The same free market concept that led to a concession of a taximeter plate of almost zero original cost to reach a value of tens of thousands of dollars, must now be applied to the irruption of collaborative transport services.
EDITORIAL
Jorge Cobas González
Founder of CentralAmericaData
The Uber technological platform, which in Central America is currently transporting people and food, is planning to expand its service offerings to the freight transport business.
Uber and Uber Eats, platforms for transporting people and delivering prepared food, respectively, are already operating in the countries of the region. However, the U.S. company's new bet for Latin America is to use Uber Freight to transport cargo.
The implementation of two applications used for home delivery services in Guatemala reinforces the irreversible trend towards better use of available resources through innovation and technology.
One of the applications now available is Uber Eats, which lets people place orders from different restaurants with varied prices.Another of the companies that has started up is Glovo, dedicated to the purchase, reception and shipping of several product categories.
In Costa Rica a hotel entrepreneur is confronting the Solis government, after it warned that companies carrying out commercial promotions in alliance with Uber will be penalized.
EDITORIAL
Can it be that businesspeople in Costa Rica nowhave to consult the government to validate their marketing plans and strategies for their products and services?
Guatemala's taxi companies reacted to UBER's threat as any good entrepreneur does: innovating in order to improve and be more competitive.
In other countries taxi drivers are trying to resist the progress that the collaborative economy represents for users, relying on alleged"acquired rights"with the complicity of inefficient governments. In Guatemala, taxi companies have united and launched mobile applications that make life easier for their users.
In addition to revolutionizing the concept of transport in cities, Uber is also an example of how trends in price management are changing within companies.
The processes and methods followed by businesses to determine the sales prices of their goods and services are changing as fast as the tastes and preferences of consumers. Products whose prices often vary after a few hours, and "custom" prices are some of the new trends that companies are now following when setting prices. As Ariel Baños explains, the controversial and revolutionary company Uber is a very good example of new ways to set prices today.
Accepting that Uber, Airbnb and crowfunding are here to stay, the National Markets and Competition Commission of Spain is in favor of reducing requirements for traditional operators and not adding any new regulations for incoming competitors.
EDITORIAL
The incursion of digital platforms that connect users through collaborative schemes has invaded economies and made life easier for users, but has caused complications for governments whose laws are one step behind the progress being made in markets.
People with kidney failure can now travel normally, covered by a coalition of companies united by the concepts of a sharing economy.
EDITORIAL
The best demonstration of the advantages that exist today because of the unstoppable "sharing economy" is the association of global companies Uber and Airbnb with 0a Uruguayan startup, Connectus Medical, to help solve the problem of the travel needs of people who need regular hemodialysis treatment.
The multi million dollar spending sprees that governments hope will drive innovation and improvements in business productivity is in stark contrast with the widespread tendency to maintain the status quo of the markets.
"In 2005 in Costa Rica they wanted to block Skype, in 2015 they want to block Uber."
The title of the blog in Nacion.com written by Pablo Fonseca, is indicative of a general trend on the part of state officials to protect the status quo, in order to protect the interests of companies or sectors, especially those that are officially regulated.
Panamanian private sector representatives are defending the mode of operations of Uber, who announced the launch of its corporate transportation service in Panama City.
As in Costa Rica, the arrival of Uber has generated resistance among traditional public transport sectors, such as taxis. However, Panamanian businessmen believe, like the vast majority of companies in Costa Rica and other countries where Uber is already operating, that space should be given to Uber for the private transport service to operate without government hindrance.
The practical sharing economy is keeping pace with digital communications and logistics systems finely tuned to all size markets.
And this realization already extends beyond using Airbnb to rent an apartment for vacation or a using Uber to make a journey. If you need a drill for a couple of hours to hang new curtains, why buy it if it is something which afterwards you will only use occasionally? Rent it.
The mere announcement of the arrival in Costa Rica of the private transport network has already generated projects that result in benefits for consumers.
EDITORIAL
Competition is always good, and its actual existence in any market produces better use of available resources, bringing benefits for society in terms of better products and services and reducing costs.