Advanced Seminar on Sharing Economy - Information Systems and Systems Engineering
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University of Cologne
Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences
Information Systems Area
Advanced Seminar on Sharing Economy
Term: Summer 2021
Chair for Information Systems and Systems Engineering (Vertr.-Prof. Dr. Chasin)
Contact information:
Vertr.-Prof. Dr. Friedrich Chasin (friedrich.chasin@uni-koeln.de)
Sharing Economy Business and Research
“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles
[...] and Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation
provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is
happening” (Goodwin, 2015). During the last decade, we
witnessed a new episode in the servitization process
(Vandermerwe & Rada, 1988), as consumers increasingly
prefer access to resources over ownership (Firnkorn &
Müller, 2012; Marx, 2011; Rifkin, 2000). In this spirit,
users of Airbnb and Uber access apartments and cars
instead of owning them. Sharing services like Airbnb and
Uber are known by various names, most commonly by the
umbrella term sharing economy (SE)1 (Andersson et al.,
Image based on https://medium.com/nomobo/the-sharing-economy-
2013; Malhotra & Van Alstyne, 2014). is-good-for-the-environment-heres-why-db37214215f7
Among organizations that can satisfy a broad definition of a sharing economy business (a
business that provides temporary access to goods and services), a distinct branch of the
sharing economy businesses exists, in which privately owned physical resources are
channeled into IT-enabled marketplaces. This branch has facilitated the emergence of
platforms that provide access to various physical resources, including retail spaces
(Storefront2), 3D printers (makexyz3), and even dogs (BorrowMyDoggy4). For simplicity,
these businesses are referred to as sharing economy businesses.
Following the initial optimism regarding the transformative power of the phenomenon
(Walsh, 2011; Wogan, 2013) and the phase where academic inquiries focused on
understanding major drivers behind SE, including overconsumption (Leismann et al., 2013;
Moeller & Wittkowski, 2010), increasing environmental awareness (Gansky, 2010),
1
See Schlagwein et al. (2020) for a refined view on what sharing economy is and is not
2
https://www.thestorefront.com
3
https://www.makexyz.com
4
https://www.borrowmydoggy.com
1convenience in terms of saving time, space, and effort (Scholl et al., 2013), as well as
financial benefits (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2012), a more differentiated view on sharing economy
emerged highlighting, beside the benefits, the phenomenon’s dark side (Malhotra & Van
Alstyne, 2014) and tempering the expectations regarding SE’s omnipresent business
opportunities across industries (Chasin et al., 2018).
However, the sharing economy is here to stay, judging by the steadily rising number of
sharing economy users5. What remains undisputed is that within a comparatively short time,
SE businesses like Airbnb and Uber were able to establish extensive infrastructures with low
levels of investment and to challenge traditional value chains (Chase, 2013; Owyang, 2015;
Owyang et al., 2013; The Economist, 2013). With it, the sharing economy found its way into
business and academia and became part of the public vocabulary.
Against this background, the research seminar goal, alongside illuminating the specifics of
sharing economy businesses and their entrepreneurial implications, is to assess the sharing
economy market development of the last years and to relate it to the academic advances in
terms of understanding the drivers, the challenges, and the opportunities of the sharing
economy. Hence, the seminar will enable students to tap into extant research on the present
and the future of sharing economy, focusing on specific aspects, including drivers of the peer-
trust into sharing economy offerings, synthesis of sharing economy’s landscape of legal
challenges, and analysis of the sharing economy’s sustainability impact.
The students will learn to identify, plan and conduct their research project. The research
projects are likely to represent a synthesis of existing research on selected topics. Through
engagement with sharing economy businesses, the students will also learn how to use market
analysis to identify research opportunities.
Fundamentals on Scientific Work
The students learn the fundamentals of scientific work via the Flipped Classroom on
Scientific Work. A separate registration (and preparation) is necessary:
• https://www.ilias.uni-koeln.de/ilias/goto_uk_fold_2445676.html
Students are exempted if they have already attended the classroom session of the Flipped
Classroom on Scientific Work in the context of another course. If this is the case, students
should contact fc@ercis.de beforehand, providing the course name and semester in which the
classroom session on scientific work has been accomplished.
For more information, please visit:
• https://wirtschaftsinformatik.uni-koeln.de/en/studies/theses/scientific-work
Activities
The seminar's activities fall into one of two main interrelated parts: the domain part and the
research part. In the domain part, students accumulate knowledge of the sharing economy
domain and its businesses. In the research part, students work on a selected topic within
sharing economy using their matured domain understanding.
5
An example from USA SE market https://www.statista.com/statistics/289856/number-sharing-economy-
users-us/
2Domain part
1. The students learn about the basics of the sharing economy and the structure of
sharing economy businesses.
2. The students dive into a single sharing business and its business model.
3. The students learn how to classify sharing economy platforms and apply this
knowledge to classify several platforms based on an existing dataset of 522 SE
platforms classified until 2017. Each student classifies a subset of “old” and “new”
sharing economy platforms.
4. The students create a summary of changes within one of the classification dimensions,
e.g., looking at how the portfolio of resources shared on sharing economy platforms
has changed (for example, the proportion of platforms focusing on sharing luxury
goods might have increased).
Research part
1. The students acquire the basics of conducting scientific work via the Flipped
Classroom.
2. The students select a research topic from the set of options (topic suggestions are
possible).
3. The students plan their seminar paper and develop a research protocol that is
submitted and discussed in teams of three students + lecturer.
4. The students develop a work-in-progress version of their paper that is submitted and
discussed in teams of three students + lecturer.
5. The final research outcome is documented in the seminar paper.
Timeline
Date Event Time/Place
06.04 Online session on Scientific Work Online
(not necessary if you have attended before) 11:00-17:00
14.04 Kick-off; organization; SE basics; SE business models Online
09:00-11:00
20.04 Submission of an individual SE business model analysis EOD
21.04 Classification of SE platforms; data set introduction Online
09:00-11:00
28.04 Introduction to SE research; presentation of seminar paper topics; Online
how to write a review 09:00-11:00
05.05 Classification workshop 1 Online
09:00-11:00
12.05 Classification workshop 2 Online
09:00-11:00
19.05 Finalization of the classification and submission of the one-page EOD
3classification summary for one of the dimensions
26.05 Submission of research protocols for joint discussions on 01.06 EOD
02.06 Review of research protocols and discussion of questions in one of Online
the slots (each slot hosts a group of about three students) 09:00-10:30 &
11:00-12:30 &
13:00- 14:30
23.06 Submission of work-in-progress for joint discussions on 22.06 EOD
30.06 Review of work-in-progress papers and discussion of questions in Online
one of the slots (each slot hosts a group of about three students) 09:00-10:30 &
11:00-12:30 &
13:00-14:30
21.07 Submission of the final seminar paper EOD
Research part Domain part
Course Grading
The course grade has three components:
• Business model analysis of an individual SE platform (10%) - you assess a sharing
economy business of your choosing using a dedicated business model coding template
that will be introduced in the course. Results are discussed in the class.
• SE market analysis (30%) – The seminar group receives a dataset of 522 classified
sharing economy platforms based on an established taxonomy. Each student’s task is
to review a part of the classification, which misses the market developments of the last
four years, and to assess a part of the missing portion of the sharing economy business
landscape. The classification is performed iteratively with multiple joint discussions
and classification conflict resolutions. In addition to the classification, each student
submits a one-page summary of observed changes within one of the classification
dimensions.
• Seminar paper (60%) – based on the matured understanding of the landscape of
sharing economy businesses, your paper addresses one of the central research aspects
associated with sharing economy platforms, including topics like drivers of the peer-
trust into sharing economy offerings, synthesis of legal challenges and analysis of the
sharing economy’s sustainability impact. The topic assignment is performed based on
student preferences (each student provides three priorities), and the assignment is
performed based on these priorities. The work represents a literature review and
contains (1) a clear and concise introduction that motivates the research, (2) a
definition of central terms and presentation of related research, (3) documentation of
the review approach, (4) concept-based presentation of the review results, (5) a
discussion of the results in terms of reflection on meeting the review goal, connection
to the market observations, and avenues for further research, (6) a short conclusion.
The submitted research protocol and work-in-progress documents are part of the
seminar paper grading.
4References
Andersson, M., Hjalmarsson, A., & Avital, M. (2013). Peer-to-Peer Service Sharing
Platforms: Driving Share and Share Alike on a Mass-Scale. In R. Baskerville & M. Chau
(Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS
2013) (pp. 2964–2978).
Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. (2012). Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing.
Journal of Consumer Research, 39(4), 881–898. https://doi.org/10.1086/666376
Chase, R. (2013). The Rise of the Collaborative Economy. The Market News.
http://pioneers.themarknews.com/articles/the-rise-of-the-collaborative-economy/
Chasin, F., von Hoffen, M., Hoffmeister, B., & Becker, J. (2018). Reasons for Failures of
Sharing Economy Businesses. MIS Q. Executive, 17.
Firnkorn, J., & Müller, M. (2012). Selling Mobility Instead of Cars: New Business Strategies
of Automakers and the Impact on Private Vehicle Holding. Business Strategy and the
Environment, 21(4), 264–280.
Gansky, L. (2010). The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing. Penguin Group US.
Goodwin, T. (2015). The Battle Is For The Customer Interface. Techcrunch, 1–10.
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/03/in-the-age-of-disintermediation-the-battle-is-all-for-
the-customer-interface/
Leismann, K., Schmitt, M., Rohn, H., & Baedeker, C. (2013). Collaborative Consumption:
Towards a Resource-Saving Consumption Culture. Resources, 2(3), 184–203.
Malhotra, A., & Van Alstyne, M. (2014). The Dark Side of the Sharing Economy … and How
to Lighten It. Communications of the ACM, 57(11), 24–27.
Marx, P. (2011). The Borrowers. The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/31/the-borrowers
Moeller, S., & Wittkowski, K. (2010). The Burdens of Ownership: Reasons for Preferring
Renting. Managing Service Quality, 20(2), 176–191.
https://doi.org/10.1108/09604521011027598
Owyang, J. (2015). Large Companies Ramp up Adoption in the Collaborative Economy. Web
Strategist. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2015/07/20/large-companies-ramp-up-
adoption-in-the-collaborative-economy/
Owyang, J., Tran, C., & Silva, C. (2013). The Collaborative Economy. Altimeter Group.
http://www.lsed-wealth.org/media/sal/pages_media/112/f5_collabecon-draft16-
130531132802-phpapp02.pdf
Rifkin, J. (2000). The Age of Access: The New Culture of Hypercapitalism, Where All of Life
Is a Paid-For Experience. Jermey P. Tarcher/Putna.
Schlagwein, D., Schoder, D., & Spindeldreher, K. (2020). Consolidated, Systemic
Conceptualization, and Definition of the "Sharing Economy" . Journal of the Association
for Information Science and Technolog, 71, 817–838.
Scholl, G., Gossen, M., Grubbe, M., & Brumbauer, T. (2013). Vertiefungsanalyse 1:
Alternative Nutzungskonzepte - Sharing, Leasing und Wiederverwendung.
http://www.ressourcenpolitik.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PoLRess_ZB_AP2-
Vertiefungsanalyse_alternativ-eNutzungskonzepte.pdf
The Economist. (2013, May 9). The Rise of the Sharing Economy.
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-internet-everything-hire-rise-
5sharing-economy
Vandermerwe, S., & Rada, J. (1988). Servitization of Business: Adding Value by Adding
Services. European Management Journal, 6(4), 314–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/0263-
2373(88)90033-3
Walsh, B. (2011). 10 Ideas That Will Change the World. Time.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2059521,00.html
Wogan, J. B. (2013). How Will the Sharing Economy Change the Way Cities Function?
Governing. http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-how-sharing-economy-will-
change-cities.html
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