This assessment task requires you to research an example (a case example) on social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, and provide a report that summarises the critical elements of innovation management in your own words. The assignment should be 1000 words in
length.
length.
Social innovation and Entrepreneurship- A Case of Uber
1.0 Introduction
This assignment revolves around
the concepts of Social innovation. Uber has been taken as a case example for
this assignment. It will be evaluated on
the social, economic and environmental dimensions of performance and
recommendations will be made for the improvements in their responsible
innovation approaches. Different scholarly articles have been taken for this
report and they will be referred every now and then. Uber is known to be a
result of social innovation because it makes resources more convenient and
effective as compared to a traditional taxi as people can now have access to a
better transportation service.
2.0 Discussion
2.1 Innovation
There are various views and perceptions on what is
innovation and a lot of confusion occurs while defining innovation (ELBAZ et.
al, 2013). This word has a lot of ambiguity but for this assignment we will
consider Knox’s (2002) definition that innovation is a process which adds value
and gives uniqueness to the organization along with its stakeholders through
new and unique ways of doing things. Hence, for bringing innovation, organisations
have to be smart enough to bring new ideas, new processes, they have to bring
unique factor in their organisation (Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010).
2.2 Social Innovation
Social Innovation is the innovative
ideas which helps to fulfil unmet social needs. Its aim is to make society a
better place with creative thinking and implementation of that thinking (Mulgan
et. al, 2007).
2.3 Social and environmental Innovation in Business
Social Innovation and Environmental
responsibility are very important when determining the long-run success of the
organisation. They should be given attention and consideration whenever it’s possible
because they helps us in the stock market’s performance of the organisation. It
improves the relationship of organisation with its stakeholders. Another
benefit could be that when an organisation is environmentally responsible, it’s
going to try to have the least amount of wastage and that will eventually show
a decline in the cost. It can also increase customer loyalty, employee’s moral
as well as more investors will be willing to invest in the company. Ford
plant’s remodelling is the perfect example of that. When they remodelled their
plant in accordance with the environmental concerns, it saved company millions
in fines (Lin et. al, 2009).
2.4 Uber “Get There”- An example of Social innovation
Uber’s idea was discussed in a conference
being conducted in Paris, where Kalanick and Garrett Camp had a conversation on
the prospect of having a stable and reachable car service. It started as a
joke, when they were thinking of how limousine has to be pre-booked and
convenience becomes a problem for everyone. They thought to make an application
which can be accessed by anyone at any time. Furthermore, it would be safe,
easy and convenient. This small talk coined Uber’s first slogan: “Everyone’s
Private Driver” (Dong et. al, 2014).
Dong et al., (2014) also stated that
before Uber, you had to get a Taxi that too by chance. People had to wait until
they stumble upon a taxi and then they can be transported to their designation.
It created a lot of safety issues as well.
From the customer’s view, Uber’s
model is very simple and attracting. By pressing just one button on your
smartphone, you can take a ride from any one location to any other location, as
well as you can add stops in between your rides. Having money with yourself
isn’t necessary either, your fare can be deducted from your debit or credit
cards as well. Your ride is traceable which reduces the probability of any
unhappy incident happening. Hence, passengers can relax and enjoy their Uber
rides. Not only that but It gives an opportunity of being your own boss to its
potential drivers and they can set their own timings as well. This makes Uber
very attractive for the drivers as well. But, there is very less regulations
for them and they are facing troubles in the retention of the drivers (McQuown,
2016). Furthermore, Uber helps to remove uncertainty as drivers cannot steal
fares or unrestraint their assignments. Also, customers are able to track
progress based on every minute of their drivers via the Uber App on the smartphone (Hiltzik, 2018)
2.5 Performance of Uber
Consumers of Uber have very less concerns whereas drivers
are having tremendous issues in working with Uber. The recruiting rate of Uber
is ever-growing but unfortunately retention rate isn’t as high as the
recruitment rate of Uber. Among all the drivers recruited only half of them
remain active. And for remaining active an Uber driver has to complete at least
one trip within 6 months. The most motivating factor for Uber drivers is their
flexible timings and their freedom (Hall & Krueger, 2015).
It might be a very attracting work
opportunity but it is not a very profitable work opportunity. Drivers drive
blindly, they don’t know the drop location of other passenger and often they
drive from a long way to take one mile’s ride which gives them loss instead of
any profit Along with that driver may face deactivation for cancelling
unprofitable rides. Along with that fare, if the rides is minimum and for
bonus, drivers have to work for a very long time, which takes away their
motivation which comes from flexibility (Smart et al., 2015).
It has been stated by Brescia (2016)
that the service companies which are based on technology have to work less for
finding potential customers and building their brands. They just need to be
efficient, provide quality and have to be in accordance with laws and
regulations. Hence, Uber’s rider are facing less issues.
3.0 Conclusion
Undoubtedly, Uber is a huge, social
innovative, global brand. In order to retain itself, Uber must solve the
disputes of drivers and keep on bringing innovative changes in its business
model. It has to keep an eye on its competitors and stay one step ahead of
them. If other such ride-sharing apps are able to get a better business model
then it can destroy Uber and its credentials. Furthermore, its rapid growth
makes it vulnerable to local authorities of all the localities, where it is
being operated. It has to bring a solution for that or it might keep on being
backlashed by the locals (Dong et. al, 2014). Lastly, a successful business
must highly take into account the elements of sustainability to successfully
prosper. Hence, in order to keep an edge over its rivals, Uber must make sure
that its services do not have any adverse effect on the society.
References
Brescia, R.H., 2016. Uber for
Lawyers: The Transformative Potential of a Sharing Economy Approach to the
Delivery of Legal Services. Buff. L. Rev., 64, p.745.
Cornelissen,
J.P. and Clarke, J.S., 2010. Imagining and rationalizing opportunities:
Inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures. The
Academy of Management Review, pp.539-557.
Dong, J., Fillipovic, C., Leis,
J., Peterson, E., Shrikhande, A. and Sudarshan, R., 2014. UBER: Driving Change
in Transportation. Student Case Study, The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
ELBAZ, J.,
Binkour, M. and Majdouline, I., Innovation and entrepreneurship: An empirical
study of Moroccan firms.
Hall, J.V. and
Krueger, A.B., 2018. An analysis of the labor market for Uber’s driver-partners
in the United States. ILR Review, 71(3), pp.705-732.
HILTZIK, M. (2018). Los Angeles Times - We are
currently unavailable in your region. Retrieved from
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-is-uber-good-or-bad-20151113-column.html
Knox, S., 2002.
The boardroom agenda: developing the innovative organisation. Corporate
Governance: The international journal of business in society, 2(1),
pp.27-36.
Lin, C.H.,
Yang, H.L. and Liou, D.Y., 2009. The impact of corporate social responsibility
on financial performance: Evidence from business in Taiwan. Technology
in Society, 31(1), pp.56-63.
McQuown, P., Hazeltine, B.,
Aitharaju, A., Clarke, C., Diorio, J., McCleary, G. and Scotti, R. (2016). An
Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Aspects of Uber’s Driver-Partner Platform.
[online] Rhode Island: Brown University. Available at:
https://www.brown.edu/academics/engineering/sites/brown.edu.academics.engineering/files/uploads/UberCaseBrownUniversityMcQuown.pdf
[Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].
Mulgan, G., Tucker,
S., Ali, R. and Sanders, B., 2007. Social innovation: what it is, why it
matters and how it can be accelerated.
Smart, R., Rowe, B., Hawken, A.,
Kleiman, M., Mladenovic, N., Gehred, P., & Manning, C. (2015, July). Faster
and cheaper: How ride-sourcing fills a gap in low-income Los Angeles
neighborhoods. Los Angeles, CA: BOTEC Analysis Corporation. Retrieved from http://botecanalysis.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/07/LATS-Final-Report.pdf\
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