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Learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the repercussions of a disruptive technology, in addition to its perceived benefits; to incorporate the human element into the technology benefits; to appreciate alternate sides of an argument regarding an issue; and to analyse the cross-functional implications of an innovation that changes the “rules of the game” for doing business.

Uber, a US-based multinational, provides a real-time technology platform to enable users to utilise ride-sharing with Uber drivers. This is an example of a “shared economy” or “collaborative consumption” business model, which has disrupted the status quo of the taxi industry around the world. Uber was launched in South Africa in 2013, creating many job opportunities but causing much reaction from the taxi industry and the authorities.

This is a short case which can be used across a number of programmes, as most students will have had some experience or exposure to the Uber model, and is very useful as an “ice-breaker” case to introduce students to the case study method of analysis and teaching. This case can be used for undergraduate and postgraduate students in business schools or other institutions or on executive education programmes as part of a strategy, marketing, business model innovation or entrepreneurship module.

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CSS 11: Strategy

This paper aims to explore the dynamic context of the sharing economy in the transportation sector. This paper looks into the development of government regulations on the growing business of transportation network companies in Indonesia, the Philippines (represented as middle-income countries) and Taiwan (high-income country). How do government regulations and policies respond to the growing online-enabled transportation service (OETS) in Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan?

This study is qualitative-comparative research. Data on the transportation sector of each country have been gathered from reputable online sources.

Authors found evidence that the policy responses made by the Governments of Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan to the sharing economy in the transportation sector are incremental and trial-error based policies.

This paper has not addressed the policy issues’ relationship between driver and platform companies.

The future of the relationship between sharing firms and local governments suggests that the focus should be on stronger consumer protections, deeper economic redistribution and achievement of other policy aims (Rauch and Schleicher, 2015).

This is a comparative study on different levels of economy, particularly between low- or middle-income and high-income country.

Despite consumers being essential stakeholders in the exponential growth of the sharing economy, consumers’ attitudes towards their rights and responsibilities are relatively unknown. This study aims to test a novel hypothesised model mapping consumers’ attitudes towards their consumer rights and responsibilities with that of their political ideology (liberalism, conservatism and libertarianism) and moral foundations (avoiding harm/fairness, in-group/loyalty, authority/respect and purity/sanctity).

Two survey studies were conducted with consumers of the Uber ride share service; the first being to test measures of political ideology and consumer rights/responsibilities. These measures were then taken into the second study along with the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. The hypothesised model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The findings suggest that political ideology associates with similarities and differences in how consumers perceive their rights and responsibilities in the sharing economy, including mutual self-regulation. Support for these findings is established by identifying links with specific moral foundations.

This study considers a single participant in the sharing economy.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the insights of the value of the society influenced by sharing economy (SE). The study focused on both the benefits and flaws of SE by using the case of renowned SE platform “Uber” to come up with a holistic perspective of these effects from both the facets.

This study collects data from demand and supply side using interview and questionnaire. Then the grounded theory is adopted to analyze interview data and come up with six major research constructs. Further, quantitative analyses methods are applied on questionnaires to test “whether sharing economy creates social value” and to approximately estimate the extent to which sharing is economy influencing social value.

Findings suggested that, when only drivers were inquired about positive and negative effects of SE, positive effects were dominant. Also, when passengers were asked their opinion was also in favor of positive effects. From quantitative data analysis, the major factor significantly influencing the sustainability of the SE was “efficiency.” “Security issues and regulatory issues” were the prime negative factors, though again there was not enough statistical evidence to validate their significance. The authors hereby conclude that the positive contribution of SE is more, and it is increasing the values of the society. And the positive effects were twice significant than the negative effects.

Theoretically, the study contributes to finding both the helpful and harmful effects of SE on the values of the society. Practically, it suggests that governments should allow growth of SE under proper regulations. And car-sharing companies should focus on solving the security issues and regulatory issues.

This chapter examines the labor-empowerment potential of emerging taxi driver cooperative-union partnerships. Cooperative-union partnerships can adopt differing stances toward the virtue of waging broad-based, class-conscious conflict against economic elites to win economic change, as opposed to the virtue of small-scale and practical steps to improve the immediate conditions of individual “job-conscious” workers. This case study utilizes a “class consciousness” versus “job consciousness” framework to examine a recent immigrant taxi driver union-cooperative partnership.

Case study of taxi driver organizing in Denver (CO), utilizing narrative inquiry, and survey and interviews with 69 drivers.

The US tradition of accommodational job consciousness continues to influence union and cooperative leaders. Among Denver’s taxi cooperatives, an emphasis on accommodational job consciousness, bereft of class perspectives, has undermined a narrative promoting worker solidarity or encouraging workers to engage in social justice campaigns for immigrant workers. The consequence has been to weaken the transformational potential of taxi driver activism.

Findings based on a single case study need to be confirmed through additional research.

Cooperative-union partnerships that adopt a class-conscious political approach, including leadership development opportunities, a “labor empowerment curriculum, and partnerships with broader social movements, are a promising alternative to narrowly tailored “job conscious” organizing strategies.

Immigrants are increasingly forming worker cooperatives, and the recent Denver taxi driver union-cooperative is one of the largest taxi cooperatives in the country. Current research on the labor empowerment consequences of these emerging immigrant cooperatives is sparse.

The platform economy reflects the business model of some of the largest and fastest-growing firms in the economy. Platform business models emerge and thrive because of the potential profit in taking advantage of transactions cost reductions to connect people for mutual benefit, and this value creation is best understood by thinking about the epistemology of decentralized market processes. Three essential aspects of knowledge are relevant to platform business models: (1) knowledge can be private and diffuse; (2) knowledge can be contextual; and (3) knowledge may not exist outside of the economic process. After defining and analyzing the technology, economic, and institutional aspects of platforms the author defines and applies market epistemology to explore how platforms harness technological and organizational features to create value-enhancing market platforms by exploiting the epistemic benefits of technology-enabled decentralized market processes. The author concludes by using this epistemic framework to propose an electricity distribution platform business model – the retail electricity industry is undergoing a process of technological dynamism, and as a regulated infrastructure industry, evolving into a decentralized market industry is presenting challenges to which this epistemic framework can bring increased understanding.