Management pass notes: October 2015

The sharing economy

 
What is it?

You own nothing. Everything you make, provide, trade and consume belongs to everyone. This socio-economic model aims to maximise the use of human and physical resources by sharing.

Labour’s latest policy under Jeremy Corbyn?

No, it’s been around for at least 10 years. And if you think broadly, libraries and taxis have been sharing and lending to maximise the use of their resources for centuries. It’s also called collaborative consumption or peer-to-peer sharing.

So what’s new?

The internet. It lets us share things we couldn’t previously, with people we couldn’t identify or communicate with, pre-internet. The most high-profile examples are Airbnb, where people rent out lodgings online to strangers, and Uber, a mobile app that requests a journey from drivers in your vicinity who use their own cars.

Both services that have caused a lot of controversy, I note. How does this affect me?

The sharing economy is growing. Consultancy PWC reckons it’s worth around £500 million in the UK, and that its value will rise to at least £9 billion by 2025. You can share skilled freelancers at websites such as peopleperhour.com. And Nimber has launched as an alternative to conventional delivery services. It’s an online community that passes items between users making routine journeys. Tools, dogs, parking spaces, meal leftovers – the list grows every month.

Can I share my copy of PE?

It’s made for sharing.