The ‘sharing' impact

Big businesses can co-exist with the sharing economy and benefit from the latter’s strengths. Such a combined industry experience can create value out of underutilised assets.

- DR TYE AND COURTNEY CALDWELL, SHEARSHARE

Trust. Agility. Efficiency. Community. These are time-tested characteristics upon which any good business is built. But we are not talking about global consumer big business. We are talking about its more nascent e-counterpart: the sharing economy—which is projected1 to grow to $335 billion globally by 2025. As for its geographic reach, it is expected to widen immeasurably. From hospitality and healthcare to real estate and transportation, even end-of-life planning is being imprinted by sharing models. But the idea of a mutually beneficial relationship is not a new concept. On the contrary, sharing has simply been adapted to the way businesses are choosing to progress and win in this current technological landscape. With an estimated growth of 2,133 per cent by the year 2025, what is the real impact of the sharing economy on traditional businesses?

Let us start at the beginning, shall we?

One could argue that the sharing economy is precipitated on where big business has already gained a foothold. If that is the case, where are investors displaying the most enthusiasm for highgrowth prospects? A 2016 Bloomberg report2 looked at 890 US startups that were founded from 2009-2015 and received at least $20 million in VC and other equity funding. Included in the report’s findings are indeed industry categories that the sharing economy has started to de-structure: Internet, software, commercial and financial services, real estate, and telecommunications.