The Collaborative Economy

Companies like Uber, Airbnb and Etsy have pioneered a new business model: one in which customers get what they want from one another, rather than from established brands.

Through my work with Vision Critical and Jeremiah Owyang’s Crowd Companies, I’ve surveyed tens of thousands of consumers on how they buy, sell, borrow and share through the collaborative economy. Our two major reports helped to drive the conversation on what the collaborative economy means not only for consumers, but for traditional businesses.

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Speeches on the collaborative economy

What does the collaborative economy mean for your business or industry? I speak frequently on the collaborative economy, drawing on the insights from our research on how tens of thousands of people choose to buy or share. Find out how I can help your audience understand what the collaborative economy means for them.

size of collaborative economy in US and Canada

2015 Report: The New Rules of the Collaborative Economy

How can companies compete in the collaborative economy? This report maps out three key strategies: competing on price, competing on brand and competing on convenience. By looking not only at the overall picture of collaborative economy participation (including data on how that pattern has changed in the past 18 months) but also, at the specific reasons people choose between buying and sharing, we were able to map out both key purchase drivers and business opportunities.

Key resources

Feature infographic on SlideShare
Full report as PDF on SlideShare

Highlights from our 2015 report

Collaborative economy articles and posts

A week in my life with AI

My favourite Canadian products

I've been very touched to see American friends expressing their desire to buy Canadian as a way of showing solidarity in the face of Trump's destructive tariffs. While Tim Horton's is no longer Canadian (it's owned by the same folks who own Burger King and Popeyes),...

Your custom AI makes you a better speaker (or consultant)

Your pre-trained AI isn't just a resource for you: It's a resource for your clients. Here's an example of how I use the "Alexerizer," the custom AI that I talked about recently on HBR's Women at Work podcast. While the Alexerizer primarily exists to help me brainstorm...

2014 Report: Sharing is the New Buying

The first comprehensive report on the collaborative economy drew on data from more than 90,000 respondents in three countries. We mapped participation and satisfaction across multiple categories of sharing, and anticipated the explosive growth of a new generation of sharing services.