Foreword To understand the importance of this book, one need not look too far. We are in an era some have deemed the “uberfi cation” era, categorizing the innovative disruption brought about by new business models like Uber that merged consumer demand with app-enabled digital technology, bringing about the commercialization convenience. The authors eloquently outlay Uber’s avant-garde paradigm shift, which envelops public sharing of private property with seemingly bound- less engagement. As such, this book provides a context to visualize the emergence of Uber’s positive disruption as a key facet in the evolution of collaborative transportation and public sharing of private spaces. The paths and thoughts of great researcher-scholars converged to cre- ate this dynamic book. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Pia A. Albinsson at the International Workshop: Recent Developments in Research for Col- laborative Consumption held on May 14, 2018, at Brunel University in Uxbridge, London, UK. We were both invited speakers who presented research on the defi ning moments, consumption demarcations, and the collaborative future of the sharing economy. Recognizing strong tenets in our respective research talks, an alliance was inevitable. In June 2018, through an e-meet, I met Dr. B. Yasanthi Perera, a coauthor of Dr. Albinsson, and we three set a cooperative course toward creating new research that would further explicate knowledge and understanding of the sharing economy and, in particular, negative externalities resulting from the creation of contrived surplus. Over the next four months, we produced “Contrived Surplus and Negative Externalities in the Sharing Economy,” which we submitted to the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice , and which was published in September 2019. Knowing the diligence and practicality of the approach to this book, readers will not only enjoy reading but also notice several elements that
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