DOCSLIB.ORG

The Sharing Economy: Disrupting the Business and Legal Landscape

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Sharing Economy: Disrupting the Business and Legal Landscape THE SHARING ECONOMY: DISRUPTING THE BUSINESS AND LEGAL LANDSCAPE Panel 402 NAPABA Annual Conference Saturday, November 5, 2016 9:15 a.m. 1. Program Description Tech companies are revolutionizing the economy by creating marketplaces that connect individuals who “share” their services with consumers who want those services. This “sharing economy” is changing the way Americans rent housing (Airbnb), commute (Lyft, Uber), and contract for personal services (Thumbtack, Taskrabbit). For every billion-dollar unicorn, there are hundreds more startups hoping to become the “next big thing,” and APAs play a prominent role in this tech boom. As sharing economy companies disrupt traditional businesses, however, they face increasing regulatory and litigation challenges. Should on-demand workers be classified as independent contractors or employees? Should older regulations (e.g., rental laws, taxi ordinances) be applied to new technologies? What consumer and privacy protections can users expect with individuals offering their own services? Join us for a lively panel discussion with in-house counsel and law firm attorneys from the tech sector. 2. Panelists Albert Giang Shareholder, Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, PC Albert Giang is a Shareholder at the litigation boutique Caldwell Leslie & Proctor. His practice focuses on technology companies and startups, from advising clients on cutting-edge regulatory issues to defending them in class actions and complex commercial disputes. He is the rare litigator with in-house counsel experience: he has served two secondments with the in-house legal department at Lyft, the groundbreaking peer-to-peer ridesharing company, where he advised on a broad range of regulatory, compliance, and litigation issues. Albert also specializes in appellate litigation, having represented clients in numerous cases in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and California appellate courts. He has been recognized as one of the “Most Influential Minority Lawyers” by the Los Angeles Business Journal, a “Rising Star” in the appellate field by Los Angeles Magazine, and one of the “Best Under 40” by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Prior to joining Caldwell Leslie & Proctor, Albert served as a law clerk for the Honorable Richard A. Paez, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, graduated with distinction from Stanford Law School, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Amherst College. Loni Mahanta Managing Counsel, Employment/Litigation at Lyft, Inc. Loni Mahanta is Senior Counsel, Employment/Litigation at Lyft, Inc., the groundbreaking peer-to-peer ridesharing company. In addition to overseeing employment issues at Lyft, she plays a leading role in the widely-followed disputes over whether Lyft and Uber’s drivers should be classified as independent contractors or employees. Prior to joining Lyft, Loni was an attorney at Folger Levin LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP, where she specialized in employment litigation. She obtained her B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from Hastings College of the Law. CALDWELL LESLIE & PROCTOR, PC / 725 S. FIGUEROA ST, 31ST FLOOR / LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 / 213 629 9040 / WWW.CALDWELL-LESLIE.COM Jennifer Lam Senior Product Counsel, Airbnb Jennifer Lam is the Senior Product Counsel at Airbnb, where she plays a leading role in the company’s product and privacy work. She previously spent four years as in-house counsel at Zynga, where she was lead counsel on issues of privacy, product, promotions, and content. Prior to working at these innovative startups, Jennifer was an Associate at Kasdan, Simonds, Riley & Vaughan and graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law. Steven Siger Managing Counsel, Thumbtack Steve Siger is Managing Counsel at Thumbtack, a groundbreaking company that connects businesses and customers with local service professionals. At Thumbtack, Steve is the primary legal advisor to the Product, Engineering, and Marketing teams, while also working on government affairs, trust and safety, and other legal issues. Previously, Steve served as Senior Counsel at Uber, where he led the team responsible for all regulatory and legal policy affairs for Uber in the western United States; as Chief of Staff and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy; as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Judith W. Rogers on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; as an Associate at Latham & Watkins LLP; and on the advance staff of Obama for America. Steve graduated with distinction and pro bono distinction from Stanford Law School, and received his B.A. in Political Science magna cum laude and with distinction from Yale University. 3. Moderator Albert Lin Partner, Ice Miller Albert Lin is a partner in the Columbus, Ohio office of Ice Miller, LLP. Lin’s practice focuses on government regulatory enforcement, complex litigation, and appeals. Prior to joining Ice Miller, Lin served as General Counsel to Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. As a member of the AG’s senior staff, Lin helped develop the office’s strategic plan and had primary responsibility for major financial litigation, criminal justice, gaming, and other matters. Prior to joining the AG’s office, Lin was an associate at Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, LLP in Columbus, Ohio, where his practice focused on government regulatory matters and complex litigation. Lin also served as a law clerk to two federal judges: The Honorable R. Guy Cole, Jr. (6th Cir.) and The Honorable Ann Aldrich (N.D. Ohio). 4. Outline a. Definition(s) of “Sharing Economy” i. “Sharing economy is an umbrella term with a range of meanings, often used to describe economic and social activity involving online transactions. Originally growing out of the open-source community to refer to peer-to-peer based sharing of access to goods and services, the term is now sometimes used in a broader sense to describe any sales transactions that are done via online market places, even ones that are business to consumer (B2C), rather than peer-to-peer…. [A] means of describing a generally more democratized marketplace, even when it’s applied to a broader spectrum of services. Also known as shareconomy, collaborative consumption or peer economy, a common academic definition of the term refers to a hybrid market model (in between owning and gift giving) of peer-to-peer exchange. Such transactions are often facilitated via community-based online services.” [Wikipedia] 2 CALDWELL LESLIE & PROCTOR, PC / 725 S. FIGUEROA ST, 31ST FLOOR / LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 / 213 629 9040 / WWW.CALDWELL-LESLIE.COM ii. “Increasingly, consumers and independent service providers are engaging in transactions facilitated by an Internet-based platform. The digital firms that provide the platforms are often collectively referred to as belonging to the ‘sharing’ or ‘collaborative’ economies, among other descriptors. [W]e narrow the focus and propose a definition of ‘digital matching firms’ that exhibit the following characteristics: (1) They use information technology (IT systems), typically available via web-based platforms, such as mobile ‘apps’ on Internet- enabled devices, to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. (2) They rely on user-based rating systems for quality control, ensuring a level of trust between consumers and service providers who have not previously met. (3) They offer the workers who provide services via digital matching platforms flexibility in deciding their typical working hours. (4) To the extent that tools and assets are necessary to provide a service, digital matching firms rely on the workers using their own.” [U.S. Department of Commerce, Digital Matching Firms: A New Definition in the “Sharing Economy” Space (June 2016), available at http://www.esa.gov/sites/default/files/digital- matching-firms-new-definition-sharing-economy-space.pdf.] iii. Span different industries: Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, Thumbtack iv. Sometimes used interchangeably with: peer-to-peer economy, collaborative consumption, on-demand economy, gig economy b. Economic impact i. PARTICIPATION: According to a 2015 PWC report: (1) 44% of US adults are familiar with the sharing economy. (2) 18% of US adults have participated in the sharing economy as a consumer. (3) 7% of the US population are providers in the sharing economy. (4) The five key sharing sectors—travel, car sharing, finance, staffing, and music and video streaming—have global revenues of roughly $15 billion today, which are projected to increase to around $335 billion by 2025. (5) “Airbnb averages 425,000 guests per night, totaling more than 155 million guest stays annually—nearly 22% more than Hilton Worldwide, which served 127 million guests in 2014. Five-year-old Uber operates in more than 250 cities worldwide and as of February 2015 was valued at $41.2 billion—a figure that exceeds the market capitalization of companies such as Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Continental.” ii. PUBLIC OPINION: According to a 2015 PWC report: (1) Among US adults familiar with the sharing economy, 86% agree it makes life more affordable, 83% agree it makes life more convenient and efficient, 72% agree they feel that the sharing economy experience is not consistent, and 69% 3 CALDWELL LESLIE & PROCTOR, PC / 725 S. FIGUEROA ST, 31ST FLOOR / LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 / 213 629 9040 / WWW.CALDWELL-LESLIE.COM agree they will not trust sharing economy companies until they are recommended by someone they trust. (2) Among consumer who have tried the sharing economy, 57% agree that “I am intrigued by companies in the sharing economy but have some concerns about them.” (3) Among consumer who have tried the sharing economy, 64% say that peer regulation is more important than government regulation. iii. FUTURE: According to a 2015 PWC report: (1) Among US adults familiar with the sharing economy, 51% could see themselves being providers in the next two years, and 72% could see themselves being consumers in the next two years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Market Impacts of Sharing Economy Entrants: Evidence from USA and China
    Electronic Commerce Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-018-09328-1 The market impacts of sharing economy entrants: evidence from USA and China Yue Guo1,2 · Fu Xin1 · Xiaotong Li3 © The Author(s) 2019 Abstract This paper studies the link between the difusion of the sharing economy and tra- ditional mature industries by empirically examining the economic impacts of shar- ing economy entrants. This study adds to the ongoing debate over whether and how ride-hailing platforms infuence new car sales in USA and China. Our results sug- gest that the short-term impact of Didi Chuxing’s entry on new car sales is positive. Unlike the efect of Didi Chuxing on new car sales in China, Uber’s entry nega- tively infuences new car sales in USA. The entry of Didi Chuxing is related to a 9.24% increase in new car sales in China and the entry of Uber is related to an 8.1% decrease in new car sales in USA. We further empirically confrm that the impact of ride-hailing companies is trivial in small cities. Keywords Collaborative consumption models · Uber · Didi · Ride-hailing services · Sharing economy · Two-sided platforms 1 Introduction Over the last few years, the rapid proliferation of smartphones and the associated applications have fueled rapid growth of the online sharing economy, such as those of Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, Turo, and Peerby. These emerging online peer-to-peer plat- forms, collectively known as ‘collaborative consumption’, have made a great deal * Fu Xin [email protected] * Xiaotong Li [email protected] Yue Guo [email protected] 1 Hohai Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing, China 2 King’s Business School, King’s College London, London, UK 3 College of Business, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA Vol.:(0123456789)1 3 Y.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fan/Creator Alliance: Social Media, Audience Mandates, and the Rebalancing of Power in Studio–Showrunner Disputes
    Media Industries 5.2 (2018) The Fan/Creator Alliance: Social Media, Audience Mandates, and the Rebalancing of Power in Studio–Showrunner Disputes Annemarie Navar-Gill1 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN amngill [AT] umich.edu Abstract Because companies, not writer-producers, are the legally protected “authors” of television shows, when production disputes between series creators and studio/ network suits arise, executives have every right to separate creators from their intellectual property creations. However, legally disempowered series creators can leverage an audience mandate to gain the upper hand in production disputes. Examining two case studies where an audience mandate was involved in overturning a corporate production decision—Rob Thomas’s seven-year quest to make a Veronica Mars movie and Dan Harmon’s firing from and subsequent rehiring to his position as the showrunner of Community—this article explores how the social media ecosystem around television rebalances power in disputes between creators and the corporate entities that produce and distribute their work. Keywords: Audiences, Authorship, Management, Production, Social Media, Television Scripted television shows have always had writers. For the most part, however, until the post-network era, those writers were not “authors.” As Catherine Fisk and Miranda Banks have shown in their respective historical accounts of the WGA (Writers Guild of America), television writers have a long history of negotiating the terms of what “authorship” meant in the context of their work, but for most of the medium’s history, the cultural validation afforded to an “author” eluded them.2 This began to change, however, in the 1990s, when the term “showrunner” began to appear in television trade press.3 “Showrunner” is an unofficial title referring to the executive producer and head writer of a television series, who acts in effect as the show’s CEO, overseeing the program’s story development and having final authority in essentially all production decisions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ridesharing Revolution: Economic Survey and Synthesis
    The Ridesharing Revolution: Economic Survey and Synthesis Robert Hahn and Robert Metcalfe* January 10, 2017 Paper prepared for Oxford University Press Volume IV: More Equal by Design: Economic design responses to inequality. Eds. Scott Duke Kominers and Alex Teytelboym. Abstract Digital ridesharing platforms, such as Uber and Lyft, are part of a broader suite of innovations that constitute what is sometimes referred to as the sharing economy. In this essay, we provide an overview of current research on the economic efficiency and equity characteristics of ridesharing platforms, and provide a research agenda that includes an examination of the natural evolution toward driverless cars. We have three main findings: first, relatively little is known about either the equity and efficiency properties of ridesharing platforms, but this is likely to change as companies and researchers focus on these issues. Second, we may be able to learn something about the likely diffusion and benefits of these technologies from experience with other policies and technologies. Third, while we believe these platforms will do substantially more good than harm, the measurement, distribution, and size of the gains from these technologies requires further research. * Robert Hahn is professor and director of economics at the Smith School at the University of Oxford, a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings, and a senior fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. Robert Metcalfe is Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Economics at the University of Chicago. We would like to thank Ted Gayer, Jonathan Hall, Scott Kominers, Jonathan Meer, Alex Teytelboym, Scott Wallsten, and Cliff Winston for helpful comments and Julia Schmitz, Brian Campbell and Samantha van Urk for excellent research assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • Next-Gen Technology Transformation in Financial Services
    April 2020 Next-gen Technology transformation in Financial Services Introduction Financial Services technology is currently in the midst of a profound transformation, as CIOs and their teams prepare to embrace the next major phase of digital transformation. The challenge they face is significant: in a competitive environment of rising cost pressures, where rapid action and response is imperative, financial institutions must modernize their technology function to support expanded digitization of both the front and back ends of their businesses. Furthermore, the current COVID-19 situation is putting immense pressure on technology capabilities (e.g., remote working, new cyber-security threats) and requires CIOs to anticipate and prepare for the “next normal” (e.g., accelerated shift to digital channels). Most major financial institutions are well aware of the imperative for action and have embarked on the necessary transformation. However, it is early days—based on our experience, most are only at the beginning of their journey. And in addition to the pressures mentioned above, many are facing challenges in terms of funding, complexity, and talent availability. This collection of articles—gathered from our recent publishing on the theme of financial services technology—is intended to serve as a roadmap for executives tasked with ramping up technology innovation, increasing tech productivity, and modernizing their platforms. The articles are organized into three major themes: 1. Reimagine the role of technology to be a business and innovation partner 2. Reinvent technology delivery to drive a step change in productivity and speed 3. Future-proof the foundation by building flexible and secure platforms The pace of change in financial services technology—as with technology more broadly—leaves very little time for leaders to respond.
    [Show full text]
  • Craigslist Auto Renew Free
    Craigslist Auto Renew Free Uncomplaining Billie thirsts, his vicariate dies contemporising roguishly. Lento Harald defaces: he communalize his flamboyant edifyingly and declaratively. Stuffy Moses hollers, his ascospores predestine reoccurs moreover. You have flagged as how often cited as close the auto renew craigslist free domain is one of all your charges percent of emails Red Steering Wheel Spinner Suicide Knob again For Fits FARMALL IH Fits Massey. Craigslist auto parts in whatever they don ferguson productions is required, auto renew until the interface. For viewing the unchecked influence of the work, contacts craigslist has never been known as a post using the ad craigslist auto renew feature. Also, we again continue to. It industry to free craigslist craigslist auto free. Given away free classifieds ads removal, auto renew craigslist free! If no need to submit their properties, and what the ok any number for generator is his support and auto renew posts via craigslist post housing my products. Select a landing page template. So you expect different locations, auto renew your ads on some categories, ca area has a very efficient in your craigslist auto poster can. HIV and hose shop and interest. Go after clients who boost your product. Im on free to do you manage you do you delete the free craigslist auto renew the boise craigslist authentication pages. Failure to free with everything in for craigslist auto renew free for used bullet points of the original online, and remember us? How do the latest commit to renew and auto renew craigslist free to renew their method of.
    [Show full text]
  • Vumber Gives You Throw-Away Phone Numbers for Dating, Work
    Tech Gadgets Mobile Enterprise GreenTech CrunchBase TechCrunch TV The Crunchies More Search What's Hot: Android Apple Facebook Google Groupon Microsoft Twitter Zynga Classics Subscribe: Got a tip? Building a startup? Tell us NOW TWEET THIS AUTHENTIC? Google Teams Up With Facebook Has Been Refining KEEN ON... Twitter And SayNow To Bring Their Troll-Slaying Comment Exposed: Apple's Terrible Sin Tweeting-By-Phone To Egypt System For Months; Finally in China » » Ready To Roll? » Err, Call Me: Vumber Gives You Throw-Away Phone Numbers For Dating, Work Jason Kincaid Tweet Most Popular 14 minutes ago View Comments Now Commented Facebook By now you’ve probably heard of Google Voice, a service that lets you take Exposed: Apple’s Terrible Sin in one phone number and configure it to ring all of your phones — work, China (TCTV) mobile, home, whatever — with plenty of settings to manage your inbound and outbound calls. But what if you wanted the opposite: a service that lets Should You Really Be A Startup you spawn a multitude of phone numbers to be used and discarded at your Entrepreneur? leisure? That’s where Vumber comes in. When The Drones Come Marching In The service has actually been around for four years, but it was originally 4chan Founder Unleashes Canvas marketed exclusively toward people on dating sites. The use case is On The World obvious: instead of handing out your real phone number to strangers, Instructure Launches To Root Vumber lets you spin up a new phone number, which you then redirect to Blackboard Out Of Universities your real phone.
    [Show full text]
  • Impacts of Changing Transportation Trends and New Mobility Technologies on Future Parking Demand
    Downtown Parking Study White Paper #7: Impacts of Changing Transportation Trends and New Mobility Technologies on Future Parking Demand 1.0 Introduction Parking is inseparably tied to how people and goods move in a city and is significantly impacted by how people choose to travel. With a changing landscape of mobility technologies that enable access to a variety of travel modes, the role of parking in downtown areas is likely to change dramatically in the future. This paper explores how changes in transportation trends and new mobility technologies are likely to impact parking demand in the future. It also identifies tools and information that the City of Hood River can use to better balance the promise and perils related to new mobility future. 2.0 New Mobility Options Figure 1 shows how the landscape of mobility has changed since 2013. Before 2013, access to private automobile travel was limited to people who owned, rented, or used traditional taxi services. Since 2013, car sharing services and ridehailing apps allow vehicles to be shared or rented for single trips and short periods of time. In the future, people may be able to access an autonomous vehicle without the need to drive it or hire another person to drive the vehicle. Figure 1: Growth of Shared Mobility, 2013‐2018 Similarly, since 2013, mode choice has expanded from the traditional modes (drive alone, walk, bike, taxi, and transit) to include carshare, bikeshare, ridehailing, microtransit, e‐scooters, e‐bikes, etc. Central to these options is the concept of shared mobility, the technology that enables users to have short‐term access to a fleet of shared vehicles on an as‐needed basis.
    [Show full text]
  • Dan Harmon and the #Metoo Apology
    Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, Vol. 9, No.3/4, 2019, pp. 112-125. “Redemption Follows Allocution”: Dan Harmon and the #MeToo Apology Ben Wetherbee This article analyzes comedian and TV writer Dan Harmon’s famously well-received #MeToo-era apology for sexual misconduct on the set of his sitcom Community, noting how Harmon revises the traditionally individualistic genre of the apology into a statement of advocacy for the collective moral imperative of the #MeToo movement. After discussing #MeToo as a rhetorical situation that justifiably trivializes pleas for individual forgiveness, the article analyzes Har- mon’s monologue in relation to scholarship on genre of apologia, contrasting Harmon’s with the comparatively indi- vidualistic and unsuccessful apology of Louis C.K and arguing that traditional apologies prove ill-suited to the #Me- Too era. I contend, finally, that male speakers seeking redemption for sexual misconduct should heed Harmon’s ex- ample of sustained critical self-reflection, pronounced advocacy for victims, and sustained cultivation of an ethos that merits redemption. Keywords: #MeToo, apology, apologia, allocution, Dan Harmon, rhetorical situation, differentiation, transcendence, characterological coherence The #MeToo movement hit peak momentum in late 2017, a year that saw sexual assault allegations mount against figures like Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, Charlie Rose, Kevin Spacey, and a long list of other male celebrities—all of which, let us recall, succeeded the inauguration of a president who had nonchalantly boasted about grabbing women’s genitals before garnering 306 electoral votes.1 The comedian and writer Dan Harmon fittingly dubbed 2017 “the Year of the Asshole.” Taking to Twitter on New Year’s Eve of that year, the creator and former showrunner of NBC’s sitcom Community and co-creator of the Adult Swim animated series Rick and Morty offered this bit of self-deprecating, understated humor: “This was truly the Year of the Asshole.
    [Show full text]
  • A Structural Analysis of Sharing Economy Leveraging Location and Image Analytics Using Deep Learing
    DOCTORAL DISSERTATION A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF SHARING ECONOMY LEVERAGING LOCATION AND IMAGE ANALYTICS USING DEEP LEARING by Shunyuan Zhang submitted to the David A. Tepper School of Business in partial fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the field of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University DISSERTATION COMMITTEE: Kannan Srinivasan (co-chair) Param Vir Singh (co-chair) Nitin Mehta Tridas Mukhopadhyay Anindya Ghose Carnegie Mellon University, May 2019 iii © Shunyuan Zhang, 2019 All Rights Reserved iv ABSTRACT The global sharing economy, e.g., AirBnB and Uber, is projected to generate roughly $335 billion by 2025. The rise of sharing economy has drawn enormous attention from academia and led to policy intervention debates. However, three questions that are essential to a better understanding of sharing economies remain unanswered: 1) can we identify, from unstructured data (product images), the key dimensions of interpretable attributes that affect consumers’ choices, and provide guidelines for sharing economy platform for optimizing images to improve the product demand, 2) can a scalable economic model be developed to disentangle factors that influence AirBnB hosts’ decisions on the type of property photos to post, and to explore photograph policies that platforms such as AirBnB can employ to improve the profitability for both the hosts and the platform, and 3) are there demand interactions/externalities that arise across sharing economies to provide policy implication. This dissertation contributes to the relevant literature by filling the gap. To achieve this objective, I apply economic theory to a large-scale demand data leveraging advanced machine learning techniques in computer vision and deep learning models.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Platforms for Exchanging and Sharing Goods
    CASE STUDY ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR EXCHANGING AND SHARING GOODS by Anders Fremstad 2/2/2015 A project of EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Americans own huge and underutilized stocks of consumer goods, including furniture, appliances, tools, toys, vehicles, and lodging. Websites like Craigslist, Couchsurfing, and NeighborGoods have lowered the transaction costs associated with acquiring secondhand goods and sharing underused goods, which may help us take advantage of this excess capacity. Indeed, advocates of the so-called sharing economy argue that technology can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions that enable us to save money, build community, and reduce environmental burdens. This case study evaluates the economic, social, and environmental effects of three online platforms. Craigslist provides an online market for local secondhand goods such as vehicles, furniture, appliances, and electronics. Couchsurfing matches travelers with hosts around the world who welcome guests into their homes. NeighborGoods helps people borrow and lend household goods free of charge. Together these case studies provide an overview of the role of online platforms as future economy initiatives. The economic benefits to these three platforms are significant, and likely to grow over time. Americans posted hundreds of millions of secondhand goods for sale on Craigslist in 2014, increasing access to affordable used goods. Couchsurfing has helped provide its members with millions of nights of free lodging, substantially reducing the cost of travel. While NeighborGoods has not achieved the scale of Craigslist or Couchsurfing, online platforms for sharing household goods could save Americans significant sums of money, especially if they can facilitate widespread ride-sharing and car-sharing. Online platforms may particularly improve the livelihoods of poor Americans.
    [Show full text]
  • Platform Economy December, 2018
    The rise of the platform economy December, 2018 The rise of the platform economy The platform economy poses significant questions, challenges and opportunities for society, the labour market and organisations The world is going through a new economic revolution, disrupting the economy, businesses, labour markets and our daily lives in a way not seen since the industrial revolution. Driven by technological innovations and increased online connectivity, the role of digital labour market matching is rising. At the heart of this change is the rise of the platform economy1. Workers are finding work through online outsourcing platforms and apps in this so called platform economy. While the gig economy has been talked about for years, the rise of the economy through digital platforms is relatively new. As the platform economy evolves, there are both new opportunities as well as new challenges that arise with heightened complexity. This article explores some of the challenges and future questions related to the rise of the platform economy for both society and organisations tapping into the platform economy. 1 Kenney & Zysman, 2016: 64 What is the platform economy? An increasing number of businesses are starting to adopt the platform business model and its digital strategies in order to remain competitive. Companies such as Airbnb, Uber, Amazon, Google, Salesforce and Facebook are creating online networks that facilitate digital interactions between people. There is a large variation between the function and type of digital platforms available in today’s marketplace, ranging from platforms providing services (e.g., Uber and Airbnb), to products (e.g. Amazon and eBay), to payments (e.g., Square, PayPal), to software development (e.g., Apple, Salesforce) and many more.
    [Show full text]
  • Equity Crowdfunding: All Regulated but Not Equal
    DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal Volume 13 Issue 3 Spring 2015 Article 2 Equity Crowdfunding: All Regulated but Not Equal Garry A. Gabison Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/bclj Recommended Citation Garry A. Gabison, Equity Crowdfunding: All Regulated but Not Equal, 13 DePaul Bus. & Com. L.J. 359 (2015) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/bclj/vol13/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Equity Crowdfunding: All Regulated but Not Equal Garry A. Gabison* This Article describes how different countries have approached eq- uity crowdfunding. It focuses on countries or regulatory authorities that either expressed their awareness of the phenomenon but decided to adopt a holding pattern (monitoring and investigating) or new laws and regulations. Countries like Australia have opted to reaffirm how their current set of regulations applies to crowdfunding whereas others like the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France have elected to create new exemptions in an effort to facilitate equity crowdfunding. This Article compares how each country decided to regulate the different participantsin the crowdfunding process. While the results of these various efforts are still mostly unseen, this Article takes an early look at the regulatory impact using one U.K. based platform as an example of how regulations can boost investment. CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................
    [Show full text]