From a Sharing to a Contamination Economy
The last few years have seen the emergence of what might be called a “contamination economy.” The term describes the profound change that can be seen today in how business is done, both with regard to the confines of the factory in the traditional sense and with reference to the complexities of business resulting from the implementation of new technologies and the change of the time variable, as well as with reference to the phenomena that have seen the birth, growth, and proliferation of new entrepreneurship, many of the manifestations of which relate to the Web (e.g., Facebook, Amazon, Spotify, Netflix). These nascent forms of entrepreneurship have helped to change the approach to business through new generations, and to raise the levels of complexity, generating threats on the one hand but opportunities on the other.
The contamination economy is the evolution of the “sharing economy,” which was born in the 2000s with the creation of various digital platforms on which different subjects are aggregated, breaking down the roles that distinguish them in the traditional economy. This aggregation on shared platforms determines the creation of a virtual space within which the aggregated subjects can operate and implement acts as well as relationships of a commercial nature. Aggregation on platforms in this way shortens the distances that exist between the different operators in the real economy and favors the circulation of tangible and intangible resources. The phenomenon of a sharing economy over the years has taken on different connotations, from sharing in the literal sense of the term to crowding, bartering, and making.
Examples of “sharing” in the literal, first form of the phenomenon can be found in the world of transport, such as bike sharing and car sharing, and the creation of marketplace platforms such as BlaBlaCar, founded in September 2006 in Paris by Frédéric Mazzella, Nicolas Brusson, and Francis Nappez as a carpooling platform now present in 21 countries and with 25 million registered users. Other examples of sharing are represented by Wikipedia or platforms originating in tourism and based on the sharing of houses for holiday periods or short stays: in 2004, Casey Fenton, Daniel Hoffer, Leonardo Bassani da Silveira, Sebastian Le Tuan, and Daniel Hoffer founded in the United States CouchSurfing, a platform for the exchange of hospitality and a social network service. There are numerous other case studies, from portals for the sale of used items to those for finding professional figures, from babysitters to artisans, to Airbnb, which launched in 2008 as an online portal that connects people looking for accommodation for short periods with people who have extra space to rent (usually privately).
The phenomenon of “crowding” demonstrates the same modalities—that is, the aggregation of people around platforms in which a form of sharing is the objective; in the crowding context, this often comprises entrepreneurial ideas or projects that sometimes offer beneficial purposes, social and cultural. The scope of crowding has progressively widened, and today it can be seen to have profoundly changed the methods of access to credit and the search for financial resources. Increasingly, people and small innovative start-ups that wish to validate their business ideas are turning to such platforms to raise finance. There are two types of crowdfunding: in the first type, an idea and/or project is presented with a request for support through contributions of small amounts that together can be used to implement the project. In this typology, the focus is on the visibility of the platform and its ability to attract the interest of people from all over the world. The second type consists of a search for capital that enters as equity in the company property. With this typology, not only is a structure of financial resources created as capital for the newly born or nascent company, but the social structure of the same is also constructed through the process.
Worldwide, the two most important crowdfunding platforms are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Kickstarter was created in 2009 as a website of collective financing for creative projects where it is not possible to draw wealth from the investment in projects—it is only possible to lend support to them. Indiegogo is an international collective funding site founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. In Italy, there have been many platforms founded in recent years, although with volumes lower than these two American examples. Among the most significant Italian examples is DeRev. According to a report by the European Commission, DeRev, an all-Italian project, is among the five best crowdfunding platforms in Europe. Launched in 2013, it holds the record for the most financed crowdfunding campaign in Italy: € 1.5 million for the reconstruction of the Città della Scienza museum in Naples, which had been destroyed by fire in 2013. DeRev proposes three formulas, two of which refer to time limits and one that doesn’t: for the first, collect all or nothing within a maximum of 90 days; the second is fundraising that incorporates the instant crediting of funds without minimum objectives; the third is reserved for non-profit associations or bodies that intend to finance ongoing activities.
Eppela, like DeRev, is a wholly Italian platform. It was founded in 2011, and by 2017 it had raised almost € 6.5 million. It utilizes a reward-based model, which provides a reward for the donor who made the donation and sets time limits within which the funds must be raised, ranging from a minimum of 15 days to a maximum of 40. Eppela charges a 5% commission on the sum collected in cases in which goals are met. A platform open to equity-based support, Eppela offers the opportunity for companies, foundations, and institutions to co-finance projects, up to a maximum of 50% of the budget. Similarly, Mamacrowd is a pure equity crowdfunding platform that allows a donor to become a shareholder of the funded project. For this reason, not everyone can apply for a project; the Mamacrowd team, through analysis of quantitative and qualitative criteria, evaluates an application and looks for the existence of certain prerequisites, such as registration in the special section of the business register. Mamacrowd is a relatively young company, founded by SiamoSoci in 2016 and authorized by Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB), that favors and facilitates investment in innovative Italian projects launched by start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). StarsUp was the first project that CONSOB authorized to collect online venture capital from innovative companies and operate under the equity crowdfunding regime, and it too was designed for start-ups and SMEs. In addition to its fundraising platform, StarsUp also provides people with the advice of its professionals and it only charges a fee, which varies according to the offer subscribed, if the predefined economic objective is reached. Since 2014, the Livorno-based company has raised almost € 3 million. StarsUp also provides information on benefits for companies and investors. Productions From Below is probably among the best-known crowdfunding platforms, and was the first in Italy. Founded in 2005, it favors a mixed model: donation-based and reward-based. It proposes four rules for fundraising: collect everything (reward for the donor, maximum deadline of one year, commission of 5% on each transaction), simple donation (maximum deadline of one year, commission of 3% on each transaction, funds immediately available), recurring donation (no expiration, only PayPal, automatic monthly renewal of the donation), and all or nothing (maximum deadline of 120 days, commission of 5% on each transaction).
Another form of the sharing economy concerns the sharing of platforms for the exchange of goods through a bartering tool. Compared to other forms of sharing, “barter” represents a comparatively minor element, but it does offer valuable support and has gone on to revolutionize the digital economy. One example of a start-up founded on bartering is Armadio Verde, launched through the A11 Venture Investment Fund. Armadio Verde is a community marketplace for the exchange of dresses for women and for children aged between 0 and 16 years.
“Making” is also a relatively less relevant aspect of the sharing economy, but more and more people are sharing their availability to carry out services or their offerings as a small business on such platforms. Examples include platforms on which people can find small commissions at public offices or carry out shopping at the supermarket. In making, the shared resource is represented by the time each member makes available to the community.
The different connotations that the sharing economy assumes lead us to observe how the implementation of technologies and the creation of platforms aimed at supporting the digital aggregation of subjects and players have pushed the system to a growing and almost total search for sharing by modifying in a sensitive way some dynamics of doing business.
Business and Entrepreneurship
In this context, it can be easy to confuse the concept of ...