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Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 26318

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gustavo Morales-Alonso

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Guest Editor

ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2. 28006, Madrid, Spain
Interests: business model innovation; organizational design; externalities of the collaborative economy; informal finance sources; sustainability

Dr. Ruth Carrasco-Gallego

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2. 28006, Madrid, Spain
Interests: sustainable supply chains; circular design of products, services and business models; vertical integration strategies; partnerships for SDGs; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers dealing with how digitalization and the advances in information technology can lead to the development of innovative business models under the umbrella of the sharing or collaborative economy, focusing on their potential impact (positive or negative) from social, environmental, and economic perspectives.

We are particularly interested in research papers addressing how sharing, collaborating, merging, or establishing alliances (with B2B, B2C, and P2P perspectives) can lead to new business proposals in which services are provided with no transfer of ownership, granting temporary access, redistributing material goods, or serviticizing business models as well as their interlink with a cleaner, fairer, and more sustainable world, leaving no one behind.

Covered topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

The innovation nature of the sharing economy in terms of institutional, technical, and societal changes;
New collaborative and sharing business models and their interlink with sustainability;
Product–service strategies for manufacturers, with which better economic, social, or environmental results are achieved;
Development of sustainable supply chains supported by innovative information systems;
Alliances between companies or between companies, public sector, and/or civil society (cross-sector partnerships) leading to new, more sustainable relations based on collaboration;
Vertical integration of companies that allow for shorter, more effective supply chains;
Transportation studies, with a particular focus on car and bike sharing, pooling of reusable transportation items, and electric mobility systems for public or private transportation;
Decentralized systems for renewable energy generation in which prosumers (former consumers who become producers) feed the grid in many more locations, favoring the internet of energy;
Policy issues regarding employment and taxing for rider-hailing companies;
Informal sources of crowd-based finance as a fairer, more effective and inclusive wealth distribution lever;
Challenges for the accommodation and tourism traditional sector and the impact on cultural heritage with the rise of the collaborative economy, with both a marketing and employment focus;
Consumer behavior in the sharing economy with a gender perspective view;
Externalities of the sharing economy, regarding the effect on the loss of traditional employment due to the increase of on-demand work offers, as well as the effect on real estate pricing and long-term rental prices;
Proposals for circular economy business models and their effect on sustainability.

Envisioned contributions include original research, review papers, and conceptual and empirical (including case studies and action research) papers that use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methodologies.

Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Gustavo Morales-Alonso
Dr. Ruth Carrasco-Gallego
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sharing economy
sustainability
policy issues
business model innovation
servitization
alliances
car sharing
electric mobility
internet of energy
crowdfunding
Airbnb
Uber
Deliveroo
gender studies
externalities
circular economy

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 3803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From Goods to Services and from Linear to Circular: The Role of Servitization’s Challenges and Drivers in the Shifting Process

by David Hidalgo-Carvajal, Ruth Carrasco-Gallego and Gustavo Morales-Alonso

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4539; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084539 - 19 Apr 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3461

Abstract

To move closer to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a change from the traditional paradigm of the linear economy towards the circular economy is of paramount importance. One of the key promoters of this shift is servitization, which involves a shift from a purely transactional product-selling model to customer satisfaction through providing the service inherent to the product. Although servitization is a promising field for academics and practitioners, its adoption faces different challenges and drivers that need to be understood and addressed. A latent issue is the lack of common language around the topic. In the present study, a systematic literature review has been conducted to allow the identification and classification of the main challenges and drivers. Based on the findings, we propose a classification framework that identifies, classifies, and groups common challenges and drivers to different areas of knowledge on servitization through intensity heat maps. From a managerial point of view, our results highlight the importance of embracing servitization as a collective effort from the different departments within a company. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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16 pages, 802 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is Sharing a Better Alternative for the Planet? The Contribution of Sharing Economy to Sustainable Development Goals

by Cristina Pérez-Pérez, Diana Benito-Osorio, Susana María García-Moreno and Andrés Martínez-Fernández

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1843; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041843 - 8 Feb 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4601

Abstract

The sharing economy has been presented as a potential contributor to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to the change it brings to consumption patterns. Although this potential has been identified in different papers, there is not, as far as we know, a single article that explains in detail all the possible platforms through which the sharing economy can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. This paper addresses this topic by reviewing the existing literature involving the sharing economy and the SDGs, and by analyzing the main characteristics attributed to this business model, and how each one of them may in theory contribute to the SDGs. Our paper advances the field by establishing hitherto undiscovered relationships between the two concepts, while laying the foundations for corroborating our theoretical findings in future analytical studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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20 pages, 1263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Manufacturer’s Sharing Servitization Transformation and Product Pricing Strategy

by Zhenfeng Liu, Ya Xiao and Jian Feng

Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1503; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031503 - 1 Feb 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2207

Abstract

The sharing market includes the idle product sharing by the owner and the firm’s new product sharing. Companies participating in the sharing economy choose to withdraw from the market because it is always difficult to make a profit, due to heavy asset investment, but there is no such worry for owners who do not need cost input. At the same time, we have observed that the sharing products launched by companies are difficult to meet the rental needs of consumers. Based on the above findings, we have constructed a model where there is a market where a monopolistic manufacturer sells and rents out at the same time, and owners who purchased new products can choose to rent out products when they are idle. Because of the uncoordinated supply and demand matching of the sharing market and the excessively high unit cost input, our research found that: (1) the barriers for the manufacturer to enter the sharing market are always high—for example, the manufacturer will choose to enter the sharing market only when consumers have a high rate of availability of sharing products. Only when the cost of products in the sharing market is not low will the manufacturer choose to provide sharing services; (2) the competition between the two products in the sharing market weakens the demand cannibalize in the sales market; (3) the manufacturer enters the sharing market to promote the owner’s income. The owner’s earnings will increase with the rising of sharing products’ availability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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11 pages, 900 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the 2030 Horizon

by Fernando Crecente, María Sarabia and María Teresa del Val

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 909; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020909 - 18 Jan 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4052

Abstract

(1) Background: this paper analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainability following the worldwide reference of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework set by the United Nations. Nowadays, these SDGs are the inspiration for many types of entrepreneurship that combine value creation with conservation and social protection. (2) Methods: using the indicators provided by Eurostat in its section called “Sustainable development indicators”, we have developed a dataset of 21 variables applied to the European Union (EU27) for the period 2013–2017. (3) Results: the results hold that these SDGs have favored a climate of change in the European economies towards more responsible behavior on the part of society, institutions, and their business fabric, creating new sustainable entrepreneurship. (4) Conclusions: the promotion of the SDGs has contributed to increasing the rate of entrepreneurial activity in the period 2013–2017. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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26 pages, 721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Business Models from Prescriptive Maintenance Strategies Aligned with Sustainable Development Goals

by Mercedes Grijalvo Martín, Antonia Pacios Álvarez, Joaquín Ordieres-Meré, Javier Villalba-Díez and Gustavo Morales-Alonso

Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010216 - 28 Dec 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 6036

Abstract

The industry has entered on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the so-called Industry 4.0, with global markets and strong competition, some traditional manufacturing firms are implementing new maintenance innovations and policies, based on digitalisation and data driven approach, but also based on servitisation. The implementation of these new equipment maintenance business models, could require new organisational approach at different levels. Different sorts of integration are arranged, in vertical with a flat structure of intelligent, flexible and autonomous units working integrated, in horizontal with a strong external and internal supply chain integration, and in transverse, with an integrated approach that link internal and external stakeholders. A new prescriptive maintenance business model for equipment exploiting digitalisation opportunities, including stakeholder relationship is proposed. Different perspectives such as organisational, innovation and sustainability have been adopted to discuss the implications of the proposal. The social value potentially gained as well as the alignment with the SDGs are discussed as well. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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17 pages, 4684 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Path towards Evolutionary—Teal Organizations: A Relationship Trigger on Collaborative Platforms

by Ana Moreno Romero, Ángel Uruburu, Ajay K. Jain, Manuel Acevedo Ruiz and Carlos F. Gómez Muñoz

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9817; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239817 - 24 Nov 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4926

Abstract

The technological challenges of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, innovative inter-organizational network relations, integration in corporate strategies of sustainability challenges, or unsatisfactory levels of staff commitment stemming from complexity and related uncertainty are some of the main key issues that organizations have to face in the near future. In this context, the appearance of the ‘evolutionary organization’ model marks an important milestone in terms of a renewed identification of fundamental principles for organizations, arguably as an update or revision of systemic thinking. This model allows organizations, functioning as living beings, to be more agile and humanistic and better prepared to establish agile and trustworthy inter-organizational relationships. Collaborative platforms are possible from that ability to add value between organizations while also being closely aligned with the principles and values of evolutionary organizations. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how these (teal) organizations work with respect to their common principles of wholeness, evolutionary purpose, and self-management. In the end, the study intends to highlight relevant practical organizational aspects that can better facilitate the management of current and increasing complexity, as well as the transition to more humanistic-oriented organizations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sharing for Caring: On the Role of Collaborative Economy in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs))

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