[PPB] WEEK 3 (brief & initial research)

Research

To have and understanding on what is "sharing".
To understand the collaborative consumption model in different business categories.
Study the strength and weakness of the collaborative consumption.



Sharing

Unselfishly willing to share with others, such as food, equipments, thoughts and feelings. It is also the process of dividing and distributing. Sharing also can actually mean giving something as an outright gift: for example, to "share" one's car really means to give some of it as a gift. Sharing is a necessity in a human's life interaction, it can also strengthens one social ties and ensuring a person's well-being.



Collaborative consumption

Collaborative consumption is a class of economic arrangements which participants share access to products or services. Often this model is enabled by technology and peer communities.

The collaborative consumption model is used in marketplaces such as :-

eBay Inc. is an American multinational internet consumer-to-consumer corporation. Founded in 1995, and became a notable success story; it is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localised in over thirty countries. The company manages eBay.com, an online auction shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide.



Controversy and criticism

Cases of fraud, its policy of requiring sellers to use PayPal, and concerns over forgeries and intellectual property violations in auctions items.

Airbnb is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco founded in August 2008, operated and privately owned by Airbnb, Inc. The company is an online service that provides a platform for individuals referred to as "hosts", generally private parties, to rent unoccupied living space and other short-term lodging to guests.

Controversy and criticism

Use of spam
Renters security
Financial and tax liabilities

Lack of respect of privacy

LocalGuiding is a marketplace (peer-to-peer travel experiences) connecting travelers with local tour guides and small tour companies in destinations worldwide, online or from a mobile phone. Travelers can contact the local tour providers directly to customize a tour based on their needs. It was founded by Robert Blessing.

TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that allows users to outsource small jobs and tasks to others in their neighborhood.^[1] Users name the task they need done, name the price they are willing to pay, and a network of pre-approved TaskRabbits bid to complete the job. It was founded by Leah Busque in 2008.

Zipcar is a US membership-based car-sharing company providing automobile reservations to its members, billable by the hour or day. Zipcar was founded in 2000 by Cambridge, Massachusetts residents Antje Danielson and Robin Chase.

Pros and cons for Zipcar

Pros

Fuel is payed for.

Zipcar provides Zipcar Gascard.

You can use the gas card at any gas stations.

Zipcar has a reserved parking space for all cars.

Cons

Car has to be returned clean, including the smell (cigarette smoke etc)

Fill the gas tank before handing it in or you will get fined.

Does not provide one-way rentals.

Strength and weakness of collaborative consumption. 

Strength

The strength of Collaborative consumption is that it can offers sharing of resources like time, space, money, skills. It will also provides temporary access to products to get a service you need. Redistribution markets, where you take initialised or under-utilized resource and transfer its ownership so it becomes utilised. Collaborative consumption also reduces costs of living through revision of the role of ownership in modern society. It can also promote a sense of community.

Weakness

The downfall of Collaborative consumption is probably the safety and security. If you decided to use services such as eBay, you probably be wondering the authenticity of the item and the seller. Services like Airbnb will make you think twice in renting a place with a complete stranger, although yes you can read the review of people who had stayed in the place before, but that feeling of staying in a stranger's place is still pretty terrifying.