The sharing economy has become an increasingly important facet of global enterprise. Once seen as unproductive, advances in technology have led to increased efficiency in shared information and collaboration. As mobile computing and cloud services become more prevalent, the scale and scope of the sharing economy will surely grow.
In 2011, Time described the sharing economy as an idea that will change the world. While some examples of pure altruism exist, the majority of the sharing economy has nothing to do with sharing – rather, it's motivated by profit or cost cutting. The success of the sharing economy lies in its ability to reallocate under-utilized resources to more efficient use.
SHARING ECONOMY AT A GLANCE
Sometimes called the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) economy, the sharing economy is a decentralized economic system defined by collaboration between individuals and the sharing of resources. Monetary and barter transactions are used in the sharing economy, and both for-profit and nonprofit entities participate in the system. Although many sectors operate within the modern sharing
