Uber India: A Saga of Innovation

Uber India: A Saga of Innovation

Teaching Notes

Case Synopsis

Uber was founded in 2009 as UberCab by Garrett Camp, the cofounder of StumbleUpon, and Travis Kalanick. On Saturday, 20th May 2017, 156 trips started simultaneously at 7:29:06 am GMT, putting Uber over the five billion mark (source: https://newsroom.uber.com/5billion/).

Uber launched its operations in India on August 30, 2013. Since then, it has expanded to 29 cities within less than 4 years incorporating around 2.4 lakh drivers. It continues to expand all over India with the help of continuous innovation in technology and operations. For the cause, the company has also established a dedicated R&D team in India to look after its Indian operations.

In last few years, Uber has indulged itself into brash, aggressive business practices and has quickly grown into a transportation giant but seems incapable of stopping itself from careening into controversy. The implementation of various expansion strategies and new services on board the company is already a giant in transportation industry which will grow more in the coming years but the story has been only one sided attributing to innovation and disruption. Innovation is not the problem. But it needs to be tempered with feedback and research from the woman/man on the road and behind the steering wheel, and not the data analytics center or the corporate boardroom.

In this case, we will talk about the financial growth, expansion strategies, dynamic pricing model and the competitive scenario which Uber deals with and will emphasize on what went wrong with Uber.

Target Group:

Postgraduate students, MBA students & PhD students.

Learning objectives and key issues:

• Continuous innovation to stay ahead of the competitors
• Expansion Strategy
• Market Penetration Strategy
• Pricing Strategy
• Managing Local Markets which are price sensitive, demanding, less or no brand loyalty
• Innovation in the Business model
• Customer Relationship Management
• Building an organization capable of good strategy execution
• Acquiring, developing, and strengthening key resources and capabilities
• Strategy execution capabilities and competitive advantage
• Instituting policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution
• Deliver more value to customers
• React more quickly to market changes, beat competitors to market with new products and services, and gain uncontested market dominance

Questions for discussion:

1. Is it time to change the existing Business Model of Uber India?
2. What was the strategy adopted by Uber India and how was it executed?
3. What is the effect of new completion (OLA, MERU, local taxi, auto) on Uber India?
4. What are the regulatory implications on Uber India? How should Uber approach regulatory barriers in new markets?
5. What should Uber India do to understand and approach the local markets better than local players?
6. What should be next for Uber India? Should they continue to expand internationally?
7. How can the company continue to innovate after such massive disruption to the taxi industry? Should Uber India move into the logistics and “experience” space?
8. What are the impacts of Uber’s pricing strategy on its customers?
9. "I drive for Uber as well as Ola !". How to increase brand loyalty in Indian drivers?
10. How can Uber India enhance the customer experiences?

Multimedia:

1. Get a Fare Estimate in Your City | Uber - https://www.uber.com/en-IN/fare-estimate/

2. Uber India – YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdILECIQ6G8Tkftq1fiXPw

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