That's a great question. I've had the same thoughts/questions as well and I think that the concept of shared office space has been around for a while, places like http://www.intelligentoffice.com/ who are a franchise. In my opinion the biggest difference is that coworking is about building the community and collaboration and providing a space that promotes creativity. Most of the shared office spaces I see available are more corporate and still promote an isolated environment. I am in the planning stage of our coworking space so I'm not sure if my opinion will differ from those who are running a space.
On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 2:54 PM, John Proffitt <[email protected]> wrote: > I was thinking about coworking today -- locations, designs, amenities and > so on -- and I got to thinking about the future of the business. > > It strikes me that someone will eventually come along and franchise or > corporatize the concept, assuming there's a profit to be made that's worth > pursuing for a big company. Worst case scenario, I can imagine Starbucks > making a slight strategic change and pursuing the coworking business as an > add-on to the coffee shop business. They could, with a little effort, buy up > space next to many of their existing locations and setup the spaces in a > coworking fashion rather than a cafe fashion. Charge for day-to-day access, > weekly, monthly, etc. I'm sure to corporate thinkers, a coworking space > looks just like any old office, only cheaper. > > I don't know if it would be profitable for a company like Starbucks to do > this, but they do seem to be well-positioned to make a move like this, given > their sizable retail presence. And coworking sites might look like a > not-insignificant threat to their existing business. > > What they couldn't replicate, of course, are the communities that accrete > around a coworking space and group of regulars. That's organic and needs a > "real" leader to facilitate it and grow it; it requires people to be in the > space and participating in the community regularly, and Starbucks couldn't > get that kind of loyalty, I'm sure. > > For those that have started a coworking biz or researched it more than I > have... > > [1] Are you concerned about copycat corporate businesses popping up? > [2] Has this already started happening in some areas? > [3] Could a "corporate" version of coworking even survive? > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
