Title: Research on the business model of sharing economy unicorn enterprises in emerging economies - based on FSQCA method

Authors: Zheng Dong; Tao Meng; Yuqiao Guan; Feifei Zhao

Addresses: School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, Liaoning 116025, China ' International Business College, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, Liaoning 116025, China ' School of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110036, China ' School of Business Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, Liaoning 116025, China

Abstract: With the continuous deepening of the development of the sharing economy, the way of resource allocation of companies, innovative and entrepreneurial activities, consumers' consumption habits and social behaviours are undergoing a profound change. The academic and business circles have a strong interest in how the sharing economy has exerted such a huge effect. In practice, a number of unicorn companies in sharing economy have emerged explosively in China and have quickly become leaders in related industries. Why did these companies have explosive growth? What are the characteristics of the business model behind them? What are the differences in the driving logic of sharing economy companies with different business models? This research uses the method of qualitative comparative analysis (FSQCA) to analyse the business models of 26 unicorn companies of sharing economy in China, and have obtained four typical business model configurations of sharing economy unicorn companies, i.e., the platform transaction type, technology-mission promotion type, capital promotion type and interpersonal interaction type, respectively, and their characteristics and underlying driving logic are illustrated.

Keywords: sharing economy; unicorn; business model.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2022.123005

International Journal of Technology Management, 2022 Vol.89 No.1/2, pp.9 - 25

Received: 03 Feb 2021
Accepted: 10 May 2021

Published online: 20 May 2022 *

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