Business models of sharing economy companies : exploring features responsible for sharing economy companies’ internationalization

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the sharing economy business models and their features responsible for internationalization. The study proposes derived definitions for the concepts of “sharing economy” and “business model” and first generic sharing economy business models typology. The typology was created through the qualitative analysis of secondary data on twenty sharing economy companies from nine different industries. The outlined categories of sharing economy business models are Marketplace, Access-based business model and On-demand Service Provider. On-demand Service Providers have the lowest of all three categories propensity to internationalize. Other than that, the presence of physical resources in the value creation activities has inverse relation to internationalization. Financial resources, country of origin and community building as an element of customer relationships are not responsible for sharing economy companies’ internationalization. The contributions of the paper have both theoretical and practical components. The main theoretical contribution of the study is the provided categorization of sharing economy business models, considering that in the existing research there was no generic typology as such. The gathered knowledge on the sharing economy companies is highly valuable with the growing size and importance of sharing economy. The paper provides contributions to the relation between sharing economy, business model framework and internationalization, which have never been studied together before. Furthermore, the categorization of sharing economy business models is an excellent basis for further research with the focus on company life cycle, profitability, and efficiency indicators. Practical implications of the constructed business models and categorization include using them as a strategic tool when deriving own business model, entering international markets or launching new products.