Uber Case Study: Analyzing Business Model, Growth, and Challenges

This case study report examines Uber's business model, growth strategies, and competitive challenges, providing a comprehensive analysis of the ride-sharing giant. The report begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction outlining the project's rationale, objectives, and research questions. A literature review explores Uber's car services, business model, SWOT analysis, competition, use of emergent technologies, growth strategy, and the challenges facing the ride-sharing industry. The research methodology details the method outline, research philosophy, approach, data collection, sample size, data analysis plans, and ethical considerations. Findings and analysis include descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. The report concludes with recommendations and conclusions. Appendices include a questionnaire and a screenshot of a Google Form used in the research. The assignment addresses Uber's business model, competitive situation, growth strategy, impediments to growth, and critical challenges faced by the ride-sharing industry. It identifies innovative solutions using information systems and provides recommendations for future improvements.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
A Case Study of Uber
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The report aims at analyzing the business model of Uber in reference to the saying ‘move fast
and break things’. The report also addresses the competitive situation of the Uber on the global
scale with a focus on use of the emergent technologies for strengthening the competitive
situation. The report provides an insight into the growth strategy of Uber along with
identification of the biggest impediments for growth and the ways in which the company deals
with it. The report undertakes further research for identification and explanation of three critical
challenges faced by the industry along with justification and identification of ways where
information system could lead to innovative solution. The report also provided recommendations
along with justifications for the futuristic improvements of Uber.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Project Outline...............................................................................................................3
1.1 Introduction:...........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Rationale of the Project:.........................................................................................................4
1.3 Objectives of the Study:.........................................................................................................4
1.4 Hypothesis Testing:................................................................................................................5
1.5 Deliverables from the Project:...............................................................................................5
1.5.1 Research Questions:........................................................................................................5
1.5.2 Significance of the Research...........................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................8
2.1 Car Services of Uber..............................................................................................................8
2.2 Business Model of Uber.........................................................................................................9
2.3 SWOT Analysis of Uber......................................................................................................11
2.4 Competition of Uber............................................................................................................12
2.5 How Uber Uses Emergent Technologies for Strengthening Competitive Situation............13
2.6 Growth Strategy of Uber......................................................................................................15
2.7 Challenges Facing the Ride Sharing Industry......................................................................17
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................19
3.1 Method Outline....................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................19
3.3 Research Approach:.............................................................................................................20
3.4 Data Collection:...................................................................................................................21
3.5 Sample Size and Sampling:..................................................................................................21
3.6 Plans for Data Analysis:.......................................................................................................22

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3.7 Ethical Consideration:..........................................................................................................22
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis..................................................................................................22
4.1 Descriptive Statistics............................................................................................................22
4.2 Analysis of Correlation:.......................................................................................................32
4.3 Analysis of Regression:.......................................................................................................33
Chapter 5: Recommendations and Conclusions:...........................................................................36
References:....................................................................................................................................37
Appendices:...................................................................................................................................41
Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Uber..........................................................................................41
Appendix II: Screenshot of Google Form..................................................................................43
Chapter 1: Project Outline
1.1 Introduction:
The report aims at providing a review of Uber. The concept of Uber originated in the
year 2008 by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick who have been contemplating about their
future business idea and clicked upon a Smartphone app for solving problems of summoning
car service(uber.com 2019). The domain known as UberCab was launched officially in the year
2010 as luxury car service primarily catering to the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco
executives. In the earlier days, for availing the service, people had to send an email to Travis
Kalanick for receiving a code for gaining access to app. The app allowed the passengers in
tracking the car and the in-built GPS guided the driver to the destination of the rider. The cost of
ride would be deducted automatically from the pre loaded credit card of customers and did not

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require any tip. The company charged 20 percent of gross fare while rest would be kept by the
drivers. In the a few months after its emergence, the momentum of the company grew and the
company attracted steady stream of drivers and customers and investors. In the year February
2011, the company rose close to $11 million and was valued at $60 million. In the upcoming
years, Uber had additional investments from the higher profile firms like the Google Ventures,
Fidelity, Menlo Ventures and the Black Rock. However, by the year 2015, the company raised
closer to $8 million and remained valued at $51 billion. In other words, Uber is undergoing an
evolution in the manner in which world moves. It not only seamlessly connects the riders to the
drivers through the apps but makes the cities increasingly accessible by opening possibility of the
drivers as well as the riders. In fact, Uber is undertaking expansion of the global presence and
continues in bringing the cities and the people closer.
1.2 Rationale of the Project:
The rationale of the project is to provide an insight to the entrepreneurs about the
different lessons positive and negative lessons of Uber. The company has been the fastest
growing that created close to 1, 60,000 jobs across United States and has plans for creating more
in a matter of five years(economist.com, 2019). Discussions about the business model of Uber
shows that it is innovative and operates through Smartphone app that provides an on demand
service to users thereby brining a revolution. The business model shows how easily it connects
the willing passengers to the cab drivers with no hassles in the method of payment. The research
also portrays how Uber uses the emergent technologies in strengthening the competitive
situation. Through this, the project is trying to portray how emergent technologies are changing
the world by reshaping mobility. The discussion on growth strategy shows how Uber follows an
aggressive strategy by adopting process refined by employees and informed by the experience

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and includes everything that would make the process effective. Further, it fined tuned all its
process for promoting the glamorous aesthetic. The discussions also showed how the company
landed up in serious challenges stemming from short cuts taken along with providing an insight
to the justifications that helps in providing innovative solutions. The study also puts across
recommendations that provide an insight into the improvements that Uber can undertake for its
business benefits.
1.3 Objectives of the Study:
1. To analyze whether distance can create a challenge for Uber
2. To analyze whether mode of payment could create a challenge for Uber
4. To analyze whether willingness to ride could create a challenge for Uber
5. To analyze whether specific concern to driving could create challenges for Uber
1.4 Hypothesis Testing:
H1: The challenges faced by Uber depends on specific concerns related to driving
H0: The challenges faced by Uber do not depend on the specific concern related to
driving
1.5 Deliverables from the Project:
1.5.1 Research Questions:
These include:
1. What is the business model of Uber in reference to the popular saying ‘move fast and
break things?’

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2. What emergent technologies should Uber use for strengthening the competitive situation?
3. What is the growth strategy of Uber?
4. What are the prominent impediments in the growth process of Uber and how the company
tries to deal with it?
5. What are the three critical challenges faced by ride sharing industry?
1.5.2 Significance of the Research
The significance of the research lies in the fact that it helps in understanding the various
aspects of Uber and the challenges. Uber have brought about a dramatic change in the personal
transportation in the recent years that have resulted in both the benefits and the drawbacks of the
customers and the drivers (Barglind 2015). The significance of the research helps in
understanding structural changes to the old industry that functioned in the same manner decades
ago. The research shows that initially individuals in the need of a cab had to physically wave at
taxi or call the local car service but with Uber they could do so with the click of a Smartphone.
Thus, it can be said that disruptive technology has reduced the market share of the traditional taxi
thereby lowering overall profits of the drivers (Cramer and Krueger 2016).
The research shows that Uber is not only convenient but a cashless service. Unlike the
traditional taxi service, the app allows the user in hailing a car from any particular location
(Clewlow and Mishra 2017). The linkage of passenger credit card to the app ensures there is no
requirement for cash dealings. On arriving the destination the passengers receives a receipt via
an email. The research also shows that Uber is a professional service where in major cities like
New York, the cars are not only chauffeured but well maintained by professional drivers who has
proper coverage of insurance. Passengers can track the position and route of the driver and

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communicate with him as and when necessary (Posen 2015). Unprofessional drivers are weeded
out since the passengers can rate the performance of the drivers. The rented car service is also
known for its competitive pricing since it is lesser expensive compared to the traditional car
services and taxis. The research also shows how Uber is more safe and flexible for the drivers.
Safety acts as the most important advantage for the drivers since the transaction is mostly
cashless (Rahel 2016). Aggressive, rude and disruptive passengers can also be weeded out since
drivers also rate the customers. Lower ratings and unsafe behavior leads to deactivation of the
account. The research also shows how the drivers enjoy greater flexibility and freedom and
drivers can log in and out of system according to their preference. Drivers are not only able to
avoid the expensive rental but also remain spared from stress caused by office politics and
favoritism.
As a challenge, the research provides an insight into the surge pricing of Uber. Surge
pricing refers to the pricing method that involves lowering or raising the prices depending on the
supply and the demand (Hall, Kendrick and Nosko 2015). The number of cars represented the
supply while demand is marked by the number of passengers. The research portrays that in peak
hours the price of Uber is either tripled or doubled. Another disadvantage lies in the trip
cancellations by the drivers can result in disruptions of the plans of passengers (Calo and
Rosenblat 2017). The research also shows that lower prices negatively impact the earnings of the
drivers. In the major cities drivers are mostly encouraged in purchasing the latest model of the
cars that costs quite a lump sum. There are also drivers who rent the car on a weekly basis and
almost bear the cost of the repair and fuel. This research report would pave the way for Uber in
considering further research in determining the challenges faced by the ride sharing industry.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Car Services of Uber
Uber began its operations as ‘black car’ ridesharing platform. The business model of
ridesharing required the Uber drivers in using their cars by registering them from Uber (Li,
Hong, and Zhang 2016). Initially, this car service was more like a bottle service of night for the
taxi industry. Uber started its operations with the black car service as a provider of status symbol
until it introduced Uber X in the year 2012. Uber X allowed the drivers in using modest and
hybrid sedans at prices that have been comparable to or less compared to taxis (Watanabe,
Naveed and Neittaanmäki 2016). Uber expanded the service offerings based on demands of the
differentiated transportation needs of the riders through convenience app. Uber had six class of
service offered by Uber X, Uber Black, Uber Taxi, Uber Lux and Uber Pool(Di Amato 2016).
Prices of Uber depended on its type. Each of the offerings required the drivers in meeting the
vehicles specifications for specific service offered. Prices were further reduced in UberPool
since allowed the riders in sharing a single car.
The services of Uber had various positive aspects. First, Uber tackled the higher prices
through usage of a demand algorithm based on availability of the cars and the requested rides for
the determining of the cost of transportation (Cohen et al. 2016). It was found that three mile ride
in the largest cities of the nation have been less expensive compared to the taxi. Second, Uber
put across a better service through building of app that has been easy and simple to use. The
passengers of Uber only needed to install the app, set up the profile and establish the method of
payment. He/she then selected and requested the car that he/she expected (Kennedy 2016). The
app tried to track the progress of the car through GPS technology. Hence, the passengers of Uber

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never had to worry about the time of arrival of the car. Uber also put across an estimated cost to
the passengers and automatically compensated 80 percent of the fare to the driver thereby
eliminating need for awkward tips (Isaac and Davis 2014). Finally, Uber enhanced amount of
accountability through putting across two-way system of rating for the drivers and the
passengers. After every ride, both the parties rated one another on five star scales. This rating
system allowed the Uber in evaluating and monitoring the drivers and determines if the
contracted of the drivers required termination along with providing information to the drivers
and the passengers in deciding preferred a different driver or a passenger before the beginning of
the ride. It was found that the customers of the taxi cab opted for Uber. According to Rayle et al.
(2016), between March 2012 and July 2013, the number of taxi trips decreased in San Francisco
by about 65 percent. In fact, Uber attracted the customers who hardly used taxis in the past. It
was therefore believed that rise of ride sharing economy would result in decreased ownership of
cars in the coming years.
2.2 Business Model of Uber
Uber represents a Smartphone app that provides an on demand service for the users
(Goodall et al. 2017). It helps in connecting the willing passengers to the drivers of the taxi cab.
The taxi drivers use their cars when providing the taxi service but Uber receives 20 percent of
the total fare. The entire process is quite simple; when the registered Uber users asks for taxi
using Uber app, an Uber driver is dispatched to the location of the passengers thereby assisting
them in reaching the destination. The credit card of the passengers is used as the sole method of
payment.
The service remains available in close to 200 cities which imply that Uber is undertaking
a business expansion (Dudley, Banister and Schwanen 2017). According to experts, Uber would

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generate close to $10 billion in terms of the revenue. In other words, Uber tries to connect the
taxi driver and the passenger and take percentage of fee from fares.
According to Cannon and Summers (2014), the business model of Uber is as follows:
1. Taxi Driver: The drivers of Uber are mostly independent contractors and not the
regularized employees of Uber. Like the contract workers they does not receive the retirement,
health benefits, vacation leave, disability, compensation of injured or unemployed workers.
Anyone in possession of driving license and car is able to apply for the position of the Uber
drivers in the covered cities. On completion of the process of screening, the driver remains
enlisted in the system and is provided with Uber iPhone. This helps in providing steady income
for anyone with car with no additional investment or hazard. In other words, they have been
simply paid for business they were able to generate for driving passengers.
2. Passenger: The registered users often download the app on the phones and use it
whenever they require a taxi. The app also allows them in tracking the taxi over the phone. The
service also acts convenient for passengers and provides them with lower cost and comfortable
service.
3. Payment and Fare: Uber have set its taxi fares. It has set premium fare during the
peak hours and the flat rate for the off-peak hours. Passengers mostly pay through the card cards
and hence do not have to make any cash payments to drivers. The fare is dependent on the type
of car, distance and the peak hour. Payment is thus secured and the passengers only have to pay
via the credit card using the Uber app.
4. Profits: Uber divides its fare; the driver receives 80 percent of the fare while the
company receives only 20 percent. Even with a 20 percent cut in the pay, taxi drivers earned

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more compared to the traditional services of taxi. In certain cities, it was necessary for Uber to
reduce its percentage due to the competition from the similar companies like the Lyft and Haio.
5. Futuristic Growth: At the present moment, Uber does not own any taxi and hence it
is able to show higher levels of earnings in terms of the profit. Uber needed to make investment
in the research and development for the future growth. The initial reinvestment would be in
modest amount but sufficient enough in slowing down the future earnings. Besides, there would
be increase in cost due to the regulatory and the legal issues. The company has vast growth
opportunities and is believed to progress in the dozens of cities in a year.
2.3 SWOT Analysis of Uber
Strengths:
 Uber app is not only user friendly but is immensely responsive with minimalistic glitches
that make the company exceptional.
 Calling taxi cab with the help of Smartphone is not only easy but the passengers also
derive benefit from it
 Uber did not have previous competitors in taxi service business and established
branding, consumer trust and solid infrastructure.
Weakness:
 Uber has been plagued with the liability questions and the insurance issues like any other
start up services.
 It faced lawsuits from the unions and the taxi companies in various bigger cities like New
York that involved the Uber in various legal battles.

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 There exists a demand for this services however the legal battles and the overhead cost
threaten the business.
Opportunities:
 Uber takes advantage of the customer dissatisfaction with the organized markets
 Uber is able to expand its services to the cities thereby enlarging its footprint
 With rising disposable income customers are ready to pay a higher price on convenience
 For catering the local needs Uber make the use of alternate transport like Uber chopper
in various countries
Threats:
 Non clarity of the government regulations in various countries often creates problems
 Have lower profit margin for drivers which often sway them away
 The unorganized cab market might revolt as Uber is eating their share of bread and
butter
2.4 Competition of Uber
Uber undertook competition with taxi industry and differently operated across the
countries (Thelen 2018). In United States, most of the taxicabs required license for operating.
Uber even faced competition from the livery services that put across the limousines and the black
cars. In United States, livery services have been regulated by the state agencies. Nevertheless in
maximum cities, these vehicles were neither able to respond to the pick-up request nor could be
hailed one the streets. Rearranging them required advanced booking.

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According to Wirtz and Tang (2016), the ride sharing market of Uber faced barriers of
entry. There has been no financial cost in switching between the services or in switching to the
car ownership or the public transportation thereby making loyalty and customer an area of the
focus for the competitors. The competition of Uber included app dispatched rides like Sidecar,
Lyft, Hailo, Wingz, Gett and ZimRide but Uber gained advanatage from first mover advantage.
Lyf has been the biggest rival of Uber which had been introduced three years after the launch.
Although both the companies grew at the same rate but Uber gained closer to 5000 customers
compared to Lyft every month. Both the companies continuously competed for drivers and
customers. The company undertook an aggressive approach for addressing the competition. In
the year 2014, Uber put forward promotion for attracting the passengers away from the
competition and credited their account with $250 for making a switch to Uber. The promotion
has been targeted by the drivers by offering them with a bonus of $500 provided the current
driver belonged to the competitor’s driver. Uber also asked the drivers in taking rides with their
competitors for persuading the drivers in working for Uber. The company also made an attempt
in sabotaging the competition through booking fake rides and making of fake calls. According to
Wallsten (2015), in the year 2014, close to 170 employees of Uber cancelled and ordered over
more than 5500 rides with the primary competitor of Uber.
2.5 How Uber Uses Emergent Technologies for Strengthening Competitive Situation
The common thread connecting every system of Uber and strengthening its competitive
situation is its performance. Each of the technology is chosen since it is the most reliable, stable
and delivers fastest response. Besides, Uber looks forward in ensuring that the tools work
independently of one another and remains destructible. In this context, it can be said that Uber

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actively attempts in crashing the system including the databases, networks and Application
Programming Interface (API) to make the system work even when the network is down.
Anwar (2018) mentioned that starting with mobile apps, Uber do not use the HTML5 or
the hybrid solutions present. All the coding with the native code is completed through using
analysis and performance tools in the Xcode and the Android Studio. In dealing with the higher
level of demand, Uber believes in combining the home grown magic and the open source
solutions. Uber uses the Ringpop technology that helps in managing the cluster membership and
the failure in detecting Scalable Weakly Consistent Infection Style Process Group Membership
Protocol (SWIM). Laurell and Sandström (2016) stated that the performance level do not stop at
server. Uber also modifies the RPC or the communication channel. The version of Uber is
known as T Channel and depends on the multiplex Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol
known as Mux.
As far as the approach to the data is concerned, Uber goes to the extreme with the data.
The structure of the data for the company acts as the relational database. The problem which
Uber foresees with the relational database is that the entire system crashes down during the non
ave=availability of database. Uber utilizes the systems of big data as the foundations of the
technologies with tools that includes Redis, Postgres, Riak and MySQL. The best part lies in the
fact that Uber can still run even after killing the entire system of database. Uber also use the
driver’s phone as a means of distributing the data thereby achieving distributed computing. The
phone is found to move into a new server provided the server does not respond. Glöss, McGregor
and Brown (2016) stated that the use of phones by Uber have been the secret to the systems.
Besides, usage of Smart phone for distributed computing represented a step that companies do
not take quite often.

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In addition to core supply and the demand dispatch systems, Uber have another system
known as Disco for future proofing the growth system. The key function of Disco lies in
matching the supply with demand and also allows the company in looking into future. Through
Disco, Uber can aid the busy drivers in effectively picking the rides. To further a competitive
advantage, Uber uses S2 Geometry Library of Google for breaking the data and getting it out.
This library helps in splitting the data into very small geographical sections. This helps the
company in sending rapid updates to the drivers on the location of the drivers and provides
accurate estimated time of arrival (ETA) for the trips. It also provides Uber with opportunity of
expanding the business into the specific geography.
Schneider (2015) stated that the core tools used by Uber includes Native applications for
Android and iOS, Node js, Java, Python, Redis, Postgres, Go, Riak, MySQL, Twemproxy for
Redis, S2 Geometry Library of Google, TChannel, Ringpop and Thrift. Here it is to be noted that
Node JS acts as the core system of Uber since it cannot afford failure. The company always
keeps a tab on the emerging technologies that emphasizes on the performance. That’s why the
company looks for IO.js which represents a branch of the Node JS and has faster performance.
The company does not shy away from switching its core systems provided there is an
improvement in performance. Uber makes use of open source solutions and contributes to open
source community.
2.6 Growth Strategy of Uber
According to Horan (2017), there existed four intensive growth strategies which included
market development, market penetration, product development and diversification. However,
Uber grew its market share through market development and market penetration.

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1. Market development: This involves introducing service/product into the newer
regions or the market. Uber went on improving the services and added variety to services it
offered that finally led to its growth. The company has its presence in closer to 83 countries and
in over 674 cities. The market that constitutes largest share of revenue and customer base
includes China, Brazil, US, Mexico and India.
2. Market Penetration: Uber began as the simple ride sharing app for connecting taxi
drivers with customers. The additional convenience put across by the app not only made the
popularity grow but also led to the growth of the customers. Thus, extra convenience and lower
cost helped in building the customer loyalty and growing the share after the launch in US market.
Uber faces its impediments in three key areas which include (Calo and Rosenblat 2017):
1. Providing customers increasing amount of Bang for Buck: While buying things
customers compare the suppliers on a notable set of the factors. Similarly, the ride sharing
criteria includes how the long riders wait for driver, competitive fare and incompetent driver
trying out something nasty. Uber have been losing on the third factor and suffering from worst
public attention. Amongst other things, the company was believed to have toxic culture along
with discriminatory and sexual harassment practice.
2. Harness Capabilities for Winning the Scale: This implied keeping and winning the
customers even when the company had millions. The key idea here remained in increasing the
number of drivers in newer locations that enabled improvement in the market coverage thereby
reducing wait times and attracting increasing number of consumers. The boost in the demand
increased trip volumes that increased the utilization of driver through attracting more number of
drivers and reducing fares.

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3. Sustenance of Competitive Superiority: Uber’s market is not sustainable since the
investors remain willing in funding the rivals. The key strategy of Uber in charging lower fares
and paying the drivers has restricted the growth of Uber. The company declared that its revenue
diminished due to the heavier discounts and subsidies of the competitors that the company tries
to match for remaining competitive.
In order to deal with this, Uber represents combination of cost leadership and technology
based differentiation. Uber takes a very smaller percentage of fare that ranges between 5 to 20
percent. The company also resorts to networking for growing its drivers. This allowed cost
cutting on the maintenance and the infrastructure. This benefit is passed on the rider as well as
the driver for charging lower cost without incurrence of any financial loss. The drivers are able
to earn extra and riders are paying less and having additional convenience. This is how cost
leadership is working in favor of Uber thereby making it popular in the metropolitan cities. In
fact it works towards retaining the popularity of the services of Uber (Wallsten 2015).
Differentiation based on technology has acted as the key source of the competitive
advantage for brand (Tomassetti 2016). Technology has served as the key enabler of the services
thereby playing major role to the business model. It is the Uber app that helps in connecting
riders with taxi drivers thereby allowing them in paying for service and rating the convenience
and the ride. Previously booking a ride in a taxi has never been easier and therefore people had to
pay higher. Thus, convenience of the customers has acted as the differentiating factor for brand.
2.7 Challenges Facing the Ride Sharing Industry
According to Furuhata et al. (2013), the ride sharing industry has been gaining immense
popularity worldwide and its market expands at rapid pace. Consumers remain happy in paying

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for convenience and less fare compared to the traditional taxis. However, what made them lose
trust is crucial for the platforms of ride sharing. Along with numerous opportunities there are
various challenges faced by the ride sharing companies.
1. Drivers remain Critical to Success: Drivers remain crucial to the business of ride
sharing and the ride sharing companies invest in training programs for the drivers for achieving
higher level customer service. They represent independent contractors who do not always remain
blocked by single company. Hence, winning over the drivers acts as a crucial part of the ride
sharing platform and the key factors that most of the drivers considers is flexibility and income.
2. Battle of Price Wars: To attract the customers the ride sharing industry always
undergoes a price war each offering lower price compared to the competitors. Uber being one of
the rides sharing service offers a pricing focused towards market penetration with an option for
surge pricing. Similar price wars are undertaken by its competitors for capturing the market.
3. Impact of the Government Involvement and Insight: Regulation authorities believe
that the disruptive models create both losers and winners. The switch to ride sharing happened at
a faster pace in Asia and United States. It is believed that countries have move towards the
regulation of both the taxis and the ride sharing cabs. However, the challenge for the players of
ride sharing lies in receiving permission for operating in different countries. Government
imposes various regulations and rules that governs the local network of transportation for the
companies. For example, ride sharing service like Go-Jek faced rejection by agencies of the
Philippines as the service application for ride sharing did not meet local standards of ownership.

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Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Method Outline
Here the researcher helps in identifying the various types of designs, strategies and
approaches that requires to be followed for drawing the accurate results of the study. Such
indications helps researcher in obtaining the specific path that helps in attaining actuality and
authenticity of the research. This process enables the research in attaining effective opportunities
thereby increasing the authenticity of results attained by researcher. The method mostly shed a
light on aims of the research methodology. An effective research technique is used for obtaining
the specified results. Here the researcher has chosen the positivism philosophy that aids in the
determination of the real process of research. Besides, the researcher acknowledged the
deductive approach as one of the effective approach of research that helps in deriving the results
of study. Flick (2015) mentioned that the deductive approach helped in determining definite
results for research. On the other hand, Jenson (2013) put forward an argument that the deductive
approach is unable to authenticate results since the collected data might get tempered by
researcher. Further, the researcher has chosen the explanatory design for meeting the pre
determined research objectives of Uber.
3.2 Research Philosophy
The research philosophy helps the researcher in the identifying essence of research study
through using the appropriate research paradigm. There are four different kinds of research
philosophy which includes interpretivism, positivism, pragmatism and the realism. The

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philosophy of positivism depends on existence of the reality through using proven techniques. It
is in fact, the philosophy of positivism that enables researcher in analyzing the gathered data
through the usage of the qualitative and the quantitative approaches. The present study aims at
dissecting the impact of the critical challenges faced by ride sharing industry along with
identification and justification of the ways that provides innovative solution. Thus, in case of
Uber the researcher made an attempt in analyzing challenges faced by the company along with
providing innovative solution. The researcher thus applies the positivism philosophy by linking
the models and theories discussed in literature review. Since, the present study focuses on the
evaluation of the challenges faced by User, positivism seemed to be the relevant philosophy in
dissection of the responses. The researchers did not apply other philosophies since they do not
depend on the proven models and theories.
3.3 Research Approach:
Research Approach is primarily of two kinds namely the inductive and the deductive
approach. The inductive approach enables researcher in framing newer sets of theories and
models after citing research outcomes. On the other hand, deductive approach is focused on the
scrutiny of the available theories and models in relation to the study by seeking help from
gathered data.
The current research focuses on the evaluation of the challenges faced by Uber and hence
the researcher applied deductive approach for conducting the research since researcher applied
quantitative analysis for reaching the research outcome. The quantitative analysis is carried with
the help of evaluation of the responses received from respondents. In fact, the deductive
approach is considered relevant for reaching actual results of research study. Further, the study
also focuses on descriptive research design since the study focuses on exploring the challenges

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faced by Uber along with identification and justification of ways where information system
provided innovative solution for problem minimization.
3.4 Data Collection:
Data is considered the fundamental need for certifying success of the research study
where suitable data is collected depending on the nature of the study and the results achieved.
Primary data is collected from responses of human beings and considered authentic in
comparison to secondary data. This particular study makes use of the quantitative data.
Quantitative data indicates fragment of information that requires evaluation for deducing
information in respect to research results. As Scotland (2012) stated quantitative data puts across
information on subject of inclination of the human perception involving particular information of
study. Thus, it requires a bigger size of the sample for the purpose of evaluation. This particular
study selects the users of Uber in UK for analyzing the problem.
The researcher gathers primary data through surveying Uber users in UK. For conducting
the study, the researcher arranges planned questionnaire containing both the open ended and the
close ended questions. In the present study, survey questionnaire is developed based on the
research objectives for gathering relevant information. The researcher primarily distributed
questionnaire by sending in e-mails to respondents.
3.5 Sample Size and Sampling:
Sampling represents the technique where targeted respondents for research study are
selected from larger population. Sampling enables researcher in choosing relevant data source
for blending the relevant information in accordance with research objectives and aim. The
method of simple random sampling is used for conducting survey with professionals as it

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provides equal opportunities to respondents selected in survey. Hence quantitative data is
obtained through use of random sampling from larger sample. Hence, 50 respondents are
selected for analysis of the responses.
3.6 Plans for Data Analysis:
Data is evaluated through various analytical techniques. Jensen (2013) mentioned that
efficient selection of the analytical techniques is crucial for achieving pertinent and proper
conclusion. Besides, it aids in interpreting data and maintenance of transparency of composed
data. The quantitative data is represented with the graphs and tables for simplifying the process
of interpretation of gathered data. Besides, excel application is used for conversion of opinion of
customers in percentage for estimation of the trends for deriving the insights of respondents.
3.7 Ethical Consideration:
The researcher maintains proper conduct in the performance of task in the varied methods
of data collection. The researcher also avoided delicate questions for persuading participants in
being a part of the survey. Further, identity of respondents has remained undisclosed to prevent
other business in using the same statements.
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis
This particular section puts forward an analysis of the results obtained from the survey
carried and performs the statistical test for the evaluation of the research objectives. Firstly, an
overall descriptive statistics of data is put across and then correlation and regression analysis is
done for analyzing the challenges faced by Uber and the factors that lead to the challenges.
4.1 Descriptive Statistics

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Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Distance
Source: Created by Author
Figure 1: Summary Measure of Distance
Source: Created by Author
Among the 50 sample surveyed, it has been found that close to 18 people uses Uber for
travelling less than 5 kilometers. On the other hand, the table shows that close to 23 people
travels 10 to 20 kilometers through availing. It is only 5 people and less than 5 people who use

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Uber for travelling 20 to 30 kilometers and over 30 kilometers. It can thus be concluded that
people mainly prefer Uber for travelling a distance between 10-20 kilometers.
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Usage per Week
Source: Created By Author
Figure 2: Summary Measure of Usage per week
Source: Created by Author
From the survey, it has been found that more than 30 people uses Uber less than 10 times
in a week while only 10 people used Uber between 11-19 times in a week. Only 5 people are

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found to use Uber between 20-29 times per week while only 8 people have shown Uber usage to
be over 30 times in a week. Hence, it can be said that for a maximum number of people the Uber
usage is less than 10 times in a week.
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of Convenience per Week
Source: Created By Author
Figure 2: Summary Measure of Convenience
Source: Created by Author

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From the survey, it can be said that over 30 people have agreed to the convenience of the
Uber app while less than 10 people have disagreed to the convenience of the app. Only less than
5 people have acted neutral to the convenience of the app. Thus, the survey shows that most
people find the Uber App convenient for usage.
Table 4: Descriptive Statistics on Mode of Payment
Source: Created By the Author
Figure 4: Summary Measure of Mode of Payment
Source: Created by the Author

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From the survey conducted on 50 people it has been found that over 30 people have
found the mode of payment to be convenient while only 5 people have disagreed to the
convenience of the payment mode. However, 12 people have acted neutral on being asked about
the convenience of the mode of payment of Uber. Hence, it can be derived that most people find
the payment modes of Uber convenient. .
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of the Challenges Faced by Uber
Source: Created by Author

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Figure 6: Summary Measure of the Challenges
Source: Created by Author
From the study, it is has been clear that 20 people have agreed to face some challenges
while an equal number of people have agreed to not face any such challenges while taking a
Uber ride. Less than 10 people have acted neutral in terms of facing challenges. Thus, it can be
concluded that most people have faced some challenges while taking a Uber ride.
Table 7: Descriptive Statistics of Willingness to Ride

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Source: Created by Author
Figure 7: Summary Measure of Willingness to Ride
Source: Created by Author
It has been found from the survey that less than 30 people strongly agrees to the
willingness of taking a uber ride while less than 20 people only agrees to the willingness of
taking a uber ride. On the other hand, it is only 5 people who disagrees towards such willingness

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and less than 5 people strongly disagrees to the willingness. Hence, it can be said that people
strongly express willingness in taking a Uber ride.
Figure 8: Descriptive Statistics on Recommendations for Usage
Source: Created by Author
Figure 8: Summary Measure of Recommendations for Usage
Source: Created by Author

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Through the survey it has become clear that close to 30 people agrees to recommend
Uber to the friends and family while less than 20 people have disagreed to recommend the
service. Less than 10 people have acted normal. Hence, it can be said from the observation that
maximum number of people would to the friends and family
Table 9: Descriptive Statistics on the Rating of Uber
Source: Created by Author
Figure 9: Summary Measure of Ratings

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Source: Created by Author
The findings show that over 10 people have rated Uber on a scale lesser than 1 while 15
people have rated Uber on a scale between 1 -5. More than 20 people however rated Uber on a
scale between 6 to10. Hence, it can be said that maximum number of people has provided a
higher rating for Uber.
4.2 Analysis of Correlation:
The correlation analysis is done for measuring the level of association between the
challenges faced by Uber and its related variables. The table below shows the result of the
correlation coefficient between the challenges and associated variables.
Table 10: Correlation Matrix
Source: Created by Author

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From the correlation matrix, the attained correlation coefficient between the challenges
and the distance is .150. The positive correlation portrays a positive association between the
distance and the challenges. The more distance an individual travels through Uber, the more
likely it is for him to face challenges. The correlation coefficient between the challenges and
usage per week is -.075 is negative. This implies there do not any correlation between challenges
and the usage per week. The correlation coefficient between challenges and willingness to ride is
.237. The positive correlation indicates that the willingness to take a ride holds a positive
correlation with the challenges. The specific concern also holds positive correlation with the
challenges and is highly significant at a value .394. Finally, the correlation matrix portrays that
the positive correlation between the challenges and the mode of payment is .149.
4.3 Analysis of Regression:
The regression analysis is performed for evaluating proposed relation between the
challenges of Uber and the variables. The table mentioned below shows the obtained results of
regression.
Table 11: Summary of the Regression Model
Source: Created by Author

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From the results of regression, the value of the adjusted R square is 0.120. The adjusted
value of R square puts across those explanatory variables that explain 12 percent variation in
relation to the challenges faced by Uber.
Table 12: ANNOVA Result of Regression
Source: Created by Author

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Table 13: Estimation of the Regression Estimates
Source: Created by Author
The regression coefficient for the variable that challenges of Uber depend on the distance
is .905. The positive regression coefficient implies that distance covered by Uber have a positive
influence on the challenges encountered by Uber. The regression coefficient for usage per week
is -.150. The negative coefficient implies that use per week do not bear a relation with the
challenges faced of Uber. This implies that an increase in the rides per week hardly bears any
relation with the challenges faced. The mode of payment also bears a positive regression
coefficient valued at .115 with the dependent variable which implies that advanced mode of
payment can sometimes pose as challenges. The willingness to ride also bear a positive
correlation with the challenges faced and stands at a value of .082. Lastly, there are some
specific concerns that hold the most significant value at .327 that bears positive regression
coefficient with the challenges faced by Uber.

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The associated p value for coefficient is 0.047 which means it is less than 0.05 and is
highly significant.
Chapter 5: Recommendations and Conclusions:
It is clearly visible from the findings that the challenges faced by the ride sharing industry
like Uber bears a positive relation with the distance, willingness to ride, mode of payment and
the specific concerns for driving. However, it bears a negative relation with the number of rides
of undertaken.
Uber can however overcome the challenges through adopting the following
recommendations:
1. By Focusing on Concerned Marketing: Uber have shown their capability of reacting
well to the tricky situations. Uber have set a benchmark by taking actions spot on which it also
needed to follow in future. To overcome, the challenges, Uber needed to undertake a step
forward by offering free rides during the crisis situation for helping the people which would go a
long way in rehabilitating the image of Uber.
2. By Valuing the Drivers as much as the Riders: It has been found that Uber spent
immense amount of time in using shady tactics for undermining one of its chief competitors. It is
however necessary Uber to realize that one of the best means of attracting the drivers and beating
the competitors would lie in treating the drivers well.

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Appendices:
Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Uber
1. What is the distance you commute to work?
 Less than 5 kilometres
 10-20 kilometres
 20-30 kilometres
 Over 30 kilometres
2. How often do you use Uber per week?
 Less than 10
 11-19
 20-29
 More than 30
3. Do you find the app convenient for usage?
 Yes
 No
 Neutral
3. Do you feel that mode of making payment convenient?
 Yes
 No
 Neutral
4. Did you face any challenges while undertaking ride sharing in Uber?

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 Yes
 No
 Neutral
5. To what extent do you agree with following?
I am willing to opt for different ride sharing if they charged less
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
 Neutral
6. Is there any specific concern you have driving Uber?
 Yes
 No
 Neutral
7. Would you recommend Uber to a colleague or a friend?
 Yes
 No
 Neutral
8. In a scale of 10, how would you rate Uber?
 Less than 1
 1-5

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 6-10
 More than 10
Appendix II: Screenshot of Google Form

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