• Understand principles of economics and strategy to Sharing Economy ventures and to compete against Sharing Economy ventures.
• Critique Sharing business models
• Describe the process to launch a new internet venture
• Understand and contribute to a discussion on the impact of Sharing ventures on social and environmental systems
• Comprehend the potential issues around the consumer expectations for data privacy

Uber and AirBnb massively disrupted the transportation and lodging industries, respectively. Thousands of other “sharing” ventures hope to have similar impacts on other sectors. This class explores businesses that embrace collaborative consumption, where the firm's primary function is to create a new market to match pre-existing supply of underutilized assets (including skills) with potential demand. The lower costs bring entirely new customer segments into the market, especially at the base of local and global economic pyramids.

What are the economics that drive this disruption? How are these economics different for different business models and sectors? What are the early and eventual strategies that these firms are taking? What strategies could incumbent firms adopt to counter this threat? What is the link between the economics and strategy? 

These sharing firms also have dramatic implications for environmental and social issues. The success of Uber and AirBnb reduce the need for new taxis, rental cars, and hotel rooms, with concomitant reduction in carbon output, a vital step to combat climate change. However, these business models also upend traditional labor practices by reducing wages and taxes, which create social tensions. How will the sharing economy influence and be influenced by broader factor markets, regulations, and politics? 

Finally, because these ventures depend on critical mass, they require a different path to test and launch the business model. Do standard entrepreneurial techniques and financing methods work for sharing businesses?

Class 1: Business Model Canvas in Two-Sided Markets

Class 2: Lean Startup Method

Class 3: Network Effect

Class 4: Switching Costs and Lock In

Class 5: Pricing and Funding

Class 6: Internet of Things and Big Data

feedback activity: Present Biz Model of New Venture

Class 7: Counter Strategy and Dynamic Capabilities

Class 8: Negotiations

Class 9: Social Impact

Class 10: Privacy and Creepy

Class 11: Irrationality and Effectuation

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

Feedback Activity: A feedback activitity defined by the course instructor will take place app. half-way through the course. 
 

The timetable is available on  http://www.cbs.dk/files/cbs.dk/isup_timetable_2016_updated.pdf

Ted has led and participated in many internet ventures, mostly recently a smartwatch company that was acquired by Google.

PRIMARY LITERATURE (MUST-HAVE):

Maurya, A:  Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Work

ISBN 1449305172

O'Reilly Media, 2012

Benjamin Edelman; Michael Luca: Airbnb (A)

912019-PDF-ENG

Harvard Business Publishing. 2012

The following additional resources will be used during the semester:

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Only chapter 1 required, which is provided as a free PDF on the authors’ website, www.businessmodelgeneration.com

Porter, M. and J. Heppelmann (2014) “How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition” Harvard Business Review, November 2014.

Groth, O, and T. Ladd (2015) “The End of Porter's Five Forces: How the internet of things and digital intermediaries will change industries” Harvard Business Manager Deutsch, June 2015.

Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review, 91(5), 63-72.

Sarasvathy, S. “What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial?” Free from the author’s website, effectuation.org

Kumar, V. “Making Freemium Work” Harvard Business Review, May 2014

"Pointers to the Future" in the Economist, October 18, 2014

“Pricing the Surge” (about Uber pricing) in the Economist, Mar 24, 2014 http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21599766-microeconomics-ubers-attempt-revolutionise-taxi-markets-pricing-surge

“There’s an app for that” (about on-demand labor) in the Economist Jan 3, 2015 http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637355-freelance-workers-available-moments-notice-will-reshape-nature-companies-and

"Testing, testing". Economist, January 18, 2014 available at http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21593581-launching-startup-has-become-fairly-easy-what-follows-back-breaking

“The Language of Things”, Technology Quarterly, Q3, Economist, available at http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21615067-more-and-more-devices-are-becoming-connected-will-they-speak-same

Hiding from Big Data, Technology Quarterly, Q2, Economist, available at http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21603233-it-security-increasing-commercial-use-personal-data-and-multiple