Uber Company Analysis Report: Background Of Uber-Company

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Uber Company Analysis Report
Executive summary
Uber Company is one of the world’s leading transport companies across the world. Started in the year 2009 by Kalanick and Garret in San Francisco the company has grown steadily though just like any business it faces a lot of challenges but still it remains the customers number one choice. This paper has majorly analyzed Uber-Company regarding its strengths like using a mobile application that connects passengers and drivers which give it an edge over its competitors, weaknesses like the inability to accommodate disabled people especially the blind. The paper also analyses the threats it faces in future like the many legal suits it faces, privacy and safety issues. It also enjoys many opportunities for being operational using a mobile application which makes it readily available for partnerships with other organizations like food chains. Uber has a chance to advance and make much more profits within a short period.
Background of Uber-Company.
Uber is a company that develops and markets car transportation services and food delivery in more than 528 cities worldwide. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California in the United States. Uber was started in 2009 by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick with the aim of making car hire services affordable to many residents of not only San Francisco but also throughout the worldCITATION Man16 \p 12 \l 1033 (Mandell 12). Ryan Graves became the first CEO of Uber-Company after its official launch in 2010 but later stepped down for Kalanick about ten months later. The founders of Uber invested about 200,000 dollars into the company and by the end August 2016; the company had raised about 11.5 billion dollars in venture capital and its private equity investorsCITATION Hal15 \p 22 \l 1033 (Hall and Krueger 22). It acquired 40 million users in a month by the end of October 2016. This paper will focus on Uber’s model of business and its competitive advantages, the threats it faces from regulators, competitors and also the steps or the strategies that the company will need to take to ensure that the business has continued to grow in spite of the challenges it faces.
Uber’s business Model
Uber’s business model is based on an internet mobile application that connects the drivers of the cars, the prospect passengers and the Uber Company. The drivers are attached to the company through a payment system to monitor their daily general business and determine the exact amount of money the drivers are making before the company can subtract its premiums and pay them their commission. The three parties must be connected to the internet. Normally, a prospect customer has to download Uber’s application onto his or her internet enabled mobile phone and then search for a car. Depending on the location of the customer, the nearest Uber car will pick him or her. The application is designed to automatically enable the driver and the client's access each other’s contacts and in most cases, they access their phone contacts to be able to connect and find each other CITATION Mea16 \p 1548 \l 1033 (Means and Seiner 1548).
Uber application allows the driver and the customer to know exactly the amount of money that is required for the distance covered. The mobile application is made to estimate the amount of fare based on the distance covered and the amount of time taken from one destination to another, the hours of the day and whether one took an advanced booking or not. In most cases, cars can be hired by waiting at taxi destinations, advanced booking by either the application or making a phone call or through a simple message. Uber connects different passengers to the available drivers that have subscribed to its services CITATION Mea16 \p 1546 \l 1033 (Means and Seiner 1546).
Uber’s competitive advantages and Challenges
SWOT Analysis
Strengths of Uber
The prices for Uber car services are lower than those of the old model of taxi making many passengers drift to them. The service gives a standard price that is affordable considering other aspects, making it highly reliable. Uber’s services also come whenever a potential customer needs them CITATION Cre16 \p 87 \l 1033 (Crespo 87).
Uber drivers work at their comfort regarding when they want to start work and the regions they want to work from because Uber allows the drivers to work from anywhere within the cities they have subscribed with the company. This aspect creates more opportunities for the drivers and makes them provide better services for people throughout the world. Drivers are also able to detect places with more customer turn out in different locations for them to venture to and improve their rates of profit. With the flexible working schedules, it is easier for other drivers to venture into the business; even for those people who wish to take part time jobs thus providing an alternative source of income CITATION Wal15 \p 24 \l 1033 (Wallsten, The Competitive Effects of the Sharing Economy:How is Uber Changing Taxis? 24).
Uber has substantially lowered cases of theft, misconduct and other crimes within the transport company because all vehicles are monitored. Any misconduct once reported to the company by the passengers; it is followed up quickly and easily because of the database that is created where all the drivers have put their personal details CITATION Sob16 \p 5 \l 1033 (Sobczak 5).
The availability of an application that connects potential passengers and Uber drivers through the internet is a great advantage for all the parties involved as opposed to physically looking for car services. This gives it a competitive edge over the old model of car hire services especially for its drivers who can connect with their passengers whenever they are needed quickly. It connects passengers and Uber’s drivers in a faster manner unlike the old model of car services CITATION Hal15 \p 2 \l 1033 (Hall and Krueger 2).
Weaknesses of Uber
Uber faces the challenge of increased pricing in different places in the world. Many people and organizations have complained against Uber’s dynamic pricing model which tends to raise prices of transport services when there is a higher demand. These increases in prices have initially affected cities like New York and Sydney during its hostage crisis. Uber’s CEO has defended the company saying that the prices have been increased deliberately to reduce the number of requests hence maintain the efficiency of the services. At the same time, increased prices motivate more people to join Uber as drivers and hence passengers can enjoy the servicesCITATION Hal15 \p 27 \l 1033 (Hall and Krueger 27).
Uber has been accused of evading law enforcement operations. The evading of the law is done by its aspect of its application called Greyball which uses data collected from the application to deny rides to any law enforcement agent. This ability was initially designed to protect drivers from rude customers and to enable them to avoid those passengers who refuse to pay for the services. Legal experts have continued to dispute the legality of this aspect of the application called Greyball with more criticisms being advanced towards the company.
There are concerns about the use of the customers' data which can be accessed by the company and to some extent the drivers. There are the questionable use of the customers' data whereby in some instances, a driver can track the movement of clients. These privacy concerns have been raised by most people including government officials who are prone to find themselves entangled in this disregard for privacy.
There are also some safety concerns that have been brought forward by many people. The concerns have been based on the fact that all drivers must be registered. This limits rogue drivers from harming people. Another concern has been the drivers using the mobile application when driving. There are cases where passengers have complained that the application distracts drivers especially when there is a new notification.
Opportunities of Uber
Uber has also invested its servi...