Uber

Project for Organizational Design and Change | Term 3

Section D | Group - 8
Rohit Khanna 18P217 Shivali Khungar 18P226
Sahil Katta 18P220 Smriti Iyer 18P229
Jainam Shah 18P223 Tanmay Jain 18P232
 About Uber

Facts Products

Uber Uber for Business

Founded:- March 2010
Founders:- Travis Kalanick
Garrett Camp
Headquarters:- San Francisco, California Uber eats Uber health
No. of employees:- More than 16000 worldwide
Revenue:- $ 11.3 billion (In 2018)
Net Income:- $ -1.8 billion (In 2018)
Uber Freight

Timeline
UberFreights
UberCab domain was Pilot in New York Plaunch of uber Pool launched
bought2

2008 2009 2010 2011 2014 2015 2016 2017 201 2018

Kalnick joined International Launch Ubereats Launch 5 Billion trips

 Stakeholders

1 Driver Partners 2 Regulatory Agencies 3 Client/Passangers

• A good and competitive pay • Attacks on/by Uber drivers • Ontime availability
• Flexibility • Adherence to local regulations • Safety
• Job Safety • Concerns of Taxi associations • Cost
• Benefits from Partnering with • Easy to use App
Uber

4 Directors/Company Executives 5 Competitors 6 Traditional taxi operators

• Adherence to organization • Profitability • Monopoly

mission and vision • No price war • Price pressure
• Satisfaction of all stakeholders • Fare competition • Loss of market share
• Defending company from • Survival
lawsuits
 Growth

Growth in Revenue Growth in No. of Cities

Organizational Structure
 Strategy Technology Enviornment

• It follows a strategy based on low • Uber being an Internet-based Task Environment:

cost through innovation ride-hailing aggregator, • Competitor: Lyft (in USA),
technology plays an important Ola (in India)
• Tries to provide customer • Cab drivers
role in its operations
convenience through this strategy • Customers
• It uses Geolocation for matching General Environment
• Possible due to Uber app that • Economic forces:
cab drivers with customers
integrates capabilities with Unemployment rate, state
innovation • It uses data to monitor supply of economy
and demand of cabs and • Technological forces:
• Has leveraged its strategy through
calculate surge pricing based on Internet connectivity
first mover advantage and by • Political forces:
this data
launching LITE version for poor Government policy
internet connectivity countries • The amount of data it gathers towards the organization
help it to understand the pulse • Demographic & social
• Combined low cost strategy with forces: lifestyle and norms
of the city and gain insights and
market development to launch of the people
improve services or launch new
services in new markets and
services
increase customer base
 Major Controversies
Cease and desist letter from the San Francisco Metro Transit Authority in 2010
In October, a mere year after its official founding, Ubercabs received its first cease and desist letter from the San Francisco
Metro Transit Authority and the Public Utilities Commission of California, claiming it was operating an unlicensed taxi
service.
This was followed by a company name change to the simpler ‘Uber’, and the company remained operational despite the
C&D.
While the PUC fined Uber US$20,000 and issued another C&D in 2012, an interim agreement was reached in 2013 to
reverse the actions.

Price surge complaint 2012

In 2012 Uber was hit with its first wave of price surge complaints, the first following New Years Eve when prices were
raised to between three and six times the normal rate, the second in November when the firm was accused of doubling its
prices during Hurricane Sandy which put most of New York City’s public transport out of action

Lawsuit by drivers 2013

The first class action lawsuit against Uber by 350,000 of its current and former drivers in California and Massachusetts was
filed in August, with drivers claiming that the company should treat them as employees rather than independent
contractors, which would mandate Uber pay them minimum wage and provide benefits such as health insurance.
The case was settled out of court in 2016 for US$100mln, however this was not approved as the sum was judged to not be
“fair, adequate, and reasonable”.
The California Labour Commission ruled that Uber drivers are employees, rather than contractors, although this was not a
direct effect of the case brought in 2013 by drivers in the state.
 Major Controversies
Misogynist comment by Kalanick in 2014
Then Uber chief executive and co-founder Travis Kalanick attracted criticism when he referred to the company as “Boob-
er” in an interview with GQ magazine about the apps rising popularity with women.
Following the incident, Uber’s offices in Lyon, France, also came under fire for a promotion with an app that promised to
match riders with attractive female drivers.

Unfair trade practices

it was reported that top uber staff in New York City were creating accounts with rival taxi app Gett to call and cancel rides
and poach the frustrated drivers for its own company. The tactic was exposed again in August when it was revealed to
have been used against Lyft, another of Uber’s rivals.

Susan Fowler controversy in 2017

Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a blog post in which she accused Uber of fostering a misogynistic corporate
culture, leading to an independent assessment of the company by the then US attorney general Eric Holder.
The report, published in June, was damning with its recommendations including a limit on Kalanick’s responsibilities at the
company as well as the creation of an independent chairman and oversight committee. The report led to the firing of
more than 20 employees from the company.

All these controversies led to high profile resignations, beginning with senior executive Amit Singhal, followed by Eric
Alexander, the head of Uber’s Asia business.
Michael left the company shortly after, followed by Kalanick who resigned as the head of Uber following pressure from
five of its largest investors, including venture capital firms Benchmark, First Round Capital, Menlo Ventures, and Lowercase
Capital, and the mutual fund Fidelity Investments..
 Uber way of training the employees
Uberversity
• Uber does corporate education formal training
program. Between October and December 2017, more
• To socialize employees, every month, Uber flies
than 6,000 out of Uber’s 15,000 employees signed up
every new corporate employee (not drivers) from
to take the classes in leadership and strategy, taught by
around the world to San Francisco for a three-day
Harvard professors.
training session at "Uberversity".
• The first pilot of the program included eight classes on
• The sessions help new staff to learn about the
leadership and strategy. One class, called “Build and
company, while Uber CEO answers questions.
Rebuild Trust” focused on an airline from the 1980s
• Uber employees also get to enjoy the city's vibrant
that needed to re -establish itself as a trusted brand (an
nightlife. Some Uber staff get to travel in limos.
obvious parallel to Uber after its crisis year). Another
• Free Ubeer
class focused on leadership lessons from ancient
• They get to sample San Francisco's best bars. Uber
Rome.
staff get to head out and drink beer once the day's
• To make sure employees from around the globe could
work is done.
be a part of it, each four-hour class was repeated three
• Uber staff are taught problem-solving skills through
times, including an overnight time slot at 2 am, to
things like giant Jenga.
make sure all of Uber’s employees could participate at
• Uber CEO does a question and answer session
a time that was convenient to them.
every month with new hires.
• The staff get a sweet Uberversity T-shirt before
they leave.
 Way ahead

• Uber is trying to rebuild its reputation after a tumultuous year in which allegations of discrimination
and questionable business practices led to the firing of about 20 employees and the ouster of co-
founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive officer.
• Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over for Kalanick in September, has said he’s remaking Uber to be a
more ethical company.
• Since then, they are continually improving as a company and have proactively made a lot of changes in
the last few years.
• In order to improve its culture, the company is implementing a new salary and equity structure,
overhauling its performance review process. He has also rolled out diversity and leadership trainings to
much of its 18,000 employees globally.
• Now, the new customer focused culture is turning out to be beneficial for them as they are now
becoming more customer obsessed, working tirelessly to earn their customer’s trust; appreciating their
differences and valuing ideas of each employee irrespective of his position, creating more avenues for
an open culture.
 References

[1] Bhuiyan, J. (2018, February 05). Drivers don't trust Uber. This is how it's trying to win them back. Retrieved from
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/5/16777536/uber-travis-kalanick-recruit-drivers-tipping
[2] Hawkins, A. J. (2018, April 12). Uber drivers are freelancers, not employees, judge rules. Retrieved from
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/17231060/uber-drivers-freelancers-employees-judge-ruling
[3] Learning From Uber's Mistakes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/learning-ubers-mistakes
[4] Hempel, J. (2018, April 24). Can This Man Help Uber Recover From the Travis Kalanick Era? Retrieved from
https://www.wired.com/story/uber-move-slow-test-things/
[5] Page, V. (2015, July 23). 4 Challenges Uber Will Face In The Next Years. Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/072215/4-challenges-uber-will-face-next-years.asp
[6] What problems does Uber currently face? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theneweconomy.com/insight/uber-problems
[7] Uber Revenue and Usage Statistics (2018). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber-statistics/
[8] Commentary: Uber Is Finally Growing Up. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/08/22/uber-ceo-new-york-
london/
[9] Uber CEO Talks About What's Changed For The Company In The Last Year. (2018, August 30). Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/30/643445874/uber-ceo-talks-about-whats-changed-for-the-company-in-the-last-year
[10] Kolhatkar, S., & Kolhatkar, S. (2018, May 31). At Uber, a New C.E.O. Shifts Gears. Retrieved from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/at-uber-a-new-ceo-shifts-gears
 Thank you

Section D | Group - 8
Rohit Khanna 18P217 Shivali Khungar 18P226
Sahil Katta 18P220 Smriti Iyer 18P229
Jainam Shah 18P223 Tanmay Jain 18P232