SHARING ECONOMY

The sharing economy is a socio-economic model that allows individuals and groups to make money from available untapped assets and resources, based on the sharing or exchange of goods, services and knowledge between individuals among themselves or between individuals and businesses, in return for money (selling or renting) or for a non-financial consideration such as barter or donation or volunteer.

The sharing economy is an important economic phenomenon, as it is considered one of the fastest growing commercial trends in history.

The term « sharing economy » was introduced in the mid 21st century, as new work systems emerged, influenced by the increasing trend towards urgent intervention to confront the rapid global population growth and the depletion of resources.

This system witnessed real growth after the global economic crisis in 2008, when individuals tried to increase their incomes by other means to get out of the crisis.

This trend continued to grow in an economic context characterized by the impact of modern information technology, which also took an upward curve, facilitating the process of connecting individuals through the Internet and smartphone applications.

In a book called « What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption » in 2010, Rachel Putsman and Roe Rogers introduced the concept of shared socio-economic activism, and according to them this « social revolution » entails the use of « shared and open resources » across « multiple platforms » of In order to create or derive value, which in turn will benefit society.

When the idea of ​​the sharing economy was first widely recognized in 2011, Time magazine named it one of the « Ten Ideas That Will Change the World ».

In March 2013, the technology sector at the CeBIT fair in Hanover, Germany, announced the birth of the sharing economy by saying: “We are moving from the world of ownership to the world of sharing,” as a significant event that will go down in history.

Moving from private ownership and monopoly to sharing and decentralization

In the history of commercial activities, the philosophy of the economy was based on the possession of economic resources by companies and commercial establishments, and the acquisition of more and more assets that they need to continue their activity, to be then sold to the consumer (client), but with the formation of the new economic structure, individuals were able to lead the scene, and began Moving from the idea of ​​private ownership to the idea of ​​participatory.

Where the means of production, resources and assets in the business process became the property of individuals instead of their almost complete monopoly by the companies, and the individual became a service provider or a participant in providing it, and not only a consumer or beneficiary.

Another form of facing monopoly within the framework of the sharing economy is to provide competitors with better quality services at an appropriate price.

Optimizing the resources used and making better use of the available resources

One of the most important principles of this economic orientation is the quest to achieve the best utilization and employment of the available resources. According to the American economic researcher « Jeremy Rifkin », who is considered one of the founders of this new view of the economy, he believes that this type of economy is based on a cycle of goods, in which nothing is disposed of before time, he says, « We share our cars, our homes, our clothes, our equipment with everyone over and over again, » and this « sharing » is supposed to benefit everyone, and the environment in particular,

Others may benefit from resources available to you that you may think are useless or worthless.

Transparency and availability of information

One of the most important advantages of the sharing economy is the availability and transparency of information to enable users to access resources, and to enable economic actors to make correct decisions and benefit as much as possible from market mechanisms, by providing services that are not present in the traditional offer, such as the possibility of evaluating services and presenting these evaluations to all, as the business process within this economic trend is carried out through electronic platforms and mobile phone applications.