SWOT Analysis on Connectivity, Culture, and the Future of Work at Uber

Introduction

Uber is the largest high-tech organization that was established in the year 2009. The company involves a brilliant connection of technology with the transportation business through its ride-sharing application. In 2014, Uber was mentioned as the company was highly valued and venture-supported by stockholders (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016). During the year Uber provided services in more than two hundred cities in fifty-three countries. The firm is rated above the US $40 billion, therefore, the organization's value is higher than that of the Limousine and taxi industries in the United States. By the year 2016, the company had over forty million active riders per month in more than seven hundred and sixty cities in the whole world. However, despite all the increased growth at the corporation, it also has various weaknesses. This Essay explains the SWOT analysis at Uber (Barglind, 2015).

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Strengths

Brand equity is one of the determinants of Uber's success. The business model which is the On-demand service corporate model has greatly allowed the company to develop to an international level. The service demands are aggregated online while the fulfilments are offered offline. This way the organization has guaranteed minimization of resource wastage during the customer acquisition process (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016). The foundation of the on-demand business porotype depends on the identification of services that are offered immediately such as delivery of products like beverages and food and transportation.

Low fixed savings, that is the business has maximized on limited product costs. Uber is a company that is service-based. Therefore, it does not possess many cars nor have its own drivers, instead, it signs up drivers on contract as well as vehicles. The only charges that are incurred at Uber are those that involve marketing that is the gaining and retention of customers. This illustrates that Uber has maximized on the low-cost investments to ensure growth to global levels (Moatti, 2016).

The advantage of a potential number of limitless vehicles. There are billions of motorists together with their numerous cars registered under the Uber organization. This makes the business a huge enterprise for offering taxi driving services. In comparison to its rivals, Uber has the biggest number of drivers and vehicles (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016).

Concentration on the satisfaction of customers. The leading reason for the unflagging popularity of Uber relies on the company's efficiency and provision of quality services that promote customer satisfaction. Uber ventures into various features that help attract and retain customers. The corporation has introduced productive features like book ride, schedule ride, fare estimates, multiple payment opportunities, contact driver, ratings and reviews, estimated arrival time, notifications, council history, car awaiting timetables, and trip history (Means, and Seiner, 2015). Other features include the presence of the setting choices for the motorists, reject/accept ride application for the chauffeurs, route optimization, end or start trip, drivers track earnings, navigation, surge pricing, speed display, auto-pilot, favorite destination wait times, teen fare and delivery reports of the drivers. To increase its competitive advantage, the corporation offers a policy for driver injuries as well as a tipping and allowances. The mentioned features assist Uber in proving quality customer services (Moatti, 2016).

Dynamic Pricing. Uber has no constant charges per the distance traveled as compared to the customary taxi service company. Uber changes depending on the demand that arouses, that is charges rely on the traffic conditions, the stops made during the journey and the weather conditions incurred during the provision of the service (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016). The charges are usually increased in cases of a surge, that is when service demand is higher than the supply. The costs also increase due to waiting times that is when there is a lot of time spent on the road due to issues like traffic.

Uber is an adaptive corporate Prototype for any Demography. Currently, Uber functions in approximately 633 cities around the world. This illustrates that the services it offers are quite flexible and adaptable thus can be executed in all demographics. The drivers and passengers are the most fundamental requisites of the company; Uber's model ensures that no conflict arises from the two main requisites to guarantee effective commercial growth (Means, and Seiner, 2015).

Uber has a number of revenue models that allow it to make charges according to the conditions and services offered. The models include the Intelligent Revenue Prototype. The model is both grab-worthy and grab-worthy. It ensures justification of all the costs it charges through safe and quality service provision. The company also has a commission-based income model, with this prototype the company charges a driver's operation fee and a service charge from the customers per ride. Surge-based revenue prototype is another model that is applied when the service demand is higher than the supply (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016). The luxury-based income model which is used when the passenger requires premium services. The Cancellation-based revenue prototype which is applied when the customer revokes a reserved ride.

Uber has great marketing tactics that allow it to effectively flourish. The business strategies include the provision of promotional offers that sustain the customer base. Other marketing approaches include provision rider and driver review system, enhancement of networking, word-of-mouth promotion as well as social media advertising (Means, and Seiner, 2015).

Uber has a unique Professional Aspect that has made it more competitive. The company emphasizes quality and class, with the corporation having a notion of 'Arrive in Style', it is able to attract most passengers who enjoy the company's services. The company also encourages drivers and customers to rate one another based on professionalism this allows maintenance of good behavior at the company (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016).

Weaknesses

Uber greatly depends on Manpower. The corporation is said to have greatly flourished. However, increased service demand might supersede the supply that is the number of drivers and cars available might be less than the customer number in need of services. This aspect greatly affects the company's growth (Davis, 2015).

Uber is said to also have an ethically questionable relationship with its drivers. The company lacks a real interaction with its service providers, thus the aspect of loyalty between the drivers and Uber is usually very low (Davis, 2015).

Uber largely depend on the internet. Uber services provided at Uber relies on the internet and real-time evaluation. Therefore, even when there are no lawful demographic issues, the company's services cannot be enjoyed in regions that have a low internet connection. Additionally, Uber services can be implemented effectively on smart devices and phone thus Uber cannot flourish in areas where technology is still underdeveloped (Davis, 2015).

Uber has experienced numerous controversies. The company has been engaged in various legal issues together with many other scandals. The business has been afflicted from the physical harassment reports as well as aggressive competition from its competitors. Other controversies include Travis Kalanick's accusations for mismanaging the firm (Kortmann, and Piller, 2016). The legal cases filed against the business has led to a lot of financial charges and wastage of time thus affecting its development.

The firm experiences great competition. Uber as an international organization, it is bound to experience competition from any side of the world. For instance, Uber's plan to increase its services in India led to UberEats development in May 2017 and in December 2017 the Indian cap service company Ola developed FoodPanda. The company experiences equal opposition from its rivals for every action it ventures into thus making it difficult for it flourishes faster (Davis, 2015).

The idea at Uber can be imitated easily. Competitors are tirelessly working in ensuring the presentation of the ideas similar to those of Uber to the market. The company's business prototype is very appealing such that every individual wants to be like Uber even when they have limited or no proper planning strategies. This raises concerns that another novel enterprise might come up and disrupt Uber just like the company did interrupt the traditional taxi industry (Chen, Mislove, and Wilson, 2015).

The customers and Uber do not have a bond. Therefore, there are very limited chances of the company to retain its customers as there are low incentives for the passengers to remain at Uber.

The high cost of vehicle operation is another weakness experienced at Uber. The car maintenance expenses are usually high when the drivers' income is very low, this poses a risk of the corporation losing its drivers (Barglind, 2015).

Uber has been having a negative reputation in the past twelve months. The platform has been featured negatively in the media headlines, for instance, the cases of sexual harassments at the place of work, for instance, Susan Fowler's allegations of sexual harassment, gave a negative implementation to the company (Means, and Seiner, 2015). The campaign #delete UBER that trended on twitter made the company experience a travel ban, and this was as a result of allegations that the company was trying to gain profit from the protest of the taxi drivers which were against the immigration ban of the president Donald Trump. Other cases include the of leaking of the company's embarrassing videos this gave a negative implication of the company (Chen, Mislove, and Wilson, 2015).

Uber has increasingly experienced financial losses since it was founded in 2009. The international transportation tech corporation has spent an enormous amount of money in the past years on customer discounts and driver bonuses as it tries to fight off global rivalry. As seen from the figure, the ride-hailing corporation has been undergoing losses constantly (Davis, 2015).

Opportunities

Uber has high rates of investments which have made it develop to the level of the world's ride-hailing giant. The company has a high market valuation that makes it one of the multi-billion corporations around the world. The company's marketing outline appeals for more stakeholders to invest in the firm (Cherry, 2016).

Uber also has the advantage of high rate of growth. As the other cab service companies are restricted within their countries, cities and demographic borders Uber has the opportunity to function in most of the main regions within the world. The Uber's model is flexible enough to operate and provide services to all types of passengers to their level of satisfaction. Therefore, most of the customers turn away from the other traditional cab service firms to Uber for its uniqueness, safety, and quality. Currently, Uber servers in 633 metropolises around the world. The wide coverage area allows for easy expansion of the company (Means, and Seiner, 2015).

Ubers competitiveness and flexibility allow it to exploit big and new markets across the globe such as India where the offered cab services are expensive and inconvenient. The flexibility aspect also allows it to reach growing marketplaces in the suburban regions where there are no taxi services (Cherry, 2016).

The company ventured i...