Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore capabilities needed to deploy a use-oriented businessmodel (UOBM) for consumer durables with low utilization rate. Therefore, the study seeks to uncover activities needed to realize business model capabilities and the capabilities impact on business performance. Method - The study was conducted with an explorative single case study research approach, investigating an incumbent original equipment manufacturing (OEM) firm of consumer durables based in Sweden. The study adopts a qualitative approach where 34 interviews were conducted in three waves, and results were derived using thematic analysis. Findings ­– The study results in a framework which illustrates 13 key capabilities within the three dimensions of the business model (value creation, delivery, and capture) needed to successfully deploy a UOBM in a consumer market. The capabilities were generated through findings of 47 key activities within all three dimensions that build the business model specific capabilities. Based on the data, additional findings of organizational preconditions needed to deploy the UOBM were found and presented in the framework. Theoretical and Practical Implications – The study contributes to the limited previous research of Product-Service Systems (PSS) in a consumer context through empirically developing the PSS B2C business model research. By the identifying business model specific capabilities, we have given practitioners an operational map in business-critical capabilities as well as capabilities that can be built over time to improve business performance.   Limitations and Future Research – The study is limited to one single case study of an OME in the early stages of deploying the UOBM. Hence, future research is recommended with a wider set of data to further examine the generalizability of our study, also, to both confirm the recognized capabilities and to possibly find others.

Det senaste decenniet har fokus riktats mot hur vi med gemensamma åtaganden kan bidra till ett mer hållbart samhälle. En del i utvecklingen handlar om att främja mer hållbara konsumtionsmönster, där det nationella programmet Sharing Cities Sweden finansierar olika delningsprojekt som ska hjälpa invånarna dela mer och konsumera mindre. Inom Sharing Cities Sweden har konceptet Smarta Kartan utvecklats genom ett idéburet offentligt partnerskap mellan den ideella föreningen Kollaborativ Ekonomi Göteborg och Göteborgs stad. Smarta Kartan är en digital tjänst som visualiserar delningsinitiativ i en stad, där målet är att öka deltagandet i delningsekonomin och främja en växande delningskultur. Umeå är en av testbäddarna inom Sharing Cities Sweden som under 2020 planerar att lansera sin egen version av kartan. Med Coompanion Nord som huvudansvarig vill Umeå identifiera hur olika aktörer kan organiseras och samverka för kartan. Denna uppsats skrivs därför på uppdrag av Coompanion Nord. Studiens huvudsakliga syfte är att ge förslag på hur den digitala delningstjänsten Smarta Kartan bör organiseras i Umeå genom samverkan mellan olika aktörer. Genom att kartlägga olika aktörers förväntningar, attityder samt behov ska studien presentera konkreta förslag på hur delningstjänsten kan drivas. Studien ska även bidra till ökade insikter för hur Umeå Kommun kan främja arbetet med delningsekonomi baserat på olika aktörers involvering och roller. Vidare är syftet att skapa en förståelse över hur andra städer arbetat med Smarta Kartan och ge vägledning inför framtiden. Med detta som utgångspunkt har studien utgått från följande centrala frågeställning: Hur kan Smarta Kartan organiseras för att bli framgångsrik? Den teoretiska referensramen inkluderar studier på partnerskap, motivation, plattformar, nätverk, ekosystem och roller. Baserat på tidigare forskning skapades tre teman som har varit vägledande för vår studie: (1) Partnerskap & samverkan, (2) Rollfördelning & ansvar samt (3) Potential till att stimulera delning i en stad. Vi har utgått från en kvalitativ ansats där åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med representanter från Umeå, Göteborg, Malmö, Karlstad och Sjuhärad, som alla är i olika faser i arbetet med kartan. Det empiriska materialet bidrar med förväntningar, lärdomar och erfarenheter och beskriver hur städerna arbetat med kartan på olika sätt. Därtill identifieras gemensamma möjligheter och utmaningar som berör tid, finansiering, motivation och engagemang. Våra slutsatser visar att organiseringen av arbetet med kartan måste baseras på en stads lokala förutsättningar. Därtill behöver kunskap och kännedom om delningsekonomi och Smarta Kartan öka i samhället. För Umeå innebär detta att kommunen bör ta en aktiv roll för att engagera ideella krafter och identifiera potentiella individer eller organisationer som vill överta en del av arbetet med kartan. Med våra rekommendationer som vägledning finns utsikter för att kartan blir framgångsrik, vilket leder till att kommunen i ett senare skede kan anamma en mer stöttande roll.

This master's thesis is about the success of sharing economy in the accommodation segment in Prague. The thesis is based on theories conceptualizing sharing economy as a result of social and value change, not only as technological one. Using online review data, the user experience of shared accommodation via Airbnb and traditional via Booking are compared. Analysis is conducted with focus on users' satisfied needs and fulfilled values. For processing the data, text mining techniques (topic modelling and sentiment analysis) were employed. The major result is that in Prague the models of sharing economy accommodation meets the growing need in society to fulfil post-material values in the market much better than the models of traditional accommodation (hotels, hostels, boarding houses). In their experiences, Airbnb users reflect social and emotional values more often, even though most sharing economy accommodations in Prague do not involve any physical sharing with the host. The thesis thus brings a unique perspective on the Airbnb phenomenon in the Czech context and contributes to the discussion of why the market share of the sharing economy in the accommodation segment in Prague has been growing, while traditional models stagnated.

Background: Engaging in sharing economy practices has in recent years increased in popularity. Hence, renting a private home instead of traditional accommodation options are becoming more common among travellers. Previous research has focused on the demand side of renting accommodations. The suppliers' perspective has also been developed and researched regarding their intentions to continue renting out their properties. However, non-experienced hosts have previously been neglected in academic research. Therefore, this thesis focuses on non-experienced hosts and their thoughts regarding opening their home and their intention to engage in sharing economy practices.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how the different factors guide Swedish ‘småhus’ owners' intention to rent out their primary residence.  Method: To explore the purpose of this thesis, a qualitative research design was chosen. The empirical data was gathered through fifteen semi-structured interviews sampled through non-probability judgemental sampling. An abductive research approach was chosen to analyse and interpret the data using thematic analysis.  Conclusion: This study found that participants' intentions to act as hosts were guided by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control presented through the theory of planned behaviour. Participants further showed that trust, concerns, control, privacy, economics, environment, security, and people were themes that affected some- or all ‘småhus’ owners' intentions in this research. Furthermore, this study found that economic benefit acts as the largest motivator to act as hosts, especially where an economic need exists. However, trust was deemed necessary to enable most participants to consider the idea of opening up their private homes.

The focus of this paper is platform theory, sharing economy, and user-centered design (UCD). Platform theory helps us understand the extensive research in its discourse and provides a stable ground to explore the fragile stage of platform emergence. The sharing economy is a central phenomenon to the studied project which is very important for our global use of future scarce resources. UCD is a central phenomenon where the importance of early involvement of users in the development process of a UCD project. By studying a platform project under development, I present an analytical framework where I identify vulnerabilities and difficulties in platform emergence. The emergence of platforms is an important yet difficult, and vulnerable process, and only a few studies have been conducted exploring this phase. The research question addressed in this thesis is: What are the sources to vulnerabilities and difficulties in the process of platform emergence? Methods of conducting this study are the use of semi-structured interviews of the people involved in the platform project for further flexibility of the questions. The case study project is focused on building a platform that enables users to build their own platforms. The purpose of that project is to enable users to create sharing platforms easier and cheaper. In addition, vulnerabilities and difficulties in platform emergence are explored. The goals of this study are to: 1) understand how a project is performing in this fragile stage of platform emergence, and 2) how to reach the goal where a platform with the underlying themes of platform theory, sharing economy, and user-centered design can be achieved.

Background: Fast furniture is a growing trend similar to fast fashion and fast food, implying that manufacturers produce large quantities of inexpensive furniture. At the same time, consumers use the furniture shorter and replace it more frequently. Fast furniture relies on high resource consumption, outsourced production, and furniture design that makes it necessary to replace it more often. This causes a decrease in quality and an increase in produced quantities. Most of the furniture worldwide is landfilled as it is not recyclable due to low-quality materials. One potential solution is implementing Circular Economic practices, including furniture rental as an alternative way of consumption. Consumer acceptance of this model is scarcely researched, but the formation of consumers' attitudes and intentions has been the subject of publications in other consumption contexts. The recent literature is reviewed, and a research framework was built based on the Theory of Reasoned Action and additional intrapersonal barriers and drivers. Purpose: This research aimed to explain the relationship between intrapersonal barriers and drivers with attitude and behavioral intention towards furniture rental. Further, it was aimed to show which furniture categories are most likely to be rented. Method: A quantitative approach deploying a self-administered online survey was chosen. 235 usable responses were gathered, which were analyzed using PLS-SEM to assess the hypothesized relationships. Conclusion: The findings show that the overall attitude towards furniture rental is positive. Trend orientation and perceived risk are the most influential antecedents of attitude and behavioral intention. Supporting the Theory of Reasoned Action, attitude is the strongest predictor of behavioral intention. Perceived sustainability value, perceived economic value, and materialism also significantly influence the intention to rent furniture. Familiarity with the Sharing Economy shows no significant influence. The study contributes to the existing literature on consumer intentions to use alternative consumption. A new research model was developed based on existing theory and literature. Managers can use the findings to alter, adapt, and build their furniture rental service offerings.

During recent years the sharing economy has had an increased impact on the modern business climate, and the level of engagement among researchers has increased. The sharing economy is changing the way individuals perceive business and challenges traditional business models. Sharing economy firms are implementing innovative business approaches to face the dynamic business climate. Its peer-to-peer sharing philosophy is fighting against the increasing hyper-consumption we are facing. Previous scholars have discussed how traditional firms can gain market shares and internationalize through M&As and strategic partnerships. However, the research on how M&As and partnerships can be implemented among sharing economy firms is minimal. Also, the empirical studies regarding this field are inadequate. Accordingly, examining this research gap in practice and gaining a deeper understanding of the subject is highly relevant. This thesis aims to shed light on the motives behind sharing economy firms internationalizing, mainly through mergers and acquisitions or strategic partnerships, involving at least one sharing platform in the process. To accomplish the intentions of this study, a qualitative research approach has been conducted, with a diverse group of respondents from different parts of the world and operating in various areas within the sharing economy. Moreover, the empirical data has been collected through conducting findings from four semi-structured interviews. The outcome of this research implies that the motives for sharing economy firms to internationalize using M&As or strategic partnerships are beneficial regarding the sharing economy characteristics. For instance, the paper highlights how sharing economy firms have a comfortable path internationalizing into foreign markets but can struggle to gain platform user activity in the early stages in new markets. Therefore, are M&As and strategic partnerships strategic tools for sharing economy firms to acquire an already existing customer base or have strategic alliances that can ease cultural barriers and such when entering foreign markets.

The rising trend of over consumption has led to threatening environmental consequences. A solution to this would be collaborative consumption, as it promotes environmentally friendly sharing behaviors. Collaborative consumption can be enabled with digital tools, such as digital sharing platforms. The purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about how digital sharing platforms can be successfully established in order to build a good foundation for collaborative consumption. This qualitative research, influenced by grounded theory as a method, aims to explore the question “what are the barriers for establishing a digital sharing platform?”. Based on related research and by investigating a digital sharing platform called Umigo, we conducted six semi-structured interviews based on three technological frames and identified multiple barriers. With this research we make two main contributions. Our first contribution is that digital sharing platforms are unique in comparison to other platform types and should therefore be studied further. We also found an overview of the barriers that could prevent the successful establishment of digital sharing platforms.

Bakgrund: Urbaniseringen som har skett under lång tid har skapat en stor bostadsbrist i svenska stora städer. I takt med att hållbarhet och miljö har blivit allt viktigare, har detta lett till att företag och marknaden har fått upp intresse för delningsekonomi ochnya boendeformer. Paralleller kan dras mellan det nya fenomenet co-living och de kollektivboenden som växte fram redan på 60- och 70-talet där människor med liknande intressen bodde tillsammans. Boendeformen co-living har fått mycket uppmärksamhet de senaste åren då den är yteffektiv, ekonomisk och mer social än traditionella hyresrätter. Fastighetsföretagens incitament för att investera i detta kan vara av olika anledningar och det är därför intressant att undersöka vilken strategi de har när de väljer att involvera sig i co-living.Syfte: Arbetet syftar till att undersöka vilken strategisk roll co-living har för fastighetsföretagen? För att kunna besvara syftet har det brutits ned till följande frågeställningar:- Varför investerar fastighetsföretag i co-living?- Hur bedrivs co-living?- Vad krävs för att bedriva co-living?Metod: Arbetet är utformat som en kvalitativ studie där empiriinsamling skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer.Resultat: Det som har framkommit i arbetet är att fastighetsföretagens strategi inom co-living varierar. Intresset för co-living är stort i Sverige och det visade sig att företagen ser möjligheter i att utöka och bredda variationen i sitt utbud av boendeformer samt att behålla sina kunder inom företaget. Företagens interna förmågor och resurser har visat sig vara viktiga vid valet av strategi vid co-living. Företag som anser sig besitta rätt kunskaper väljer att starta co-living i egen regi, medan ett företag i studien ansåg att det var en bättre strategi att bli delägare i ett annat ledande företag inom co-living och på så sätt få in rätt kunskaper. Vidare visade det sig att företagen såg co-living som ett sätt att hitta nya innovativa produkter och tjänster till sin organisation. / Background: The urbanization that has taken place for a long time has created a majorhousing shortage in big cities in Sweden. As sustainability and the environment havebecome increasingly important, this has led to a gained interest in sharing economy andin new forms of housing from the market and the real estate companies. Parallels canbe observed between the new phenomenon co-living and the collectiveaccommodations that emerged in the 1960s and 70s where people with similar interestslived together. Co-living is a form of housing that has received a lot of attention inrecent years as it is surface efficient, economical and includes more social interactionsthan in traditional rental properties. Real estate companies’ incentives to invest in thissegment can be manifested in different ways. Therefore, it is interesting to investigatewhat strategy they use when choosing to involve themselves in co-living.Purpose: The study aims to examine what strategic role co-living plays for the real estate companies? In order to answer the purpose, it has been broken down in to three issues:- Why does real estate companies invest in co-living?- How is co-living conducted?- What does it require to conduct co-living?Methodology: The study was conducted as a qualitative examination where data is gathered through semi-structured interviews.Conclusion: What has emerged in the study is that the real estate companies' strategy in co-living varies. Interest in co-living is great in Sweden and it turns out that companies see opportunities in expanding and broadening the variety in their range of housing types and in keeping their customers within the company. The companies' internal capabilities and resources have proven to be important factors when deciding a strategy for investment in co-living. Companies that consider themselves to have the right capabilities and resources choose to start co-living on their own, while one company in the study thought it was a better strategy to become part-owner of another leading co-living company and thus gain the right knowledge. Furthermore, it turned out that the companies saw co-living as a way to find new innovative products and services for their organization.

There has been an increase in research on the internationalization of sharing economy firms. However most of this research has largely focused on mature markets. Very little attention has been given to the internationalization of sharing economy firms in emerging markets particularly those from Africa. The African continent is different from mature markets and the internationalization challenges of sharing economy firms are therefore dissimilar.  This study seeks to fill the existing knowledge gap by exploring the internationalization challenges faced by sharing economy firms from an emerging African market perspective. We also seek to understand the internationalization process of African sharing economy firms. Finally we seek to provide solutions on how African sharing economy firms can manage the challenges they face. This research was conducted using qualitative case studies of eight companies. Two have internationalized within and beyond Africa. Four have internationalized within Africa while two are yet to internationalize. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders and operations managers of the different sharing economy firms.  The empirical findings show that African sharecoms can internationalize in a unique internationalization sequence, which starts with gradual internationalization to a “foreign gateway market” followed by rapid internationalization to other foreign markets. The study identified funding as the greatest challenge faced by African sharing economy firms while low adoption rates and mindset were the dominant psychic distance obstacles. The study also revealed that in Africa, technology is solely not enough by itself and extra effort needs to be undertaken to ensure successful internationalization of sharing economy firms. The research concluded that regulatory challenges are industry-specific rather than targeting sharing economy firms. Further, networks were an important combining factor facilitating the internationalization process and overcoming some challenges.