the negative externalities generated by resource consumption. He argues that relative decoupling can be achieved with technological advances, but that absolute decoupling is out of reach, and would even be a dangerous illusion (Laurent 2011). Companies therefore request relative decoupling.
According to Jackson, absolute decoupling is out of reach and it can even be a dangerous pipe dream (Laurent 2011). As a result, the decoupling between economic growth, environmental impacts and resource consumption is imminent, even if pessimistic researchers persist. Despite this pessimism, relative decoupling is requested by companies because there is less pressure on them.
The service economy is thus defined and has been mobilized according to three referential theories, namely the service economy and cooperation (EFC), Product Service Systems (known as PSS) and the functional economy (this theory has been defined in the previous sections) (ADEME 2017).
The approaches used to explain the service economy have identified two economic models that are at odds with the industrial model of intensive growth. The “service-based” model and the “life cycle” model.
The service-based model marks the advent of an economic rationale based on the value in use of the good, whose added value is calculated in relation to the sale of the service derived from this good and not on the basis of the production and sale of this good.
In this context, ADEME (2017) defines this model as follows:
This logic corresponds to the development of service and customer relations that is focused on the useful effects and performance of usage of the resolution, mainly by valuing the intangible resources on which the company’s activity is based (skills, trust, organizational relevance, etc.).
It mobilizes beneficiaries, industrialists, local authorities and citizen-consumers in a co-production and long-term commitment dynamic. Innovation covers all aspects of the business model. This service-oriented logic aims to increase the value created and the quality of the offer, by eliminating the logic of production in volume associated with the reduction of unit costs.
To complete this model, which does not particularly consider the product life cycle, the life cycle model is used. The purpose of this approach is to improve the environmental performance of products:
It allows products to be designed differently by taking their environmental impacts throughout their life cycle into account. Thanks to this new look at products, this approach makes it possible to generate new ideas and be creative. (ADEME 2012)
The novelty in this concept is in “the technological evolution of the goods that are made available, in this case the extension of the lifespan of goods, and in the logistics put in place to ensure the closure of the physical flows of goods and materials. It requires the company’s business model to evolve” (ADEME 2017).
While the two models (service-based and life cycle) seem to be complementary, they nevertheless present some disparities.
Thus, the service-oriented logic aims for the performance of the use of the good and not just its availability in the hands of the customer. “Service-oriented logic is based on the company’s intangible assets.”
[This] intangible capital is essentially linked to the company’s competencies (professionalization of people, knowledge, know-how, etc.), the relevance of the company’s organization and offer (intangible and technological R&D, marketing, relevance of the integration of goods and services), trust between stakeholders (cooperation, reputation, internal and external communication) and the health of workers. (ADEME 2017)
The value of intangible factors in the company determines the success of a service strategy in the context of the service economy.
As for the life cycle logic, the company undertakes selling the use of the good, while remaining the owner. In this case, the company will not adopt a planned strategy of redundancy. It will be responsible for the maintenance of the assets, particularly if it manufactures them itself and manages them throughout their life cycle:
Extending the life of assets is not the only potential benefit. In theory, a looped management of assets will be facilitated. Manufacturers, retaining ownership of the products, will be able to reuse components and recycle materials to make new products. These practices will be encouraged all the more as the costs and risks of shortages of virgin raw materials are high. (ADEME 2017)
Even if you can approach the service economy with both logics, the life cycle logic is similar to the notion of the circular economy, unlike the service-oriented logic which has a tendency to replace the service economy.
Basically, the economy of sharing has been introduced by three theories: the free market and P2P economy, the giving economy and the service economy. The theoretical foundations of collaborative practices can also be placed in a religious context. Monotheistic religions all agree on the principle of sharing between humans and consider that giving part of one’s goods to the other is an act of faith emanating from a sensitive and virtuous soul.
1.4. Conclusion
The sharing economy, a trend that can change everything in its path, seemingly unnoticed. Based on horizontal management, it encourages sharing and stimulates community relations in business transactions.
It is increasingly not only attracting an informed population concerned about the impact of economic activity on the environment and social well-being, but also a young population that is “connected” to new IT trends. The propensity of this generation to share is not a fluke nor a coincidence.
In short, today’s companies, operating in a sharing economy, are making their way to glory and sustainability.
TO REMEMBER.– The sharing economy is really an economic model and disrupts the capitalist model. The latter has created a crisis that has gone global at the same pace as the globalization of the economy. This crisis is multidimensional: economic, financial, social and ecological. What the sharing economy brings to sustainable development are global and integrated solutions.
1 1 Available at: http://tpe-societe-de-consommation.e-monsite.com/pages/tpe/iii-limite-et-critiques-de-la-societe-de-consommation-1.html.
2 2 This music store later became the pioneer of P2P technology and specialized in sharing multimedia files.
3 3 Michel Bauwens is a Belgian computer scientist, P2P theorist, author and lecturer on innovative technological and cultural topics (source: Wikipedia).
4 4 Source: https://www.justaskgemalto.com/fr/une-adresse-ip-cest-quoi/.
5 5 Marcel Mauss, who was born in 1872 and died in 1950 in Paris, is considered to be the father of French anthropology. His work has focused, among other things, on the meaning of giving in tribal societies. For Mauss, giving is essential in human society and has three phases: the obligation to give, the obligation to receive and the obligation to give back. His famous work is entitled The Gift: the Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies.
6 6 “Karl Polanyi (1886–1964), a writer and teacher of Hungarian origin, lived in Central Europe and Great Britain before emigrating to the United States during the Second World War. He is the author of a brilliant and powerful critique of the liberal tendency to place the market at the center of human nature and society, a phenomenon that we could call ‘commercial fundamentalism’” (Hart
