“Everything-as-a-Service”: The Evolution of the Private Market for Goods into a Public Service Platform

In contemporary capitalism, ownership is becoming an economically inefficient and socially unsustainable method of allocation and usage of many market goods. In fact, the digital revolution makes real-time information about resource availability and the preferences of the players involved accessible to market players. This process influences the factors that govern trade, making the provision of services more efficient and socially responsible compared to the sale of products. Technological innovation, mass-spread connected digital devices, and regulatory development in terms of environmental sustainability are some of the main factors that modify the terms of trade on the goods market and therefore influence the transition towards new forms of fruition services that are not based on selling products, particularly for consumer durables. These phenomena fall under the broad concept of “servitization.” The private property of a durable good connected to the Internet, which can be a car or a washing machine, becomes an increasingly inefficient solution compared to its potential use in terms of service, for example, “pay-per-use” mode, provided by the manufacturer or a third party and based on the availability of immediate and timely information on the status of the good itself and the users’ demand. From a microeconomic perspective, the breakeven point between purchase and access is rapidly shifting toward the latter. From a macroeconomic perspective, this development can have a significant impact on the labor market and on the productive and financial structure, in addition to taxation and international trade.