Table of Contents
Introduction
Uber is one of the biggest high-tech transport companies today. It was founded in 2009, and it connects its users via an app. By 2014, Uber was one of the highest valued ventured supported businesses. To date, Uber is in well over 200 cities and over 50 countries. The value of Uber today is about 40 billion in dollars and is expected to bring about $10 billion in annual revenue. There are several reasons as to why several of Uber users love it, and it’s mostly due to its convenience and low price. Uber as growing multibillion-dollar business has to do some changes to foresee even better growth. Therefore the analysis below evaluates Ubers strength and weaknesses.
Strengths
Uber is perhaps one of the most established brands in transport business; this is due to the app that connects it with its users. Its other strength is that it has very high standard of service. Apparently, customers do like great customer service. Uber also has a large fleet of vehicles, and there is no time anyone can ever lack one if you need it (Tonin,2015). This availability appeals to its customer base. Its other strength is that it has quite a low cost; it also relies mostly on customer and driver communication. The other strength is in its lack of proper competition, as it’s only other competitor is Lyft. Uber also has a dual rating system that most of the time boosts trust levels between it and the customers. It also has a cashless payment system as well as a system where one can only choose a rated driver; it also has a system that allows one to record driving speed and so many others. And last is the fact that it has such a high value now so many people are willing to invest in Uber.
Weaknesses
The idea of Uber is one that can easily be copied by other people to come up with a similar company. Its other major weakness is the relationship that goes between the Uber Company and its drivers. This relationship has raised lots of ethical questions (Pathak et al.,2016). The other problem that is Uber is the fact that the cost of operating the vehicles is very high and yet the pay that the drivers receive is meager. It also has a business model that has proven very hard to predict altogether. It also has privacy issues in those it records all the time where the customers get the vehicle and ultimately goes with.
Opportunities
The Uber Company is using cheap electric motors that have helped them reduce the costs that they use in their operation. This has enabled their drivers to have increased profit margins that encourage them to have moral in their work. The Uber is also offering additional services such as transporting children to school. This has worked positively for them by enabling them to acquire more customers. The user has the capacity of increasing their valuation. More investors may, therefore, be appealed and if this happens, the profits that the company welcomes will automatically increase (Pathak et al. 2016). Uber is also able to get many more customers if they exploit new markets like in China where the use of the taxi is inconvenience and expensive. The big markets that lie in these new markets will enable the company to increase their profits, and the companies will defiantly grow larger. If the company increases the number of drivers, the estimated time of arrival of their services will reduce, and this will make their services more liked because of their convenience in doing urgent transportation. Their income will also rise, and the company will establish heavily.
Threats
Despite the opportunities that the company has, there are also some threats that the company is facing due to the limitations that they have on the ground so far. Many people are purchasing personal cars for their transportation. Increase in the number of self-driven cars among the potential Uber customers will eliminate the need for using Uber taxis (Tonin, 2015). The many problems that the Uber Company is getting involved in with the local authority may, in the long run, lead to increase in the negative comments that the people are making about their services. This may make their customer to de-prefer using their cars for their transportation (Zavadskas et al.,2011). Arising of many other companies that are offering transportation services may increase competition. This can result in the company reducing the prices for their services. The profit margins will also go down making the drivers pull out and also discourage the others who may have been willing to join the group. Being that the market is still new and many drivers are joining, there can be a rise of scandals’ and frauds that may work towards damaging the brand. The low-profit margins that the company is offering their drivers are making them unhappy and uncomfortable with continuing to invest in this business.
With a thousand dollars, I would bet on Ubers continued success in the coming years. Uber has weathered the storm and ultimately conquered other markets that were initially unheard of hence giving it an edge. With the strengths and the continued customer preference, Uber is likely to expand even further to other markets including Africa and Latin America. With all these factors on its side, it should even grow bigger and stronger over the coming years.
- Zavadskas, E. K., Turskis, Z., & Tamosaitiene, J. (2011). Selection of construction enterprises management strategy based on the SWOT and multi-criteria analysis. Archives of civil and mechanical engineering, 11(4), 1063-1082.
- Pathak, S., Swami, S., & Nigam, S. (2016). Make in India campaign’for manufacturing sector: A strategic analysis. IJAR, 2(5), 481-486.
- Tonin, G. (2015). Uber: Disruptive innovation and regulation challenges (Bachelor’s thesis, Università Ca’Foscari Venezia).