An ESADE study reveals the need to create a framework for measuring the social impact

“At present, 50% of the transactions falling within what is termed the collaborative economy are in the hands of just 17 companies: the so-called 'unicorns', with business running into thousands of millions of dollars, said Heloise Buckland, co-author of the 4th Report on Social Innovation titled “Nosotros compartimos. ¿Quién gana? Controversias sobre la economía colaborativa’’ [Who Wins? Controversies over the Collaborative Economy]. Various ESADE experts and representatives of the collaborative movement such as Ouishare, Airbnb and OCU [Consumer Association] took part in the presentation.

Buckland stressed that "These companies often make profits from assets they do not own”, referring to the fact that companies such as Uber (valued at US $64,000 m) and Airbnb (respectively, the world's biggest transport and lodging companies). These firms do not own buildings or cars. Here, Lucía Hernández, Connector of Ouishare in Barcelona noted that “95% of all the profits of the the collaborative economy are being made by just 1% of the web portals”.

David Murillo, Professor of ESADE’s Department of Social Sciences and co-author of the study, argued that this raises doubts about who gets the profits, the kind of labour relations involved and what the real environmental impact is of all these initiatives. "This is why one needs to explore the gap between what the collaborative economy offers and what it has delivered so far", he went on. Murillo said " it is vital to evaluate the social impact of the collaborative economy, the kind of co-operation it forges with other agents, and its ability to solve pressing social problems. These must be key parts of the analysis in pinning down what the collaborative economy is and what it is not.”

Airbnb, a phenomenon that is here to stay

Luis Morcillo, senior legal advisor to Airbnb, said during the presentation of the study that Barcelona had received over 900,000 Airbnb guests in 2015, compared with 227,000 guests in 2013. According to data provided by Morcillo, each host in Barcelona received on average €5100 and rented his house for 58 days last year. He stressed that “In Airbnb's case, 97% of the reservation price goes to the user providing the accommodation”. He added: “We defend Home Sharing and see Airbnb as financial support for families. Many of our users say that the extra income they earn helps them make ends meet and so there is a positive social impact.”

Morcillo said "This is a phenomenon that is here to stay. The reason is that people like it. We must ensure that the jigsaw between public administration, the web portal and users fits. That is something that requires dialogue, not fines and legal cases", he said in relation to clashes between the company on the one hand and the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council on the other. He added, "We are working to find a fair deal for users within the EU legal framework. We now have agreements with 190 cities on taxes and we continue to negotiate with other cities. Since reaching these agreements, we have paid US $85 million in taxes.”

10 good examples of the collaborative economy having a social impact

The study was written by researchers Heloise Buckland and David Murillo of ESADE's Institute of Social Innovation. It provides an in-depth analysis of the French start-up BlaBlaCar, and measures the influence and impact of 10 successful cases of social Innovation based on the collaborative economy. Drawing on these cases, the study proposes five key variables to measure the degree of social innovation in these kinds of initiatives: (1) positive social impact; (2) economic sustainability; (3) innovation; (4) inter-sectoral collaboration; (5) scalability. The main idea is to show how organisations in this field can create a positive social impact, notwithstanding the controversy. In this respect, both ESADE experts and the representatives of Ouishare and OCU agreed on the need to establish a framework for measuring the social impact of such initiatives.

Lucía Hernández of Ouishare said that “The collaborative economy has grown very fast but is still coming of age. It needs to foster new kinds of associations and defend the activities of users on these web portals.” Amaya Apesteguía, an expert in responsible, collaborative consumption at OCU (consumer association) stressed relationships between users: “What changes everything is the role played by individuals in both creating income and other kinds of non-monetary value (such as solidarity) through a given web-portal”. Apesteguía also stressed the scope of the collaborative economy to “dignify the informal economy that has always existed between neighbours. Some collaborative web portals can reveal and regulate the black economy and this is something that needs to be studied.” Luis Morcillo corroborated this: “Airbnb makes Bank transfers to users accounts so everything is traceable.”