Value configurations in sharing economy business models

The sharing economy gains momentum and develops a major economic impact on traditional markets and firms. However, only rudimentary theoretical and empirical insights exist on how sharing networks, i.e., focal firms, shared goods providers and customers, create and capture value in their sharing-based business models. We conduct a qualitative study to find key differences in sharing-based business models that are decisive for their value configurations. Our results show that (1) customization versus standardization of shared goods and (2) the centralization versus particularization of property rights over the shared goods are two important dimensions to distinguish value configurations. A second, quantitative study confirms the visibility and relevance of these dimensions to customers. We discuss strategic options for focal firms to design value configurations regarding the two dimensions to optimize value creation and value capture in sharing networks. Firms can use this two-dimensional search grid to explore untapped opportunities in the sharing economy.