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COLLABORATION OR BUSINESS? Collaborative Consumption: from Value for Users to a Society with Values Credits

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COLLABORATION OR BUSINESS? Collaborative Consumption: from Value for Users to a Society with Values Credits COLLABORATION OR BUSINESS? Collaborative consumption: From value for users to a society with values Credits "¿COLLABORATION OR BUSINESS? The research is the product of the joint efforts of the “Let the users speak” Consumers’ survey: Rubén following organisations: Cabrerizo (supervisor), Marco Anelli, Ana Almeida, From value for users to a society Christophe Rossini and Guy Sermeus. OCU (Coordination) with values" is a project Amaya Apesteguía (Project Coordination), Rubén “A safer legal environment for participants” Legal Cabrerizo and Silvia Sánchez Research: Leonardo Puebla (supervisor), Rosa Guirado sponsored and developed by four (methodological coordination), Constanza Martino, Studio Altroconsumo legale Missaglia, Sofía Lima and Anne-Lise Evrard. european consumer organisations Eliana Guarnoni “Measuring CC impacts?” & “CC Platforms: from utility (OCU, Altroconsumo, Deco Deco Proteste to community” Social Research: Amaya Apesteguía Antonieta Duarte, Ana Almeida and Sofía Lima (supervisor), Ángel Gordo (main researcher for the Proteste and Test Achats/Test methodological design, field research, analysis and Test Achats / Test Ankoop scientific report), Javier de Rivera (field research, analysis Ankoop) with the aim of raising Christian Rousseau, Christophe Rossini, France Kowalsky and scientific report), María Avizanda (desk and delphi and Guy Sermeus research), Eliana Guarnoni, Antonieta Duarte and European consumers’ awareness Christian Rousseau. Euroconsumers of the impact of collaborative Marco Anelli Edition: Cristina Olmeda English proofreading & edition: Paul Cassidy consumption. Cibersomosaguas (Universidad Complutense): Design and layout: Abel Guzmán – Colectivo Melón Ángel Gordo, Javier de Rivera and María Avizanda Ouishare (Advisor) Albert Cañigueral and Luis Tamayo Collaborative Consumption: Collaboration or business? 2 Disintermediation: removal of intermediaries in a supply P2P tourist activities: guided tours, gastronomical, cultural chain. and sporting activities organized by local residents (not companies) for other private persons. Garden sharing: an arrangement in which a landowner allows a gardener access to land, typically a front or Platform: intermediary (often a digital market place) that Glossary backyard, in order to grow food. puts the two sides of the market (consumers and providers) in contact, and creates the rules of exchange. It can be for Greenwashing: making a misleading advertisment or free or for profit (fee, subscription, etc). unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company. Professional provider: A provider, producer or trader of goods and services. Typically a sole trader, professional or a Group purchases: buying products (usually food), regularly company. and collectively with other private individuals, directly from the producer or farmer. Prosumer: a private individual who provides, produces or trades goods or services not related to their habitual Home swap: exchanging the use of a house/apartment for business, trade or profession. Such activity could be for a specific period of time between private persons. profit, not-for-profit or for intangible rewards or social reasons such as helping other users, reducing waste, Home restaurant: private people cooking food to be offered/ improving the environment, etc. sold to other private people. This type of interaction can take different forms (as an organized dinner, take away, etc.). Repair cafes: gatherings where experts offer to repair certain goods (typically furniture, household appliances, Netnography: emergent methodologies that adapt the electronics and high tech products, etc.), usually offline and observational and ethnographic research to the online for free. Carpooling: sharing a ride (typically between different environment. These techniques are based on observation cities/towns), with the passengers and the driver of a of the web pages by participants and non‐participants, and Ride sharing: taxi services (often within a city/town) offered vehicle sharing the costs. other resources for researching online communities. by the driver of a vehicle who is not an official taxi driver, organised via a website/app. Collaborative consumption (CC): consumption exchanges On demand: activities created or products and services between private individuals (or organized group of delivered “on demand” for the consumer. Sharing economy: socio-economic system around the individuals) relating to access instead of ownership, social paradigms of sharing, collaborating, and cooperating. redistribution markets and collaborative lifestyles. P2P (peer-to-peer): symmetric relationship between two It refers to access economy (renting or exchanging goods private individuals. rather than selling), gig economy (contingent work Collaborative washing: making a misleading advertisment transacted on a digital marketplace, including on-demand or unsubstantiated claims about the collaborative benefits P2P free accommodations: offering a private person free services by professionals), P2P collaborative economy of a product, service, or company. accommodation in your house/apartment, and staying in (included consumption), and commoning economy the house/apartment of a private person for free. (initiatives that are collectively owned or managed). Consumer: in a transaction within collaborative consumption schemes, consumers are private individuals P2P car & parking rental: renting a vehicle or a parking Time banking: a community of people exchanging services that consume goods and services. space from another private person (not from companies). for each other, receiving a certain amount of time/credit in return that they can exchange for work/time from other Crowdfunding (donations and reward): contributing/ P2P handicraft sales: buying/selling handicrafts to other users in the group. asking for contributions from the individuals (the crowd), to private persons (not companies). develop an initiative/project, who are receiving nothing in User: consumer, prosumer or trader operating on a return, a reward or the product upon completion (usually P2P room/house rental: room, house or apartment rental collaborative consumption platform. the result of the project, e.g.: CD, book, etc.). from/to another private person for a short period of time (e.g.: holidays). Collaborative Consumption: Collaboration or business? 3 consumption (CC) on society. In particular there The research covers 70 P2P CC platforms operating in isn’t any agreed framework on how CC and sharing Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, some of which belong economies can be measured in terms of its triple impact to the same international company. These platforms on the economy, society and the environment. are a “theoretically representative” sample aimed INTRO at including the broadest representation of P2P CC Without such independent and methodologically reliable platform type, area of activity, influence and relevance in Collaborative data it is impossible to fully and accurately address the the participating countries. Multi-platform international on-going debate about the value of CC: is the sharing companies were given the option of completing a single economy really collaboration or just a new way of doing questionnaire or one for each country. consumption: business? We also run the risk of falling into the trap of supporting products and services that might do more damage than good (greenwashing, collaborative washing, What is collaborative an on-going debate etc.) and conversely of missing out on the possibility of supporting positive Collaborative Consumption and consumption? Sharing initiatives. Sharing is a phenomenon as old as humankind. In Within the current context, where the culture of small communities, neighbours have always exchanged owning coexists with an emerging culture of access food or tools; they trade their work in exchange for and sharing, measuring the impact of the collaborative other valuables they that they otherwise wouldn’t be consumption has become a crucial task. able to access. This report aims to contribute to this task by analysing While the culture of owning has always coexisted in an independent, systematic and methodologically with a culture of access and sharing, in recent years, objective fashion a series of key gaps in the literature collaborative consumption (CC) has blossomed to and data through a series of research methods, which become a part of the lifestyle of many young people, Introduction include: a comprehensive desk research phase; a survey and is also linked to the idea that businesses should of more than 8.670 users; a Delphi study with experts; improve society at the same time as they generate Consumption patterns are quickly changing towards and a detailed questionnaire for participating platforms. wealth. However, as we stated before, ˝collaborate˝ is a model based on the exchange of goods and services, Through this multifaceted methodology the research set a fuzzy concept, and as Benkler points out sharing not only between companies and consumers, but also out to answer four over-riding questions: may not be the most accurate term “since much of the between private individuals The “sharing economy” has collaborative economy involves cash payment, rather become a global phenomenon, in a context of on- - What can we learn about user numbers and than straightforward reciprocity” (Benkler, 2004). going technological change, globalization and economic participation on a range of platform types,
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