What role do corporations play if customers don’t need them? What if the people who used to be their customers get their goods and services from each other? I’d love to answer that at your next event.
That’s exactly the question that our research answers after analyzing 200 of the startups, and interviewing three dozen experts (you can read the full report, right here). Customers are using social media tools, called “sharing websites,” to share products, services, and even money bypassing the corporate world. What’s the solution? We found a counterintuitive opportunity for today’s innovative companies, that, we believe, they must use to enable their own business functions, business models, and products to be social and, therefore, able to compete in one of the most significant cultural market changes in history.
The above embedded slide deck is from the Vocus marketing and communications conference in DC last week, it’s designed for a 45 minute session.
The speech uses the story of Danish King Frederick VII, whom I learned about on last month’s trip to Copenhagen. I was intrigued by his unique dilemma as he saw a revolution coming to his gates, giving him one of two choices: 1) Fight them and, potentially, lose his head, or 2) collaborate with them. We weave in and out of his experience throughout the presentation, as we cover key steps in the presentation: a definition of the trend, real world examples from many verticals B2B and B2C, numbers showing the disruption in terms of dollars, and the causes of this sharing movement. In the meat of the presentation, we focus on the solution, which we call the Collaborative Economy Value Chain, and provide real world examples of what corporations are doing now. To top things off, we’re honest about the many challenges, but we also explain the benefits for companies that are willing to join the collaborative economy.
The appendix has additional data from our research, a glossary, and interviewee citations.
About the Presentation
Many of the slides have animations, which can’t be fully experienced in this SlideShare mode. You may download the full PowerPoint presentation to see the animations. The presentation is open research and, as part of creative commons, may be used with attribution. I’d like to thank the Altimeter research team and designers, as well as RexiMedia for their excellent coaching and visual production. As a former musician, I’ve learned to take preparation seriously, so I choose to work with the best teams during preparation and rehearsals to ensure that I give my audience the best experience possible.
Upcoming Speaking Events and Samples
I’m getting the word out about the Collaborative Economy. I have presented elements of this subject in Copenhagen, London, the District of Columbia, and San Francisco, in addition to individual clients on private calls. I would be delighted to speak at your event.
- Webinar, July 16th, ask me anything about the Collaborative Economy
- Keynote in Minneapolis with Magnet 360 and Peter Coffee from Salesforce
- Verge (Tech and Sustainability conference) in SF, Oct
- Upcoming Podcast with Supply Chain Insights
- YouTube: Watch an 18 min TED style speech at LeWeb, where I presented this for the first time
- To speak at your conference, I’m represented by Stern speakers.
I’d be pleased to share with your business teams how the evolving Collaborative Economy is moving from sharing of ideas to sharing of goods and services. I am happy to do so either by using the free webinars listed above or appearing live at your conference or private event.
Jeremiah – I thought your presentation was great. It is definitely an interesting topic. To test it out, I put a spare car of mine out on a peer-to-peer rental site and immediately got multiple cases of people interested in renting it. However, in the end, I personally decided that the small amount of $$ I would receive for being in the “Collaborative Economy” did not outweigh the risks involved.
I see the risks as property damage (hassle of getting car fixed even if it is paid for), potential lawsuits (someone kills someone while driving my car!), etc… There is also the general risk of interacting with folks that you don’t know. What if someone decides to do illegal activities (i.e. drug or gun deals) from my car or home. Therefore, I am a bit skeptical about the Collaborative Economy in the long run. We live in a world with crazy people and I wonder how many others will not want to take a risk. I could see those who are in desperate need for money being more willing to take that risk. Perhaps if the only people that I would share my property with are people with whom I am connected in social networks (or friends of friends), I would be more open to it…
So how do you respond to the risk/reward issue inherent in the concept of the collaborative economy?
That’s a great question Adam, I did the same thing. I wrote my experience here: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2013/05/20/dear-brands-im-unnerved-too/
I generally felt the risk was too high for a car that was my primary or expensive, if I had a cheap “beater” car, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
There are other models too that are emerging: 1) Rent an approved or safe car like Zipcar 2) Get a ride from someone else who’s driving, “like a friend” (I used Lyft last weekend a few times) or 3) Professional driver and towncar using Uber.
I totally agree the risks are great, esp if someone kills someone in it, or leaves contraband in your own car.
In the end, I felt it was best to sell my car, and I was just renting it out while I was finding a buyer.