When Sharing isn’t Sharing Anymore aka A critical view on the sharing economy

This paper starts with an explanation about what the sharing economy is defined as. The sharing economy has been there for a while but recently become more spread because of the internet. We trust people more than companies, however the intermediaries such as Airbnb, who actually facilitate transparency, infrastructureand regulation are capitalizing the share economy. Then the paper discusses more critical issues regarding the sharing economy - which was from an original utopian point of view meant as social commerce, rather than monetary incentives. Making it question whether the sharing economy is really as romantically as it is mentioned sometimes. All services are being commercialized while some should maybe not be shared or should remain non-commercialized. The sharing economy may even lead to exploitation on some ends. The paper is concluded with critical and philosophical questions for future thinking. 

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Online customer loyalty, does it exist in the e-retail environment? Can social media aid in building a relationship between e-retailer and customer?

One might recall how price comparison was done before the e-retailers opened their doors. All the information about a product and its price was gathered from the physical store and one was depended on the store-staff and supported elements to provide this information. Whereafter we would visit multiple other stores based on the assumption that these might sell the same product as well. However, it could even occur that a store did not even would carry the product. Finally, after spending the day in several stores it was time to consider which store offered the best deal for example based on price or service. 

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Trust Issues In The Online Environment - Why consumers trust some organisations and brands more than others in today’s society

The last twenty years marketing online has become a central part of marketing. This, mostly because of the rapid adoption of the changing technology that have emerged both positive but also negative effects. It is now crucial to understand how consumers act and behave on the online environment in order to survive. When consumers are online it is important to provide trust to help them overcome all kind of negative perceptions that comes with the online environment. The changing technology has also motivated consumers to contribute with their thoughts and opinions about brands and products, to their peers (O’Brien, 2011). The marketing manager has now a total different role, namely understanding and managing the fact that influencers on social media has the power to affect brands positively or negatively.

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The Social Traveler The power of electronic Word-of-Mouth in the travel category

The travel sector, as the majority of industries in the market, fell dramatically after the recession crisis of 2008. According to a study conducted by Oxford Economics (Oxford Economics & Amadeus, 2010), The global arrivals decreased 4% between 2008 and 2009 and tourism receipts were 5.7% below the previous years' levels (Oxford Economics & Amadeus, 2010). There is a possibility this decrease was due to travelers spending less per journey. To survive, hotels, flights, and touristic destinations had to adapt to be more competent with their offers and services by adjusting their prices and lowering them. The latter resulted not only in an evolution of the sector but also in the formation of smarter travelers. 

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