The wide-ranging implications of the shift to a sharing economy, a new model of organizing economic activity that may supplant traditional corporations.

Sharing economy lawyers make the exploding numbers of social enterprises, cooperatives, urban farms, local currencies, and the vast array of unique organizations arising from the sharing economy possible and legal. This essential guide will guide the practicing lawyer through areas of law they need to be familiar with from drafting agreements to employment regulations and managing intellectual property and risk.

With the radical growth in the ubiquity of digital platforms, the sharing economy is here to stay. This Handbook explores the nature and direction of the sharing economy, interrogating its key dynamics and evolution over the past decade and critiquing its effect on society.

Airbnb facilitates the booking of over 37 million overnight stays per year. Uber operates in 450 cities in 60 countries. Both claim to be part of the rapidly growing ‘sharing economy’ — but what does that actually mean? Here, Tom Slee offers a razor-sharp examination of the ‘sharing economy’: from its genesis in open-source software and media file sharing, through to the present day popularity of Uber, Airbnb, Taskrabbit, and similar services, which operate outside of normal business regulations, taking on none of the risk or responsibility when something goes wrong. He asks, how did we get from the generosity of what’s mine is yours, to the self-interest and greed of what’s yours is mine?

This open access book considers the development of the sharing and collaborative economy with a European focus, mapping across economic sectors, and country-specific case studies. It looks at the roles the sharing economy plays in sharing and redistribution of goods and services across the population in order to maximise their functionality, monetary exchange, and other aspects important to societies. It also looks at the place of the sharing economy among various policies and how the contexts of public policies, legislation, digital platforms, and other infrastructure interrelate with the development and function of the sharing economy. The book will help in understanding the future (sharing) economy models as well as to contribute in solving questions of better access to resources and sustainable innovation in the context of degrowth and growing inequalities within and between societies. It will also provide a useful source for solutions to the big challenges of our times such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and recently the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). This book will be of interest to academics and students in economics and business, organisational studies, sociology, media and communication and computer science.

This is the ultimate source for anyone who wants a comprehensive view of how the sharing economy began and how it may fundamentally change capitalism across the globe. The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Collaborative Consumption examines the business phenomenon of the sharing economy, giving readers a thorough analysis of this up-and-coming sector. The book presents a detailed historical perspective of sharing and cooperatives, followed by a discussion of societal factors—predominantly technology—that have facilitated the fast growth of collaborative consumption businesses. Additional chapters offer progressive perspectives on how companies can further commercialize sharing. Written for undergraduate and graduate students studying the collaborative market and for those with entrepreneurial aspirations, this book provides important insight about technology facilities sharing, peer-to-peer lending, grassroots social entrepreneurial efforts, the economics of the sharing economy, legal and public policy issues, and more.

This edited book examines the challenges and opportunities arising from today’s sharing economy from an operations management perspective. Individual chapter authors present state-of-the-art research that examines the general impact of sharing economy on production and consumption; the intermediary role of a sharing platform; crowdsourcing management; and context-based operational problems. Sharing economy refers to a market model that enables and facilitates the sharing of access to goods and services. For example, Uber allows riders to share a car. Airbnb allows homeowners to share their extra rooms with renters. Groupon crowdsources demands, enabling customers to share the benefit of discounted goods and services, whereas Kickstarter crowdsources funds, enabling backers to fund a project jointly. Unlike the classic supply chain settings in which a firm makes inventory and supply decisions, in sharing economy, supply is crowdsourced and can be modulated by a platform. The matching-supply-with-demand process in a sharing economy requires novel perspectives and tools to address challenges and identify opportunities. The book is comprised of 20 chapters that are divided into four parts. The first part explores the general impact of sharing economy on the production, consumption, and society. The second part explores the intermediary role of a sharing platform that matches crowdsourced supply with demand. The third part investigates the crowdsourcing management on a sharing platform, and the fourth part is dedicated to context-based operational problems of popular sharing economy applications. “While sharing economy is becoming omnipresence, the operations management (OM) research community has begun to explore and examine different business models in the transportation, healthcare, financial, accommodation, and sourcing sectors. This book presents a collection of the state-of-the-art research work conducted by a group of world-leading OM researchers in this area. Not only does this book cover a wide range of business models arising from the sharing economy, but it also showcases different modeling frameworks and research methods that cannot be missed. Ultimately, this book is a tour de force – informative and insightful!” Christopher S. Tang Distinguished Professor and Edward Carter Chair in Business Administration UCLA Anderson School of Management