Introduction
Having considered Uber’s history, it is possible to conclude that the company became successful worldwide due to the following reasons (O’Toole and Matherne 561):
- The company’s appearance coincided with one of the biggest problems in San Francisco in 2010: sometimes it was very difficult to call a taxi, and Uber suggested an adequate alternative – a mobile app that is easy to use and accessible to every smartphone owner;
- From the start, Uber was not going to be a cab-owning company. It has always been serving as an intermediary between drivers and their customers.
- At the beginning of its history, Uber was not afraid to sell its services at higher costs than San Francisco’s local taxi companies. Its main goal was convenience.
Way to Success
However, Uber had obstacles on its way to success. The founders of the company had to overcome the following difficulties before they became a worldwide service:
- Doubts about Uber’s future in the investing community;
- People publicly questioning the service’s safety;
- Conflicts between drivers and passengers;
- Criticisms concerning personal information security;
- Conflicts with the government;
- Lawsuits initiated by drivers against Uber.
Despite the fact that Uber had difficulties from time to time, those were the company’s growing pains. While functioning in the world market, the company had shown its readiness for development and expansion. According to O’Toole and Matherne, since 2013 the company realized its potential not only as a taxi service but also as a delivery company (562). It is possible to conclude that Uber’s services will become increasingly diverse in the future. The company has the potential to grow both intensively and extensively.
Work Cited
Ketchen, Dave, and Jeremy Short. Mastering Strategic Management. Flat World Knowledge, 2011.
Lafley, Alan George, and Roger Martin. Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works. Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
O’Toole, Jay, and Brett Matherne. “Uber: Aggressive Management for Growth.” The CASE Journal, vol. 13, no. 4, 2017, pp. 561-573.