Research a brand that recently faced a crisis (Case Study Sample)

Uber: A Brand in Crisis (Your Name) (Course) (Instructor) (Date) Uber Technologies Inc. is an American multinational online ride sharing company headquartered in San Francisco, California.It provides and operates the taxi hailing app-Uber mobile- which allows riders with smart phones and need taxi services to submit a taxi request to Uber and they are automatically connected to the Uber driver nearest to the customer. The company does not own taxis but independent contractors registered to the Uber mobile app as drivers use their own cars. The Uber app automatically calculates the fare price and charges the customer’s credit card and then transfers the payment to the driver. The Uber service is popular because it is cheaper compared to that of traditional taxis. The company currently operates in over 66 countries and 507 cities worldwide. Uber is a recognizable brand all over the world, and has registered rapid growth since its inception in 2009. Uber’s Crisis However, of late Uber has been mired in crisis. It has been facing a number of legal and regulatory, social, and technical problems in several countries like the US, France, Germany, Spain, UK, and Kenya. Its legality has been challenged and the taxi drivers in these countries have accused Uber taxis of undercutting them in pricing and thus driving them out of business.Further, the traditional taxi operators allege that Uber does not hire professional drivers and this has led to the infiltration of the business by criminals as evidenced by accusations of rapes of customers in India (2014) and Michigan (2016). These reasons have at times triggered violent protests against the Uber brand in such cities as Madrid, London, Paris, Budapest, and Nairobi. Although the crisis facing Uber far from over owes to the fact that government authorities in a number of countries have tended to side with the traditional taxi companies and taxi lobbies, Uber has not handled some of the past crisis adequately, and it has to do it differently if it wants to succeed in its marketing strategy. For instance, in the case of the February 2016 Michigan horror where an Uber driver went on a shooting spree killing six people and injuring two others Uber knew of the driver’s activities. Although crisis management experts insisted that Uber handled that particular crisis properly, there are indications that it was negligent to some extent. Had Uber been serious about its public image and customer care, it would have long discharged the culprit after initial customer complaints.Furthermore; it would have put in place stringent background checks for its prospective drivers to avoid such incidences. References Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative. (n.d.).Uber Technologies Inc: Managing Opportunities and Challe...