My 5 key reads to understand the Sharing Economy

It’s easy to grasp the concept of the Sharing Economy at face value, but once you get into the detail it can feel overwhelmingly complex. Over the last few years, I have tried to inform my understanding of what the sharing economy means through reading different expert’s opinions on the matter. Here is a list of my 5 key reads for understanding what the sharing economy really means, and its potential for positive social impact.

1) The Co-Operative model:

Beyond the Corporation: Humanity Working by David Erdal

My understanding of the power of business to create and distribute wealth among communities first emerged when I saw Dr David Erdal, an expert on co-operative businesses, speak at a conference. The panel focused on business growth in Scotland and when I asked a question about the compatibility of businesses and the communities they serve, he was the first to respond. He made a case for co-operative ownership, and explained how this model has proven to be successful in creating and distributing value in multiple businesses across the country, not to mention further afield.

This opened my eyes to a completely different perspective on business operations, and started a deep interest in how businesses can best create and distribute value and profit in the communities they serve.

Beyond the Corporation details David Erdal’s own journey through life and business, documenting his interest in co-operative working models and his desire to implement one of his own. He was educated at some of the top institutions (Oxford, Harvard Business School), and after becoming well-versed in traditional business models and ownership structures, he felt compelled to try a model which was more focused on sharing the value created with those who created it. He took on the well-established family business and transitioned it into a workers co-operative model, similar to that of the John Lewis Partnership. The book has been described as “a blueprint for the 21st-century business”, and it certainly inspired me to think differently about ownership, the way profits are distributed, and also employee motivation and development.

2) The Digital Boom

What’s mine is yours by Rachel Botsman

My interest in the digital collaborative economy was first piqued when I happened across it at giffgaff, the phone network run by its members. Coming from a community-building background, the concept of using digital connectivity capabilities to create and grow a community resonated with me, and I began to research and understand more about the businesses which operated in the space.

A book which was key in linking the community aspect with the ongoing digitalisation of products and services was Rachel Botsman’s, “What’s mine is yours”:

Botsman wrote “What’s Mine is Yours” in 2010, when the concept of the sharing economy was only just becoming more mainstream. Reading the book in 2016 makes it seem relatively naive; sharing was so new, and so many of the criticisms that have been made of today’s sharing economy monopolies had not yet surfaced. In fact, Uber was just celebrating its first birthday.

I saw Rachel speak at the beginning of 2016 at a talk where she dealt with the topic of ‘what I didn’t foresee’. It was a fascinating way to look at a book and a piece of research, and hear the author (and now renowned world expert) pick apart her own predictions and discuss the very different opportunities and challenges that the sharing economy businesses face today, not to mention the criticisms for the more negative impact some of these businesses models have caused.

3) The divide

Platform Co-Operatives vs Deathstars

The landscape of the sharing economy shifted considerably when it became obvious that weak economic and job conditions were meaning that large numbers of people were engaging with it in place of a full-time job. The term ‘gig economy’ emerged, alongside increasing frustration among the UK public about the rise in zero-hours contracts (no guaranteed hours), and reduced job security, pay & benefits. The Platform Co-Operatives vs Deathstars article gave me hope that the digital collaborative economy model could bring more wealth distribution to the world, while highlighting exactly which companies were not striving for that, and the reasons why (hint: VC investment).

I first came across this essay through Shareable, one of my go-to resources for content on the collaborative economy. For me, it managed to clearly explain the dichotomy that the sharing economy is facing; that of a movement which centralises wealth and destroys job security versus that which promotes sharing, reduces ownership and encourages a peer-to-peer, mercantile economy. So what are its conclusions? It separates the sharing economy businesses into ‘platform co-operatives’, which distribute ownership among those who are involved with the business, and ‘deathstars’, which centralise it in the hands of very few, powerful VCs.

4) Taking stock & what next?

Fair Share: Reclaiming the Power in the Sharing Economy

The RSA explored this dichotomy in depth, producing a report entitled “Fair Share”, looking at how the power that the sharing economy has managed to create could consequently be redistributed, or certainly return to look at that as an opportunity.

The RSA report does an excellentjob of outlining the evolution of the sharing economy and all its supporters and critics. It then goes on to develop several recommendations for government and policy makers, above all advocating that rather than take a blanket-ban policy or question whether or not these types of organisation should exist, they focus more on how to ensure a fair and ethical integration of these businesses into the societal ecosystem that we currently have.

5) Agreeing the parameters

What’s the right name for the sharing-economy? by Juan Cartagena

It’s natural to focus on the part of the Sharing Economy that interests you most, and then research, promote and engage with companies like that. However, articles like this one, and also Crowd Companies’ honeycomb diagram remind me of the multi-faceted nature of this ‘thing’ we call the sharing economy, and that many businesses self-identify with the concept, muddying the waters somewhat in terms of what it means to be a sharing economy business. This article significantly furthered my thinking in terms of how wide the ‘sharing economy’ bracket really is, and how, perhaps, we need to look at further breaking it down as it matures.

***

It has been fascinating to study the sharing economy from these varied points of view. There are multiple draws to the sharing economy, ranging from community-building to profit-maximising, and I think these books and articles do a good job of summarising what has been developed so far, as well as what we should expect or look out for in the future.

What books would go on your list?