Erb Featured Business Sustainability Case Study: Uber and the Sharing Economy

Erb Featured Business Sustainability Case Study: Uber and the Sharing Economy

Description: Alexander Cooper is gearing up to lead an expansion strategy for the scrappy and super successful car sharing service, Uber. While the company has not been without its controversy, it is making headway in far off places like India. It is looking to scale its model in India, China, and the rest of Southeast Asia, but is increasingly running into regulatory hurdles. Cooper is forced to think hard about what Uber’s expansion strategy should be and how it will impact the company’s operations. Uber currently markets itself based on word of mouth, but in markets like China where two companies dominate 99% of market share, this may be unrealistic. What path should this sharing economy company take?

Developed by: Qingxu Jin (Bill), Carl Spevacek, Nasreddine El-Dehaibi, and Whitney Johnson. This case was written under the supervision of Andrew Hoffman, Erb Faculty Member.

Teaching Note: Available to Registered Educators. 

Teaching Points: After reading and discussing this case, students should be able to:

• Explain the benefits of and challenges to the sharing economy.
• Compare and contrast the sharing economy as an alternative to the existing system.
• Describe the challenges involved in implementing a U.S. business model on international and global scales, and predict whether or not Uber can generate a profit by expanding globally.
• Compare and contrast Uber’s business model and strategy with its competitors

Purchase the full report on GlobaLens (Case study #1-430-479) – published 02/2016, 20 pages

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The Erb Institute has established itself as a recognized leader in helping top business school programs and businesses navigate sustainability challenges through its teaching case studies for almost a decade. Since 2008, over 70 titles have been published, with an estimated 43,000 copies in use worldwide. As of 2017, these cases have been adopted by business schools on 4 continents. Their reach includes over 200 business schools, from the Ivy League to the deserts of Arizona, and from Glasgow to Sydney.