{"id":14586,"date":"2013-06-18T06:56:31","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T13:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.web-strategist.com\/blog\/?p=14586"},"modified":"2013-10-14T13:02:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T20:02:41","slug":"the-dark-side-to-the-collaborative-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/18\/the-dark-side-to-the-collaborative-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Side to the Collaborative Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Graffiti<\/a><\/center>As part of my ongoing coverage of the Collaborative Economy (read all the posts<\/a>) it’s important we explore all facets of this disruptive trend to corporations, not just upsides, but the downsides as well. \u00a0I also see that “marketplace friction” is a sign of the disruption that occurs as power changes hands, which should make the seasoned web strategist want to look closer.<\/p>\n

If you’re from the sharing movement and are offended by this post, my opposite of this post is\u00a0The Three Drivers of the Collaborative Economy<\/a>,\u00a0where I documented over a dozen specific attributes that are driving this movement. \u00a0Please read it.\u00a0 While the recently published\u00a0Report on the Collaborative Economy<\/span> lists the key challenges\u00a0continues to obtaining traction, let’s focus in at a deeper level on what’s counter-acting this market, and look at both sides objectively.<\/p>\n

Index of Challenges: The Dark Side of the Collaborative Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. It might be illegal.<\/strong>\u00a0 In some cities, it’s against the law to act like a business if you’re not one. \u00a0Amsterdam ruled that unlicensed hotels (houses) were not legal.\u00a0 We’ve seen similar rulings in cities like New York and Berkeley. \u00a0It’s difficult to move forward if sharing has been deemed a criminal behavior.<\/li>\n
  2. New is better than used.<\/strong>\u00a0 No more unwrapping new videos. \u00a0You’re getting nothing but hand-me-downs for the rest of your life, Johnny. \u00a0New products have their appeal.\u00a0 They’re shiny, unbroken, and devoid of anyone else’s grimy fingerprints. \u00a0New cars, houses, clothes and even baby toys have intrinsic value over sweaty, beaten and ‘proven’ older products. Imagine an AirBnb, which provides value-added services of security, food, concierge, and of course, that coveted mini-bar, versus hotels.<\/li>\n
  3. The sharing mindset challenges traditional values.<\/strong>\u00a0 Call it hippy-dippy; call it radical liberalism; call it anti-consumerism; call it the anti-thesis of what a healthy society is built on; call it whatever you want. \u00a0Not only will society cause those who don’t share to feel selfish, the very core values of some Western societies are rooted in owning a three-bedroom house and white picket fence a sign of success of, reinforced by marketing to “live the dream.” \u00a0The mindset of sharing with others challenges the very values and principles that many consumers and business owners have been taught to fight against.<\/li>\n
  4. Traditional business models are threatened as the crowd becomes empowered over institutions.<\/strong>\u00a0 Undoubtedly, existing corporations are being disrupted by this\u00a0burgeoning\u00a0trend that enables the crowd to be their own company, bypassing corporations. \u00a0Corporations are left with a burning question that keeps them up at night: “What role do we play if people buy once and share many times with each other?”<\/li>\n
  5. Governments balk in order to defend taxable revenues. <\/strong>\u00a0Across the world, we’re seeing governments at the local level, and sometimes federal, resist the sharing of homes or cars, as it radically disrupts business models, taxable revenues, security, transient guests, and existing institutions. \u00a0I assume that most lobbyists are gearing up, funded by corporate backers, in order to take these battles to court.\u00a0 Even in San Francisco, new rulings will be unveiled next month.<\/li>\n
  6. Service providers could be deemed a second-rate marketplace.<\/strong>\u00a0 Second rate hacks now posing as professionals? \u00a0 Professionals at hotels, restaurants, service firms and staffing agencies will tell you that their workforces are better than those found at on-demand marketplaces like oDesk or Taskrabbit. \u00a0They’ll claim that their workforces are full-time professionals, working full-time, not stay-at-home part-time workers.<\/li>\n
  7. Concerns over public safety and quality control leave regulators reeling.\u00a0 <\/strong>Berkeley showed concerns that transient migrations of guests to neighborhoods could be a public safety hazard. \u00a0Furthermore, as startups like Feastley arise that enable anyone with a kitchen to act like a restaurant, concerns over food safety arise. \u00a0In a morbid case study, accidents and deaths in car sharing led to great concerns over safety, as unlicensed drivers act like taxi drivers, putting those around them at risk.<\/li>\n
  8. Legal liability is challenged as ownership and access models are diluted.\u00a0 <\/strong>Who’s liable if a car is shared, rented, or borrowed and then crashed by a stranger? \u00a0That is an example of the questions posed by insurance companies that the legal sector and owners of\u00a0assets will face. \u00a0While websites like RelayRide offer insurance policies up to $1 million for autos, will that cover a tragedy caused by users of this service?<\/li>\n
  9. Lack of spending reduces the overall market, impacting jobs and the economy.\u00a0 <\/strong>Forget your silly startup; the bigger issue is that sharing reduces taxable revenues, jobs, consumption and economic injections from consumers spending widely. \u00a0If no one ever bought anything again and, instead, just shared, fixed, and made their own products, capitalism as we know it could start to unravel.<\/li>\n
  10. Lack of trust in two-sided marketplaces leaves owners at risk.<\/strong>\u00a0 To quote contrarian, Milo Yiannopoulos,\u00a0who presented a compelling speech at LeWeb, he “Works hard for his nice stuff and doesn’t want strangers touching it,” (paraphrased) strikes a chord with many. Furthermore, we’ve seen case studies of AirBnb properties being looted or damaged, or cars that were part of the sharing economy crashed.\u00a0 It’s hard to trust strangers, despite Facebook connect systems.<\/li>\n
  11. Collaboration in an economy ripe during recession, but not during a bull market.\u00a0 <\/strong>Penny-pinching is great during financial struggles, but during times of boom, it creates an undesirable friction, as I can buy new with wild abandon. \u00a0Economic disparities aside, the developed nations will discard the silly notion of sharing when, instead, they can own more at will.<\/li>\n
  12. Oligarchy is reinforced, as owners rent to the economically deprived.<\/strong>\u00a0 The rich get richer as those who have the resources to build and fund startups, or the resources that will be used in these marketplaces or used on demand, will continue to generate the money. \u00a0In fact, traditional corporations, like car rental companies, have purchased car sharing startups in this space, securing their place in the market. \u00a0Venture capitalists and investors, who already stem from the 1%, seal their place in power positions by being owners of the movement.<\/li>\n
  13. Excess venture capitalist funding inflates an artificial marketplace.<\/strong>\u00a0 Those crafty venture capitalists continue to inject funding into startup clones, so their portfolio is also proven to have them covered in the car-sharing market, hotel-sharing market, services-shared market and office-sharing market. \u00a0This artificial injection casts traditional business models aside, as startups have one focus: \u00a0market adoption, rather than business models that will sustain, as they prepare for an IPO or an M&A exit.<\/li>\n
  14. Startup saturation in every category confuses the market.\u00a0 <\/strong>With over 20 car sharing\/renting\/on-demand car services available, how does one keep track of who does what? \u00a0Trying to invest in the right service leaves those who would consume confused, and creates marketplace churn. \u00a0With barriers to entry so low, what’s to stop this market from continual wasteful churn, as everyone tries to do the same thing?<\/li>\n
  15. Socialistic values are at odds with free market capitalism.\u00a0 <\/strong>Boom. \u00a0I swore to myself I wouldn’t bring it up in public, but it warrants a discussion. \u00a0The collaborative economy, like the internet and social media is a form of socialism where the crowd gains power over institutions. \u00a0History is rife with examples of variations of socialism being challenged, not working at all, or in a few cases, working just fine (see Northern Europe). \u00a0Nothing I learned in business school prepared me for these radical models where corporations, and capitalism as we knew it, are upended by this radical change.<\/li>\n
  16. Lack of standardized reputation systems.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Currently, the startups don’t share reputation systems, and are generally siloed. \u00a0While over 50% have deployed Facebook Connect, the ratings and review data of the individual goods being offered, or the owners, are not being shared in a consistent way. \u00a0Solutions, like Trustcloud, have emerged, but lack broad market adoption. \u00a0(Added this a few hours after I posted<\/li>\n
  17. A conduit for the underworld.\u00a0 <\/strong>There is an emerging\u00a0black-market\u00a0in every category, unchecked by regulatory bodies. \u00a0Need I say more?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A sign of market disruption is heat from friction as power changes hands.
    \n<\/strong>Friction comes from disruption, which gives us pause to look more closely at market drivers and market resistors. \u00a0This growing list illustrates the challenges this market will have to contend with, take head on and overcome in order to become a mainstay in society. \u00a0I’ve provided some additional resources that aided me in compiling this list, to which I hope you will add your comments. \u00a0The market will fight these challenges for years to come. \u00a0We’re just at the very beginning.<\/p>\n

    Related Resources: Marketplace Friction<\/strong><\/p>\n