Transport service is among the sectors where the sharing economy has developed (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is in a favourable position to take advantage ofdevelopment opportunities brought by the sharing economy, Chargé d’Affaires atthe Australian Embassy in Vietnam Rebecca Bryant stated at a conference on thiskind of economy in Hanoi on July 12.
According to Bryant, with a well-educated and youngpopulation and almost 70 percent of people owning smart phones, the country’seconomy stands to benefit significantly from these developing technologies.
She said that one of the greatest changes in recent yearshas been the development of the sharing economy, which is estimated to growfrom 14 billion USD in 2014 to 335 billion USD by 2025, increasing by 22 timeswithin 10 years.
“So while the sharing economy is still in its infancy at themoment, it will inevitably become a major part of the economy – both at anational and global level,” she noted.
Sharing the same point of view, Nguyen Thi Tue Anh, deputydirector of the Central Institute for Economic Management, stated that thenature of the sharing economy is a new business model which takes advantage ofdigital technologies, thus reducing transaction costs and accessing a bignumber of customers through digital foundation.
The sharing economy is different from the traditional model,as all transactions have been implemented only by a third party. It providesmore choices to customers with cheaper prices. Individuals joining in thesharing economy can be part-time to provide them more jobs and increasingincome.
The sharing economy has developed in the sectors oftransport service (Uber, Grab, Lyft and Zipcar), tourism and hotel (Airbnb,VRBO), labour (Homejoy and Handy, TaskRabbit, Upwork), and financial service (Kickstarter,Indiegogo, Lending Club).
The sharing economy will become a consumption trend in thefuture and expand to different sectors in the upcoming time, Anh said, addingthat people in developing countries are expected to join in resources sharing withothers more than in developed ones.
Sharing economy can also create new business methods,opening new business opportunities based on digital foundation and the fourthIndustrial Revolution, she noted.
“With the sharing economy, the market would become morecompetitive with diversified services, thus bringing benefits to consumers.Moreover, it would also bring more investment opportunities, creating jobs adincreasing incomes,” she added.
The sharing economy can be an opportunity for Vietnam’sadministrative reform toward e-government to effectively participate in thedigital economy and Industry 4.0, while helping save natural resources, makeuse of abundant assets, protect the environment, and foster the development ofa renovation and startup ecosystems, she noted.
However, the sharing economy can also have potentialchallenges, making new relations arise and causing benefit conflicts withtraditional business methods.
“These challenges could be named as unequal competition,economic concentration and lack of tools to protect consumers online. Statemanagement agencies could struggle to control the new models, especiallyfinancial duties,” Anh stated.
Therefore, she suggested the Government continue improvingthe business environment to adapt with the rapid development of the digitaleconomy while ensuring equality between the new model and traditional one.Suitable policies should be studied to encourage the model development.
The building of an e-government and information andtechnology foundation should be accelerated, especially building an open datasystem to serve for State management on the sharing economy model, she added.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang saidVietnam has not been an exception in the development of business model.
According to him, both benefits and risks for the economyand consumers have been seen. It was the reason for the building of newpolicies and amending the current regulations has been vital to fully tap intoopportunities brought by the sharing economy while minimising negative impacts.
He added that Vietnam has been studying internationalexperience on the impacts of big trends of digital technologies to the economy.This can help the Government have necessary information to provide a suitablestrategy in the wave of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.-VNA
VNA
