Challenges of the Sharing Economy for SMEs: A Literature Review

Zuzana Soltysova,Vladimir Modrak

doi:10.3390/su12166504

Abstract

The sharing economy is becoming increasingly popular in many sectors also thanks to the fact that not only young generation, but people of almost all ages are digitally literate, and therefore they readily participate in sharing economy practices. A very important part of their motivation comes from the knowledge that it is a great way to save money, but a no less important reason is the philosophical aspect, which is consistent with efforts to promote more sustainable consumption practices that prioritize access over ownership. The sharing economy has become a subject of interest not only among researchers and practitioners but also among policymakers and stakeholders who are concerned about the further extension of digital ecosystems. Fortunately, theorists from many fields, such as the commercial economy, gift economy, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, etc., pay due attention to this phenomenon. However, there is still room for focused exploration of this entrepreneurial and innovative approach from specific views in order to bring useful findings and insights on given issues. The intention of this study is to analyze the existing related literature and categorize sharing economy-based business models in relation to traditional business models. Potentially, this study can also contribute to a better understanding of the perspectives of the sharing economy in the transition of SMEs towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

Highlights

The sharing economy (SE) is considered to be one of the topical issues of the Industry 4.0 strategic line, and for this reason it might be a subject of interest for small and medium enterprises
In spite of the fact that the SE phenomena is quite widely covered in almost all its aspects in the scientific literature, there is not distinct categorization of its possible modes, and an explanation of how SE-based business models relate to traditional entrepreneurial businesses is missing
The purpose of the qualitative study was to firstly analyze differences between so called traditional sharing approaches, which are typically based on ownership and are practiced within families and communities as a natural human behavior, against platform-based sharing economy business models, which are powered by disruptive digital innovations

Summary

Introduction

The sharing economy (SE) is considered to be one of the topical issues of the Industry 4.0 strategic line, and for this reason it might be a subject of interest for small and medium enterprises. In spite of the fact that the SE phenomena is quite widely covered in almost all its aspects in the scientific literature, there is not distinct categorization of its possible modes, and an explanation of how SE-based business models relate to traditional entrepreneurial businesses is missing. For this reason, implementation of the SE practice into SMEs is rather not simple at all. Decisive features and perspectives of SE will be outlined in the discussion and conclusions sections

Methodological Framework

A Qualitative Approach