Portugal and the sharing economy: a new frontier for business development
Here are some thoughts:
Current business models have
been extensively discussed and challenged by academics and practitioners, and
the way leaders have been coping with the present economic and political
instability has been challenged.
All
signs show that the capitalist system is currently dysfunctional and under
siege. In recent years, business has been viewed by many observers as a major
cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely
perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community (Porter,
2011).
There is a growing notion that something has to be done to turn things around. The current status quo in management does not seem to answer the new demands the present world is asking for.
Change is needed.
One of the most charismatic
authors whom has been discussing the theme is Meg Wheatley – an expert on
innovative leadership and author of the book Leadership and the New Science (a groundbreaking look at how the
new discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory and biology may change our
ways of thinking about organizations).
As Wheatley (2002) questions:
“Is it a time of increasing economic and political instability, of growing
divisiveness and fear, of failing systems and dying dreams? Is it a time of new
possibilities, of great examples of hope, of positive human evolution, of
transformation? Are we succeeding in solving major problems, are we creating
more? Is it any of these things, is it all of these things?” In her view, it is
crucial to know how to answer these questions, since they will affect our
choice of actions (Wheatley, 2002).
Having this in mind, Wheatley’s
perception is that the current status quo
urgently needs to suffer a dramatic change. In her view, there is urgency for “initiatives
and programs focused on process
improvements developing present systems to work more effectively and more
efficiently” (Wheatley, 2002). And further: “support needs to be given to
radically different processes and methods, new systems based on new assumptions
(…) The work becomes not process improvement but process revolution” (Wheatley,
2002).
Wheatley’s argument is that
there is a need for the birth of a new generation of leaders who abandons
traditional practices of hierarchy, power and bureaucracy. According to her,
those leaders must believe in people’s innate creativity and caring (Wheatley,
2002).
We are currently living a crucial time in what regards the establishing of the first paths in constructing what has been called to be the next techno-economic paradigm (TEP) – a green TEP (Freeman, 1992).
My perception
is that we are facing a decisive turning point in the efforts to get business
agents to understand how inevitable the incorporation of new sustainable
practices within the core of their businesses is. It is fundamental to meditate
about what may be lying ahead, what may be projected to be the next logical
steps towards the new green TEP. Thus, it becomes crucial to debate about the
importance of the role of leadership
in the efforts to turn things around and how key it is to generate new leaders
that perfectly understand this scenario and get committed to contribute for the
rooting of more sustainable practices within society.
In a time when there is an aggravation of social, economic and environmental problems, there are some signs that the current structure is experiencing exhaustion. In order to face future challenges it becomes necessary to alter the directions of production and consumption according to a change in values perspective.
The difficulties facing the inevitable transition towards a green TEP mainly lie on how to change mentalities and not so much on the technological aspects of that process. Today, there has been some resistance from developed countries in accepting and embracing the green TEP tendency, since in their leaders’ perspective the “green model” puts in question their traditional political and cultural hegemony. Private interests become the main obstacle in understanding and establishing common challenges and, above all, in deciding what may be the best path to overcome them.
We live in a world of excesses, where natural resources are being extracted in incalculable quantities and environmental disasters – such as oil spill – have been polluting and destroying ecosystems. In addition to that, it doesn’t seem to diminish the inequalities in accessing those resources and the current culture of consumption is still based on status. In other words, all signs show that the planet is reaching an exhaustion limit. Thus, we are getting to a level of emergency that has never been experienced before.
Mentalities must inevitably change
The path towards the green TEP will require the design and
implementation of innovating business and leadership models in order to re-structure
the economy. New partnerships will be necessary among big companies, the public
and private sectors, corporations and clients, as well as between direct
competitors.
If all business agents come to understand that the green TEP will be a reality, they will also understand that they will have to come up with new levels of innovation, which means that they will also need to see beyond and search for new ideas, technologies, businesses and leadership models. Such new expertise is not something that is fairly easy to develop, and thus, those who will be able to learn to collaborate more effectively will have a competitive advantage.
As an enterprise does not sustain itself alone, it becomes a key
instrument to try and reach all stakeholders involved and make them embrace a
new paradigm. It becomes fundamental to construct what I would call a chain of values shared by all actors,
with no exception, and that will serve as the main pillar that will sustain the
running of the new economy to emerge.
Having this in mind, one of the most promising tools that has been discussed and put upfront to serve this need for a green TEP is the Sharing Economy (SE). Being a fairly new concept currently in its infancy, SE is a new way of rethinking capitalism and protecting the Earth. It is “a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human and physical resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organizations” (Matofska, 2014).
SE is “known most
notably as a series of services and start-ups which enable Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
exchanges through technology (…) In its entirety and potential it is a new and
alternative socio-economic system which embeds sharing and collaboration at its
heart – across all aspects of social and economic life” (Matofska, 2014).
The concept
encompasses the following aspects: “swapping, exchanging, collective
purchasing, collaborative consumption, shared ownership, shared value,
co-operatives, co-creation, recycling, up cycling, re-distribution, trading
used goods, renting, borrowing, lending, subscription based models,
peer-to-peer, collaborative economy, circular economy, pay-as-you-use economy,
wikinomics, peer-to-peer lending, micro financing, micro-entrepreneurship,
social media, the Mesh, social enterprise, futurology, crowd funding, crowd
sourcing, cradle-to-cradle, open source, open data, user generated content
(UGC)” (Matofska, 2014).
Another definition may be the following: SE is “a way
of sweating underutilized assets, by building communities around them and
turning consumers into providers”, and it has the potential “to reboot businesses across most
economic categories” (Varsavsky in Silver, 2013).
If fundamental foundations of a green TEP
are ever to be constructed, current times demand a constant promotion of
cultural and mentality change. The road is long, no doubt. But it needs to be
perceived as a constant effort, where giving up and stagnating will certainly
mean to “die”.
Any change needs a trigger and in the case of companies the
triggers are their leaders. Thus, the central orienting question must be: how leaders can be agents of change in promoting a
transformation in the economy for a better world for everybody through
collaborative consumption?
Regarding the Portuguese context, the current crisis that the
country has been experiencing had the effect of promoting a debate about new
models of economic development. In this respect, one of the most interesting
initiatives taking place is a project called “MuVe – Mudança de Valores para a Economia do Futuro” (in English: “MuVe – Change of
Values for the Future Economy”), which is an attempt to assess the degree of
adherence and readiness for change by the portuguese civil society regarding
the various options available. The main aim of the project is to find out how
to stimulate the emergence of more sustainable models of economic development
as well as who will be the protagonists of this change.
It is insightful
to analyze and interpret the findings of the MuVe project in order to assess
whether or not the SE falls within
the expectations of the Portuguese civil society. Here it is: MuVe.