In a context of crisis, the sharing economy has developed considerably, both in B2C and B2B environments. This new economic model, based on the peer-to-peer sharing and exchange of goods and services, offers unique opportunities to optimise resources whilst creating value for businesses. To exploit its full potential, it's important to understand its challenges and benefits.
The sharing economy: Definition
The sharing economy is based on the sharing and exchange of goods, services and even knowledge between users. These business models thus prioritise use over ownership. In some cases, this involves a monetary exchange (sale, rental or service provision), but it can also be otherwise (barter, donation, volunteering).
It was the digital revolution, and particularly the advent of the Internet, that allowed the sharing economy, also known as the collaborative economy or participatory economy, to develop on a large scale. Through secure digital platforms for connecting people, communities have emerged. This socio-economic model can now be found in many sectors of activity: Housing, transportation, personal assistance, food, fashion...
Whilst the success of sharing economy services has been felt primarily by individuals, it is also developing within companies. This is known as B2B sharing, or inter-company sharing.
Navi Radjou, a consultant and essayist specialising in innovation, has formalised a taxonomy and maturity model that identifies six forms of B2B sharing. These are classified according to the level of trust between companies, ranging from resources with limited stakes that are the subject of transactional relationships, to high-stakes resources that are part of co-creation partnerships with a long-term vision.
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Level 1: Waste;
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Level 2: Physical assets (stocks, spaces, buildings, equipment, vehicles);
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Level 3: Purchasing power (purchasing cooperatives);
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Level 4: Employees (talents, skills, expertise);
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Level 5: Customers;
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Level 6: Intellectual property (patents, copyrights, ideas).
The benefits of the sharing economy
By sharing their physical and intangible resources, companies do "more with less". This allows them to both optimise their resources and create value.
Reducing expenditures
Firstly, companies can transform their relatively high fixed costs into low variable expenditures. Rather than building new warehouses or factories, they can benefit from these spaces, infrastructure, or equipment in other ways. They can rent, borrow, or exchange them... This allows for a flexible increase in production capacity to deal with potential demand peaks, for example.
Pooling costs
Sharing economy businesses can also pool their purchasing power to negotiate collective agreements with their suppliers. This allows them to reduce their operating costs whilst guaranteeing their supplies. This is particularly wise in the case of products that are experiencing shortages or are subject to strong price fluctuations. By grouping their demands, companies can even benefit from economies of scale.
Generating revenue
By monetising resources, it's also possible to generate new sources of revenue for your company. This applies to both physical and intangible assets. Especially as collaborative online platforms are developing in this direction to facilitate exchanges. Significant examples include Flexe, Flowspace or SpaceFill, which help companies with underutilised warehouses rent their spaces to other structures; or circular economy platforms specialising in open innovation such as yet2.com and NineSigma to maximise the value of their unused intellectual property by sharing it with actors seeking innovation.
Fostering agility
In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, companies need to adapt quickly when market conditions suddenly change. This is precisely the advantage offered by inter-company sharing, serving greater resilience. By relying on their networks, economic players can very flexibly benefit from assets made available by their peers, or even create their own opportunities via dedicated sharing economy platforms. This opens up possibilities for all actors, without making significant investments.
Boosting innovation
The sharing economy promotes flexibility but also collective intelligence, two essential notions for innovation. Inspiring each other, sharing knowledge, testing new concepts, experimenting on small scales, accessing cutting-edge technologies... This is the very essence of inter-company sharing, and it's also what allows them to innovate faster, more effectively and above all at lower cost. This notion is crucial for the commercial success of each company.
The challenges of the sharing economy
The sharing economy comes to address the current major challenges of companies, namely competitiveness, but also social and ecological impact.
Competitiveness
The first challenge that the sharing economy addresses is that of competitiveness. By pooling their costs, reducing their expenditures, but also boosting agility and innovation, companies that adopt this peer-to-peer economy enjoy optimal management of their assets, which gives them a major competitive advantage. Well exploited, inter-company sharing can be a real catalyst for growth and development of organisations.
Ecological impact
The sharing economy tends to pool, share and reuse the resources of economic actors, in service of a new sustainable consumption mode that respects the environment. As such, this model is closely linked to the circular economy. Navi Radjou is also convinced of these benefits, regardless of the level of maturity: "B2B sharing will also have a considerable positive impact on the environment. By merely engaging all its companies at Level 1 of B2B sharing, namely waste recycling and resource reuse within exchange networks, each country can reduce its emissions by 39%. If companies go one step further and start sharing physical assets at Level 2—inventory, spaces, vehicles, equipment—the environmental benefits could be significant."
Social impact
The sharing economy also has a social aim, for several reasons. Firstly, this model gives access to all types of companies to assets and skills, at lower cost. The first to benefit will be the most vulnerable structures in the economy, namely very small enterprises (VSEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as artisans, for example. This is how these actors can gain resilience, agility and performance. The sharing economy can also contribute to creating or maintaining jobs in territories. It's therefore a formidable lever for the economic development of territories.
By ingeniously sharing their tangible and intangible assets, companies gain efficiency, resilience and agility. They also positively impact their entire ecosystem and the planet. This model thus initiates a profound transformation of companies in favour of a collaborative consumption mode for companies, in favour of a more inclusive and regenerative society.
