Commercial Intelligence – Page 100 – Public Intelligence Blog

2014/08/162014/08/15

Jean Lievens: Is the Sharing Economy Potentially a Locust Economy Ravaging a Collaborative Economy More Delicate Than Realized?

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

Venkat

RibbonFarm, 3 April 2013

Last week, I figured out that I am a part-time locust. Here’s how it happened.

I was picking the brain of a restauranteur for insight into things like Groupon. He confirmed what we all understand in the abstract: that these deals are terrible for the businesses that offer them; that they draw in nomadic deal hunters from a vast surrounding region who are unlikely to ever return; that most deal-hunters carefully ensure that they spend just the deal amount or slightly more; that a badly designed offer can bankrupt a small business.

He added one little factoid I did not know: offering a Groupon deal is by now so strongly associated with a desperate, dying restaurant that professional food critics tend to write off any restaurant that offers one without even trying it.

Yet, I’ve used (and continue to use) these services and don’t feel entirely terrible about doing so, or truly complicit in the depredations of Groupon. Why? It’s because, like most of the working class, I’ve developed a locust morality.

Thinking about locusts and the behavior of customers around services like Groupon, I’ve become convinced that the phrase “sharing economy” is mostly a case of putting lipstick on a pig. What we have here is a locust economy. Let me explain what that means.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Is the Sharing Economy Potentially a Locust Economy Ravaging a Collaborative Economy More Delicate Than Realized?”

2014/08/152014/08/14

SchwartzReport: 25% of Adults World-Wide Enjoy Full Employment

03 Economy, 11 Society, Commercial Intelligence

This very important trend is virtually invisible. It's not that the data is unavailable, as this report shows. It is that it is not discussed. But if only 25 per cent of the adults in the world are employed full-time that means three quarters aren't. A major predictor of social ! unrest. Click through to see the important charts.

Only 1.3 Billion Worldwide Employed Full Time for Employer
Jon Clifton and Ben Ryan – The Gallup Organization

WASHINGTON, D.C. — About one in four adults worldwide — or roughly 1.3 billion people — worked full time for an employer in 2013. Gallup's Payroll to Population (P2P) rate, which reports the percentage of the total adult population that works at least 30 hours per week for an employer, has not grown since 2012.

2014/08/142014/08/13

Jean Lievens: Singapore’s Sharing Economy

Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

Singapore's sharing economy is on the rise

However, observers say the emerging sector has run into some legal snags, while businesses band together to navigate regulatory grey areas

EXTRACTS

Besides personal assets, services like transport and holiday accommodation can also be made available for sharing. This idea of collaborative consumption allows individuals to buy from and sell to one another directly, saving resources and bypassing big companies.

. . . . . . .

The sharing economy is relatively new in Singapore. So there are not many legal firms that are representing the businesses right now

Lester Kang, founding member of the Sharing Economy Association of Singapore

Read full article.

2014/08/112014/08/09

Worth a Look: Fusion Economics by Laurence Brahm

Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Peace Intelligence

AMAZON PAGE: Fusion Economics: How Pragmatism Is Changing the World

Hardcover Pre-Order Now for 21 October 2014 Delivery

Phi Beta Iota: Below is Robert Steele's jacket blurb:

Laurence Brahm is one of those unsung heroes who was changing the world for the better, and influencing various governments in most positive ways, long before ecological economics and social enterprise became fashionable turns of phrase. I regard him as the anti-thesis to the predatory capitalism mantras and methods of our time. His proven focus on community development and evolutionary blends of state planning and market incentives is precisely what we need now that everyone understands that Western governments have been corrupted and Western economies destroyed by financial interests devoted to extracting value instead of creating value. This is a practical book, a spiritual book, and one that should be required reading among those intent on creating collaborative economies and social enterprises.

Robert David Steele
CEO, Earth Intelligence Network

Below is the book description from the publisher:

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2014/08/112014/08/09

Jean Lievens: P2P on Cooperativa Integral Catalana

03 Economy, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics, Liberation Technology

Enric Duran of the Catalan Integrated Cooperative has taken the time to comment on Michel Bauwens’ recent article on Open Coops, contrasting Bauwens’ proposals with the practical realities already under way in the CIC’s own forward thinking cooperativist environment.

Bauwens’ summary of these proposals include four key proposals which Duran addresses below. To give some context, the four proposals are:

That coops need to be statutorily (internally) oriented towards the common good
That coops need to have governance models including all stakeholders
That coops need to actively co-produce the creation of immaterial and material commons
That coops need to be organized socially and politically on a global basis, even as they produce locally.

Here are Duran’s comments to each proposal.

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2014/08/112014/08/09

Yoda: Are Islamic Finance and Ethical Economics the Same?

Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Ethics

Think, we do.

How Islamic finance and a more ethical capitalism go hand-in-hand

In first place, the most-read article on the Guardian Social Enterprise Network for 2013, was Sheeza Ahmad's thoughts on how Islamic finance and a more ethical capitalism go hand-in-hand. As the founder of social enterprise HelpingB, he argued that the Qur'an's teachings of business reflect objectives of the worldwide social enterprise movement.

See Also:

Welby 'embarrassed' by Wonga link

EXTRACT

Linking financing to real assets, as opposed to ‘virtual' money, is what distinguishes Islamic banking from conventional finance. So what would the current financial landscape look like if the attitude towards money lending and interest shifted towards the Islamic model?

2014/08/062014/08/05

Jean Lievens: The Sharing Economy Will Thrive Only If Government Doesn’t Strangle It

03 Economy, Commercial Intelligence, Design

The Sharing Economy Will Thrive Only If Government Doesn't Strangle It

R. J. Lehmann

Reason.com, 2 August 2014

We're unlocking unthinkable amounts of capital and lawmakers stand in the way.

The so-called sharing economy is many things to many people. To Wall Street and Silicon Valley, firms like Uber and Airbnb offer tantalizing market capitalizations, the likes of which have not been seen since the go-go '90s. At the same time, political operatives see the emerging debates over regulation of ride-sharing and space-sharing as a potential opening for the libertarian right to assert their world view in urban politics for the first time in a long time.

Read full article.

Regulation won't kill the sharing economy — we just need new rules.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: The Sharing Economy Will Thrive Only If Government Doesn't Strangle It”