WIXLIB

Corso di Laurea magistraleIn Economia e Gestione delle AziendeTesi di LaureaSharing and Social Production asBusiness Opportunities: The ZipcarCase Study and AnalysisRelatoreCh. Prof. Sergio FaccipieriCorrelatoreCh. Prof. Fabrizio PanozzoLaureandoRiccardo TraversoMatricola 816968Anno Accademico2011 / 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTSList of TablesiList of FiguresiiIntroduction1CHAPTER ONE: The Business Model Canvas1.1 Business Model as a Concept31.1.1 Economic Theory31.1.2 Origin41.1.3 Transactional Approach51.1.5 Customer-Centric Perspective61.1.6 Internet Era71.2 Business Model Definition81.2.1 Customer Segments101.2.2 Value Propositions111.2.3 Channels131.2.4 Customer Relationships151.2.5 Revenue Streams161.2.6 Key Resources181.2.7 Key Activities191.2.8 Key Partnerships201.2.9 Cost Structure221.3 Case Study: Apple Inc.24CHAPTER TWO: The Business Model Patterns2.1 Business Model Patterns262.2 Overview26

2.3 Unbundling Business Model2.3.1 Mobile Telco2.4 The Long Tail Business Model2.4.1 The Book Publishing Industry2.5 Multi-Sided Platforms Business Model2.5.1 Google Inc.2.6 Free as a Business Model2.6.1 Skype2.7 Open Business Model2.7.1 Procter & Gamble31333436384042454650CHAPTER THREE: Sharing as Modality of Social Production3.1 Assigning a New Meaning to the Business Models533.2 Social Production573.3 The New Era of Business is Sharing613.4 Network Effect through Transactions65CHAPTER FOUR: The Zipcar Inc. Case Study4.1 Zipcar Inc.714.2 Overview724.3 The Zipcar’s Building Blocks744.3.1 Customer Segments744.3.2 Value Propositions774.3.3 Channels784.3.4 Customer Relationships794.3.5 Revenue Streams804.3.6 Key Resources824.3.7 Key Activities854.3.8 Key Partnerships864.3.9 Cost Structure884.4 The Zipcar’s Business Model Pattern914.5 The Zipcar Business Analysis94

4.5.1 Stability of the Zipcar Network over Five Years954.5.2 The Innovation Accounting994.5.3 The Zipcar Transactions Analysis4.6 Is Zipcar a Business Opportunity?102104Conclusion106References110

LIST OF TABLESCHAPTER ONETable 1. The String "Business Model" in Scholarly Reviewed Journals5CHAPTER TWOTable 2. Examples of Two-Sided Platforms39CHAPTER THREETable 3. Industrial Production vs. Social Production60CHAPTER FOURTable 4. The Costs of Ownership78Table 5. The Zipcar’s Revenue Streams81Table 6. The number of Vehicles held by Zipcar83Table 7. The Zipcar’s Operating Costs89Table 8. The Zipcar Income Statement96Table 9. The Zipcar’s Business Data from 2007-201196Table 10. Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA per User from 2007 to 201198Table 11. The Zipcar’s Performance between 2010 and 2011100Table 12. The Churn Rate101Table 13. Transactions in the Zipcar network103i

LIST OF FIGURESCHAPTER ONEFigure 1. The Business Model Canvas9Figure 2. A Large Representation of the Business Model Canvas23Figure 3. The IPod-ITunes’s Business Model Canvas25CHAPTER TWOFigure 4. Three Core Business Types32Figure 5. The Long Tail Curve34Figure 6. The traditional Book Publishing Industry36Figure 7. The Lulu.com’s Business Model Canvas37Figure 8. The Google’s Business Model Canvas41Figure 9. The Freemium Business Model42Figure 10. Freemium examples43Figure 11. The Skype’s Business Model Canvas46Figure 12. The Closed Innovation Model48Figure 13. The Open Innovation Model49Figure 14. The Principles of Innovation50Figure 15. The P&G Outside-In model51CHAPTER THREEFigure 16. The Industrial Production Model54Figure 17. Collaborative Consumption56Figure 18. The Virtuous Cycle of Trust69CHAPTER FOURFigure 19. The Zipcar Brand72ii

Figure 20. The Zipcar’s Revenues82Figure 21. The Zipcar Business Model Canvas - Left Part91Figure 22. The Zipcar Business Model Canvas - Right Part91Figure 23. Historical Data from 2007 to 201197Figure 24. The Growth rate98Figure 25. The Zipcar’s Marginal Profits from 2010 to 201199Figure 26. Value of Transactions103iii

INTRODUCTIONThis paper addresses the issue of business model opportunities over Internet-basednetworks. It also takes into consideration the study and analysis of several businessmodel patterns developed by technology-integrated platforms.Business models have gained greater importance since technology is increasinglyconnecting individuals to information in better and efficient ways. This connectivity ischanging the world of consumption, social community and mobility. In a globaleconomy where production is decentralized, the instant access to products or services isbecoming increasingly more practical than actual ownership.Sharing is a method of social production, which is challenging systems such as pricebased and hierarchy-based platforms. Whereas these outdated systems are underminingproductivity, economies and societies, social sharing excels productivity and isproviding additional benefits to the planet. By increasing efficiency, reducing waste,developing more durable and safer products as well as services, the surplus generatedby over production is reused.The world is evolving within technology-integrated platforms and networkinfrastructures, finding new opportunities of doing business “electronically” with results.Distinctive factors such as environmental concerns, economic crises, technologies, andindividual lifestyles are what drive the economy today.Social production is a concept built on social relations and principles such as productservice systems, redistribution markets, and collaborative lifestyles rather thandepending on prices, firms and bureaucracies to mobilize and allocate resources. In thisnew context, products are simply shared and the information about them flowsaccordingly.The cost of any shared good is split over transactions and users, so that better designedproducts can always be a competitive advantage for any business model in newcircumstances. The era of sharing-based platforms has just begun. Social media fostersnew share-based businesses by using mobile networks and the Web. These businesses!"!

can offer and provide relevant and customized content instantaneously to customers,thus delivering a highly targeted value.Peer-to-peer sharing allows for potential growth, change, and self-access to resourcesfaster and often at a closer proximity. Sharing companies no longer have to sustain theoverhead cost of purchasing and maintaining their assets, as the cost of sharing isgenerally lower than ownership. Social production helps society by using the goodsalready available in the market more efficiently while operating effectively withinenvironmental guidelines rather than producing even more new goods.Certainly not all physical products can be shared, but searching for opportunities to doso can lead to an increase in profit and efficiency.The Zipcar case study considers the power of sharing as a source of production andsustainable growth. The Business Model Canvas is used to address all the assumptionsissued by Zipcar. The company is developing an outstanding business model based onsubscriptions to continuously grow the number of users engaged. Moreover, the Zipcaranalysis shows revenues and EBITDA data to better understand the working capitalprocess and the retention rate related to each customer.In conclusion, Zipcar will be evaluated on the business opportunities that they willreach nationally and internationally.!#!

CHAPTER ONEThe Business Model Canvas1.1Business Model as a ConceptRecently, the topic of business models has been given a lot of consideration byjournalists, business people, consultants, and academics. The reason for this stems fromthe rapid changes the world is experiencing today. However, in literature, businessmodels are not discussed to any depth and frequently without any true understanding oftheir roots, role and potential. In fact, according to Christoph Zott and Raphael Amit,the term ‘business model’ is analysed without explicitly defining the concept. In theirreview of 103 business model publications between January 1975 and December 2009,they found that more than one-third (37%) of publications do not define the concept atall, thus assuming the meaning as taken for granted. Less than half (44%) ofpublications conceptualize the business model, while the remaining 19% refer to thework of other academics. Existing definitions only partially overlap, offering amultitude of possible interpretations [Zott & Amit, 2010].1.1.1 Economic theoryEconomic theory does not help in conceptualizing the design of business models.According to Teece [2010] the idea of this model does not have theoretical foundationin economics and business studies. He discusses how in economic theory the businessmodel is not even considered. He also argues that economic theory has been builtaround tangible and physical products. In this way, it is quite easy to capture valuebecause it is embedded in the products or services sold to established markets. Thetheory assumes that if value were delivered, the buyers would always pay at thecompetitive market prices available. In fact, in economic theory, there is no worry aboutthe value proposition to a customer because the price system will resolve it and! !

therefore the business model design issue simply does not exist or is insignificant.However, this argument is a misrepresentation of the real world, which is made ofintangible products and two-sided markets. Customers’ satisfaction lies no longer in justproducts themselves, but rather on the solutions to their perceived needs.This lack of consistency in economic theory represents a potential source of confusion,leading to obstacles in the natural development and research process of business models.According to Amit and Zott, the business model has tried to explain or address mainlythree phenomena: Use of Information Technology and e-business in organisations; Value creation, competitive advantage and company performance; Innovation and technology management.The first point has gained the greatest attention, as it is clear that the Internet is aprincipal driver in the discussion about business models. E-business means, “doingbusiness electronically” [Zott & Amit, 2010]. Academics have accounted it for variousnew business models including supply chain configuration (dis-intermediation or reintegration), subscription cost, advertising, sponsoring and commission, and transactionfees.1.1.2 OriginTo identify the origins of the business model debate, the work of Osterwalder, Pigneurand Tucci [2005] on clarifying the business model concept is a key starting point.Essentially they applied a method successfully used by Abrahamson, whereby theytraced the word string “Business Model” in a large number of journals to study itsevolution (Table 1).It demonstrated that the Business Model concept is a relatively young phenomenon. Theresearch showed that the term “business model” appeared only in an academic article in1957 and in the title and abstract of a paper in 1960 [Osterwalder & Pigneur & Tucci,2005]. As Table 1 shows, it rose to prominence only towards the end of the 1990s,exactly when the advent of Internet and the steep growth of NASDAQ occurred.!%!