IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021 - 27

* Public Policy/Regulations: The government and
the existing regulatory mechanism that permit
the functioning of the sharing economy.
The above structure is exhaustive enough to
study the sharing economy platforms, including the
deviations in pricing or participation of the players.
The infrastructure inadequacies can either enable
or inhibit a sharing economy business. The need for
good services offered by the sharing economy arises
due to gaps in the existing market. For instance, consumers
will not use Uber cars if public transport is
efficient. However, poor Internet connectivity shall
inhibit access to the Uber app [4]. Customers' misbehavior
can lead to additional logistics costs to the
platform or resulting in increased control over the
service delivery. Bike litter in China or Australia is an
example of customer misbehavior [11], [62]. Supplier
is a single firm rather than a group of individuals
in the case of dockless bike-sharing platforms
[45], [62] or office space providers like WeWork [7].
The use of online platforms lowers the transaction
costs, reduces the entry barrier for the supplier of a
product/service, reduces the switching cost for customers,
and helps the operator in generating revenue
through the network effects [46]. They can also use
a combination of own and suppliers' resources [63].
Udemy offers
short-term online courses and works
with the instructors as suppliers. In addition to individuals
as customers, it offers a bundle of courses as
a training module for other businesses [61]. There
are attempts to self-govern through the democratic
platform governance models as in Freegle in the
United Kingdom [43]. The public policy environment
is not able to cope up with the changes ushered
in by the sharing economy firms. Recently, the
CEO of Uber [35] had pleaded for a revamp of the
current American employment system that recognizes
the third way between drivers and contractors.
The structure of the sharing economy with the linkage
between the components is presented in Figure 1.
The above components can be illustrated with the
Uber case. The supplier/service providers are the car
owners who offer paid rides in their cars in the free
time or when the vehicle is idle. The car owners can
list their vehicles due to the Internet-enabled application
mobile application powered by telecom companies
and make it visible to the needy. The maps
of the roads are made available for the applications
and the suppliers by Google Maps. Those who want
June 2021
Figure 1. Components of the sharing economy.
a ride can get the same by accessing the mobile
application. The payment is also facilitated through
the application. The location of riders and the suppliers
are traced and connected. The mobile application
is a platform that collates and connects idle
cars, willing owners, needy customers, and location
details. It also enables the transaction between the
suppliers and the customers. The fee to be paid by
the customers is either fixed by the platform based
on market demand and supply or by the state. The
fares can also be dynamic due to real-time analysis
of demand. The government permits the running of
the application and cars on the roads. It may or may
not regulate the fee to be charged.
Though sharing economy appears to be filling the
demand unmet by the existing market conditions,
there are adverse impacts. It is argued that sharing
economy controls the excessive consumption of
finite resources [47]; there has been no evidence so
far [55]. The existing businesses are affected by the
new sharing economy firms. For instance, Airbnb
has resulted in a reduction of revenues by 10% for
hotels [68] and has increased the cost of housing
in urban areas [13]. Similar observations are made
for taxi businesses by Uber [8]. The driver owners in
Uber are not able to earn the minimum wages and
are forced to work for long hours [42], [59]. As the
regulations that govern the sharing economy business
are still evolving, the consumers' safety is still
in jeopardy. The sharing economy is seen as a threat
to professionalism, public safety, privacy and health,
and labor rights [65]. Critics point out that sharing
economy firms' spontaneously violate the state regulations
[16] and add to the environmental woes and
disregard the sustainability concerns [17], [18], [20].
27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021
