Sharing and social production as business opportunities: the Zipcar case study and analysis.

Abstract

This paper addresses the risks and opportunities related to technology-integrated business models, and develops the concept of sharing as a modality of social production. Users and transactions are key elements of any successful Internet-based network that can no longer be sustained by the number of products sold. Sharing allows faster and repeated transactions among users over a certain period of time that allows technology-integrated platforms to use and take advantage of information data collected through various networks: Web, mobile, and social. The analysis of Zipcar, a car-sharing company based in Boston, deals with all these issues both theoretically and empirically.