Business Models of the Collaborative Economy

Collaborative business models are often equated with disruptive commercial endeavors, epitomized by a handful large global sharing platforms. They represent a certain archetype of business model, extracting profit from market-mediated peer exchanges. A narrow focus on for-profit models obstructs coming to terms with the full scope of the collaborative economy phenomena, driven by purposes and actors beyond commercial market domains. This chapter attempts to broaden this perspective by reviewing alternative value creation mechanisms and presents emerging business model archetypes.