China is today the global leader and innovator of sharing economy, and the Chinese government has included it in their Five Year (2016-2020) development plan. China has during the last 30 years been the most rapid economically developing country in the world, but it has also brought along some negative consequences. It has become evident that the quick development of China has taken place at the expense of the environment. It is also described that the country has an economic development model heavily based on investment, export and high consumption which is arguably not sustainable.  The sharing economy presents great potential to change how consumers use resources andgoods, and also presents an opportunity to solve sustainability challenges such as decreasingenvironmental, economic and social conditions. There are today little research on this subject, especially empirical, and more research is preferred.  The purpose of this study is to investigate and explore how the sustainability work and marketing of three selected sharing economy companies in Shanghai correspond to customers’ motives for using sharing economy services. To collect data, three interviews were conducted with three different companies that utilize the sharing economy model in Shanghai, China. These companies are major players in the industries of ride-sharing, bike-sharing and house-sharing. Additionally, an online consumer survey regarding customers’ primary motives for using sharing economy services were conducted in order to fulfill our purpose and answer our research questions.  Results from this study conclude that the primary motives for consumers to use sharingeconomy is convenience (bike-sharing and ride-sharing) and to experience something unique (house-sharing). Other important motives are time-saving, accessibility and low cost aspects. The companies, on the other hand, tend to emphasize low cost, environmental and socialaspects. That is, consumer views are often in line with the three companies' marketing andsustainability views. However, there are several cases in this study where it differ.

The emergence of the sharing economy has disrupted several industries. Controversies about multi-sided sharing platforms have arisen as incumbent firms assert that the platforms benefit from unfair competition by sidestepping regulations. This paper attempts to quantify the impact of Airbnb, one prominent example of a sharing platform, on the hotel industry in the Coachella Valley. I find that from 2011 to 2016, the increase in Airbnb supply in the Coachella Valley has a negative impact on city-level hotel revenue. For different hotel segments in the Coachella Valley, I do not observe significant differences in the magnitude of impact across the three categories.

Delningsekonomin har framkallat stor kontrovers eftersom förespråkare hävdar att det ger effektivitet, möjlighet och flexibilitet medan kritiker hävdar att det bland annat förvärrar ojämlikhet. Med studien undersöks ifall arbetet på plattformarna och osäkerheten inom delningsekonomin kan bidra till den ökande ojämlikheten. Detta diskuteras utifrån resultat från intervjuer med leverantörer på plattformen Airbnb, alla från Gotland, och en intervju med en delningsekonomi-expert. Dessa jämförs med studier gjorda i USA. Moderna arbetsmarknaden kännetecknas av en flexibilitet där risker har förflyttats från arbetsgivare till arbetstagare. Dessa risker påverkar framförallt de som arbetar inom delningsekonomin. I delningsekonomin är det lägre (ofta icke-existerande) facklig organisering och inga kollektivavtal vilket gör att arbetarna är sämre skyddade på arbetsmarknaden och ansvaret ligger hos arbetstagaren. De har ofta ingen tillgång till social trygghet vid sjukdom, arbetslöshet och pension. De exkluderas ofta från trygghetssystemet. Delningsekonomin kan tänkas stärka vad som tidigare orsakat ojämlikhet, vilket var att folk började behandlas som oberoende entreprenörer och att de ekonomiska och sociala riskerna med anställning blev den enskilda arbetstagarens ansvar. Delningsekonomin kan framförallt tänkas påverka ojämlikheten om den växer sig större, vilket den förväntas göra. På grund av att det är högt utbildade utförare som använder plattformen för att öka sin nuvarande inkomst bidrar delningsekonomin till ökade inkomster hos övre medelklassen. Denna grupp utför arbeten som traditionellt utförts av de med en lägre utbildningsstatus. Alla respondenter väljer att dela på plattformen för att få in en extra inkomst utöver sin huvudsakliga inkomst. Detta tyder på att deltagandet på Airbnb här på Gotland skulle kunna ge en utträngningseffekt. Inkomsterna för de som vanligtvis skulle ha gjort exempelvis städningen eller det administrativa arbetet på ett hotell utför istället av Airbnb-utövaren och därmed hamnar inkomsterna hos de som redan har en stabil inkomst. Resultaten bland intervjuerna pekar på att delningsekonomin främst är till för de med högre kompetens och en högre utbildning. / The sharing economy has provoked controversy – advocates claim that it provides opportunity and flexibility while critics argue that it exacerbates inequality. This study investigates whether the work on the platforms and the uncertainty in the sharing economy can contribute to the increasing inequality. This is discussed based on results from independent interviews with suppliers on the platform Airbnb and with a sharing economy expert. These are compared with studies done in the United States.  In the sharing economy, the union organization is often non-existent and there are no collective agreements, which means the employees are excluded from the security system. The sharing economy can therefore strengthen the trends that previously caused inequality: people treated as independent entrepreneurs and the economic and social risks of employment are the responsibility of the worker. Not everyone can do well in the sharing economy. The platform-earnings goes to those with a already fairly good income - to do well on Airbnb, you need some kind of capital to rent out. Findings show us that highly educated people use Airbnb to increase their current income - this could mean that the sharing economy contributes to increased incomes in the upper middle class. This group performs work that has traditionally been performed by people with lower educational status, whose jobs could be "pushed away".

The purpose of the Sharing Economy is to exploit unused resources between people, as an alternative to buying new and owning themselves (Gansky, 2010). Gansky (2010) argues that a major reason why the Sharing Economy has grown in recent times is, besides from the recession and people’s increased environmental awareness, the urbanization which has made people move closer to each other and in to the big cities. This in addition to an increased use of GPS technology in smartphones enables people to be constantly connected to an ever-changing network. People now share and exchange services and products from each other. Sharing Economy businesses (SE businesses) enables this by facilitating the meeting and transaction, while at the same time capitalizing on it. What most established theories within the subject have in common is that they primarly describes what the Sharing Economy phenomenon is, but not how the SE businesses are working or could work with the business economics aspects such as quality assurance. Many SE businesses are building their brands as service companies and are therefore marketing themselfs as such. This despite the fact that these companies merely are enabling, and capitalizing on, individuals to connect. Hence, the SE businesses no longer own either the human or physical resources in the same way as traditional businesses would. Even so, these individuals are the public face of the companies. In order to continue to capitalize on the phenomenon it should be in the interest of the SE businesses to somehow work towards ensuring the quality of their services, but what happens when the resources are no longer owned by the company? The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how SE businesses work with quality assurance of its services. There are in current time not many empirical studies on how SE businesses work with quality assurance from a business perspective. Therefore, this study intends to generate a theory based in reality. The researchers have used the grounded theory methodology. The companies that have been object of study are AirBnB, Lyft, Flexidrive and WorkaroundTown. One finding from the study is that the objects of study, the SE businesses, are working consciously on quality assuring their services through recruitment, training and feedback to their providers (the ones performing the services). Despite the fact that these companies only intend to work as an intermediary between users who want to share resources, the study has shown that the companies are focusing much on what could be compared to Human Resource Management.   Furthermore, the SE businesses are using tools that in different ways result in quality assurance. Standardized systems for reservations, payments and similar reduces the risk of errors. Systems for grading fulfill a purpose of incentives as well as a means of control for quality assurance. The building of a community contributes to the creation an artificial corporate culture where common values and quality assumptions are being established. New providers are being recruited, trained and shaped in a user community where quality and standards are already deeply rooted.   Finally, the study has shown that various tools are of various importances in the quality assurance work depending on the development on the SE business in question. As the service transactions between users are becoming more and more self-propelled, the company’s resources can shift from managing the main process towards managing supporting processes such as reactive processes, marketing and community building. / Sharing Economy, eller delningsekonomi som det översatts till på svenska, syftar till att utnyttja outnyttjade resurser människor emellan som ett alternativ till att köpa nytt och äga själv (Ganska, 2010). En stor anledning till varför Sharing Economy har växt sig stort under den senaste tiden menar Gansky (2010) är, förutom lågkonjunkturen och människors ökade miljömedvetenhet, den urbanisering som sker över världen där människor flyttar närmare varandra till de stora städerna. Detta tillsammans med en ökad användning av GPS-teknologi i mobiltelefoner gör det möjligt att i realtid vara uppkopplad mot ett ständigt föränderligt nätverk. Nu byter och lånar människor tjänster och produkter mellan varandra, med hjälp av Sharing Economy-företag (SE-företag) som faciliterar mötet och transaktionen och kapitaliserar på detta. Vad de flesta etablerade teorier i ämnet har gemensamt är att de mestadels beskriver vad fenomenet är och vilka aktörerna är som jobbar med det men inte hur SE-företagen arbetar eller kan arbeta praktiskt med företagsekonomiska områden som exempelvis kvalitetssäkring. Många SE-företag bygger sina varumärken som tjänsteföretag och marknadsför sig som tjänsteföretag trots att företaget egentligen bara möjliggör för, och kapitaliserar på, att privatpersoner kopplas samman. SE- företagen äger således inte längre de mänskliga eller de fysiska resurserna på samma sätt som traditionella företag gör. Trots det fungerar dessa privatpersoner som företagets ansikte utåt. För att kunna fortsätta kapitalisera på fenomenet torde SE-företagen på något sätt arbeta med att kvalitetssäkra sina tjänster, men hur går det till när resurserna inte längre ägs av företaget? Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur Sharing Economy-företag arbetar med kvalitetssäkring av sina tjänster. Då det i dagsläget inte finns många empiriska studier om hur SE-företag arbetar med kvalitetssäkring ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv syftar studien till att med utgångspunkt i verkligheten generera teori. Forskarna har använt sig av grundad teori som metodik. De företag som studerats i denna studie är AirBnB, Lyft, Flexidrive och WorkaroundTown. Studien har visat att de undersökta Sharing Economy-företagen aktivt arbetar med kvalitetssäkring av sina tjänster genom såväl rekrytering, utbildning och återkoppling till sina providers (den som utför tjänsten). Trots det faktum att dessa företag i grund och botten endast ämnar fungera som en förmedlare mellan användare som vill dela resurser, så visar detta att de har ett stort fokus på vad som kan liknas vid Human Resource Management.   Vidare använder företagen olika verktyg i sitt arbete som på olika sätt leder till kvalitetssäkring. Standardiserade system för bokning, betalning och likande minimerar risken för att fel uppstår. Betygssystem fungerar som ett incitament såväl som ett kontrollmedel för kvalitetssäkring. Byggandet av ett community bidrar till att en artificiell företagskultur skapas där gemensamma värderingar och kvalitetsantaganden etableras hos företagens providers. Nya providers rekryteras in, utbildas och formas således i ett användarcommunity där kvalitet och standarder redan ska finnas djupt rotade.   Slutligen har studien visat att olika verktyg är olika viktiga och tar olika stor plats i kvalitetssäkringsarbetet beroende på i vilken fas Sharing Economy-företaget befinner. I takt med att tjänstetransaktionerna privatpersonerna emellan blir allt mer självgående skiftas fokus för företaget egna resurser från huvudprocessen till stödprocesser så som reaktiva processer, marknadsföring och community-byggande.

This thesis contrasts a “real” sharing economy with the commonly held understanding of this new mode of exchange. By examining the lived experiences within a successful example of sharing, we can see its true value and acknowledge where other businesses fall short. Based on in-depth interviews with users of freecycle.org, this thesis illustrates the importance of motivation within a real sharing economy, highlighting the existence of generalized reciprocity, the value of community, and altruism between members of this gifting platform.

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Within the context of multiple crises and change, a range of practices discussed under the umbrella term of collaborative (or sharing) economy have been gaining considerable attention. Supporters build an idealistic vision of collaborative societies. Critics have been stripping the concept of its visionary potential, questioning its revolutionary nature. In the study, these debates are brought down to the local level in search for common perceptions among the co-creators of the concept in Vienna, Austria. Towards this aim a Q study is conducted, i.e. a mixed method enabling analyses of subjective perceptions on socially contested topics. Four framings are identified: Visionary Supporters, Market Optimists, Visionary Critics, and Skeptics, each bringing their values, visions, and practical goals characteristic of different understanding of the collaborative economy. The study questions the need for building a globally-applicable definition of the concept, calls for more context-sensitivity, exploratory studies, and city-level multi-stakeholder dialogues.

This thesis aims to increase the sensitivity of foreign tourists who want to rent a flat on Airbnb and let tourists and households take their responsibility of Airbnb through explaining the relationship between Airbnb and social environments. In recent years, Airbnb has been one of the top choices for short-term accommodation renting. However, an issue needing to be cared about is subconsciously affecting the social environment, which is contrary to sustainable development.  The text can be divided into two parts. In the first part, the impact of Airbnb on the social environment of big cities will be analyzed from two aspects - sharing economy and gentrification. Social networks and the negative effects are the main content that will be discussed in sharing economy. At the same time, gentrification will respond to it through a typical case study in Barcelona.  In the second part, the design project will be analyzed in order to support my theoretical part. Critical design as the core element in my design projects will be analyzed through a communication plan. This plan will become my design proposal to realize the creation of a common network platform in order to attract more attention to this issue.

Das Aufkommen von Unternehmen à la Airbnb oder Wimdu, die der Sharing Economy zugerechnet werden, sorgte für einigen Aufruhr. Beklagt wurden unfaires Verhalten, gesetzliche Graubereiche und eine Menge Unsicherheiten: Doch die Politik schaffte Ordnung, und klare Rahmenbedingungen regen nun Innovationen an.

Carsharing has been discussed as one of the most prominent examples of the sharing economy. The worldwide growth of services whereby consumers share access to cars rather than owning a car themselves could be a sustainable solution to environmental problems. However, first research indicates that consumers' environmental concerns play a minor role for using a carsharing compared to financial considerations. Moreover, prior research on B2C carsharing services may not be applicable to P2P services. The current research addresses this gap by investigating the role of sustainability in B2C and P2P carsharing from consumers' perspective. By applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods three studies show that consumers' image of carsharing is "greener" than owning a car and that environmental concerns play a role when consumers decide to use P2P service over B2C services. However, interviews with carsharing users indicate that the sustainable impact of carsharing is rather perceived as a positive side effect than a main argument for carsharing. This should be considered by policy makers and marketers when promoting carsharing because of sustainable benefits.