Essay: Marketing Strategy To Address Challenges Faced By Uber And Shorten Length

Pick a company that is written about in the business press as having some challenges or difficulties.

Explain what is happening with some background information on the company and its current issues.

Examine their business environment both macro and micro in detail and devise a marketing plan to ensure they continue survive and thrive.

Organizational background for The Uber Inc.

A thriving business is the desire of all entrepreneurs in today's world. With high levels of competition, all business owners have to raise the standards of their enterprises to be able to compete with rival companies, increase in demand, as well as the changing trends in the market. This is only possible by keeping watch on trends and keeping the business on the top of the charts. (Groza & Ragland, 2015)

 "The mainspring of all economic activities is human wants. Therefore, it can be said that the main purpose of economic activities is the satisfaction of Human wants." (Fernando, 2011, p. 3) In well-developed economies, there are many and varied wants and thus a high order of economic activities. These, give way to establishment of a wide range of businesses from personal proprietorship to global business establishments. The success of these businesses is however not guaranteed to be eternal. The business environment changes with fluctuations in the wants and preferences of the population. This can cause highly established enterprises to fall regardless of the level of establishment. (Kaufman, 2012)

In this paper, I consider the Uber enterprise. We will be focusing on the nature of enterprise Uber is, when it was started, reasons why it was started, the founders, how it runs, the business environment surrounding the enterprise, both macro, and micro, the success, as well as the challenges faced by the enterprise. I also give my view on the trend and future prospect regarding the business and whether it will survive or fall to the challenges it faces. The case study is based on the recent scandals behind the Uber on social media and the press. I will also devise a market plan to ensure the Uber remains at the top of the taxi business.

The Uber is a transportation company that deals with taxi, food deliveries, cab sharing, and hiring. Its business is mainly run from the official Uber website (www.uber.com) where orders and payments are made. Its headquarters are based in San Francisco, California, in the United States of America. The Uber enterprise was founded as UberCab in March of 2009 in San Francisco, California. It was founded by Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp. The Uber has grown from a San Francisco enterprise to a worldwide digital taxi service and transport company. On May 2010, Uber officially launched Uber services and Their mobile app.

The Uber was started by Camp from an opportunity he noted of exploitation of customers by taxi operators. He as later joined by Kalanick, and together they formed the Uber company. From the humble beginning, the company today boasts world-over domination in the cab business. (Stone, 2018)

The demographic analysis of Uber customers shows that most Uber customers are young people age 25-34 years who mount to 57 percent of the users. The gender makeup shows that About 60 percent of the users are men with women making the remaining 40 percent. 80 percent of the Uber users are educated to tertiary level. This demography shows that the target market for Uber customers consists of middle to upper class and educated young people aged between 25-34 years. (Schneider, 2017)

Current issues and challenges in Uber enterprise recently

Customer Perception on the Uber is mainly based on the price charged in a ride, the comfortability of the ride, the time taken to reach a given destination as well as the pick-up time. Uber boasts affordable fares as the fares have a fixed algorithm for charging in relation to time and distance thus protecting customers from exploitation. Uber pick up time is as well taken care of since the customer gets to choose the nearest cab and is notified of average waiting time. (Fernando, 2011)(Nabarelli & Plalper, 2017)

Uber mainly provides its services in Urban metropolitan cities. This is due to the high market concentration in urban areas. Their services are therefore limited to the urban bracket.

With venture to a new state, Uber's customers continue to grow since the business keeps expanding. However, as the business keeps running, it reaches a limit where the market saturates. This is probably a result of limited capacity in the number of drivers or cars in the given area as well as service users. Uber poses themselves as a distinct and efficient transport service company attracting more customers. In attempts to gain customer trust, Uber highlights positive as well as humorous stories about fun driving experiences directing focus away focus away from bad news to the interesting experiences that make Uber a unique brand to embrace.

Uber services require a politically stable environment to operate so as to ensure the safety of its customers and workers. Its operations as well require political approval so as to run within a given jurisdiction

Uber services are mainly digitalized. Performing services ranging from taxi services, peer to peer car hire, luxury car hire to deliveries, Uber is gaining a global dominance in the transport sector. Expanding its grid Uber runs services in over 800 metropolitan cities worldwide. It has created a worldwide network of trusted services and taken the top of the charts in the transport service. To get an Uber transportation cab, you log into the Uber website and request the closest cab. Fares are quoted before the ride. Fares vary according to the distance, project time, as well as the time of the day.

Gross revenue earned by the company is defined by how much services Uber drivers deliver, that is, the price charged per ride and the commission percentage that Uber charges its drivers. More revenue is collected from revenue from canceled rides, delays and app data from Uber websites. Uber's marketing plan is currents based on offering affordable services to the customer compared to other car service providers regarding customer and driver satisfaction. Uber has been strategically developing their name value as well as acquiring additional funds through international collaborations such as partnering with Toyota. (Bloomberg.com,2016) (Craig & Campbell, 2012)

Uber's core business is to provide a market for ride services supported by mobile phone application and a point to point software technology that connects passengers and drivers. Its services are based on a peer to peer car sharing service, luxury rides, motorcycle sharing, as well as deliveries. In other countries, Uber provides even water and air rides.

Uber macro environment

Uber mainly faces competition from personal taxi operators as well as another copycat digital taxi service operators

Over the recent past, Uber has received a public outcry on the chronicles behind Uber services. Accompanied by a series of strikes and protests the Uber company seems to be on the verge of crisis. While Uber rises to be a worldwide phenomenon, it has received negative backlash that has negatively affected its operations and brand as a whole. Questions have been asked about Uber's integrity causing even the loyal passengers to switch services. With customer reviews indicating complaints about ride experiences, accusations on overcharging, and the driver lacking to know where they were going. But like any business negative allegations do not lack. In this section we will consider the challenges facing the Uber as discussed below:

Even though Uber has enjoyed the benefits of non-competition, New similar operators such as Taxify are on the rise putting the Uber dominance down. Following the expansion of the digital taxi operations, Uber has been forced to up its game so as to keep its dominance at the top to avoid being overtaken by the upcoming companies. However, the earnings have dropped giving Uber losses resulting from a drop in the market. This rise in the level of competition of copy-cat companies has increased reasons why Uber should watch its relation with customers much better. (Hood & Vahlme, 1013) (Sisco, 2014) (Porter, 2008)

Uber has proven to be a threat to the individual taxi operators sharing the market. This is created by their cheap accessibility as well as digital network mobility allowing them to access customers easily. This has thus created a rivalry between Uber drivers and individual taxi operators. This rivalry has created wars and a string of rising in insecurity through cold blood murders of Uber drivers by individual taxi operators. Various protests have been made by the individual taxi operators against Uber services in various countries. In some countries such as Morocco Uber has been forced to withdraw its services due to insecurity reasons and protests by private taxi operators who are trying to protect their home market fields.

Some countries and states have banned Uber services. Linking its services to criminal activity and non-compliance to tax payment Uber services have been terminated in certain states. This has put Uber drivers operating in such areas at great risk with the law.

Uber has been termed a tax liability by various governments. With a number of legal proceedings ongoing to determine if Uber is a technology company or a taxi company. If Uber is dismissed of being a technology company, then its liable to pay taxes to the government which will either lead to termination of Uber operations in that particular city or increased fares which will affect its competitive nature putting it at risk of being overtaken by other taxi operators.

Airports, subways, and port authorities have begun cracking down on Uber drivers. The authorities have laid down charges for picking and dropping off passengers. This has increased the cost of rides for customers reducing the competitiveness of Uber in relation to other taxicab operators.

Market demography

The security of Uber drivers is at stake. Uber drivers follow an innocent signal of passenger call not knowing what awaits them on the other side. Uber drivers have found themselves on the hands of serial killers, rapists, thieves, and terrorists. An Uber driver has to take a client to his destination despite the risks that are associated with the area. Picking strangers up and taking them to unknown destinations can be quite dangerous and predisposing. (Acton , 2013)

With Uber making major strides of success, not everyone is pleased with their domination. Various companies and individual taxi operators are trying to make the company fall. A number of allegations have been publicly laid accusing Uber of underpayment and exploitation of workers. Bloggers have written negative statements about the company just so as it loses its competitiveness.

Uber drivers are constantly fighting back for what they consider exploitation by Uber. With Uber fares constantly decreasing, Uber's relationship with the drivers is becoming uneasy. With the rise in the economy, Uber drivers demand higher wages which they do not seem to get. With Uber drivers hired as contractors, rather than employees, they have formed organizations to help fight back for their rights alongside holding of numerous protests and lawsuits to fight for their rights.

With ongoing research on autonomous cars, Uber is on the verge of going broke. Uber aims at creating auto drive cabs so as to do away with the expense of having to pay drivers. If this plan becomes successful, then Uber could have made a great stride in becoming the greatest digital taxi service provider as a monopoly. This research is, however, taking up most of Uber's capital. The problem is whether Uber will survive the crisis to see the results of the project.

Uber faces several challenges in attaining global dominance which is its main aim, to become the transportation player all over the world. The Uber has however seen major setbacks in its ambition. Even in areas where Uber is legally recognized, the war with home operators continues to grow. Legal legislation has locked Uber out of service in several countries such as Morocco, France, Taiwan, etc. (Montague, 2018) (Lashinsky, 2017)

Considering the Uber's current status, a proper market plan needs to be designed to keep the company above the competitive level of its rivals. For Uber to attain its goal of global transport dominance, a series of implementations have to be done on its marketing strategies. “Environmental issues have implications for the organization’s direction and strategy.” (Elearn, 2009)

This is based on the experience Uber gives its customers. Uber should aim at making their prices affordable and making their services more available to all customers as compared to other taxicab companies. The quality of Uber experience will cut out competitors and keep Uber on the top of other companies. (Padueen, 2017)

Uber should provide a platform for customers to provide feedback on the services provided as well as give suggestions on improvements to be made so as to better their services. This will aim at positioning Uber as the overall best choice of the customer. (Crouch, 2008)

Customer perception of Uber services

“New web Technologies have made it easy for anyone to create and most importantly distribute their own content. A blog post, or tweet, or Youtube video can be produced and viewed by millions of people virtually for free.” (Zerrella, 2009, p. 3) Uber should generate adverts to entice people into the industry as well as to promote the company. This can be achieved by television, magazine, billboard and radio advertisement as well as digital adds on mobile platforms. (Evans, 2012) Through outlets such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, the company will be able to lay catchy eye photography that will link the viewers straight to the app. Uber should as well have to promote their app on platforms such as google play and the apple store. Invite a friend policy should also be embraced with offers such as commission on rides with each successful referral. This will entice new customers into the company. (Gillin, 2008) (Heinze, et al., 2016) (Krey & Rossi, 2017) (Parker, et al., 2016)

Uber should aim at providing first-class services. This is by using cars that are in roadworthy conditions and providing the most appropriate travel conditions as per to the customer preference. The user application should be modified to retain the user history for future reference. The company should also monitor driver hiring process to ensure that all drivers are qualified and have all relevant documents and qualification with reference to the terms of service.

Updates should be made on the Uber app to enable the customer to see the price before making a transaction. Surge prices imposed on the customer should as well be done away with so as to help maintain the level of customer satisfaction by maintaining a consistent rate of fare rate based on the location. This will keep customers coming back.

The company should focus on maintaining the legal legislation required in each field of operation. This is so as to avoid unnecessary fines by running illegal operations. The company should ensure they follow the appropriate procedures to venture into new states. This will also avoid the risk of having to keep their workers at risk with the authorities.

Increasing Uber drivers will decrease the waiting time thus meeting more customer needs. Uber should as well expand its ventures to new countries, states, and cities. This strategy will enable reaching of more customers and increase the efficiency the efficiency of the entire Uber system.

Uber should put up offices in areas of operation to provide physical customer care service to the drivers as well as customers in the region. This will help boost customer confidence in the company. It will as well make work easier in the hiring of new drivers and solving of customer complaints at the primary level.

Uber should be able to monitor the flow of the enterprise. Fitting cars with CCTV and GPS tracking devices, and a standby security team to respond to quickly to calls of distress by drivers. This will ensure the safety of customers and drivers thus promoting the competitiveness of the company.

Ecological and physical environment

Drivers should be given consideration in terms of commissions allocated. The driver representatives should seat with the management and decide on an appropriate rate that is acceptable by both the drivers and the company. This will reduce the time wasted during protests and labor strikes.

Conclusion

This paper was aimed at exploring the overall structure of the Uber company and relating it to the successes and challenges in its ventures. Focusing on the environments of the business we are able to come up with a perfect design of a business plan to tackle the challenges in the company and drive it to the future as the dominant digital taxi service provider.

 Uber has proven to be a highly successful company although lately, it requires an image adjustment of its public perception. The solution is, however, to highlight on the strengths of Uber so as to salvage its diminishing image. Having major car sharing competitors, Uber needs to step up the ladder of marketing and prove that all is still on track to its potential and loyal customers. They have to lay down proper strategies to protect their drivers and customers by providing the best services.

By embracing a good marketing structure, the company is set to continue to grow and achieve greater standards. Uber should ensure that more people are aware of the brand each day and should do their best to maintain the brand name. Uber is set to ensure the best ride for everyone in the vision of becoming the most dominant digital taxi service provider in the future. (Fraisher & Bensoussan, 2015)

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