Uber Strategy in Greater China

1. Introduction of Uber

Uber is a transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Since it’s humble establishment in June 2009 as “UberCab”, this O2O (Online to Offline ) service company has rapidly grown into a multinational cooperation with-in six short years and now with service networks covering 58 countries and 300 cities worldwide. The forecast revenue of Uber in 2015 is around $10 billion and the company is now with an estimated price-tag of $50 billion.

Stripped down, the idea of Uber is simple; to provide a better cab service to the public by connecting the drivers and the customers.  However, what is does is far from normal as its innovative business model has shaken the foundation of the commercial vehicle industries and also broken the boundaries between private cars and licensed taxies. And similar to its CEO Travis Kalanick, the life of Uber is full of challenges. Many taxi companies or even governments have protested against Uber alleging that its use of unlicensed, crowd-sourced drivers was unsafe and illegal… And Uber’s answer..? Move fast and Break Things and to evolve with your enemy.

Key Personnel:

Travis Kalanick – CEO and co-founder

Garrett Camp – Co-founder

Ryan Graves – Head of Global Operations and ex-CEO

Thuan Pham – Chief Technology Officer

Salle Yoo – General Counsel

Key Milestones:

• March 2009: Uber founded as UberCab.
• July 2010: Uber goes live for the first time – San Francisco
• February 2011: Uber raises $11million in its first capital raising
• May 2011: Uber goes live in New York City, its first move for geographic expansion
• December 2011: Announces UberX (service using hybrid vehicles), its first product expansion
• December 2011: First phase of international expansion – Paris launch
• August 2012: Lyft, Uber’s first competitor/imitator, launches in San Fransisco
• April 2014: Uber makes its first strategic shift into logistics; Uber Rush (a courier service)
• July 2014: Official launch in China, with Beijing being the first market.
• February 2015: Uber opens a robotics research facility to develop self-driving cars
• June 2015: California Labor Commission deems Uber drivers as employees

Executive Summary

This report will explore the current positioning of Uber in an industry starved of change and innovation for decades, assessing the attractiveness of the opportunity that sits before Uber against potential issues. We will dig deeper into the current capabilities of the company and its business model with a particular focus on its Greater China market, before weighing these offerings up against the competitive environment and prominent regulatory forces. Here we will explain how Uber creates, delivers and captures value. Finally, we will explore a range of possible future strategies and deliver our proposed strategic solution to see Uber neutralise strong external forces and set it on a path of continued disruptive greatness.