Business Report: Analyzing Challenges Faced by the Uber Company

This business report examines the Uber company, a technology-driven transportation service operating globally. It provides an overview of Uber's inception, operational model, and widespread adoption. The report highlights the rationale for selecting Uber for analysis, emphasizing its relevance due to its global presence and the availability of extensive information. The core focus is on identifying and analyzing the key challenges Uber faces, including airport charges, sexual harassment concerns, and taxation issues. The report then explores the potential of the design thinking model, a five-stage problem-solving approach involving empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, to address these challenges. Each challenge is examined in detail, with the design thinking model proposed as a means to develop effective solutions. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reiterating the potential of design thinking in mitigating Uber's operational and ethical hurdles.

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Institution

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Introduction
Uber is a transportation company that operates through technological means. The
customer needs to install an Uber App in a smartphone, select a pick-up location and then select
the car that he or she intends to travel by (Computer Business Review, 2019). The Uber App has
several features which make the service easy such as selecting the route and the destination that
the customer wants to use. Uber was started in San Francisco by Travis Kalanick and Garrett
Camp in the year 2009 (Page, 2015). Today, this online business organization has spread
worldwide where it is operational in more than 40 countries. There are much profits and other
benefits which the stakeholders of this organization have enjoyed since the time it was started. It
is beneficial to a wide range of individuals and organizations since it provides a source of income
to Uber drivers and an easy means of transport which is efficient to its customers. Additionally,
different governments in which the Uber company operates benefit from taxes which the drivers
comply to.
The rationale for the Choice of Organization
Uber Company is significant in this course since it has different challenges which it
faces. The challenges, therefore, can be solved by use of different models of problem-solving.
Uber Company is an international organization which has its operations in many countries. It is a
company which is well known not only in San Francisco but also in other countries of various
continents such as Asia and Africa. Using this company in this course, therefore, will be
convenient because many people are aware of it and probably have had an experience of
enjoying its services. In addition, since Uber Company is widely known, it is easy to get
information about it from books, journals, and even websites. Analyzing the challenges which
Uber Company faces, therefore, will be easy.
Potential Use of Design Thinking Model in Uber Company
The design thinking model was started in the year 1969 by Simon Herbert where it was
later restructured having stages ranging from three to seven (Hoffman, 2016). In this case, the
design thinking model suggested by the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design consists of five stages
which include empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test (The Interaction Design Foundation,
2019). This model is significant in solving the challenges that are faced by Uber Company

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because of its efficiency and rationality. It uses mental reasoning to identify the problem,
construct possible alternative solutions to the problems and hence apply the most appropriate. In
the first stage known as empathize, the real challenges that are experienced whether directly or
indirectly are sought. This involves gathering relevant information and getting out of the cage of
assumptions to what is happening in reality. In this case, the customer needs, as well as the
problems they face, are identified through a thorough collection of information. The second stage
is known as define and involves analyzing all the gathered information. The information is
critically synthesized and the core challenges identified.
Ideate is the third stage in the design thinking process and involves designing possible
alternative solutions which can be used to counter the challenges being experienced. The
problems may be facing the Uber driver, the customers or even the management team of the
company. Additionally, the designing of the alternative solutions can be developed by the drivers
or the management team. After developing alternative and relevant solutions to the identified
challenges, the best and the most appropriate solution is identified in the prototype stage
(Geissdoerfer, Bocken and Hultink, 2016, p. 1221). In the case where the challenges faced are
more than one, each of them is designed a solution which can best solve it. This ensures that the
product or a feature of the product which is faced by a challenge is managed in an appropriate
way. The development of the most appropriate solution can be done by an individual or a team
aiming at identifying and solving the identified challenges. The last stage is known as test and as
the name suggests, the most appropriate solution identified in the prototype stage is put into
practice. Its relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency is tested and evaluated (Gudiksen, 2015, p.
312). However, sometimes the selected solution may be ineffective. This means that there is a
need to go back to the define stage, develop new possible alternative solutions and select the
most appropriate and hence test it. This process may be done severally until the best possible
solution is found.
Challenges Faced by Uber Company
Page (2015) argues that Uber has the potential of facing challenges which affect the
customers and eventually the entire organization. In airports, Uber cars are used to pick
customers or even drop them to the airport. Several reports have shown that the drivers are
forced to pay certain charges at certain entrances in order to be allowed to operate in airports

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(Page, 2015). This means that the charges imposed in airports force the drivers and the
management team to increase the fare that the customers pay. This would be expensive for the
customers and they may rate the services as unsatisfactory since they are not satisfied with the
prices. The increase in fare for the customers means that the Uber company becomes less
competitive since the traditional taxis charge less prices to its customers. This challenge can be
solved through the use of the design thinking model since the actual challenge is identified
through the actual collection of data, designing possible alternative solutions, selecting the best
solution and hence putting it into implementation.
Additionally, Winchel (2018) says that the Uber company has a change of leadership
where Rebecca Messina is the new chief marketing officer. Though Messina has been a leader in
several other companies such as Coca Cola Company as well as Beam Suntory, she faces the risk
of sexual harassment in the company. A quote has been made where the founder of the company,
Travis Kalanick, said that the company helped him to hook up (Winchel, 2018). Additionally, the
board of the company consists of 12 members where women are only 3. The issue of sexual
harassment in this board is not an assumption but an issue which the women have been facing
(Winchel, 2018). The sexual harassment, therefore, can make the new chief marketing officer
resign and ruin the reputation of the company. The design thinking model can be effectively
applied in this case and hence provide the best solution for the management of the challenge
identified.
Most governments tend to force Uber drivers to comply with the payment of taxes. It is
argued that most Uber drivers do not comply with the payment of taxes and this has made some
governments ban Uber services (Page, 2015). This reduces the benefits of the Uber company and
also denies employment opportunities to Uber drivers. The payment of taxes also means that the
fare paid by the customers is increased, making it expensive for them (Mahapatra and Telukoti,
2018). Such a problem can be handled through the application of the design thinking model
which is significant in solving challenges faced in a company.
Conclusion
Uber Company has been selected to be discussed in this piece of work. It has been seen
that Uber Company was started in the year 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp. It was
started in San Francisco and later spread to other countries. The design thinking model has been

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used in this work where it has been argued to be have the potential of solving the challenges that
Uber Company faces. The design thinking model consists of five stages which include
empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. In these stages, a problem is sought through
gathering information, the actual problem is identified, possible alternative solutions designed,
the best solution picked, and then the solution is put into practice. The challenges that are faced
by Uber Company include extra charges in operating in airports which leads to an increase in the
fare for customers., sexual harassment of the new chief marketing officer, and taxation by
governments. These challenges can be solved through the use of the design thinking model.

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