BUS5001: Uber Case Study - SWOT Analysis, Structure, and Vision

This report presents a detailed SWOT analysis of Uber, a prominent ride-sharing company, focusing on its operations within the Australian market. The report begins with an introduction to Uber, followed by an overview of its mission and vision statements. It then explores the organization's struct...Read More

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Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Mission.......................................................................................................................................2
Vision.........................................................................................................................................2
Structure of the Organization.....................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................3
Strengths.................................................................................................................................3
Weaknesses............................................................................................................................4
Opportunities..........................................................................................................................5
Threats....................................................................................................................................5
Recommendation and Conclusion..............................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The main aim of this report will be to discuss about the organization of Uber along
with the mission and vision of the organization. The structure of Uber will be laid. A SWOT
analysis of the organization in the context of the market place of Australia will also be
discussed in this essay. The organization has a presence in the all the major cities of Australia
like Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and others.
Mission
The mission of the organization states about that they ignite or trigger the opportunity
by setting the globe in motion. Uber believes that good things can only happen if they move
from one place to other in search of their dreams, and therefore, the opportunities arises. The
organization helps the people to chase those dreams by the help of their transport network
system. The people thus, get connected with each other through their network and helps the
society to visit all the places with all the possible ways by the help of the technology of the
organization of Uber. They have their operation in almost 63 countries and 785 metropolitan
areas globally (Elliott 2015).
Vision
The vision statement of Uber states that the organization take on the major issues
related with the drivers, delivery partners, riders and eaters get in their motion in almost 785
cities where the company have their presence. The organization welcomes people irrespective
of their backgrounds who are looking for any kind of opportunities in order to build a better
future where everything and everyone will have the freedom to move independently.

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Organizational Presence
Uber have its presence in almost 785 cities spread across 65 nations worldwide. All
the major cities in the world possess the presence of this ride sharing application.
Structure of the Organization
The internal organizational structure involves Dara Khosrowshahi is the Chief
Executive Officer of the organization. There are Senior Vice-President in the positions of
Engineering, Business, Policy and Communication and Leadership and Strategy. Apart from
these, there are Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief
Human Resource Officer, Chief Product and Chief of Security. There is also one Head of
Uber Everything, General Counsel and President of Ridesharing (Cook, Patel and O’Rourke
2019).
Fig.1 - Uber Management Structure
Source: Created by the Author

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In the context of Australia, the company is headquartered in Sydney, and operates in
two divisions of Uber and UberEATS. There are two managers who look after these channels
along with other sales and marketing people and technical persons who look after the free
flow of the business operations of the organization in the market place of Australia.
INTERNAL STRENGHTHS
 Largest Ride
Sharing Technology
 Strong Brand
Recognition
 Low Fixed
Investment
 Dynamic Pricing
Strategy
 Adaptive Nature
 Low Prices as
Compared to Taxis
and Other Commute
apps
 Customer to Driver
Interaction
WEAKNESSES
 Multiple Scandals
 Losses
 Dependency on the
workforce
EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES
 Accountability and
Performance
 Utilize Digitalization
 Driverless
Technology and
other services
THREATS
 Customer and
Employee Retention
 Lawsuits
 Increasing
Competitors

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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Largest Ride Sharing Technology – The organization of Uber has positioned
themselves as the largest ridesharing technology globally. It is one of the first application
engaged in ride-sharing of the people around the world. They possess more than 100 million
active users in a month in almost 785 cities across the globe (Edelman 2015).
Strong Brand Recognition – The organization possess a strong brand recognition in
the market places where they serve. It has already surpassed some global reputed brands like
Ford, Honda and General Motors in the context of the brand value. Apart from these, the
organization is predicting to intensify their services in the coming few years. The
organization currently possess a global value of around $72 billion (Geldmacher and Plesea
2016).
Low Fixed Investment – Uber run their business operations on small fixed
investment or operational cost and possess an easy access in the cities where they operate.
The organization is continuously expanding as there are no proper and fixed investment or
infrastructure in the places of their operations.
Dynamic Pricing Strategy – Uber follows on the policy of higher the demand, higher
the price, and strictly follows the strategy of dynamic pricing. The policy has proved to be
beneficial for the drivers as well as the industry which it serves (Chen et al 2017).
Adaptive Nature – The flexible nature of the organization has warned huge
recognition around the world. It involves a wide array of cultures and nationalities around
their global operations of the business.

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Low Prices as Compared to Taxis and Other Commute apps – The organization
often offers low prices to its riders as compared to the local and traditional taxis. The pricing
strategy has proved to be beneficial for the customers (Hsieh et al 2018).
Customer to Driver Interaction – The business model followed by Ube is perfect
for an interaction involving the drivers and customers or riders. There is also a presence of
rating system that enables the riders to rate their travel experiences (Klapkiv and Klapkiv
2017).
Weaknesses
Multiple Scandals – The company is hit by a number of scandals and controversies
across the world, which has hampered the brand image of the organization. Targeted attacks
and sexual harassments has downed the global reputation of the organization (Rosenblat and
Stark 2016).
Losses - The organization is facing constant loses from the year 2009. In order to
enjoy the competitive advantage over its rivals, Uber has started to provide discounts to its
rides and bonuses to its drivers (Sanders and Pattison 2016).
Dependency on the workforce – Huge dependency on the internet and the workforce
of the organization has not been fruitful for the company. The behaviour of the drivers also
hampered the brand image of the organization (Rogers 2015).
Opportunities
Accountability and Performance – The organized services provided Uber an
opportunity to expand their business efficiently and effectively, and can improve their
services in the context of performances and accountability (Tzur 2017).

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Utilize Digitalization – The increasing number of tech-savvy people and
smartphone users are helping Uber to attract more people globally to avail the inter-
connected network, which is easily available on the smartphones (Zhu and Laptev 2017).
Driverless Technology and other services – Uber possess the capability and
potentiality to invest in a technology which will have no physical drivers and other special
transportation services like ambulances and other emergency vehicles (Cramer and
Krueger 2016).
Threats
Customer and Employee Retention – The ever-increasing competition can be a
threat for the operations for Uber in the context of employee and customer retention. Any
kind of financial incentive will be sufficient to lose the employee and customer base to its
rivals (Di Amato 2016).
Increasing Competitors – More and more competitors are posing a threat to the
organization across the world (Tonin 2015).
Lawsuits – The minimum wage policy for the drivers has forced more than
300,000 drivers to file lawsuits against them, which, though settled out of court,
hampered the brand image of Uber (Davidov 2017).
Recommendation and Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be said that Uber possess the strengths and
opportunities to strike off the weaknesses and threats, but also have to safeguard the
customers as well as the drivers. Ridesharing has become easily accessible by the help of this
organization. The organization of Uber has effectively positioned themselves as the largest
ridesharing technology globally, and enjoys a competitive advantage over others.

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References
Chen, M.K., Chevalier, J.A., Rossi, P.E. and Oehlsen, E., 2017. The value of flexible work:
Evidence from uber drivers(No. w23296). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Cook, J., Patel, R. and O’Rourke IV, J.S., 2019. Uber technologies, Inc.: Accountability in
corporate culture. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11, pp.33-50.
Cramer, J. and Krueger, A.B., 2016. Disruptive change in the taxi business: The case of
Uber. American Economic Review, 106(5), pp.177-82.
Crank, A.L., 2015. O'Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc.: The Dispute Lingers-Are Workers
in the on-Demand Economy Employees or Independent Contractors. Am. J. Trial Advoc., 39,
p.609.
Davidov, G., 2016. The status of Uber drivers: A purposive approach. Spanish Labour Law
and Employment Relations Journal (2017), Forthcoming, pp.17-7.
Di Amato, A., 2016. Uber and the sharing economy. Italian LJ, 2, p.177.
Edelman, B.G., 2015. Whither Uber?: Competitive Dynamics in Transportation
Networks. Competitive Dynamics in Transportation Networks (November 24, 2015).
Competition Policy International, Spring/Autumn.
Elliott, R.E., 2015. Sharing App or Regulation Hackney: Defining Uber Technologies, Inc. J.
Corp. L., 41, p.727.
Geldmacher, W. and Plesea, D.A., 2016, September. SWOT analysis and evaluation of a
driverless carsharing model. In European Conference on Innovation and
Entrepreneurship (p. 921). Academic Conferences International Limited.

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Hsieh, N.H., Lange, B., Rodin, D. and Wolf-Bauwens, M.L., 2018. Getting clear on corporate
culture: conceptualisation, measurement and operationalisation. Journal of the British
Academy, 6(s1), pp.155-184.
Klapkiv, L. and Klapkiv, J., 2017. Technological innovations in the insurance industry.
Leabman, M., Energous Corp, 2016. Electronic device with graphical user interface. U.S.
Patent Application 29/513,404.
Pylvaenaeinen, T., Korah, T., Berclaz, J. and Nam, M., Uber Technologies Inc, 2018. Map-
like summary visualization of street-level distance data and panorama data. U.S. Patent
9,984,494.
Rogers, B., 2015. The social costs of Uber. U. Chi. L. Rev. Dialogue, 82, p.85.
Rosenblat, A. and Stark, L., 2016. Algorithmic labor and information asymmetries: A case
study of Uber’s drivers. International Journal of Communication, 10, p.27.
Sanders, D.E. and Pattison, P., 2016. Worker characterization in a gig economy viewed
through an Uber centric lens. Southern Law Journal, 26(2), p.297.
Tonin, G., 2015. Uber: Disruptive innovation and regulation challenges (Bachelor's thesis,
Università Ca'Foscari Venezia).
Tzur, A., 2017. Uber Über regulation? Regulatory change following the emergence of new
technologies in the taxi market. Regulation & Governance.
Wan, W.N.A.A.B., Mohamad, A.F.M.F., Shahib, N.S., Azmi, A., Kamal, S.B.M. and
Abdullah, D., 2016. A framework of customer’s intention to use Uber service in tourism
destination. Int. Acad. Res. J. Bus. Technol., 2(2), pp.102-106.

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Zhu, L. and Laptev, N., 2017, November. Deep and confident prediction for time series at
uber. In 2017 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops (ICDMW) (pp.
103-110). IEEE.

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Appendix
Fig.1: Uber Management Structure