Project Report on Uber Cabs

Question: Write about theProject Report on Uber Cabs. Answer: Description of the Company Uber Technologies Inc. is a private held transportation company based and headquartered at San Francisco, California in United States. The company operates around the world in more than five hundred countries. It was founded in 2009 with the view of serving the consumers through mobile application or the companys website. The company has generated a large number of employment opportunities around the world for huge number people because it allows drivers to make use of their own personal cars and are also allowed to rent a car to join Uber. The business nature of the company is that it belongs to the services industry. Services are those which give an experience to the person availing it. The name of the company i.e. Uber is a german word which means something super or above. In the year 2011, the name of the company from Ubercabs changed to Uber (techcrunch.com, 2014). In the year 2014, the company also initiated with the new business idea of making the deliveries of food items whic h is named as UberEATS (UberEATS, 2016). PESTLE Analysis The PESTLE analysis of the any company is done in order to analyse the external environment of the company. The PESTLE stands for the political, economic, social, technological, legal and ecological factors that affect the working of the company. It is mandatory for the marketing department of the companies to carry the same in order get through the current environment and make future anticipations that the company might face (Bowhill, 2008). The political factors include the regulations that the government of each country formulates in order to reduce the carbon emissions from the cars which is the concern of the government to sustain the environment. The political factor imposes the regulations to the company in favour of the welfare of people. The economic factors are related to the buying power of the consumer (Kaplan Norton, 2008). The increase in the fuel prices will also affect the growth of the company. The trends of the economy will also lead to volatility of the market as these factors are the market driving forces. The social factor refers to the change in the lifestyle and the standard of living of people. In addition to this, there is an upward shift in the population from the rural to urban areas. The rapid increase in the se of smartphones has led to the growth of such mobile app based companies. Apart from this, speed is also a big factor which formulates the needs of the customers as they are willing to get what they want in just one click. The enhancement of the corporate sectors has led to the rise in the demand of such kind of private transportation (Cadle, Paul Turner, 2010). The technological factors are concerned with the technological advancements that are basically the innovations made by the company (Watt, 2013). The company needs to constantly improve in the fields of technology as the base of the company is technology. The mobile application development and the usage of hybrid cars so that it does not or very less harm are done to the environment. The company has to also interact with the manufacturers of the automobile companies so that they make those vehicles which are highly sustainable. These factors will have a major impact on the business growth of the company. The legal factors have a direct relation with the rules, policies and regulations set by the government of a particular country. Government plays a crucial role in allowing such companies to operate as they are a very big threat to the public transport operating in their country (Waager, 2012). In addition to this, the German government has banned Uber for violating the laws of the country which included the inappropriate licenses with their drivers. The improper usage of the mobile application services by directly contacting the drivers without using the application provided by the company (BBC, 2015). The ecological factors are related to the increase in the demand of the services when there are bad climate conditions therefore; the prices are increased with the increase in demand. Apart from this, concern for the environment has increased the demand of the fuel efficient and electrical cars. Porters Five Forces Competitive Analysis The porters five forces analysis refers to the framework that analyses the nature and the intensity of the competition that is prevailing in the industry. It also determines that how much an industry is attractive (Walder, 2013). The pictorial representation shows the five forces that are shown in the picture given below: (Source: The International Council, 2010). The very first force is bargaining power of the suppliers is concerned with the involvement of the number of suppliers in a business (Huggins Izushi, 2011). The change from one supplier to another involves a cost of the company. The suppliers of the company are the car manufacturers also the oil and gas companies which enable a car to run on the road. The supplier power of the company with respect to the drivers is good enough as they never employ drivers but they can register themselves and can begin their self-employment. The second force is the bargaining power of the buyers which refers to the power of the buyer which is related to the swap from your company to that of another. The buyer power of the company is high as they have the advantage of providing services in one click to its customers (Porter, 2008). The competitive rivalry among the existing competitors where the number of competitors in the industry is more, than the rivalry is said to be high because there are firms which similar products which seems to be equally attractive to the customers (Rothaermel, 2015). At present there are players like Gett and Hailo. The threat of substitutes refers to the number of alternative options that are available with the customers. The substitutes that are available for the company are the other modes of transportation that are buses, trains, other cab services or the personal vehicles of an individual. The threat of the new entrants is related to the capabilities of the other people coming into the same industry. In order to prevent the new entries there has to be factors like product differentiation, distribution channel capital and economies of scale. All these factors will prevent the new entrants to enter the market and if these dont make up as strong entry barriers therefore; it will e ncourage more and more players to enter that market. In relation to this, the start-up entry cost is very low and it needs only a mobile application to start a business (Hone, 2007). Recommendations The company should take into account the regulations made by the governments of different countries. It is important for the company to understand and abide by them because of the violation of the laws the company got banned in Germany. These kinds of incidents affect the image and goodwill of the company. In addition to this, the policy framework of each country is different hence. In order to operate in the country the company is provided to strictly adhere to the laws of each country. The company should improve their hiring process for hiring the right kind of drivers so that the company generates real revenues. The improvement in the hiring process will lead to the strong team of people working for the company. Another recommendation is in relation to their customers. The company should provide loyalty cards to its customers as this will be a retention tactic in order to sustain more and more customers. These loyalty cards will help the company to use them for further forecasts and also a huge database will be present with the company. The benefit given to the current customers will bring in more customers through positive word of mouth as it is considered to be the best and effective method of promotion. The company should also develop a portal in addition to their websites on which the customers will be able to update their feedbacks or grievances. Such kind of grievances portal will help the company to resolve the problems of each customer. This system will built the brand image of the company even more. Apart from this, it will help the company to monitor the problems of their customers as it will give a sense of belongingness to its customers. This kind of strategy will act as a competitive strategy for the company and therefore; the company will gain a competitive advantage to that of its competitors. The company should go for strategic alliances with the big and medium sized corporate houses as they can become a mediator in giving the company more number of clients. This will increase the revenue as well as the database of the customers of the company. This will benefit both the companies as the corporate houses will get customers for Uber and in return it will benefit the corporate houses as well. All these recommendations will help the company to be successful in the future. In addition to this, all these will give a great competitive advantage to the company relative to its competitors. All these recommendations will help the company to sustain in the long-run and achieve the overall objectives of the company. Conclusion On the basis of the above report it can be concluded that the company is currently working in the large number of countries as a services company which provides transport to the customers. The company operates in highly competitive environment where it is surrounded by number of direct and indirect competitors. The direct competitors of the company are other cab service companies operating in different countries and are well established. The indirect competitors are those are not absolute substitutes to the company but are considered as strong players that are the trains, buses and other public and private transports. In the current report, the external and the porters five factors are studied. It has been drawn out that the company should also regularly analyse its internal environment which will enable the company to evaluate and carry out necessary measures in case of loop holes. The company has to be very keen as it exists in the industry which is directly related to technology. In respect to this, the whole process is dependent on the mobile application and also the technologically updated and sustainable cars will take their business forward. Therefore; the study of the above discussed factors will help the companys sustainability and future success. References bbc.com. (2015). Uber banned in Germany as police swoop in other countries. Viewed 26 February 2017 from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31942997. Bowhill, B. (2008). Business Planning and Control: Integrating Accounting, Strategy, and People. John Wiley Sons Ltd. West Sussex, England. Cadle, J., Paul, D., Turner, P. (2010). Business analysis techniques: 72 essential tools for success. BCS, The Chartered Institute. Hone, J. (2007). Analysis of vertebrate pest control. Cambridge University Press. Huggins, R., Izushi, H. (2011). Competition, competitive advantage, and clusters: the ideas of Michael Porter. Oxford University Press. Kaplan, R. S., Norton, D. P. (2008). The execution premium. Barcelona: Deusto. Porter, M. E. (2008). On competition. Harvard Business Press. Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. techcrunch.com. (2014). A Brief History of Uber. Viewed 26 February 2017 from https://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-brief-history-of-uber/slide/20/. The International Council. (2010). Innovation and Michael Porter's Five-Forces Model. International Council on Sustainable Development. Viewed 26 February 2017 from https://theinternationalcouncil.blogspot.in/2005/08/michael-porter-five-forces-model.html. UberEATS. (2016). Its Uber. Viewed 26 February 2017 from https://www.ubereats.com/dubai/. Waage, J. (2012). Biological control: measures of success. G. Gurr, S. Wratten (Eds.). Springer Science Business Media. Walder, J. (2013). A critical evaluation of Michael Porters five forces framework. GRIN Verlag. Watt, K. E. (Ed.). (2013). Systems analysis in ecology. Elsevier.