Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars
In 2017, Uber, a ride-hailing application that was recognized as the world's most valuable start-up, was considering launching the world's first "urban air transport" service-Uber Elevate. Uber's chief product officer needed to convince the new chief executive officer and the board that electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicles were the future of Uber, and to articulate a strategy to launch the service. But was it the right time to proceed with this bold initiative? Uber had recently seen its value plummet following a string of scandals that had forced its founder and chief executive officer to step down. How could the chief product officer ensure that Uber Elevate would be the success that he believed it would be? What steps were needed to ensure success? Ethan Pancer is affiliated with Saint Mary's University.
Swot Analysis of "Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars" written by Ethan Pancer, Kyle Gulliver, Morris MacLeod includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Uber Elevate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Regulation, Technology and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Uber Elevate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Uber Elevate operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Uber Elevate
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Uber Elevate
Strengths Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Uber Elevate in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Uber Elevate to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Uber Elevate to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Uber Elevate has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Uber Elevate are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Uber Elevate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Uber Elevate is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– Uber Elevate is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Ethan Pancer, Kyle Gulliver, Morris MacLeod can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Uber Elevate in the sector have low bargaining power. Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Uber Elevate to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Uber Elevate has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Uber Elevate has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Organizational Resilience of Uber Elevate
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Uber Elevate does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Uber Elevate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Uber Elevate has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Uber Elevate, firm in the HBR case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Uber Elevate has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Uber Elevate is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Uber Elevate has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Uber Elevate supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Uber Elevate vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Uber Elevate needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars, in the dynamic environment Uber Elevate has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Uber Elevate has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Uber Elevate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Uber Elevate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Uber Elevate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars, is just above the industry average. Uber Elevate needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Uber Elevate has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Uber Elevate even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Uber Elevate to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Uber Elevate to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Uber Elevate can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Uber Elevate can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Uber Elevate can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Uber Elevate has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Uber Elevate to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Uber Elevate is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Uber Elevate has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Uber Elevate to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars case study. Uber Elevate can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Uber Elevate to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Uber Elevate in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Uber Elevate in the consumer business. Now Uber Elevate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Uber Elevate can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Uber Elevate can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Uber Elevate to increase its market reach. Uber Elevate will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Uber Elevate has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars are -
Increasing wage structure of Uber Elevate
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Uber Elevate.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Uber Elevate can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Uber Elevate in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Uber Elevate is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Uber Elevate needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Uber Elevate can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars, Uber Elevate may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Uber Elevate.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Uber Elevate can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Regulatory challenges
– Uber Elevate needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Uber Elevate business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Uber Elevate has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Uber Elevate needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Uber Elevate high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Uber Elevate: The Case for Flying Cars is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Uber Elevate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.