Collaborative Economy and Shared Consumption: corporations and digital platforms shaping a new economy in a network connected world

Abstract

Actually the terms collaborative economy and shared consumption are been used to name the current stage of an evolution of the economy and society that is pointing to new ways of doing business and is outlined in part by digital technologies. A global and collective society, organized economically on digital platforms is emerging in the online world. Associative behaviors, social theories and economy are converging to give shape to new models of business markets and consumption. The general aim of this article is to investigate how the digitalization of society is shaping a new economy, and the specific goals, (a) the emergence of collaborative consumption, (b) convergence between social networks and shared consumption, c) collaborative networks and business models and d) the new digital corporations. It is an exploratory research that used bibliographical research to collect data and to delineate a theoretical framework on the subject. Research has shown that there is a cultural shift in consumer habits at a time when there is an exceptional confluence between digital technologies and cultural development that makes possible the emergence of a new collaborative economy organized in networks of shared consumption. Sharing has always being supported by networks, and actually we have a huge one that is redefining its possibilities: the Internet. In many ways, we can see the emergence of Shared Economy as the apex of a natural trend toward digital corporation, outsourcing and open innovation, and the permeability of corporate boundaries.