MGMT6010 Corporate Strategy

The process of creating value is a major aspect of the customer relationship management that focuses on how the production of products and services can deliver value and other benefits to the customers other than just fulfilling their needs and requirements. Within the sharing economy of Australia, the customers demand good quality services, and so organisation like Uber and Lyft have provided value through the delivery of good quality services to the customers (Grinblatt, Mark and Sheridan Titman 2016). The sharing economy has allowed the business organisation to connect the customers with the suppliers with the help of an online platform. A facilitator manages the online platform, which is neither a consumer nor the provider of services.

The business organisation Uber has avoided market and regulatory issues to enter new market segments properly and deliver value to its customers. It is done by exposing the value that is required to manage the resources and match the demands and supply of services for the customers effectively. It is also valuable for the Uber owners because it will fetch them good amounts of money as well as respect the requests for rides all throughout the country. It is also easier for the customers regarding value proposition because the taxis are booked quite easily online, and then the services are delivered to the customers within a quick time for ensuring that the passenger reaches his destination within time (Johnson et al. 2013).

The product creation process has facilitated the company's skills to deliver the right output, and the outcomes generated have been distributed in a differentiable manner to the customers. The creation of production process also included the differentiation process, which has allowed Uber and Lyft to add some unique features and even keep the cost under control as well. It has influenced the consumer buying behaviours and even allowed them to understand the value offered by the products of the company (He, Hong-Wei and John MT Balmer 2013).

Inputs/suppliers 

Though there is the availability of good numbers of manufacturers and suppliers, still the company has put pressure on them to decrease the prices of the supplies and raw materials and ensure that the cost of products and services is kept lower too. The company has been put on pressure to ensure that the prices of services remain competitive so that the customers get more influenced to purchase the services of Uber and Lyft rather than any other taxi companies in Australia (uber.com 2017). Due to the environment-friendly supplies, the sharing economy is also termed as environment friendly because the sharing of services by multiple passengers has helped in decreasing the consumption and even maintained good social relationship between the consumers and service providers.

The inputs for the sharing economy included the use of information technology system that had created an effective platform for providing the good quality sharing services to people and made it easy for them to visit from one place to another with ease and convenience. The individuals no longer have to get involved in conventional markets, and because of that they can purchase the services online and make immediate payments as soon as they reach the destination point.

The company has imported directly, bypassed the suppliers and maintained good relationships with the customers to assess their needs and requirements. This would help in determining the most suitable price that could be set for satisfying the customers effectively (Litov et al. 2012).

One of the major rivals of Uber is Lyft, which has managed to deliver similar kinds of services of the shared economy to the customers in Australia. To adjust within the competitive business environment, it is important for Uber, the largest ride sharing platform in Australia to make the customers obtain the services by hiring the taxi at first through online platforms. Uber also provides luxury hire cars and registered taxis that can provide to be an effective way of managing transportation.

The inputs could also be provided as managing investments through obtaining capital, and that could be possible by crowd funding. The crowd funding helps to raise funds and manage innovation within the evolving industry for fulfilling the changing demands and preferences of the customers efficiently. According to Porter's five forces model, the bargaining power of suppliers is quite low, but the power of customers is comparatively high. This has increased the sales revenue for the company as well as provided additional value to them through the delivery of innovative services that can match up to the standards of the organisation (uber.com 2017).

The valuation of the organization is nearly $70B, and thus the prices are competitive. The value-based pricing strategy has helped in setting the right prices for the services though not exclusively based on the value that has been estimated by the customers. The value-based pricing strategy has helped in increasing the prices of services without making any negative impact on the volumes of sales. Cost-plus pricing strategy is another effective way of adding some value to the products and services and ensures that the company generates good amounts of profit in business by attracting more customers (Grinblatt, Mark and Sheridan Titman 2016).

Markets

The shared economy has enabled the organizational assets that have not often be utilized to become peer to peer services that can be hired by the people in Australia. Uber has faced challenges like customers not hiring the taxis due to higher prices when compared to other private taxis. The company has raised venture capital and launched the smart phone app to make it easier for customers to book the taxis online and even get a price quote regarding the distance from source to destination. This approach has facilitated the ways for Uber to enter new markets and enhance the transportation services' efficiency (uber.com 2017).

The B2B distribution has helped in managing good relationships with other businesses and with the suppliers who manage the online platform to enhance the production capability. The B2C distribution has further helped in selling the services to the consumers directly without the involvement of any third party (Johnson et al. 2013). Due to this a huge number of market segments have been targeted, thereby leading to more than 1100 new users signing up every month in Australia.

Technology usage 

The use of information technology system has enabled to create effective online platforms such as smartphone app. By using this, customers can easily rent cars and taxis on a daily or hourly basis (He, Hong-Wei and John MT Balmer 2013).

Markets

Uber has created accessibility and connectedness to deliver best quality customers' services and ensure that the services are delivered perfectly. Obtaining data about consumer profiles could help in keeping contacts with them and ask for their feedbacks regarding the services (Litov et al. 2012). To fetch other markets, proper organisational systems are developed to integrate the resources and manage intermediary between the supply and demands for the services in Australia.

R&D and innovation

Research and development activities could help in enhancing the uniqueness of services delivered by Uber and manage better productivity with new technologies. This would also record the customers' preferences and deliver the services accordingly to keep them satisfied. The level of innovation is high for Uber is high, and this has constantly brought up new changes and innovation of services to fulfill the demands and preferences of customers easily.

Finance

The various sources of finance are starting capital, money obtained by selling few organisational assets and even collecting the debts. The shared capital, retained earnings, loans taken from banks at an interest rate and managing events to get funds is other sources of finance for Uber, Australia (uber.com 2017). The finance is obtained to purchase a tax and work as a permanent employee of the company to deliver taxi services to the customers and make them reach their destination within quick time.

References

Grinblatt, Mark, and Sheridan Titman. Financial markets & corporate strategy. 2016.

He, Hong-Wei, and John MT Balmer. "A grounded theory of the corporate identity and corporate strategy dynamic: A corporate marketing perspective." European Journal of Marketing 47, no. 3/4 (2013): 401-430.

uber.com. 2017. Uber.Com. https://www.uber.com.

Johnson, Gerry, Richard Whittington, Kevan Scholes, Duncan Angwin, and Patrick Regnér. Exploring strategy text & cases. Vol. 10. Pearson, 2013.

Litov, Lubomir P., Patrick Moreton, and Todd R. Zenger. "Corporate strategy, analyst coverage, and the uniqueness paradox." Management Science 58, no. 10 (2012): 1797-1815.