Stockholm) Gapminder Hinner Inte Hinner Du Endast BORTSKÄNKES i Majorna! Samåkning.se
Recompile (Malmö) MabeHjälpen (Linköping) TaskRunner Freeshop.se Samlats.se (inacSve)
SIS AFK (Blekinge) MinFarm Uber PoP [stopped May 2016] Freecycle GBG (Gothenburg) Skjutsgruppen ("Ridesharing Movement")
Sparvnästet (Stockholm) Time Village Vint: P2P workout Garaget (Malmö) We Are Together
Stockholm Makerspace Tutopia (Linköping) WayWay Il Recycling
THINGS (Stockholm) Tuva: Internet sharing Jumblets
ToolPool (Malmö) Köpes/Säljes/Bortskänkes , Göteborg
Umeå Hackerspace Möbler säljes/köpes/bortskänkes
Myrorna
off2off
Schpock
SyndAbKasta
Tiptapp
P2P Car Rentals P2P Home Rentals P2P Lending/Funding P2P parking space P2P RenDng Professional Services
Flexidrive (SnappCar) Airbnb CrowdCube ApParkingSpot Delbar Coompanion
GoMore FriTiden.se CrowdCulture GrannSaker eWork
ridebite.com HemByte.nu (HomeExchange) FundedByMe Hygglo Kompanjoner
HomeLink.org (bostadsbyte.com) Lendify Rentl PopUpMore
Meet The Swedes ToBorrow Swinga Bazaar Re:TexSle
Semesterbyte.com (inacSve) Trustbuddy Tjikko SpaceTime
ToBorrow
(Guyader 2017)

27. People would share everything to save/make money
➡ 68% of 30.000 US consumers are willing to share what
they own in exchange of a fee
‣ potential value of the sharing economy sector
$335 billion by 2025 (+25% each year)
(Nielsen 2014, PWC 2014)

28. Lisa Gansky (2010). “The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing.” — Chelsea Rustrum, Gabriel Stempinski & Alexandra Liss
(2014). “It's a shareable life: A Practical Guide to Sharing.” — Jasper Ribbers & Huzefa Kapadia (2014). “Get Paid For Your Pad:
How to Maximize Profit From Your Airbnb Listing.” — Warren Bell (2014). “The Airbnb Entrepreneur: How To Earn Big Profits,
Even If You Don't Own a Property.” — Christopher M. Jennings (2014). “Darebnb: The truth about turning your unused space into
real income on Airbnb.” — John Dale (2015). “Learn how to make an extra income renting your short-term rental or spare room all
over the world!” — Alex Stephany (2015). “The Business of Sharing: Making it in the New Sharing Economy.” — Claire Marshall
(2015). “How to make money (and a whole lot more) by Sharing. A quick start guide to the sharing economy.” — Glenn Carter
(2015). “Secrets of the Sharing Economy: Unofficial Guide to Using Airbnb, Uber, & More to Earn $1000’s.” — Michael James
(2015). “Airbnb Super-Host: The Ultimate Guide to Hosting Success: Unlock Your Home's Earning Potential The Right Way To
Make More Money with Airbnb.” — Michael Fertik & David C. Thompson (2015). “The Reputation Economy: How to Optimize
Your Digital Footprint in a World Where Your Reputation Is Your Most Valuable Asset.” — Sally Miller (2015). “Make Money On
Airbnb: How To Quickly And Easily Earn $2,500 A Month From Your Home.” — Billee Howard (2015). “We-Commerce: How to
Create, Collaborate, and Succeed in the Sharing Economy.” — Bryan Kramer (2015). “Shareology: How Sharing is Powering the
Human Economy.” — Diane Mulcahy (2016). “The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time
Off, and Financing the Life You Want.” — Nick Loper (2016). “Buy Buttons: The Fast-Track Strategy to Make Extra Money and
Start a Business in Your Spare Time. [Featuring 300+ Apps and Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces]” — Jared Meyer (2016). “Uber-Positive:
Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy.” — Beandrea July (2016). “Airbnb Your Life: The Host Edition:” — Vince Hinojosa
(2016) “Confessions of an AirBNB Host: How I made $17,623 on AirBNB and So Can You!.”

29. Portlandia - Rent It Out!
Youtube

30. Cultivated Wit - WellDeserved: A Marketplace For Privilege
Youtube

31. everybody
does not
stand equal
opportunities
in the
sharing
economy
because of
race,
religion,
gender, or
disability
shareable.net

32. Is ‘sharing’ just a fancy word for ‘rental’?
• Some organisations are public initiatives or small cooperatives,
others develop platform business models capitalising on
existing communities and enhancing the P2P services with
powerful matchmaking algorithms in exchange of a transaction
fixed fee and/or a commission.
Sharing Economy “unicorns”:
‣ Uber = $70 billion
‣ Airbnb = $30+ billion
• VCs and business angels have invested about billions in tech-
startups with sharing schemes.
- e.g., automotive industry incumbents (Daimler, Ford, GM,
VW, BMW, etc.) acquire startups by the dozens!

33. Ride-hailing
• BMW ➠ ReachNow
• Daimler ➠ Careem, Chauffeur Privé,
MyTaxi, Taxibeat, Uber
• Ford ➠ Chariot, Lyft
• Fiat-Chrysler ➠ Waymo
• GM ➠ Lyft, Sidecar
• Honda ➠ GrabTaxi
• Nissan ➠ Easy Ride
• Toyota ➠ Uber
• Volvo Cars ➠ Uber
• Volkswagen ➠ Gett (Juno)
P2P Car Rental
• Daimler ➠ Turo (Mercedes Croove)
• Ford ➠ GetAround
• GM ➠ Turo (RelayRides)
• Opel (CarUnity) ➠ Tamyca
• Peugeot-Citroën ➠ Koolicar
Carpooling
• Daimler ➠ Flinc, Via
• Enterprise ➠ Zimride
• GM ➠ Flinc
B2C Car Sharing/Rental
• Avis Budget ➠ Zipcar
• BMW ➠ DriveNow
• Daimler ➠ Car2Go
• Ford ➠ EasyCar Club, FlightCar,
GoDrive
• GM ➠ Maven
• Hertz ➠ Hertz Freerider
• Nissan ➠ MoveAbout
• Peugeot-Citroën ➠ Free2Move
• Renault ➠ Zity
• Volvo Cars ➠ Sunfleet
• Volkswagen ➠ Audi On-Demand,
AudiUnite, Porsche Passport, Audi
Silvercar
(Guyader 2018)

34. Collaborative consumption is nothing new
recirculation of goods
- eBay
increased utilisation of durable assets
- CouchSurfing
exchange of services
- time banks
sharing of productive assets
- farmers’ cooperatives

35. False Promises?
Cheaper than market alternatives. Really?
Green? Less resource-intensive practices reducing
carbon footprints, and reducing demand for new
goods/facilities?
Increasing social connections?
Commitment to social transformation: emphasis
on the ideological values of sharing and collaboration?
While the for-profit companies may be “acting badly,” these new technologies of peer-to-peer
economic activity are potentially powerful tools for building a social movement centred on genuine
practices of sharing and cooperation in the production and consumption of goods and services. But
achieving that potential will require democratising the ownership and governance of the platforms.
(Schor 2014)

36. Disruption?
‣ The most common model is to take a
commission on transactions; something
businesses have been doing for centuries.
‣ Technology has done many things, but to
date it hasn't been able to completely do
away with the middleman.
‣ Despite their power to disrupt incumbents, sharing
economy businesses make use of the same traditional
business models.

37. What’s Yours is Mine
✦ Unfulfilled promises of the Sharing Economy
openness, democratisation, equality, communitarian
values, personal exchanges/interactions, trust between
strangers, micro-entrepreneurship, less materialism
with access over ownership, sustainability, etc.
✦ In reality:
- creates new forms of commerce and new marketplaces,
- not 100% safe and trustworthy
- centralised control or mutual surveillance system,
- money for investors but not the workers
- deregulated free-market in private lives, etc.
✦ Conflicting languages:
(Slee 2016)
community, collective action,
libertarian/progressive politics,
grassroots activism, social change
private/corporate
financial/commercial
gains
VS

38. We-Washing
Share-Washing
Collaborative Washing
➡ Online platforms claim to foster
communal belonging by borrowing the
semantics of the sharing ethos, whereas
they actually foster a market
professionalisation of P2P exchange (e.g.,
into rental services).
➡ The “true sharing” movement raises
awareness of this loss of communities and
criticises Sharing Economy unicorns.

40. William Alden

41. What is an authentic sharing platform?
BlaBlaCar (FR) has been criticised of killing the original ridesharing
ideology for changing its business model (2012: from free to fees) and
“forcing” an online registration system.
Direct contact between users (exchange of emails, phone numbers)
became impossible and forbidden, and the price rose to take into
consideration the driver’s car depreciation and the platform’s commission.
The social aspect diminished (i.e. riders listen to music, sleep, claim
reserved seats; direct communication is impossible before a reservation)
and the economic aspect reversed (i.e. 12% commission, less flexibility
with booking and pricing).
Users perceive that digital security became a hassle, trust
between members faded, the original communal spirit
vanished and monetary benefits became the norm.

42. Sharing
Belk (2007) definition of sharing:
“voluntary lending, pooling and allocation of resources, and
authorized use of public property, but not contractual renting,
leasing, or unauthorized use of property by theft or trespass”
=> the Sharing Economy is not true sharing (Belk 2014):
- presence of profit motives
- absence of feelings of community
- expectations of reciprocity
“sharing is a phenomenon as old as humankind,
while collaborative consumption and the ‘sharing economy’
are phenomena born of the Internet age.”

43. Sharing
✓ True sharing involve caring and love, it is driven by altruistic motives (i.e. not ,
personal), indirect reciprocity (i.e. not direct reciprocity), in-direct economic
benefits (i.e. non-monetary), communal belonging, and relying on mutual trust
and social bonds without contracts or legal requirements (Belk 2010, 2014,
2017).
✓ Sharing out (vs. Sharing in) “involves giving to others outside the boundaries
separating self and other, and is closer to gift giving and commodity
exchange” (Belk 2010 p.725).
✓ “If we conceive of a continuum commodity exchange lies at one end and sharing
at the other, with gift giving somewhere in the middle” (Belk, 2007, p.127).
commodity
exchange
gift
giving
sharing

44. • Acts of collaborative consumption can be defined as “events
in which one or more persons consume economic goods or
services in the process of engaging in joint activities with one
or more others”.
• Collaborative consumption may or may not involve direct
physical contact between collaborators:
– ‘direct-contact collaboration’ = same place at the
same time
– ‘system-hookup collaboration’ = different places but
at the same time
– ‘segregated collaboration’ = different times and places
(Felson & Spaeth 1978)
(Outdated) Academic Definitions

45. • The term “The Share Economy” dates back to 1984
• Martin Weitzman argues that full employment
and social welfare could be achieved if workers
were paid a ‘share’ of the firm revenues.
• Companies would have an
incentive to create jobs
because more workers would
be paid only in proportion to
what they have brought in.
(Outdated) Academic Definitions

46. Heart and Wallet paradox
Sharing Economy’s ideological tensions:
1. a logic of economic market-mediated exchange
with aspects of profit-maximization, negative
reciprocity, independence between parties who
have self-interested motivations
2. a logic of non-market exchange with elements
of solidarity, mutuality, generalized reciprocity,
and communal norms establishing
interdependence between participants

47. Platform Cooperativism
• Sharing platforms that facilitate P2P service exchange
should adopt a cooperative business structure
with a “multi-stakeholder model that could include
providers, customers, founders, investors, geographic
communities, and nature”
• “produser-owned platforms = users are producers”
• The rationale is that most P2P platforms rely on the
supply side of the network for their revenue stream,
so these users/providers should own and control the
platforms.
(Gansky 2014; Gorenflo 2015; Scholz 2014, 2016; Schneider 2014)

49. • Fairmondo (DE, UK)
Cooperative online marketplace for ethical goods and services. Owned and run by its users:
buyers, sellers, workers, investors. Anybody can join as a stakeholder.
• Stocksy United (Canada)
Co-operative owned by the photographers themselves, that is accepting and providing
royalty-free stock photos.
• Loconomics (USA)
Worker-owned online marketplace that allow people to freelance. Instead of charging a
commission (cf. Etsy), joining as an owner is open for all for a monthly ownership fee, which
also allows the members to vote.
• VTC Cab (France)
Taxi drivers created their own platform to regain control over their business. It is owned and
operated by an NGO, so it does not collect commissions but a membership fee.
Platform Cooperativism

50. Collaborative Economy Evolution
• Collaborative Economy 1.0 | Collaborative Consumption “What’s Mine is Yours”
Wikipedia (2001), The Pirate Bay (2003), CouchSurfing (2004), Linux (1991), carsharing
communal motives, moral/environmental concerns, mostly institution-based work creation/
occupation (employees), civil society initiatives
• Collaborative Economy 2.0 | Gig Economy, Crowd-based Capitalism, “What’s Yours is Mine”
Uber (2008), Airbnb (2009), La Ruche Qui Dit Oui (2010),
VC funding, extractive business models, profit-maximizing, end of employment (micro-
entrepreneurs), value cocreation facilitated by platform
• Collaborative Economy 3.0 | platform cooperativism
Fairmondo (2012), BackFeed (2015), Juno (2016)
stakeholders shareholders, open source, decentralization
- direct people-based (peer-to-peer) credit relationships between individuals,
- direct asset-based (peer-to-asset) credit relationships between individuals and
productive assets

51. ✦ Individual travellers share a
vehicle for a trip and split travel
costs with others that have similar
itineraries and time schedules.
(Furuhata et al. 2013)
My research: ridesharing
Liftsharing (UK) or Carpooling (US)
two-sided platforms
e.g. Blablacar
hitchhiking, slugging
TNCs: Uber, Lyft, Sidecar

52. Ridesharing
Two-sided platforms facilitating ridesharing between
individual car drivers and passengers.
Ridesharing can include small detours, but it does not
concern for-profit taxis and chauffeured vehicles in
which drivers make a special trip to carry a passenger
and enable them to make profits (e.g. the passenger
pays more than the gas costs).
- Transportation Network Companies provide such
“ridesourcing service”.

53. Ridesharing
In Denmark, a ridesharing study reports the user
perceptions as positive thanks to cost savings, greater
comfort, flexibility and speed (vs. public transportation),
and socialisation with other ridesharing participants
…but also negative because of a lack of ride
availability and inconvenience in finding them, viewing
ridesharing as unsafe or unsecure, and expectations of
social awkwardness and exclusion.
➡
Economic and social attributes are the strongest
choice determinants for adopting ridesharing.
(Nielsen et al. 2015)

54. Youtube
L'ensemble des trajets #BlaBlaCar sur une journée en Europe

55. BlaBlaCar
‣
covoiturage.fr (“carpooling” in French)
‣
new “transactional booking model”
based on an online registration system
replacing the exchange of cash and
reducing no-shows and cancellations
business model:
passengers pay a 11.88% commission
and a 0,89€ fixed-fee per reservation
‣
24 countries
60 million members
Average shared distance: 350km
Average car occupancy: 3 persons

57. Skjutsgruppen
• civil society movement
participatory culture
• no commission
• no peer-reviews
• institutional partners (e.g.,
cities, regional transport.)

58. Hugo Guyader — 723G45 Lecture 5

59. ridesharing
·P2P car rentals
·leasing
“Revolutionalizing the way people travel, and the overall infrastructure”

60. GoMore
Founders imported ridesharing from Germany to Denmark, seeing an
opportunity in the Danes’ concern for the environment and their discontent with
public transportation (prices, delays, cancellations).
Organic growth as a non-profit platform for 6 years.
Website enhanced with technological developments (e.g., online payment).
Ridesharing commission for the drivers (currently 12.5%).
Launch of P2P car rentals (commission: 20.5%).
Launch of leasing (in partnership with a supplier): when the leased car is not
used, it can be rented out to other GoMore members. By renting out their leased
car 8 days/month, the Leasers can make up the leasing cost, so the car can be used
for free the rest of the month (≈5% commission on partner’s leasing contract).
Presence in Spain, France, Sweden, and Norway (800.000 members in
Scandinavia).

61. http://magazine.ouishare.net/2016/12/sweden-takes-progressive-steps-towards-on-demand-taxi-services/

62. Hugo Guyader — 723G45 Lecture 5

63. Thanks for listening!
Any questions? remarks?
hugo.guyader@liu.se
Credit images:
The Noun Project
you can cite these slides as:
Guyader, H. (2017). The "Sharing" Economy. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/
guyaderhugo/the-sharing-economy-59418368