Description:  U.S. car sharing company, Zipcar, is latching on to a growing trend that sees consumers opting to borrow, rent or share items like automobiles, clothes, their homes and even vacuum cleaners instead of buying them outright. The so-called “sharing economy” has evolved as digital technologies have reduced the cost of finding people to share with and increased the extent to which you can trust them, Arun Sundararajan, professor at New York University tells BNN.

Source:  BNN.ca – video report

Date: Feb 15, 2013

Link: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/2/15/The-rise-of-the-sharing-economy.aspx

Questions for Discussions:

• Besides cost savings, what are the factors driving the development of sharing-businesses?
• From a management perspective, which consumer product businesses are likely to see further development?
• Refering to a specific example of a businesses that is threatened by this growing phenomenon, what can management do to mitigate the loss of customers?