Uber

Strength:

• Uber started its business based on the increasing demand of transportation, especially for the private use. It brilliantly connected the target market with the spare transportation (taxi is the first step, now the business has already been expanded to helicopters and ferries). Uber defined itself as a “ride-sharing” company and put it into an extremely good use since it cuts down the cost of customers. What’s more, it increases the tripartite efficiencies, that is to say the customers don’t need to wait and pay the premium fee for picking them up, the drivers would saving time to serve the nearby customers and Uber, could get profit!

• In addition, as a disruptive innovator, Uber has already occupied the most of the market since it has already launches in 70+ cities around more than 100 countries.

Weakness:

• Uber itself has no transportation tools and as a technology company, the only product the company obtains now is the app. One of the biggest weaknesses faced by this kind of company is the operation protection. The business model is easy to be imitated and the industry might be highly competitive in the future.

• The features of the industry make customers at a low loyalty level. The switching cost for the customers are relatively low and they would likely prefer the one with price advantage.

 

Opportunities:

• Higher reputation in the market gives Uber competitive merits and except for a few regions, Uber still obtains the first-mover advantages—it possesses higher brand awareness.

 

Threats:

• Uber has different competitors among different regions. Take Chinese market as an example, Uber is the first mover in the market, but Didi Dache, as a second mover, has taken most of Uber’s share in the industry (Ellen Huet, 2015). Didi Dache provides the customers more voucher and discount code when it launching into the market and this promotion method has brought the company good reputations and higher recognition degree within the market.

• Legal problem has always been regarded as an obstacle of the company’s development. Because the operation method the company applies is actually in the grey zone, and its existence has highly threatened the traditional taxi market and pushes the government into a dilemma on regulation.