Does Sharing Lead to Smarter Products? Managing Information Flows for Collective Servitization

Peer-to-peer sharing induces persistent changes in product design. Besides bifurcating product durability, this adaptation increases the compatibility of collaborative use with rent extraction—from a producer’s viewpoint. For owners it decreases the commitment required for taking the item into possession, while for nonowners it standardizes sharing transactions. The resulting sharing-induced design-ideal aligns the flow of utility from shared consumption with the flow of monetary compensation to the seller, thus mimicking a collective lease agreement between seller and an ex ante unknown group of users. Sustaining such a “collective servitization” requires an embedded capacity of user sensing and transmission of information flows ex post the initial product sale, thus implying a fundamental need for smart products in an access-based society.