4. Anti-rivalry in business model design

As we learned earlier, anti-rival goods are not depleted when used. They can be shared and “consumed” simultaneously by multiple people. Additionally, the value derived from anti-rival goods is not proportional to the cost of producing them, making it difficult to determine an optimal price point.

Such characteristics make business model design challenging because traditional pricing models become less applicable. Therefore, businesses must find creative solutions to benefit from anti-rival resources.

The paradox: how to maximize sharing but maintain business model sustainability?

Anti-rival goods involve a paradox. To gain maximal benefit, one should maximize sharing. However, ultimately, sharing is based on at least some rival resource usage. While anti-rival goods themselves may not be subtracted by use, the production of the first unit, and distribution of the goods rely at least partly on finite resources such as energy and labor.

For example, while digital content such as music or online articles can be shared and accessed by many people at the same time, producing, storing, and transmitting the goods consume finite resources.

The paradox highlights the need for businesses to find efficient methods of producing and sharing anti-rival goods, while minimizing their impact on finite rival resources.