Not a long time back, the Sharing Economy was in vogue. Cars, couches, homes, offices and even pets were put on display for anyone who could pay and had an explicit or implicit need for them. Books were written on these new business models and management gurus identified the sole ingredient for future success—a robust platform that provides seamless connectivity between the provider and the buyer.
The age-old strategies to build a great company were pooh-poohed by the experts who had foresight!
Remember a comment by an industry titan about his son, who did not own a car because it was old fashioned and impractical. Now, car and bike sales are picking up coz the rules of the game changed overnight.
Airbnb is redrawing the contracts with homeowners, who took out large mortgages to build a portfolio of properties in high demand tourist cities like London, Milan, Paris and New York.
What looked like a competitive advantage yesterday, has now turned into a liability for many companies.
We had already embarked on a path of deglobalization post-2008, and the post covid world will only accelerate this trend. Notwithstanding the cost, we would crave privacy and localization. The contours of the world order are set to change—again!