Peers Inc: How People and Platforms Are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism

by Robin Chase

Overview

When Robin Chase cofounded Zipcar, she not only started a business but established the foundation for one of the most important economic and social ideas of our time: the collaborative economy. With this important book, she broadens our thinking about the ways in which the economy is being transformed and shows how the Peers Inc model is changing the very nature of capitalism.

When the best of people power is combined with the best of corporate power to form "Peers Inc" organizations, a potent creative force is released. The "Inc" in these collaborations delivers the industrial strengths of significant scale and resources, and the "Peers" bring together the individual strengths of localization, specialization, and customization, unlocking the power of the collaborative economy. When excess capacity is harnessed by the platform and diverse peers participate, a completely new dynamic is unleashed.

In Peers Inc, Robin Chase brings her provocative insights to work, business, the economy, and the environment, showing:
How focusing on excess capacity transforms the economics of what's possible and delivers abundance to all
How the new collaboration between the Inc and the Peers enables companies to grow more quickly, learn faster, and deliver smarter products and services
How leveraging the Peers Inc model can address climate change with the necessary speed and scale
How the Peers Inc model can help legacy companies overcome their shortening life cycle by inviting innovation and evolution
Why power parity between the Peers and the Inc is a prerequisite for long-term success
How platforms can be built within the existing financial system or outside of it
What government can do to enhance economic possibility and protect people working in this new decentralized world

Chase casts a wide net, illuminating the potential of the Peers Inc model to address broader issues such as climate change and income inequality, and proves the impact that this innovative economic force can have on the most pressing issues of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610395540
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	06/09/2015
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Robin Chase is cofounder of Zipcar, along with three other companies (Veniam, Buzzcar, and GoLoco). She was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World, a BusinessWeek Top Ten Designer, a Fast Company Champion of Innovation, and has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, NBC's Today, Wired, Forbes, Inc., and Newsweek. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I The Building Blocks 1

1 "Hello, Zipcar. This Is Robin.": My Three Theses 7

2 Excess Capacity: Abundance in a World of Scarcity 21

3 Platforms for Participation: Simplify, Organize, Empower 35

4 Peer Power: Localize, Customize, Specialize 48

5 Bringing It Together: The Three Miracles 72

Part II Execution

6 From Scratch: Learning, Power Sharing, and Building a Peers Inc Organization 99

7 For the People: Engaging Government 137

8 Embracing the Change Evolving Legacy Institutions 162

Part III Transforming Our Future

9 Who Has the Cold?: Democratizing Power and Wealth 195

10 Addressing Our Biggest Challenges: Climate Change and Sustainability Need Peers Inc 222

11 What Happens Next?: The Collaborative Economy 249

Acknowledgments 259

Notes 261

Index 279

Editorial Reviews

“Peers Inc is perfectly timed and convincingly argued.”—Financial Times

“Chase gives historical insight into her cofounding of ZipCar and how the flexibility and ingenuity of the public allows for new business models to be developed…An engaging and quick read on collaboration and the new capitalism.”—Library Journal

"A provocative discussion of how public investment and private entrepreneurship can combine to shape future advantages from existing used and unused capacities."—Kirkus Reviews

"A remarkably comprehensive, and extremely clear, guide to the world's new logic. I'm less interested in how these peer networks make money than in how they make change; as Robin Chase points out, if we're going to fight climate change we're going to need just about everyone engaged. Here's a recipe!"—Bill McKibben, founder 350.org

“Clear-eyed, practical and radical insight from a visionary who has already built part of our future. This is just the beginning.” —Seth Godin, author of It's Your Turn

“Peers Inc will change our ideas about how the economy is shaped and will transform how we work, build businesses and crack pressing societal problems.” — Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail

From the Publisher

05/01/2015
Chase gives historical insight into her cofounding of ZipCar (with Antje Danielson) and how the flexibility and ingenuity of the public allows for new business models to be developed. She explains the importance of combining the right set of skills within each business to be successful. It is the collaborative economy that will influence capitalism to reevaluate, if not reinvent. Chase also addresses the reluctant nature of big business to change owing to higher management being heavily vested in assets and discusses how to influence this group to shift their thinking. The entrepreneurial enthusiasm throughout is contagious and inspiring with the emphasis being on collaboration and skill gathering. It isn't as important for one person to achieve a final product as it is to allow for specialization and growth. Technology, specifically the generation of the platform, remain a constant theme, as a structure and as a method of interaction. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone studying business, economics, or user experience. An engaging and quick read on collaboration and the new capitalism.—Meghan Dowell, Beloit Coll., WI

Library Journal

2015-03-29
Drawing on her business success, Internet entrepreneur and internationally respected transport expert Chase details how digital infrastructure can be used to organize excess capacity and generate profit in service businesses. In 2000, the author co-founded Zipcar, a pioneering Web-based company that rents cars by the hour. The company provided on-demand auto availability for people who did not want to rent by the day or assume ownership of an asset they would only use a small fraction of the time—perfect for New York and other metropolises. Subsequently, ride-sharing (her own Buzzcar, taxi services like Uber) and apartment rental businesses (Airbnb) were added to the mix. Chase and other innovators have defined market potentials and developed them into significant moneymaking ventures. First, the author established that people are prepared to share goods like automobiles, if the economics make sense; second, that a wireless-enabled Web infrastructure makes sharing easy; and third, that people can be trusted. More generally, Chase understood that she needed to build a company with a per-rental transaction cost of as close to zero as possible. Public investment in the Internet provided the pre-existing platform that could support the application and was paid for by the users' payments to their service providers. Furthermore, digital mapping has helped to make these apps successful. Cost reductions are among the many public benefits that follow. Chase discusses these effects and argues that social benefits be transformed into rights of citizenship, not just linked to increasingly changeable employment. She resurrects an older idea for a guaranteed income for all, and in this way, she answers Craig Lambert's Shadow Work (2015) and the concerns he raises about the loss of starter jobs to the digital economy A provocative discussion of how public investment and private entrepreneurship can combine to shape future advantages from existing used and unused capacities.

Kirkus Reviews