Rather than owning them, customers increasingly prefer renting or leasing products, creating a new business sector that is widely described as the sharing economy. As a result, new business models have emerged, most of which are platforms and are hence described as sharing economy platforms. Along with their growing popularity and success, these new business models create controversies with regards to their impact on society and environment, especially in the mobility sector. Optimistic framings view the sharing economy as an opportunity for societies, while critics argue that the business models are built in a way that benefits the companies providing the platforms rather than the individuals using them or the society at large. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how business models are built in order to meet positive expectations towards sharing economy or not and business models of companies operating in the sector have been changed in this context. The phenomenon of the sharing economy is explained, as well the concept of business models. On the basis of this theoretical background, four different new business models in the mobility sector are compared. It is found that the business models of customer-to-customer platforms are more likely to meet the optimistic expectations towards the sharing economy than business-to-consumer platforms, whilst the latter seem to increasingly initiate efforts to expand their business models towards these expectations.
Date of Award | 19 Jul 2016 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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Supervisor | Susana Frazão Pinheiro (Supervisor) |
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The potential of shared mobility: new business models in the sharing economy
Falge , J. (Student). 19 Jul 2016
Student thesis: Master's Thesis