Business Ethics & Sustainability: Uber's Approach

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY AND BUSINESS ETHICS
SUSTAINABILITY AND BUSINESS ETHICS
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Introduction
The concept of ethics involves moral judgments, which are made by an individual
based on their understanding of the situation, of being right or wrong. In the context of a
business organization, ethics play a very crucial role to determine the nature and manner in
which the decisions are to be made in accordance with the operations and functions of
business (Ferrell et al. 2019). In this regard, it may be said that business ethics refer to the
business practices and policies, which involve issues, relate to corporate governance,
discrimination, responsibilities towards the employees and other members of the organization
and corporate social responsibility activities that may be undertaken by the organization.
Business ethics plays an important role in preventing malpractices within the scope of the
organization, thereby improving the confidence of the all the internal and external
stakeholders associated with it (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). Such confidence induced among
them in turn helps in the process of building their trust and loyalty of the stakeholders,
towards the business organization, thereby aiding in the development of a positive business
community within the scope of the organization. The essay will further analyze ethical issues
in the American multinational transportation and food supply company Uber Technologies
Inc. with the help of a literature review. Furthermore, the essay will also discuss business
ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility activities undertaken by the organization using
relevant theories such as the Stakeholder Theory and the Decision Making Model.
Discussion
Overview of the Company
Uber Technologies Inc. is recognized as an American multinational transportation and
food supply company which provides various types of services to its target customers. Their
services include the delivery of food from different restaurants and eateries across the cities

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in which the services are available, ride-sharing services, cab services Uber Technologies
also offer hailing of ride service and micro-mobility services through scooters and bikes. The
company was founded in the year 2009 by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick (Uber.com
2020). The headquarters is situated in San Francisco in California. The vision of the company
is to ignite opportunities for the customers by setting the world into motion through its
transportation facilities. For this purpose, the company also provides its customers with
various innovated services such as self-driving facilities and urban air-transport. These
services allow customers to remove barriers in healthcare, order food affordably and quickly,
as well as ensure that the customers have seamless travel experience. The organizational
culture of the company is inclusive and diverse in culture and also aims to become one of the
most diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces in the world (Uber.com 2020). However, it
has often been highlighted that the company aims to increase its market share without paying
enough heed to its corporate social responsibility. The following section will provide a
review on the business ethics of the company.
Literature Review
According to Hallgren, Orlandi and Sabelfeld (2017), one of the major issues
pertaining to the ethics of the business activities and operations of Uber Technologies
involves privacy issues in the company. They have also been accused of carrying out
surveillance on the customers without their knowledge. As noted by Joy and Gerla (2017),
the tracking system used by the company enables them to provide advertisements to the
customers based on their search activities and locations which are visited by the customers.
Such a tracking system is also used by the executive body of the government, for example,
the police. However, the same tracking system is used by the police, for the purpose of
ensuring security and safety of the citizens. Hence, Uber Technologies carries on activities of

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surveillance on the customers, which is an unethical practice and invades privacy of the
customers by collected their personal data.
Leighton (2016) has pointed out that Uber Technologies follows unethical business
practices too, while conducting their process of recruitment and training. The company aims
to focus on expanding their business scopes through various activities, as rapidly as possible.
For the very purpose, the company even engages in unethical hiring procedures by failing to
conduct proper background checks of the employees, especially the drivers who directly
provide services to the customers, as has been highlighted by DeBruyne (2017). This
practice, in turn, puts safety, security and health of the customers under major risks. Various
cases have been reported for malpractices or misbehavior with the customers, to have been
done by the driver while offering services. According to Larcker and Tayan (2017), these
cases of misbehavior include drunken driving, sexual assault and the like. There have also
been reports of property thefts of the customers, where the drivers had allegedly stolen
mobile phones or wallets of customers availing various services. Such misconduct, on part of
the drivers and lack of background check of the drivers who are hired by the company has led
to significant reduction of customer loyalty and trust. This is created a negative brand image
of Uber, in the market.
Furthermore, in the opinion of Davis (2015), the price surging strategies adopted by
the company Uber Technologies have been regarded as being unethical. However, it has been
argued by Guda and Subramanian (2019), such surges in prices is identified to be normal
under the price surge model adopted by the company, in which the prices of the services
increases with the rise in demand. This has been the reason behind the decrease of preference
among the customers. It has been identified to be an unethical practice being carried out by
the company while not taking into consideration about the interests of the customers.
However, the company had explained that the rise in prices of the services provide