Page 14 - index
P. 14
RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS
Collaborating to compete –
your enemy could be your
best friend!
In October 2007, two cash-strapped college graduates, and then find someone else whose profile is counter
three blow-up mattresses and a home cooked breakfast cyclical to their own (as opposed to the same – which is
changed the way we define spaces forever. Airbnb the foundation of most joint ventures) to join resources
started in 2007 when two hard up students, both 27, with, to ensure their assets are 100% productive.
were struggling to pay their rent. A design conference
was coming to San Francisco and hotels were fully Is the old model of building bigger and better on your
booked. The students decided to compete in the hospi- own, cracking at the foundations, giving way to a more
tality market and rent out three airbeds on their living- inclusive and porous business methodology? Rather
room floor and cook their patrons breakfast. than staking their flag deeper in the ground, large-scale
corporations and professionals (countries even) need
The next day saw the creation of airbedandbreak- to think about working with their competitors in order to
fast.com; and just six days later the students hosted a win.
30-year-old Indian man, a 35-year-old lady from Boston
and a 45-year-old father from Utah. They charged them If we are to stay ahead in today’s economy, collaborat-
$80 each a night. As the students waved them goodbye, ing with the competition may be more than a cutting-
they looked at each other and thought, ‘There’s got to edge strategy; it may just become the bare necessity.
be a bigger idea here’.
Redefining the neighbourhood market
Now with over 2 000 000 listings in 34 000 cities and
191 countries, Airbnb is a prime example of the emer- Today, with no prerequisite investment or qualification,
gent ‘sharing economy’ an ecosystem in which every- you can sell your wares anywhere in the world. This is
thing from beds to bicycles to lighthouses are rentable largely due to a growing mass confidence in online con-
commodities. sumerism.
The idea is simple but radical and a testament to the At first, people were wary about security. But having
growing trend of ‘collaborative consumption’ in which made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon, they
physical assets are easily disaggregated and consumed were more confident to buy the next time from eBay…
as services. Our stuff (and our bright ideas) is assigned and so the spending story continued. Online retailers
new financial value when accessed, shared and utilised have essentially trained customers over time to be
by others. comfortable making remote purchases and trusting in
faceless vendors to deliver their goods.
Essentially, what we are seeing is the sharing of un-
derutilised assets as a means of beating the competi- Rather than ‘killing small business,’ Amazon and others
tion. Although this sharing economy operates on a peer- have activated new market opportunities. A niche ser-
to-peer business approach, could the same dynamic be vice that was once handicapped by locale can now se-
applied on a business-to-business scale? A joint ven- cure tractions outside of its neighbourhood borders.
ture would see two or more companies band together to
beat the competition, but taken a step further, should Services have joined the market
these same businesses learn from the sharing economy
and share office space, delivery vehicles and even HR In the same way, there is a growing trust and trend to-
systems in order to compete? wards selling services and skills globally. Like Uber or
Airbnb that piggyback off people’s personal assets,
Could there be a really clever new order in which busi- online platforms are available for professionals to offer
nesses analyse their productivity and utilisation profiles
their skills.
14 December 2016 - Customer Experience – Brand Experience goes Omnichannel
Collaborating to compete –
your enemy could be your
best friend!
In October 2007, two cash-strapped college graduates, and then find someone else whose profile is counter
three blow-up mattresses and a home cooked breakfast cyclical to their own (as opposed to the same – which is
changed the way we define spaces forever. Airbnb the foundation of most joint ventures) to join resources
started in 2007 when two hard up students, both 27, with, to ensure their assets are 100% productive.
were struggling to pay their rent. A design conference
was coming to San Francisco and hotels were fully Is the old model of building bigger and better on your
booked. The students decided to compete in the hospi- own, cracking at the foundations, giving way to a more
tality market and rent out three airbeds on their living- inclusive and porous business methodology? Rather
room floor and cook their patrons breakfast. than staking their flag deeper in the ground, large-scale
corporations and professionals (countries even) need
The next day saw the creation of airbedandbreak- to think about working with their competitors in order to
fast.com; and just six days later the students hosted a win.
30-year-old Indian man, a 35-year-old lady from Boston
and a 45-year-old father from Utah. They charged them If we are to stay ahead in today’s economy, collaborat-
$80 each a night. As the students waved them goodbye, ing with the competition may be more than a cutting-
they looked at each other and thought, ‘There’s got to edge strategy; it may just become the bare necessity.
be a bigger idea here’.
Redefining the neighbourhood market
Now with over 2 000 000 listings in 34 000 cities and
191 countries, Airbnb is a prime example of the emer- Today, with no prerequisite investment or qualification,
gent ‘sharing economy’ an ecosystem in which every- you can sell your wares anywhere in the world. This is
thing from beds to bicycles to lighthouses are rentable largely due to a growing mass confidence in online con-
commodities. sumerism.
The idea is simple but radical and a testament to the At first, people were wary about security. But having
growing trend of ‘collaborative consumption’ in which made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon, they
physical assets are easily disaggregated and consumed were more confident to buy the next time from eBay…
as services. Our stuff (and our bright ideas) is assigned and so the spending story continued. Online retailers
new financial value when accessed, shared and utilised have essentially trained customers over time to be
by others. comfortable making remote purchases and trusting in
faceless vendors to deliver their goods.
Essentially, what we are seeing is the sharing of un-
derutilised assets as a means of beating the competi- Rather than ‘killing small business,’ Amazon and others
tion. Although this sharing economy operates on a peer- have activated new market opportunities. A niche ser-
to-peer business approach, could the same dynamic be vice that was once handicapped by locale can now se-
applied on a business-to-business scale? A joint ven- cure tractions outside of its neighbourhood borders.
ture would see two or more companies band together to
beat the competition, but taken a step further, should Services have joined the market
these same businesses learn from the sharing economy
and share office space, delivery vehicles and even HR In the same way, there is a growing trust and trend to-
systems in order to compete? wards selling services and skills globally. Like Uber or
Airbnb that piggyback off people’s personal assets,
Could there be a really clever new order in which busi- online platforms are available for professionals to offer
nesses analyse their productivity and utilisation profiles
their skills.
14 December 2016 - Customer Experience – Brand Experience goes Omnichannel
