Airbnb has quickly grown from a novel idea to rent air mattresses to strangers for a night to a major player in the lodging and travel industry, and the growth has caught the attention of numerous parties.
June 19, 2019Since the depths of the recession, multi-family residential projects have emerged as a star in the building construction market for architectural service providers. From 2011 to 2015, multi-unit housing projects experienced double-digit yearly growth in unit starts, while annual expenditures vaulted 24% at a minimum between 2012 and 2015. This surge in the construction of new multi-unit residential buildings has been evident in many large US cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
January 18, 2017US consumer spending on motor vehicle leases surpassed historic peaks in 2015. While some theorize that cultural changes have driven this trend, macroeconomic factors have also played an important role. Is the current level of demand sustainable, or is it doomed to decline?
February 8, 2017Bikesharing programs have grown in popularity in recent years and are sweeping cities across the nation as an environmentally friendly form of public transportation. Their presence certainly sparks interest in cycling among a demographic far-removed from bicycles in their daily lives, but will traditional bike sales benefit or be cannibalized by a new rental industry?
July 9, 2019US telecommunication service revenues are forecast to grow to $734 billion in 2021. Gains will be supported by increased service bundling activity, as consumers are motivated to purchase more options when individual services are offered at a discounted rate.
July 18, 2017Quick question: what products can you sell as a service? Clothing? Check. Furniture? Check. Music? Check. Cars? Yes indeed. Even Americans’ love affair with vehicle ownership is going by the wayside – or so it seems. Proclamations of the end of personal car ownership are in vogue. Car subscription services – where consumers pay a fixed monthly fee to drive a vehicle they are renting – are one of the innovative services aiming to liberate us all from the responsibility of ownership. However, the prospects of car subscriptions as a mass-market mobility service appear limited.
June 17, 2019Organizations and households are increasingly paying attention to the types of cleaning chemicals they use due to concerns about toxicity and environmental impact. Contract cleaning firms are sensitive to client concerns about cleaning chemicals, because they have to compete strongly to win contracts in a fragmented industry with many participants.
February 22, 2019Municipal solid waste (MSW) presents two major challenges for municipalities: collection and management. Over the past few decades, many cities have addressed collection by outsourcing it to firms...
April 3, 2017Long dominated by massive firms cloaked in secrecy, the model and value of consultancy services delivered by the likes of McKinsey and EY is being challenged. Startups are competing with lower-tier consultancies by making consulting an option for companies that would otherwise be unable to afford it.
April 30, 2019Many laundries and drycleaners that focus on servicing households are increasingly attempting to provide convenient pick-up and drop-off options, as well as other amenities, to attract and retain consumers in the face of structural changes that disfavor drycleaning use. New entrants also focus on convenience.
April 16, 2018