According to the Small Business Administration, small business has once again become the dominant economic force in the United States (Dodd-Walker, 2010). “The ultimate small business is an establishment with a single employee—the owner. This type of business is likely to increase during this current era of globalization as organizations…streamline in an effort to reduce their labor costs and become more competitive. Per Street and Street (2007), offshore outsourcing and its domestic equivalent—subcontracting—are expected to escalate as global competition increases and organizations strive to increase both their efficiency and effectiveness. (Dodd-Walker, 2010)”

According to Joseph Schumpeter, Entrepreneurship is a process of “creative destruction,” through which existing products or methods of production are destroyed and replaced with new ones. Thus, entrepreneurship is concerned with the discovery and exploitation of profitable opportunities. Advances in technology have facilitated the rise of the Uber driver, which threatens the viability of the taxi cab industry. Some believe that markets should operate without limits, that governments should not impose excessive restrictions that hinder small business owners. Others believe certain restrictions and controls (e.g., licenses) are necessary to protect the public.

The essay should address the following:

1. Provide an overview of the taxi cab industry.
2. Provide an overview of the Uber driver industry.
3. Discuss the conflict between Uber drivers and licensed taxi drivers.
4. Discuss Joseph Schumpeter’s assertion that entrepreneurship is a process of “creative destruction.”
5. Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of the emerging “sharing economy.” That is, customers opt to share rather than purchase products.