Sharing Isn't Caring? : A Qualitative Study Focused on How Industry Incumbents Can Successfully Compete with Sharing Economy Businesses

Abstract: Sharing economy businesses have increasingly began to inhibit the competitive landscape of many different industries. Their growth can be primary connected to general digitalization developments. At its core, the sharing economy concept is built around efficiently using excess resources. In this thesis, it is argued that sharing economy businesses should be considered disruptive innovations, partly because they present incumbent firms with significant challenges. While the sharing economy business concept facilitates effective peer-to-peer exchange, and in the process provides new possibilities of employment, customer-centric innovation and market development, it can also be tied to a decreasing demand for goods and services offered by incumbents in the same marketplace. Examples of businesses built around the sharing economy concept include – but are not limited to – Airbnb, Vrbo, Uber, Lyft, Zilok, and Hygglo. Prior to the beginning of this research project, very little research regarding potential strategic countermeasures for incumbent firms to employ against sharing economy competitors had been conducted. As a result, this thesis serves the purpose of investigating the impact of sharing economy businesses from the perspective of incumbents and theorizing about potential responses. In order to facilitate this purpose, the hospitality industry was chosen as a representative of an industry that has experienced sharing economy business entrances and sharing economy business competition to a researchable extent. Through this thesis and its accompanying qualitative data collection process, several challenges that are presented to incumbents as a result of sharing economy business entrances were identified. Additionally, a focus was placed on evaluating both tried and prospective strategic measures, using existing theory and insights from the data collection to discover the key aspects needed for the development of potential responses to sharing economy businesses. A similar process was undertaken regarding business models, as the crucial and core elements of a perceived successful business model needed to be identified. The findings generated by the data collection process were then analyzed using a thematic analysis, centered on the themes of: Strategic Management in the Hospitality Industry; Current Trends in the Hospitality Sector; Fundamentals of a Successful Hotel Business; and Future Strategy Suggestions and Industry Prospects. After conducting the three identification and analyzation stages, the findings were discussed in the penultimate chapter of the thesis, where the findings’ relation to existing theory was explored. Following the discussion, the possibility to answer the main research question of this thesis appeared. After discussing our findings, our analysis, and the connection to existing theory, we were able to conclude that incumbent firms can successfully compete with sharing economy businesses. Specifically, they could ensure this through strategic changes and business model innovations built around efficiently exploiting the incumbents’ internal strengths and advantages that are currently not easily imitable by sharing economy businesses. As such, they should look to create, deliver, and communicate unique value to its customers, and suggestions on how this could be achieved by both incumbent hospitality managers and others are provided.