Introduction
Globalization denotes the reduction of barriers or boundaries that exist between people.
Globalization has seen the world change to a village where communication which is the sharing of
meaning has been made easy.
Various apps have been introduced to enhance this globalization, One such app is under which is a transit app that links a customer to a driver within a given location. The app uses GPRS and mobile communication to understand the location of the customer for easy movement. The growth and development of uber has seen transport made easy with people getting picked and reaching their destinations without having to travel to a central location to access public means of transit. It has also improved convenience and above all led to economic growth and development of the countries like the UK where it started (Chang 1).
Analysis of Uber Business
Uber is present in many parts of the world reaching to over 600 cities that are spread in 65
nations. Uber delivers over 75 million passengers that are served by over 3 million drivers. 750
thousand of the drivers are based in the United States. Uber is valued at $72 billion. Uber is a
result of this rise in digital technology and mobile applications. Currently, Uber is among the most
popular Smartphone applications across the globe. The application was launched in San Francisco in
2009 and it has been expanded to other parts of the world (Chang 2). Although the taxi industry, in
most cities, is highly regulated and it applies traditional technologies that date back to the
1920s, Uber uses modern Internet-based mobile technology to link passengers to drivers (Rodgers 87).
As an alternative to the taxi-cab hailing services, Uber is currently competing with the traditional
taxi-cab hailing services in most parts of the world. UberEats, UberHealth, JumpBike, and
UberFreight are some of the Uber services available in the United States. Due to challenges
regarding transportation in most major cities around the globe, Uber aims at offering efficient
transportation options to users.
Cultural Variations
Globalization of culture has made it impossible for Uber to penetrate the global market with ease.
The key impact of media and globalization have led to growth in various digital technologies and
mobile applications such as Uber (Rogers 86). Due to American’s strong cultural forms, it has
enabled Uber to penetrate the market, though, with a lot of difficulties. Uber faces multiple
challenges as they penetrate new cultural forms different from theirs. For instance, in London, the
company has been accused of bypassing local licensing and safety laws, resulting in unfair
competition in the taxi industry (Rogers 87). All these occurs due to the perceived differences in
traditions of culture and traditional believes on negative globalization changes. The above reasons
have led to protests against Uber services in different cultures and its ban in countries such as
Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, and Australia.
Presently, the firm faces a potential ban in London and Turkey as citizens accuse it of perpetuating unfair practices in the taxi industry. The above issues indicate that Uber is a disruptive technology that not only threatens the competitors, but also brings changes to the existing doctrines and traditions in various societies (Rogers 87). Uber, as a new transportation technology, is likely to override traditional taxi transportation services in different nations and cities.
The introduction of Uber taxi-hailing services has significantly disrupted the traditional transportation market, thus affecting the business performance of other taxi drivers. For example, Uber led to approximately a 12 percent reduction on the regular taxi drivers’ service revenue within the first year of its introduction in Taiwan (Chang 1). The same effect has also been experienced in other parts of the world. Chang further maintains that Uber-X recorded a 30 percent capacity utilization rate above that of the traditional taxi drivers in five major American cities (2). The use of ride-hailing apps has increased tremendously over the past five years from about eight percent to 71 percent, creating many employment opportunities.
Conversely, the use of rental cars and traditional taxis has experienced a steep decline during the period. In this regard, it is apparent that the introduction of Uber has adversely affected the entire taxi industry. In the same way, Cramer and Krueger claim that Uber and other Internet-based mobile technologies have resulted in unprecedented competitions in the taxi sector (178). In this regard, Uber has been blamed for unfair competition against other taxi drivers, since its drivers do not follow the outlined regulations and fare schedules in the industry.
Didi Chuxing is a ride sharing service founded in China by Cheng Wei. The internet-based car-hailing service has operations in over 60 cities across China as at 2015. Similar to Uber, Didi Chuxing also applies smartphone applications to match private drivers with passengers (Cramer and Krueger 177). Didi Chuxing offers its shared ride services in its application to match needs of different customers. Unlike traditional taxis, Didi Chuxing services are fast and efficient. This has been made possible by the huge investment made by Apple Technologies. Apple technologies has made huge investment in Didi Chuxing, hence, made it able to disrupt the tax industry. The money investor’s pumped into Didi Chuxing was used for research and innovation of Didi Chuxing. Other key differences between Didi Chuxing and the traditional taxi services is that Didi Chuxing services are offered using private vehicles. Didi Chuxing’s world market share is still relatively low compared to Uber that has rapidly expanded across the globe, particularly, in China. The growth strategy of Didi Chuxing has made its rival Uber to make huge losses in China which consequently might drive it out of business in China if the trend continues. Currently, Didi Chuxing has approximately 450 million registered users and 21 million drivers in more than 400 cities within China, and is valued at 7.3 billion dollars. Didi Chuxing has also faced fierce political and legal challenges mainly from local taxi companies who accuse Didi Chuxing of unfair competition.
The Uber and Lyft application are products of the recent advances in information technology that have affected various areas of the global business market. As alternatives to taxi-cab hailing services, Uber and Lyft have effectively competed with traditional players in the taxi industry. There are various levels of Uber services in different countries. UberEats, UberHealth, JumpBike, and UberFreight are some of the broader levels of Uber services available in the United States and other cities around the world. Similarly, Lyft offers its services at different levels.
Conclusion
To conclude, Uber has offered a nice option to the development of the transport sector across the
globe. It has made communication and transport to be interlinked in such a way that the passenger
keep enjoying. The Uber Company has created numerous employment opportunities. It has also offered
citizens with new transportation options, thereby improving urban transport making it more popular
than its close rivals such as Lyft. The company has thus led to economic growth and development
across the world thus making globalization of more and more benefit and breaking various cultural
barriers.
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Works Cited Chang, Hung-Hao. “The Economic Effects of Uber on Taxi Drivers in Taiwan.” Journal of Competition Law & Economics, vol. 13, no.3, 2017, pp. 1-26. Cramer, Judd, and Alan B. Krueger. “Disruptive Change in the Taxi Business: The Case of Uber.” American Economic Review, vol. 106, no.5, 2016, pp. 177-82. Rogers, Brishen. “The Social Costs of Uber.” U. Chi. L. Rev. Dialogue, vol. 82, 2015, pp. 85-102. “Uber - Earn Money by Driving Or Get A Ride Now.” 2019, uber.com. Accessed 8 Mar. 2019.