Innovation and Creativity Management: Uber Technologies Inc. Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Uber Technologies Inc.'s innovation and creativity management. It examines Uber's application of the innovative value chain and product-service innovation theory, focusing on how the company fosters process, product, service, and paradigm innovation. The report highlights Uber's disruptive innovation strategies, particularly its peer-to-peer ride-sharing model, and explores how the company manages its innovation process through simplicity, convenience, and the use of cutting-edge technology. Furthermore, the report investigates how Uber encourages employee involvement in innovation and concludes with strategic recommendations for maintaining a competitive advantage in the transport industry. The analysis covers various aspects, including the generation, conversion, and diffusion of innovative ideas within the company, as well as the impact of these strategies on the online transport market.

Running head: INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY - UBER
Innovation and Creativity - Uber
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The primary purpose of the given report is to study the innovation and creativity management
of an online network transportation company named Uber Technologies Inc. In the concern
of fulfilling the purpose of the report, the foremost study of the report is based on
undermining the innovation synergy that lies within the organization of Uber. The findings of
the innovation resulted in showing that Uber works along with the innovation theories of the
innovative value chain and product and service innovation theory in order to maintain the
process, product or service and paradigm innovation of its organization. Furthermore, the
report is focused on examining the way the innovation process is managed in the concerned
organization and gets to know that the Uber has revolutionized the transport industry by
bringing up the technique of peer-to-peer sharing innovative strategy. The report is also
concentrated on investigating the manner the management of Uber fosters and encourages its
employees to get involved in the aspect of innovation and the changes related to the same.
Finally, the report concludes with providing a few strategical implementations to the Uber
organization that would help the same to achieve an adequate level of competitive advantage
and maintain the same in its near future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Innovation within Uber..............................................................................................................3
Management of the Innovation Process.....................................................................................6
Management for Innovation.......................................................................................................9
Recommendations....................................................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
As opined by Arrigo (2018), innovation and creativity management is determined to
be that ideology which fills the gap existing in the management literature between the
synergy of the theory as well as practices of maintaining the level of creativity and the
innovation. Specifically, the management of innovation and creativity helps the managers of
a productive business organization get an insight about introducing the advanced technology
of innovation within their specified organization and therefore accelerating the development
of the adequate level of performance in the employees. In this connection, the primary
purpose given report is focused on undermining the innovation and creative strategies of the
online transport organization recognized as Uber. The concerned organization is recorded as
American Transport Network Company that is multinational in nature (Kregor 2016). The
services that the firm is known to offer are specified as peer ride sharing, hailing the single
ride services, delivery the food through its expansion named as Uber Eats and the also the
service of bicycle sharing system. The company is headquartered in the region of San
Francisco, United States and operates its wings over 785 metropolitan spread all across the
world. However, there are several other organizations that work under the same sector are
thus the potential competitors of Uber are recognized as the Ola, Lyft as well as Careem.
Studies critically show that Uber needs to recruit, train and develop their drivers to be ethical
and professional in their work. The driver needs to be innovative in navigating the roads as
well as driving abilities while driving or the same may lead to confusion and dissatisfaction
in the ride experiences of the clients (Gay and Szostak 2019). The report hereafter discusses
the different theories and management process of innovation connected to the organization of
Uber.

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Innovation within Uber
Based on the studies concerning to the innovation process of Uber it was recognized
that the concerned organization followed the theory of innovative value chain in the concern
of generating and implementing their ideas related to process innovation and the theory of
product-service innovation for implementing the same in the process of organizing its
offered services and products as well as paradigm innovation (Leighton 2016). The same are
specified below;
Innovation Value Chain
As opined by Cohen, Almirall and Chesbrough (2016), the innovative value chain is
inherited with three steps of innovative idea generation that help an individual or an
organization to understand the innovative skills and talents it can use to start or carry the
transactions of an existing business. Thus, the three phases of the innovative value chain for
the organization of Uber undermining the type of innovation idea generated for the process
innovation of Uber is specified below.
Generating the idea
The generation of the new ideas is termed to be a crucial step before inventing a new
innovative business that demands creative ideas for the continuation of the same (Sloane
2017). Concerning to this view, the top-level managers at the organization of Uber were
known to analyze the skills of the technological department of the organization and the
process innovation the same took into consideration was the most newly invented advanced
form of the system known as the disruptive system. The disruptive innovation system
completely modified and revolutionized the working approach of the transport industry. In
light of this, it can be stated that the organization of Uber has efficiently studied the market
structure the transport works in and then created ideas of using the new form of the disruptive

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innovation system. The synergy of disruptive innovation used by Uber was recognized as the
first-ever introduction of ride-sharing facilities where the riders could avail sharing their rides
when they are to travel by the same route through the help of Uber Pool.
Converting the idea
On one place, where the generation of diversified and creative ideas is a good thing
for the organization of Uber, on the other place, the effective implementation of the same or
mishandling the same is a matter of different fact (Phillips and Phillips 2017). The newly
created ideas will not significantly prosper if the same is not funded with robust mechanisms.
Thus, Uber needs to have effective and efficient mechanical and commercialized skills in
their employees for the riding field the organization is to innovate. Along with this healthy
ideas, there also lies a need for the conversion of these generated ideas into the form of a
process which allowed the organization of Uber to generate revenue and fulfil the objective
of profit earning.
Diffusing the idea
The final step in the value chain that maintained the process type innovation strategy
of Uber is termed to be the diffusion of the idea (Laurell and Sandström 2016). This means
making use of the ideas that had been generated in the earlier stages. Studies show that the
idea generated by the Uber organization in terms of implementing the ride-sharing facility
with the help of Uber Pool was effectively diffused and the riders could book the rides at a
lower price as compared to that of the personal rides. This not only revolutionized the online
transportation system but also proved that Uber turned out to be effective in managing its
generated innovative ideas. The same was significantly turned into the practical function, and
a higher number of customers were attracted to book their ride through Uber.
Product Service Innovation Theory

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Concerning to the viewpoint of Schneider (2017), the product-service innovation
theory is known to be defined as the strategy which helps in the development of new and
creative products as well as services and implements the required changes in the offering of
those products and services to the customers. This may even include the complete change in
the component or the delivery of the products and services offered by any productive
business entity. In this connection, it was examined that the product service innovation theory
has been used by the organization of Uber was the introduction of new service of peer-to-peer
ride-sharing as mentioned in the above part of the study. The introduction of this new ride
facility solved several problems and drawbacks that were reported against the high surge
prices and less availability of cabs. This introduction of new service by Uber improved the
functionality of Uber concerned to its existing types of rides and increased the interest of the
customers and therefore, the paradigm innovation process of Uber is also maintained.
As stated by Lim (2019), any productive business organization can achieve a better
competitive advantage in the business market only when the same functions its operations
better than its peer competitors and stay updated with the technologically advanced market to
keep up its innovation strategies. In light of this, it can be stated that the paradigm innovation
of Uber was practised by achieving the new synergy of product and process innovation of
disruptive innovation system and revolutionizing the entire online transport system and
organizations. This change was recorded to keep Uber far ahead from its competitors as they
had not initiated the share ride facilities as prominently and initially Uber did.
Management of the Innovation Process
When the synergy of the disruptive innovation system is taken into consideration, the
most appropriate example based on the studies is determined to be Uber Technologies Inc.
(Belitski and Herzig 2018). This is because the concerned transport organization had

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profoundly transformed the online industry of transport as known in the modern-day. Uber
has expertly made it possible for the public who travels on a daily basis or even a casual basis
through the means of taxis and cabs to avail the riding services wherever and whenever the
public needs the same. The services are recorded to be availed through the synergy of the
mobile application that can be used on smartphones. As stated by Goller and Bessant (2017),
the organization of Uber have opened new and innovative doors for other similar kinds of
network transportation companies to expand their business into the new growing business
market. The organization of Uber manages its working process by letting the users use the
mobile application of Uber in a more straightforward way and one single click. All that the
user needs is to have the mobile application of Uber, a smartphone and an internet
connection. The organization allows interested individuals to download the Uber application
is compatible with the iPhone or Android devices. The users have to sign up for an account
either as a driver or a rider. Based on the studies the management process of Uber is managed
by the following ways;
Simplicity
Uber is designed in a manner that it becomes straightforward and tranquil to be used
by society (Bashir, Yousaf and Verma, 2016). The interface connected to the application of
Uber is recognized to be straightforward as well as suitable to navigate and therefore
requesting for a ride is not at all problematic for the riders. Moreover, the booking of the ride
is not actually limited to a smartphone. The same can also be done through the mobile site
server developed by the Uber organization.
Convenience
Studies show that the Uber has managed its innovation process in a way that it
becomes too convenient for the riders to acquire a ride (Urbinati et al. 2018). This becomes

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more convenient for the riders when they are stuck at some unknown place at the middle of
the night at an irrelevant time and are not able to get a ride; they can easily book a ride by just
marking their pin location and the Uber driver will navigate the same to pick the rider up.
Moreover, the cabs are private style vehicles, which turns out to be highly comfortable than
regular cabs or taxis. In addition to this, the payment method is also known to be simplified
for the riders. They are liberated to several payment options such as debit or credit card,
Google pay, Pay Tm UPI and even cash on delivery.
Using the synergy of cutting edge technology
The development of letting the users book a ride through the help of a simplified
mobile application is recognized to be the best innovative strategy used by Uber. In the
modern era, the society is in love with the use of their mobile phones, and this heavy usage
also lets them use the application of Uber in a profound manner because of the effective
marketing strategies of advertisement that is used by Uber (Gobble 2015). Moreover, as
analyzed in the above parts of the report that Uber uses the disruptive innovation system for
its working transactions and the same has been revolutionary changes in the field of the
transport industry.
Flexible Pricing Model
Not being accountable to any law that is related to the fare regulation, the pricing
strategy of Uber is known to be flexible (surge) in nature (Chiaroni et al. 2015). The
concerned organization argues that it a service which provides the riders with a ride-sharing
service and the same is not a taxi company and therefore is not levied to any law. Thus, it is
not covered by any of the regulations that are levied on the taxis. In light of this, it is
investigated that the service provided by Uber is based on the surge pricing strategy. This
benefits the customers only when there is low demand for rides, or there is no special

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occasion and even climatic changes such as rain or high flow of wind. The scenario which is
determined to be vice-versa to these factors is the time when the riders are charged with the
higher price. On the one hand, where it is considered to disrupt the interest of the customers
but benefits the drivers on the other hand.
Management for Innovation
According to the viewpoint of Min, So and Jeong (2018), innovation management and
encouragement are termed to be the ideology that helps the senior level managers of any
business organization to motivate and enhance the skills of change management of innovation
in that particular organization. The innovation can be related to any process of the business
that is connected to marketing, departmental, supply chain or the entire organizational
structure. In this connection, the senior level management of Uber encourages the ethos of
innovation and creativity in the working structure of their organization by the help of the
following the below-mentioned strategies and processes.
Employee Management Skills
The organization of Uber is recognized to boost a healthy as well as productive
employee engagement activities in the concern of engaging the employees into a better level
of work and understanding their work in an effective and practical manner (Dudley, Banister
and Schwanen 2017). The synergy of healthy employee engagement activities helps the
employees gel up with each other and understand the way the other employees work and even
learn a few tactics and strategies to work. Moreover, the higher-level employees at Uber are
also recorded to participate in the employee engagement activities, and therefore, the
followers also get an opportunity to learn from the personality of the higher-level
management. Based on the employee engagement theory of OB, the management also
rewards the employees with different synergies based on their performance level in the

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employee engagement activities (Rubin 2017). In light of this, the report tends to state that
employee engagement activities provide the workers with a better opportunity to grow
themselves in the field of innovation.

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Organisational Culture
As stated by Cook, Patel and O’Rourke (2019), the organizational culture is the
ideology that is known to encompass the values and the organizational behaviour contributing
towards the unique as well as social and the psychological behaviour of a business entity.
Concerning to the Organizational culture theory, the senior level management at Uber is
recognized to carry up its organizational structure in such a way that it influences the
communication process amongst the employees and the knowledge related to innovation and
creativity is encouraged as well as created amongst the mental state of the employees
(Mazzei, Flynn and Haynie 2016). The resistance of the employees towards the synergy of
change innovation management is changed with the help of the effective organizational
structure they undermine when sharing the part of their knowledge and gaining the part of
others. The diversified form of thought processes helps the employees connected to Uber
understand the need of innovation and creativity in their working organization and work
along with the same in the concern of achieving the desired goals and objectives.
Leadership Style
As opined by Scheiber (2017), the ideology of leadership style is the method or
manner that helps in providing productive direction, implementing the planned strategies as
well as motivating the employees to work with their most enormous capability and zeal.
Concerned to the theory of democratic leadership style also called as participative leadership,
the management connected to the organization of Uber takes a practical part in the group
activities of the organization (Lee et al. 2019). As investigated in the above parts of the paper
that the leaders at Uber are more participative in the employee engagement activities in the
concern of motivating and training the lower-level employees by their way and personality of
working with the innovation processes and its ideologies.