Читать книгу Plataformas digitales: Aspectos jurídicos - Apol·lònia Martínez Nadal - Страница 27

Collaborative economy has several designations: sharing economy, platform economy, peer platform markets, crowd based capitalism, crowd work, the gig economy1. Regardless of the designation, collaborative economy is based on forms of exchange of goods and services, through a digital platform. One can say that this digital economy is one of the characteristic elements of the 21st century economy and allows to rationalize the use of goods and services, by sharing them, by reusing goods that would otherwise be unexploited. Socially, there is, therefore, an inherent idea of sustainability, environmental preservation and reuse of resources inherent in the collaborative economy that justifies its success. As a result, users of the collaborative economy experience a devaluation of the property of the goods, to the benefit of the enjoyment of the same goods. In addition to optimize the use of goods or providing services, collaborative economy allows owners of goods or service providers to get income from the products or services they are sharing and which otherwise would not exist at all, or not exist with the same expression, generating significant economic gains. For users of products or services it also allows for significant savings. In addition, there is a use of technological evolution and digital development, which allows people to be in constant digital contact, through computers, smartphones, smart watches… Consequently, one can say that the collaborative economy has economic-social and technological roots2.

It is interesting to identify the actors of collaborative economy and what are their main characteristics. As for the actors, there are, on the one hand, service providers who may be natural or legal persons that, in a more or less professional manner, make goods, time or services available for sharing, free of charge or for a fee. At the other extreme, there are users who can be natural or legal persons and are the final beneficiaries of the service or shared resource. Connecting these two actors are the intermediaries, who facilitate the exchange of goods, services and information between service providers and users, free of charge or for a fee (collaborative platforms).

Several authors relate the development of the collaborative economy to situations of economic crisis that hit the beginning of the 21st century and that forced the search for new means of income and cost reduction techniques, through a better use of goods and services3. The truth is that the expansion of this reality in recent years is remarkable. A 2016 report produced for the European Commission analysed five key sectors of the collaborative economy in the European Union (EU): local accommodation, transport sharing, domestic services, professional services (administration, consulting and accounting), collaborative financial services. In this study, it was concluded that, in 2015, the collaborative economy generated revenue of around 4 billion euros, in the Union, and facilitated transactions in the amount of about 28 billion euros4. At the time, there were about 275 collaborative platforms in nine Member States, and it was pointed out that it was a sector with strong expansion potential and it is estimated that, in 2025, the sector will generate a profit of US $ 335 million5. This means that this sector can contribute to the growth of the competitiveness of the States’ economy, to the increase of new work opportunities and more flexible work opportunities, to the emergence of new sources of income. For consumers, it implies the emergence of more opportunities for choice and at lower costs. In the end, there will be a more sustainable growth of economies.

There are several definitions of collaborative economy. The European Commission defines them as “business models within which activities are facilitated by collaborative platforms that create an open market for the temporary use of goods or services, often provided by individuals”6. The doctrine points to several characteristics common to the activities of the collaborative economy7, which are the most identifying: the interconnection of a large number of people, means and resources through digital channels; the sharing, reuse and redistribution of goods and services; the relationship of trust established between the stakeholders and the construction of a community around the service; the open and potentially global nature, easily bringing together actors spread across several states.

In the functioning of the activities of the collaborative economy, social networks also play a fundamental role, because in addition to the dissemination of the service, it allows users to share their experiences, multiplying the projection of the service and the advertising made by users themselves. There is even news of companies that operate in the collaborative economy market and that use various social networks to teste users’ trust in their services, such as Blablacar or Airbnb8.

Taking into consideration the scope of the activity of the collaborative economy companies, collaborative activities can be classified in: collaborative consumption, collaborative production, collaborative learning, collaborative finance and collaborative governance. Collaborative consumption integrates the collaborative systems that allow consumers access to goods and services through bartering, renting, lending, trading, leasing, exchanging reselling and swapping9. Uber, Airbnb, BlaBlaCar are examples. In the collaborative production, groups of persons cooperate in the production or distributions of goods, like OpenStreetMap10. In collaborative learning are shared resources and knowledge, through for example free access to books, open courses, among others, like in Coursera and Wikipedia11. In collaborative finance, one finds finance services, like loans or investment, outside the traditional banking strictures, like CrowdClube or Zopa12. Finally, collaborative governance consists in horizontal and participatory governance mechanisms, like the ones existing in cities13.