Sharing economy meets legal, regulatory and cultural restrictions in Japan

For February’s post, we have chosen a very interesting article that deals with the subject of sharing economy, titled “Japan Slowly Opens Door to Sharing Economy” retrieved from The Wall Street Journal.

This article highlights two components of the sharing economy namely home-sharing and ride-sharing within the context of the Japanese culture.

Home-sharing in Japan

source: Free Digital Photos

The authors, Alexander Martin and Eric Pfanner, report the story of Teruko Neriki one of the few people opening its house to Airbnb guests. She says see gives strict instructions to its guests in order for them to avoid trouble with the neighbors.

As stated in the article, “the idea of finding a home cleaner or nanny online remains alien in a society that places a premium on privacy”. In addition, Japanese that are not in favor of home-sharing explain their point of view by saying that it disturbs serenity in residential areas and threatens their security.

But Japan hotels capacity is tightening. According to a recent article from The Japan Times, Japan average room occupancy ratio in 2015 amounted to 78%, 83% in Tokyo and 87% in Osaka. To compare, Paris average room occupancy ratio in 2015 amounted to 63.7% (source: parisinfo.com). According to The Japan Times, “The number of visitors to Japan in 2015 is estimated to have topped 19 million, an increase of nearly 50 percent from 2014.”

This shortage of accommodation may translate into a loss of income for the Japanese economy if they do not increase their offer. Therefore, the Japanese government has decided to ease restrictions on home-sharing.

Ride-sharing in Japan

As for ride sharing, it is banned in Japan as it is not possible to offer driving services without a taxi license. The authors cite the words of the chairman of taxi company Nihon Kotsu Co. and the Tokyo Hire-Taxi Association that say that “there is no need for Uber in Japan because taxis are abundant, convenient and competitively priced.”

source: Free Digital Photos

We would like to discuss two issues that have been raised in this article: cultural differences when exporting a successful concept and shortage of hotel accommodation in big cities.

Cultural differences when exporting a successful concept abroad

The difficult implementation of Uber and Airbnb in Japan can be linked to several successful American Businesses that have failed overseas because of a lack of cultural adaptation. For example Starbucks performed poorly in Australia because people prefer to drink their coffee in local stores. And Walmart did not succeed in South Korea because it has failed to identify Koreans preference for small packages.

It appears to us that businesses looking to exploit the huge potential of new markets may need to adapt their concept in order to remain successful. Cultural difference is a very important dimension to take into account.

Shortage of hotel accommodation in big cities

Japan is not the only country suffering from hotel-accommodation shortage. In 2014, a report anticipating inbound tourism growth in Ireland advised to increase accommodation capacity by up to two thirds (source: Irish Examiner).

On the other hand, it is interesting to see that a city like Brisbane which was formerly facing shortage of hotel accommodation, now has to cope with supply excess (source: The Courier Mail).

Additionally, we think that this issue can be linked to hotel construction in cities hosting mega events such as Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups. For example, 46 large top hotels have been built in Brazil to cope with the upcoming flow of tourists (source: Top Hotel Projects). We can wonder if these hotels construction will still be relevant once the FIFA World Cup is over.

Lise Cimbolini 
& Trung Duc Nguyen

How the Sharing Economy is Changing Events (or is it?)

Source : htp://www.socialscoremedia.com

Shared economy coupled with the twenty first century’s technologies is changing the norms. In every field, new ways of doing anything are appearing simply by sharing. It is said to be eco-friendly, sustainable and cost-saving. The long well established companies of each industries give dirty looks to the outsiders and their success. 

The law seem to be at a lost about what to do about it. Boundaries are generally blurry and each country or even city has its own advancement on the matter. Nonetheless, shared access economy is the next big thing to take into account while planning an event.

For one, innovations such as Airbnb and Uber which count million of users offer more options to travel and accommodate attendees to an event. Some more specific event-related platforms are emerging. Now you can share space, staff, decoration and save money. Even some traditional brands are joining these new actors: Mariott shares its spaces through LiquidSace. This all seem to work for the better to every stakeholder’s interests.

However, if we take a look at the big picture, industries are shaken and cautions are to be taken.  Indeed, thanks to internet and mobile technology sharing is more and more easy but due diligence will wonder about safety, quality and legal matter. Better vouching and user rating systems and applications may lower the event planner’s role, its knowledge no longer required to ensure the best event experience (at least that what the customer may think).

With its flaws and strength, the shared economy in the travel and event industry has a scarce but growing adoption. Indeed, it is said there is three reactions to it as an event planner:

• It is the next big thing but still does not impact my market, I shall stay out of it
• It is the next big thing but still not safe to adopt, I will wait for the proper regulations.
• It is the next big thing and I am proactively joining the movement.

The shared economy poses some challenges to the traditional business model but also means opportunities to be eco friendly and cost efficient.

We care to introduce you to two share economy event-related services: 

Source : http://www.showslice.co.uk

Showslice is an online procurement platform based on collaboration from large event organisers. By signing up on the website, any event organiser can share information and procurement with other members. 

The idea is to rent instead of buying. Someone organising an event can for example rent the infrastructure, the A&V equipment or even the production crew to another professional from the event industry. This platform breaks down the barriers of communication by providing in an easy way to get in contact with people meeting the same event requirements, and is an efficient tool to save on budget, labour costs, time, planning effort and waste production.

 

Source : https://liquidspace.com

LiquidSpace is a collaborative idea available on internet or via a mobile application, which creates a bridge between people looking for meeting spaces, and those who have meeting spaces to share. 

On one hand, any people looking for a meeting space can easily access to large range of offers for private offices, boardrooms, meeting rooms or conference rooms depending on his location, date and room size criteria. With Liquidspace, the booking is convenient as there is no contract to sign, nor phone calls to make. On the other hand, any person having available unused workspace can list it on Liquidspace to get a chance to win extra money from renting it. The users can decide of which members will rent their venue, set the price and offer a rent by the hour or by the day. To make the experience even easier, Liquidspace provides a calendar service which updates automatically through the self-service booking and payment system. This collaborative tool is also a way for professionals of the event industry to promote their brand with a custom profile page, links from their business website, special promotional offers, mass emails, search engine optimization and much more.

Sources : 

http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/sharing-economy-events

http://www.showslice.co.uk/

https://liquidspace.com/

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