University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
What's Mine Is Yours
Book

What's Mine Is Yours

The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers
HarperBusiness, 2010
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Finding a glimmer of hope in the economic environment is a challenge these days – particularly in the aftermath of the recession. But business writer Rachel Botsman and entrepreneur Roo Rogers make you feel optimistic about the concept of “collaborative consumption” and its potential to alter the way people conduct business – and business relationships. The authors cite many user-friendly marketplaces where consumers share, rent, trade and barter while creating meaningful, human connections. Botsman and Rogers suggest that financial upheaval has paved a pathway to a kinder, more introspective era that will bring out the innate goodness and spirit of cooperation in individuals. Naive or brilliant, you decide. getAbstract recommends this book to marketers interested in how the marketplace is shifting and believes that anyone seeking some positive economic news will enjoy this informative, delightful and uplifting work.

Summary

For the Common Good

“Collaborative consumption” isn’t new; people have practiced it for years. In fact, technology is taking us back to old market behaviors. Collaborative consumption is rooted in popular online social networking. Sites such as YouTube and Wikipedia encourage users to share information, knowledge, videos and photos. Collaborative consumption lets people open their world to others without sacrificing freedom or individuality. Elinor Ostrom, a political science professor at Indiana University and winner of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science, is an expert in common resources. She says collaborative consumption can succeed as an economic system because people innately gravitate toward behaviors that “act in the common good.”

The Excesses of Consumerism

Society’s dependence on nonbiodegradable materials has made it impossible to dispose of all the Earth’s man-made waste. For example, a “swirling mass” of 3.5 million tons of trash called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch floats in a remote area of the ocean. About 90% of it is plastic. Experts believe similar floating trash dumps, though not quite as gargantuan, could cover 40% of the...

About the Authors

Rachel Botsman writes, consults and lectures on collaboration and sharing. Entrepreneur Roo Rogers is president of Redscout Ventures in New York.

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