Description:
“Before the internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but was usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, RelayRides, Zilok, and SnapGoods match up owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let people see where the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust; and online payment systems handle the billing.” (1Economist).
In this assignment, we focus on sharing economy as a rising sector of the global economy. The goal of this essay is to provide a holistic view of both upside and downside of this economy and the business models operating in it.
Backed by research and sufficient evidence, your essay need to provide answers to these issues.
 What are the benefits of starting a company in this economy? (3 main benefits) Find an example of a company that operates in food, education, home and office, idea generation and funding, and explain how such benefits apply to this company?
o Be creative! The example should not be any company I discussed in class or examples from the textbook.
 What are some of the downside of sharing economy? (3 major downsides)
o These downsides could be from economy’s perspective, worker’s perspective, or government’s perspective.
o Your research should address issues beyond what I said in class. Providing details, and supporting examples are important!

1 http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-int…

 Make salient and feasible suggestions (supported by research) that help remedy (or at least) reduce these downsides? Are the real-world efforts in line with your suggestions? (you need to read some recent news on the topic to get an idea about this)

Instructions for the assignment:

1.All questions must be answered. Your essay should not have any parts, bullet-points or sections; submit one essay that follows this structure: introduction, your arguments, conclusion (without any subheadings)

2.You must be creative in your responses. The answers should not be related to the textbook content and class cases. If any point in your essay is too similar to textbook materials, the assignment will not be considered complete. 

3.There should be a minimum of 5 external references for the whole essay. 

4.You can start here to get ideas: http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/GI_215_… 

The references could be articles posted in books, journals, news, magazines etc. 

Note that your source cannot be Wikipedia or textbook. 

Use APA or MLA style to format your references. If you are not familiar with these, learn about them on the Internet. 

Place a list of references at the end of your essay according to the chosen style. 

If you are citing a reference, you need to paraphrase the sentences in the source rather than copy-pasting from it. Read this links below to make sure you understand plagiarism in writing: 

https://writingcenter.utk.edu/for-students/citings… 

http://www.plagiarism.org/citing-sources/cite-sour… 

The assignment will automatically be uploaded on Turnitin. More than 10% of similarity will not be considered as original work.