exposé master thesis frank born european master in ...€¦ · exposé – master thesis 5 2.4...

Exposé – Master Thesis

Frank Born

European Master in Business Studies

Exposé – Master Thesis 2

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Economic Developments ................................................................................. 6

Table 2 Global and Environmental Impacts ................................................................. 7

Table 3 Collaborative Consumption ........................................................................... 10

Table 4 Timeline ......................................................................................................... 15


CONTENT

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. 2

1. TITLE ................................................................................................................................. 4

2. ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 4

2.2 Purpose ...................................................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 4

2.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 5

3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................................... 5

4. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 10

4.1 Setting ...................................................................................................................................... 10

4.2 Participants .............................................................................................................................. 11

4.3 Intervention Materials and Procedures .................................................................................... 11

4.4 Measurement Instruments ....................................................................................................... 11

4.5 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 11

4.6 Benefits and Problems .............................................................................................................. 11

5. OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS ....................................................................................... 12

6. TIMELINE ...................................................................................................................... 15

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 16


1. TITLE

The role of collaborative consumption

Will collaborative consumption develop from a niche into the new status quo?

2. ABSTRACT

2.1 Background

Changes of the consumption patterns have always taken place. Never in the

history, however, was the impact of humans on its surrounding environment so

significant. The base of this impact is the industrialization and the post World War

economic boom in the triad. The attitude towards buying changed dramatically with

the start of hyper consumption and the introduction of the credit system. These years

of idealizing haves and admiring ownership also impacted other nations around the

globe. The rise of the internet created a complete new form of media. It allows the

current and new generations to thrive on the developments. The Internet offers new

market places and acts as a medium to create new communities. The most recent

developments indicate a revival of old virtues and arts of trading. Collaborative

consumption is a developing and increasingly observable trend which includes many

forms of sharing and trading and defines access as superior to ownership. This trend

appears to be manifold and covers numerous traditional and new industries (Botsman

& Rogers, 2010).

2.2 Purpose

Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate if this trend can be

considered as a phase, a niche or if it can become a movement that will potentially

redefine the way we do business. Will collaborative consumption develop from a

niche into the new status quo?

2.3 Method

The prediction to answer this question will be supported by a thorough review

of available statistics and articles. Additionally, a questionnaire will be prepared that

will be distributed to contacts in the United States, Europe, and South Korea/Japan in

order to predict the future of collaborative consumption on a global scale. Although,

using a small sample size from a limited number of countries is not ideal, it will

allow empirical implications of the impact of collaborative consumption.


2.4 Conclusion

Authors suggest that collaborative consumption can substitute ownership.

Therefore, this thesis could potentially suggest that companies have to rethink the

way they conduct business. Moreover, this can include a more experience driven as

well as a sustainable approach to modern consumerism.

3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Before analyzing collaborative consumption it makes sense to look at prior

economic developments such as industrialization and the phase of hyper

consumption. Some research has already been conducted in this field and is listed in

Table 1.

Topic Title Author Source Content

Economic

Development

Technological

revolutions and

financial capital:

the dynamics of

bubbles and

golden ages

Carlota

Perez

Edward Elgar

Publishing,

2002

Five ages of transformation

that have happened to date

Hyper

Consumption

and Financial

Crisis

The Inflection Is

Near?

Thomas

Friedman

http://www.ny

times.com/200

9/03/08/opinio

n/08friedman.

html?_r=0

Economic Crisis and

Environmental issues

Hyper

Consumption

We-Think: Mass

Innovation Not

Mass Production

Charles

Leadbeater

Profile Books,

2008, 26

Prior definition: credit,

advertising, own

collaborative consumption

defined by: reputation,

community, what access,

sharing

Hyper

Consumption

Made to Break:

Technology and

Obsolescence in

America

Giles Slade (Harvard

University

Press, 2006),

25

First posters “Waste Not,

Want Not” (1917)

Then: posters “Beware of

Thrift and Unwise

Economy” encourage

repetitive consumption

Hyper

Consumption

Waste and

Want: A Social

Susan

Strasser

(Henry Holt

and Company,

connections between

disposability and women’s


History of Trash 1999 liberation

Hyper

Consumption

What’s mine is

yours: How

Collaborative

Consumption is

Changing the

Way we live

Rachel

Botsman

book law of unintended

consequences: unanticipated

and unintended effects

unintended consequences:

ignorance, error, immediate

interest, basic value, self-

defeating prophecy

Hyper

Consumption

What’s mine is

yours: How

Collaborative

Consumption is

Changing the

Way we live

Rachel

Botsman

book 4 big forces: the power of

persuasion, buy now-pay

later, law of life cycles, just

one more factor

Table 1 Economic Developments

In the following (Table 2) research shows what kind of global and

environmental impacts the prior periods had on the world.


Global

impacts

Natural

Capitalism

Paul

Hawken,

Amory

Lovins and

L. Hunter

Lovins

(Rocky

Mountain

Institute,

1999), 4,

www.natcap.o

rg/sitepages/pi

d5.php

Past 50 years more

consumptions than in all

generations before

Global impacts Price

Competition in

1955

Victor

Lebow

Journal of

Retailing

(Spring 1955),

www.scribd.c

om/doc/96592

0/LebowArticl

e

Economy: consumption

way of life, satisfaction

Global impact Turning

powerful stats in

(Jordan, 2008)to

art

Chris Jordan TED

conference

(June 2008).

http://www.te

Unsustainable behaviors can

add up and can have

uncontrollable consequences


d.com/talks/ch

ris_jordan_pic

tures_some_sh

ocking_stats.h

tml

Global impact What’s mine is

yours: How

Collaborative

Consumption is

Changing the

Way we live

Rachel

Botsman

book Everybody is responsible.

Waste and other

unsustainable behaviors can

accumulate and have an

impact on a collective level.

Environmental

Impacts

The Worlds

Largest Dump:

The Great

Pacific Garbage

Patch

Thomas M.

Kostigen

Discover

Magazine (10

July 10 2008),

http://discover

magazine.com

/2008/jul/10-

the-worlds-

largest-dump

6 Plastic to 1 plankton in the

Pacific Ocean

Environmental

Impacts

Two-Thirds of

Worlds

Resources Used

Up

Tim Radford (30 March 30

2005),

www.guardian

.co.uk/science/

2005/mar/30/e

nvironment.re

search

Since 1980 consumed one-

third of planets resources

Environmental

Impacts

The Chaos

Point: The

World at the

Crossroads

Ervin Laszlo (Hampton

Roads

Publishing

Company,

2006), 17

Statistics about how much

the average American will

use in his/her lifetime

Table 2 Global and Environmental Impacts

Research about collaborative consumption is manifold. Table 3 includes

articles that support collaborative consumption, indicate reasons for an ever growing

trend, such as new marketplaces and the “new” generation, but additionally provides

principles under which collaborative consumption could possibly increase its value.



Theory of

collaborative

consumption

Beyond Markets

and States:

Polycentric

Governance of

Complex

Economic

Systems

Elinor

Ostrom

Nobel Prize

Lecture

“local property can be

successfully managed by

local commons without any

regulation by central

authorities or privatization”

economics: about resource

allocation and distribution

problems

Even in capitalist societies

organized commons can

work

Importance of

collaborative

consumption

A Day on the

Internet

Online

Education

www.onlineed

ucation.net/int

ernet

Statistics on online networks

Importance of

collaborative

consumption

Rent your way

out of the credit

crunch online

Sarah Marsh http://www.re

uters.com/artic

le/2008/12/05/

us-germany-

rental-life-

tech-

idUSTRE4B4

4DE20081205

Statistics on Zilok: 25%

since founded in Oct. 2007

New

Marketplaces

What would

google do?

Jeff Jarvis HarperBusines

s, 2009, 57

Variety through experience

(uniqueness) instead of

consuming what everybody

consumes

New

Generation

Generation Y

Gets Involved

Sharon

Jayson

USA Today

(24 October

2006),

www.usatoday

.com/news/nat

ion/2006-10-

23-gen-next-

cover_x-htm

Statistics about gen Y


Reciprocity Influence,

Science and

Practice

Robert B.

Cialdini

Scott,

Foresman and

Company,

1985

(www.icsaho

me.com/infose

rv_articules/ci

aldini_robert_i

nfluence.htm)

Continuing relations

Principles of

CC

Critical Mass:

How one thing

leads to another

Philip Ball Farrar, Straus

and Giroux,

2006

(http://en.wiki

pedia.org/wiki

/Critical_mass

_(sociodynami

cs).

Definition critical mass

Principles of

CC

Robin Chase on

the (financial)

Value of

Sharing

Robin Chase 9 July 2009,

www.good.is/

post/robin-

chase-on-the-

financial-

value-of-

sharing

About idling capacity

Principles of

CC

Elinor Ostrom

and the Digital

Commons

David

Bollier

13 October

2009,

www.forbes.c

om/2009/10/1

3/open-source-

net-neutrality-

elinor-ostrom-

nobel-

opinions-

contributors-

david-

bollier.html

Belief in the Commons

People can self-organize

themselves to take care of

resources that they care

about.

Principles of

CC

The tragedy of

the commons

Garrett

Hardin

Science 162,

no 3859 (13

December

1968):1243-

Belief in the Commons

Problem with commons,

does not work


1248

Ownership “Share My

Ride”

Mark Levine The New York

Times (5

March 2009),

http://www.ny

times.com/200

9/03/08/magaz

ine/08Zipcar-

t.html

Sharing is the new trend

after ownership.

Table 3 Collaborative Consumption

4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 Setting

The first part will cover scholarly research, statistics of previous articles in

this field and is theoretically orientated.

The second part will cover an empirical quantitative study. The study will consist

of a survey that will be distributed to at least 200 participants of each region. The

survey will cover the following topics:

Purchasing habits and preferences of the participants (Where do you buy

products? What kind? What platforms do you use? Have you ever

participated in collaborative consumption?)

Questions concerning the consumption pattern (place of consumption,

amount of consumption, average spending, and decision making to use or not

to use collaborative consumption)

Questions about collaborative consumption and the participants’ expectations

(do you do that because you want to earn money, for the environment,

because of political ideas, community, social experience)

Questions to determine in what occasions the participants tend to participate

in collaborative consumption

Questions to extract the likelihood of the participants to try new things

(examples of collaborative consumption)


Questions to determine the socio-demographic background of the participants

4.2 Participants

Participants will be selected from the following regions: United States of

America, European Union, and South Korea/Japan. My personal as well as

community networks will be used to invite participants to the study

4.3 Intervention Materials and Procedures

The software Sphinx will be used to design an online questionnaire which

then will be distributed via email and social media sites (e.g. facebook, Twitter, ...) to

the participants.

4.4 Measurement Instruments

Sphinx will be helpful when designing and analyzing the results of the

questionnaire. The software is equipped with all features for a proper statistical

analysis of the answers. The online survey will include various scales (e.g. Likert

scale) which will be based on the results of the theoretical part.

4.5 Data Analysis

The survey will include different statistical techniques to analyze the data.

Examples are open as well as closed questions and potentially a wall of pictures.

4.6 Benefits and Problems

The benefits are that this way a brought spectrum of opinions towards

collaborative consumption will be able to be covered. Participants from three

continents will be part of the project which means that if there is a global trend, it

will be observable.

Problems could be that too few participants will take part in the survey and

that only people who have access to the Internet will be able to fill out the

questionnaire. Consequently, a tendency towards a certain age group could be

observed and influence the results. Also, only participants from the USA, Europe,

and South Korea/Japan will be part of the survey that means a large amount of other

countries and culture will be excluded and may consequently affect the outcome of

the questionnaire.


5. OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS

1. Introduction

a. Research question

b. Preliminary definitions

c. Research methodology

2. Development of collaborative consumption

a. Definition

b. Examples (statistics)

c. Key drivers of collaborative consumption

i. Value shift

ii. New marketplaces

iii. New generation (millennials, Gen Y, Gen We)

iv. Connecting (beyond consumerism)

v. Importance of collaboration

1. (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)

2. Mutualism (people helping each other)

3. Reciprocity (I give you now, you’ll give me later)

vi. The Internet

1. Crowd-sourcing (The power of crowds)

2. Highly enabled collaborators

3. The decline of the middle men

4. From hyper-consumption to sharing

vii. Collaborative consumption offline

d. Systems

i. Product service systems

ii. Redistribution markets

iii. Collaborative lifestyles

e. Principles

i. Critical mass (social proof)

ii. Idling capacity

iii. Belief in the commons

iv. Trust between strangers

f. Ownership

i. Advantages


ii. Disadvantages

g. Sharing

i. Seen on the Internet

ii. Advantages

1. Reduction of transaction costs

2. Matching supply with demand

3. Un-consumption

a. Cradle to Cradle

b. Environmental advantages

c. Sustainability

d. Price advantages

4. Power of leaderless organizations

5. Fairness/Trust/Feedback (Coursera example)

a. From monkeys to humans

b. Trust features

i. User’s name and physical address

ii. User describes him/herself

iii. Peer rating

iv. Vouching

iii. Disadvantages

h. Communities

i. Online

ii. Offline

iii. Advantages

iv. Disadvantages

i. Collaborative consumption as a mass phenomenon

i. Viral is important for mass success

ii. Experiences

iii. Participation

3. Economic developments

a. Hyper-consumption

i. Power of persuasion

ii. Buy now-pay later

iii. “Law of life cycles”


iv. “Just one more” factor

b. The consumer in the 20th Century

i. Advertizing

ii. Repetitive consumption

iii. Creating waste (Parkinson’s law)

c. Crises: Oil Crisis, Economic Crisis 2008/2009

d. Global and environmental impacts

4. New business opportunities

a. Connecting with brands and products (example Nike,…)

b. Want brand, love brand, participate brand

c. Value through well being

5. Empirical study

a. Methodology

b. Perception

c. Selection

d. Consumption

i. Expectation

ii. Moment

iii. Consumption patterns

e. Attitude

i. Towards current mainstream consumption

ii. Towards collaborative consumption

f. Trends

6. Managerial implications

a. New businesses

7. Future research


6. TIMELINE

Weeks Phase Subject

24.09.12-31.10.12 Research Create Exposé

01.11.12-14.12.12 Theory I Work on the theory part of

the thesis

15.12.12-19.12.12 Survey I Create the survey, send to

participants I

20.12.12-07.01.13 Theory II Finalize the Theory part of

the thesis

02.01.13-10.01.13 Survey II Send two more reminders

of the survey, find new

participants

11.01.13-14.01.13 Buffer Buffer

15.01.13-26.01.13 Intermediate Report Reflect on what has been

done, create the report

27.01.13-31.01.13 Buffer Buffer

01.02.13-15.03.13 Survey analysis Analyze the survey

16.03.13-31.03.13 Buffer Buffer

01.04.13-30.04.13 Finalizing Finalize the thesis

01.05.13-28.05.13 Final Report Prepare the final report

Table 4 Timeline


References

Ball, P. (2005). Critical Mass: How one thing leads to another. London: Arrow

Books.

Bollier, D. (2009, 10 13). Elinor Ostrom And The Digital Commons. Retrieved from

Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/13/open-source-net-neutrality-elinor-

ostrom-nobel-opinions-contributors-david-bollier.html

Botsman, R., & Rogers, R. (2010). What’s mine is yours: How Collaborative

Consumption is Changing the Way we live. HaperCollins.

Chase, R. (2009, 07 09). Robin Chase on the (financial) Value of Sharing. Retrieved

from Good.is: http://www.good.is/posts/robin-chase-on-the-financial-value-

of-sharing

Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: Science and Practice. Needham Heights: Ally &

Bacon A Pearson Education Company. Retrieved from http://micco.se/wp-

content/uploads/2012/03/Robert-Cialdini-INFLUENCE-Science-and-

Practice.pdf

Friedman, T. (2009, 3 7). The Inflection Is Near? Retrieved from The New York

Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html

Hardin, G. (1968, 12 13). The tragedy of the commons. Retrieved from

http://dieoff.org/page95.htm

Hawken, P., Lovins, A., & Lovins, L. H. (1999). Natural Capitalism. London:

Earthscan Publications Ltd.

Jarvis, J. (2009). What would google do? New York: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Jayson, S. (2006, 10 24). Generation Y Gets Involved. Retrieved from USA Today:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-23-gen-next-

cover_x.htm


Jordan, C. (2008). Turning powerful stats into art. Retrieved from TED:

http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_jordan_pictures_some_shocking_stats.html

Kostigen, T. M. (2008, 7 10). The Worlds Largest Dump: The Great Pacific Garbage

Patch. Retrieved from Discover magazine:

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-

dump#.UMdeB3cmlVs

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Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Leadbeater, C. (2008). We-Think: Mass Innovation Not Mass Production. London:

Profile Books Ltd.

Lebow, V. (1955). Price Competition in 1955. Journal of Retailing.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/magazine/08Zipcar-

t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Marsh, S. (2008, 12 08). Rent your way out of the credit crunch online. Retrieved

from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/12/05/us-germany-rental-

life-tech-idUSTRE4B44DE20081205

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http://www.onlineeducation.net/internet

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Nobelprize.org:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2009/ostrom_le

cture.pdf

Perez, C. (2002). Technological revolutions and financial capital: the dynamics of

bubbles and golden ages. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Radford, T. (2005). Two-Thirds of Worlds Resources Used Up. The Guardian.


Slade, G. (2006). Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America.

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Strasser, S. (1999). Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash. New York:

Metropolitan Books.

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