Research on the Value Creation Cycle of Sharing Economy
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Lee, Kun-Zhe
Abstract
Thanks to the development of the Internet and the mobile devices, people tend to share information and knowledge and keep in touch with one another via the Internet. Hence in such generation, there are more and more businesses that aim to build platforms which allow people to share their idle, or residual, assets or capacity on the market and thus create values. Uber, Inc., the famous ride-sharing company, and Airbnb, Inc., the popular housing service company, both are classic example of sharing economy. Through the analysis on such kind of company cases, this research aimed to firstly, clearly define sharing economy and its core values, and secondly, analyze its VCC (Value Creation Cycle) and generate the key factors that drive the cycle to flow. First of all, this research began with reviewing articles of sharing economy and the case companies, and then clarified the scope of the research. There are two parts of this research. In part one, it defined the nature of sharing economy, analyzed the system elements, modeled the trading activities, and then concluded the characters and core values of sharing economy. In part two, based on the model and core values derived from the part one, it depicted the Value Creation Cycle of sharing economy which could offer to overlook the whole value chain. Following the cycle model, it was analyzed with the micro perspective as a trading cycle, with the macro perspective as a strategic cycle, and finalized with the key factors that maintain the positive cycle of the VCC. Given that sharing economy has the characters of the presence of idle or residual resources and a platform that links the demand and the supply, this research had concluded that sharing economy has three core values, which are activating idle resources to create excess revenue with low price, low using costs and entrance barriers, and the flexibility of time and space. These three values circulate in the trading cycle and keep saving the market momentum, enabling the strategic cycle start at users'' insight then formulate the vision even practice it when it comes to the design stage. However, since the resources in sharing economy are owned by unfamiliar others, instead of usual businesses, sharing economy users are less likely to trust the providers. Thus, in addition to reviewing if each stage of VCC aligned with the vision as well as strategies and then generates the positive cycle, to attain enterprise''s goal of sustainability, platforms should aim to maintain the positive cycle of VCC by means of risk management like identification authentication, ratings and feedbacks, and commitment of compensation.
Subjects
Sharing Economy
Collaborative Economy
Value Creation Cycle
Idle Assets
Residual Assets
Idle Capacity
Residual Capacity
SDGs
Type
thesis