Question

Describe Uber's following statements:

1. Current Situation
   1. Past Performance
   2. Strategic Posture
      1. Mission
      2. Objectives
      3. Strategies
      4. Policies

Answer 1

Uber

Technologies, Inc., commonly known as Uber, offers vehicles for hire, food delivery (Uber Eats), package delivery, couriers, freight transportation, and, through a partnership with Lime, electric bicycle and motorized scooter rental. The company is based in San Francisco and has operations in over 900 metropolitan areas worldwide. It is one of the largest providers in the gig economy and is also a pioneer in the development of self-driving cars.

Uber is estimated to have over 110 million monthly active users worldwide. In the United States, Uber has a 67% market share for ride-sharing and a 24% market share for food delivery. Uber has been so prominent in the sharing economy that the changes in industries as a result of it have been referred to as uberisation, and many startups have described their products as "Uber for X".

Current Situation

Uber has announced that its Global Scaled Solutions (GSS) team in India based out of Hyderabad and Bengaluru has led map updates across more than 150 cities globally, factoring in road closures, new routes and Covid containment zones during the recent lockdown.

In a statement, Uber said its GSS team has led more than 200 localisation projects, including in-app messages in local languages to keep riders and drivers updated about new offerings, closure of services, various earning opportunities and financial assistance for drivers.

Uber said it has also improved product launches through data engineering and analytics program and scaled quality assurance for all products and features launched globally, from India.

GSS runs scaled programs for multiple products and businesses including Rides, Eats, Freight, Advanced technologies and Uber for business. The company said eighty percent of its GSS team is based out of Hyderabad and Bengaluru, consisting of more than 100 program managers, engineers, analysts and product ..

The GSS team, on the safety front, developed a mask verification feature in the App, wherein the new technology verifies if drivers were wearing a mask by asking them to take a selfie before they go online. The ride-hailing firm in May had made it globally mandatory for all riders and drivers to wear a mask or face covering during a ride.

“Our engineers and tech program managers across countries have been working tirelessly to address various challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Megha Yethadka, director, program management, Tech, who leads the GSS teams globally. “From creating new products to launching new business units quickly, the Uber tech team has been steering varied technology innovations enabling Uber to rapidly cater to the needs of cities and citizens around the world.”

Past performance:-

Rapid Growth

With Uber's rapid growth came many controversies that knocked down the firm's valuation from a lofty $70 billion to $48 billion in its Jan. 2018 funding round. On May 23, 2018, the company announced a new tender offer that would bump the company's value to $62 billion.2

Earlier in 2018, Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group, along with a group of investors including Dragoneer Investment Group, successfully bid for 20% of Uber's stock at this lower valuation, a 30% discount of the last valuation figure.3 The deal reportedly gave Softbank 15% in the rideshare company while Uber got a powerful ally in Asia, and could help turn the tide for the company after a few very public missteps.4 The remaining 5% of shares reportedly went to other investors in the group. The year hasn't been all great, though, as a self-driving Uber vehicle was involved in a fatal crash.5 Additionally, on August 8, 2018, the New York City Council voted to put a pause on new licenses issued to ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft

Despite the lower valuation, Uber today is valued more than the market cap of Ford Motor Company (F) and General Motors Company (GM). It will be interesting to see how the company's plan of going public by 2019 plays out.

Uber Discloses Losses:-

Uber is not public and isn't required to report its earnings publicly, but in April 2017, Uber opened up about its finances for the first time to Bloomberg and reported a global loss of $3.8 billion for 2016. This includes losses from its China business, which it sold the summer of 2016 — without it, net adjusted losses were $2.8 billion.16 The company also told Bloomberg that the more it shifts to its UberPool — the carpooling service — the faster the revenue grows, and this shift made the fourth quarter of 2016 a little brighter with a revenue increase of 76%, while losses increased 5%.

Uber Faces Opposition:-

In 2014, taxi drivers in London, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid staged a large-scale protest against Uber.18 Taxi companies have claimed that since Uber avoids their expensive license fees and bypasses local laws it creates unfair competition. The case was heard by Europe's top court in December 2016. Uber lost its license to operate in London where the company has 40,000 registered drivers in October 2017. Transport for London (TfL) said Uber was unfit to hold a license, while Uber said the Mayor has caved to a few people who want to restrict consumer choice. On June 26, 2018, a London judge overturned the ban, effectively allowing Uber to operate under a 15-month license along with conditions.

Strategic posture:-

1. Strategies:-

Urban Strategy is different from urban design and urban planning. Urban Strategy combines systems thinking with common urban professional practices such as design and planning, to create integrated, regenerative and productive outcomes for our cities and neighbourhoods. At The Urban Advisory (TUA) our Urban Strategy approach has three main pillars.

PEOPLE – We facilitate better outcomes through greater collaboration early, by giving consideration to all perspectives, and by building relationships and brokering partnerships. Urban Strategy is transdisciplinary, multi-sector and multi-scale.

KNOWLEDGE – We work to understand the complexity of urban problems, collating data and drawing together knowledge and experience from diverse government, professional and community players. We co-create strategy that provides for the complexity of urban & built environments, with a focus that puts people first.

ACTION – We’re committed to delivery. We are outcome-focused and work with teams to ensure tangible and actionable strategy that everyone buys into, and can be delivered. We test ideas on real-world projects. We are constantly learning, reviewing, and revising our approach.

2) Uber's mission:

Uber’s mission statement is “Transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone.”

a) Improvement of lives:-Uber has been implementing with its global citizenship programs, something that has shown to have enough potential to aspire change in the lives of people not only economically, but also socially.

b) Exceeding expectations:-The company has incorporated delivery components such as helping people order and deliver foods more quickly at attractive rates. And, that is just the tip of the iceberg – Uber has special health care rides dubbed ‘Uber health’ to offer its customers the safest and fasted support to acquiring the healthcare they need

c) Everywhere for everyone:- Uber has been vibrant in ensuring that it satisfies this aspect of its mission statement.

3.) Uber's objective:-

• Uber’s key focus is to provide dependable and readily available transportation service.
• Uber’s goal is to continually expand globally and bring its services to different cities to allow riders and drivers to connect.
• To take over the cab industry by being the most cheap, easy ride all over the world.
• To eliminate private car ownership.
• To provide all types of logistical and transportation services where it operates.

4) Uber's Policies:-

1. Email Marketing:- Uber used two recent efforts to update its customers. One is promotion of the service and providing various offers. The other is an email that provide information regarding any and all objections to the service.

2. Inbound Marketing:- Uber does remarkable inbound marketing by first attracting its prospective customers. It does so by giving credits to every new customer and to the already existing customers who refer them to Uber. These Uber credits give value to both its old and new potential customer. By doing so, Uber converts its leads successfully.

3. Social Media Optimisation:-Uber is active on Facebook, instagram, twitter, Uber has taken ‘surprise and delight’ to an entirely new level. Uber is liked by 3 million people on Facebook and has around 143k followers on Instagram, 348k on Linkedin and 438k on twitter . Messenger now enables its millions of users to sign up for Uber with one tap and request a ride, all without having to leave Messenger or download the Uber app.