To Connect Idle Capacity with Users - on Business and Digital Platform Aspects for Sharing Services

Abstract

In this paper we look into the business and service platform settings for a number of sharing services interpreted in a broad sense. It includes offering and renting of unused resources, bike and car pools, car rental, co-working spaces, second hand, and recycling. The objective of the study is to identify and describe requirements and features for an open two sided service platform for sharing services. The data set includes more than 30 sharing economy services and initiatives in Sweden. Primary data is collected from around 20 persons representing cities, local communities, providers of sharing services, technology providers and start-ups. We have also interviewed a few users of sharing services, car pools, bike pools, and coworking spaces in order to get some insight about user experience.. The sharing service should typically consider temporary use of idle capacity, usage of a platform enabling sharing and transaction between any persons in an open setting. We consider sharing of both goods and services. The main findings and research contributions are: i) a more clear definition of sharing services using the model with closed/open sets of both users and resources (providers), ii) identification of key values of a sharing service platform (as compared to values of a product or a rental service), and iii) a list of key features to implement in sharing service platforms.