An Animated Overview of the Sharing Economy (Youtube)
Consolidation: Fill in the gaps
Sharing economy means generating income by sharing _______________ with others through __________________. Examples are short-lease accommodation platform ________, and ________ the hired car service deploying part-time drivers. Airbnb, for instance, currently offers leased accommodation in 30,000 cities around the world. Local success stories in Hong Kong include P2P item rental platform G__________ and car sharing platform Carshare.
Factor 1: __________________
The globalisation of the economy has led to monopoly, exploitation and homogenisation, and people want to overturn the business model of traditional industries and develop innovative and fair business conditions.
Factor 2: __________________
The problem of over-consumption is becoming increasingly serious. It will bring irreversible damage to the environment. This is why the issue of how to reduce the waste of resources has become an important issue in our society.
Factor 3: __________________
With the development of Internet technology and the popularity of mobile applications, emerging technologies have made it possible for society to share resources in real-time.
Factor 4: __________________
The Internet generation has grown up with the habit of sharing things that are part of their daily lives. The new generation's concept of "sharing" has also made the "sharing economy" possible from theory.
Homework: Critics are quick to come up with negative impacts that are equally as convincing as the positive ones above. As a start, I have included a few extracted articles for you to start with. You then have come up with a negative one of your own with your own research.
Sharing economy makes use of idle resources by matching it with users in real-time through online platforms. Extra income can be made for those willing to rent out their used items. For consumers, this means the cost of using an item is reduced. Resources in a society can be used more efficiently instead of lying idle. Environmentalists also support this idea as wastage (e.g. rental items), pollution (e.g. car share) and production are all reduced. This is also an idea to counter the western value of materialism and over-consumption.
However, the promotion of sharing economy also has its problems. Traditional industries‘ survival such as taxi is threatened. Road obstruction is also complained about for the use of shared bikes……