Basic Report

The emergence of mobile technology has helped to create efficient marketplaces that allow us to share anything with the rest of the world. Internet, in combination with mobile technology, provides services that promote a certain lifestyle which has been referred to in a great variety of ways such as ‘shared economy.’ The sharing economy entails peer-to-peer exchanges for renting goods and services utilizing the Internet. In addition, it has created a lot of relationships and social networks that change the viewpoint of ownership and use, along with saving the cost of ownership. Although local governments are faced with a tsunami of sharing economy activities, no published research has yet examined its specific directions or strategies to revitalize the shared economy at the local government level. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to suggest policy directions and specific strategies for stimulating shared economy at the local government level. The following specific questions were considered: how can shared economy be revitalized at the local government level?; how can policies for the shared economy be stimulated at the local level? These were answered first through a review of the relevant literature and then through the analysis of in-depth case study.
   In order to examine how shared economy can be revitalized at the local government level, firstly, this study proposed an analytical framework based upon a typology of the main goals for shared economy policies. Basically, the goals for the application of shared economy policies can be considered into three aspects: economic, social and environmental. The social goal in addition can be divided into two different aspects: building social relationship and solving local social problems. Specifically, the core of the first economic type was defined based on transactions or sharing activities for economic reasons. The second type for building social relationship had been also conceptualized as an important strategy to induce the active social participation and relationship building. The third type for solving local social problems was defined as the sharing activities in order to resolve social issues or problems such as elderly or baby caring services. The last environmental type was defined as collaborative consumption of resources for the sake of environmental sustainability. This type had been approached as reducing the cost of new product development and raw materials by using unused resources more efficiency. Based upon these analytical frameworks, this research selected four typical cases (City of Seoul, City of Busan, City of Daejeon, City of Jeonju) that have initiated local shard economy policies relatively early, and analyzed these four cases from a comparative perspective.
   Based on the main findings, this research provides several suggestions to facilitate sharing economy policies at the local government level. First of all, to promote successful shared economy, it is necessary to revisit the fundamental meaning of “sharing,” and to take steps to be transformed into “sharing cities.” Especially, this new understanding about sharing economy should focus on finding answers to the following questions: what are the desirable sharing; what kinds of resources can be shared; and how can we best manage shared resources at the local or community level. Second, more practical directions and strategies should be developed on the reflection of different circumstances and unique characteristics of each city. Third, the pubic sector should recognize their role in stimulating sharing activities especially for public interests Specifically, local public agencies need to have a paradoxical role as regulator, facilitator, implementers and collaborators to maintain the sharing economy’s innovation and diffusions. Fourth, new legal and institutional systems must be established on which local policies for sharing economy could be developed and facilitated. Fifth, it is necessary to establish clear goals and facilitative strategies through collaborative partnerships among diverse local stakeholders including citizens, governments, and business groups as well. Finally, this research emphasizes that it is also necessary to develop legal and institutional systems that may include local ordinance, basic development plans, regular surveys, administrative support system, intermediary organization, and public-private partnership for sharing economy.