Question

Think about industry‐disrupting companies such as Uber (disrupting the taxi industry) and Airbnb (disrupting the hotel industry). Research them if you don’t know much about them. What are the legal and ethical issues facing them? In what ways are they being responsible, irresponsible? How would you evaluate their corporate social responsibility?

Answer 1

The legal and ethical implications of Uber is that a major percentage of Uber drivers have been convicts for issues like sexual harassment. The main reason for Uber to have such improper background checks is that there is no policies or procedures in place to recruit drivers and for their background checks. Also, there is no stringent policies for the vehicle usage. The drivers can use it anywhere anytime. There have been many cases registered with Uber for drivers sexually harassing their passengers and for drunken driving. They violate the legal regulations in recruiting such drivers. These are the major ethical and legal implications of Uber.

Airbnb does not insist the host to comply with the lodging laws and legal regulations. Airbnb states that it is the responsibility of the host and not theirs. This might lead to the host violating the regulations such as protecting the customer from fire and other hazardous issues, environmental safety, property use, etc. These are absolutely ethical violations that makes customers lose trust with Airbnb. Also, the host’s non-compliance with the local lodging laws leads to cancellation of the hosts’ responsibility of being part of Airbnb.

It is pertinent to say that both Uber and Airbnb are irresponsible in ways of not providing safety for their employees and their customers. The customer and employees’ life is at stake if they are part of either of the companies. This is a clear example that there is no corporate social responsibility (CSR) for either of the companies. Neither Uber took measures to recruit qualified drivers with good background nor did Airbnb took measures to provide safety to their customers. This shows that both the companies are focused only on profits and not the life of others.

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