Social manufacturing and business model innovation

We have witnessed the emergence of a new set of corporations that have been able to grow faster than the competition with fewer resources. Corporations such as Uber and AirBnb have grown to become one of the largest of their kind in less than ten years: Uber was established in 2009 and is currently the world's biggest taxi company. Interestingly, it does not own any vehicles. Similarly, AirBnb was established in 2008 and is currently is the world's largest accommodation provider. Again, interestingly, it does not own any real estate. What is happening here, and more importantly, what kind of business model innovation has taken place, if any? This paper aims to shed light on these questions by analyzing the business models of these companies and contrasting them with those of their respective industry incumbents. The results highlight the importance of software in automatizing and outsourcing otherwise capital and labor intensive activities as well as enabling the business model to build upon logical resources composed of decentralized, transient slack resources of individuals and companies.