A Wicked Problem

1050 Words3 Pages

This essay analyses how sustainable development of emerging share economy businesses, such as Airbnb and Zibbet, is a wicked problem due the subjectivity of stakeholders and regulatory authorities associated with the businesses. A share economy business utilises the peer-to-peer platform and leverages on technology to connect people on a global scale to allow them to share, rent and exchange personal assets, services and lifestyle. However, in the urban environment share economy businesses are impacted by legal, political and social challenges and complexities. Therefore the urban environment presents an ever changing and continual wicked problem space for share economy businesses due to the existence of conflicting views of stakeholders which …show more content…

A wicked problem as recognised by Rittel and Webber (1973) can have various explanations of the same problem and no correct or explicit solutions. Firstly, the sustainability of a business is in itself a wicked problem as the degree to which it is sustainable falls upon the biasness of individuals. It is therefore not possible to determine if any share economy is sustainable and this reflects the characteristics of a wicked problem also stated by Rittel and Webber (1973) that there is no end point or resolution to these types of problems. Airbnb contributes to sustainability by designing a more efficient way to travel and by making effective use of personal assets. However, a wicked problem space occurs as the company operates on the basis of trust between strangers. Customers may sometimes be lodging in a spare room in the host’s house where there will be unavoidable interaction between the individuals which brings about concerns of theft and safety. The issue of trust is also extended to the nearby neighbours of the host’s home where people may feel uncomfortable with having a stranger living in adjacent properties and also to the property owner who may feel that it is unfair for their tenants to be making income from their assets. To increase trust, Airbnb can impose new policies which enforces agreements to be made with the property owner and lsurrounding …show more content…

Zibbet is an online redistribution market where individuals can sell exclusively handcrafted items. Peer-to-peer sharing businesses like these operate in “wicked territory” as they challenge the conventional business processes (Logue 2012) in which goods are outsourced and mass-produced. Due to the immense competition Zibbet must confront, its sustainability is questionable and therefore presents a wicked problem space. Zibbet is a viable business when their main stakeholder which are the customers have the common belief in embracing uniqueness of handmade products produced creative individuals. Nonetheless, this belief will be at variance as companies which sell mass produced items offer cheaper commodities to customers. Zibbet can improve the business value by sharing to a wider range of people their focus on individuality and the practicality of internet shopping to meet people’s needs in the modern world to increase their sellers and gain greater market opportunity. Sustainable development of Zibbet is a wicked problem due to the ambiguous social system complications and conflicting views of clients and decision makers (Churchman

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