Shared-economy practices in China: Opportunities and Challenges

Shared economy is not a new concept, which has prevailed in China in all kinds of fields since recent years. From automobiles to hotel, the shared economy grows so quickly and rich in terms of the speed and variety that it... [ view full abstract ]

Shared economy is not a new concept, which has prevailed in China in all kinds of fields since recent years. From automobiles to hotel, the shared economy grows so quickly and rich in terms of the speed and variety that it becomes the new engine of the economy. Focusing on utility not on ownership, this new business model tries to make full use of idle resources, sharing products and services in order to save money, time ,space and resources. While it brings a lot of benefits for the public, it also causes some urgent problems for the public administration. Take shared bicycles for example, there are phenomena such as blocking the road, ruining city image, cheating of deposits and so on. Those disorder issues lead to hot debate on how to supervise the shared bicycles: severe prevent or kind tolerate? Chinese government has clear value and principles to guide the policy dealing with these challenges. The government of the first-tier cities, such Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, has regulated these activities successfully, providing a Chinese model which can be used as an example to discuss. They take all the efforts to encourage innovation and leave room for it instead of regulating it strictly at the early beginning. During the process, if any wrong happens, they make some measures to react it immediately. Moreover, the policy making process involves different publics and interactively communicate with the stakeholders. However, the shared economy still brings a lot of problems unsolved. How to balance the stimuli of the innovation and the regulation about the illegal issues becomes a very important concern for the government. Therefore, the paper conducts some case research about Chinese practice in the field of shared economy, trying to give some implications for the public management.