Two accounting majors presented their analysis of Uber’s business practices for the annual business ethics case competition.
Competing against a record 33 schools from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the team analyzed the business practices of ride-sharing company Uber and presented their recommendations to a panel of judges assuming the role of Uber’s senior management.
“This was a great case: timely and complex,” said Scott Buechler, associate dean of the Love School of Business and the Elon team coach. “The team had to analyze Uber’s business model, the regulatory environment in which it operates, and the ethics of their business practices. Uber has received some bad press over the past couple years as a result of bad business decisions and questionable ethical behavior. Yet they have a value proposition that has caught on in the sharing economy. The team had to reconcile those issues.”
“The company is currently facing several issues, including the negative perception of their current surge pricing model and the lack of rider safety due to lenient criteria for potential drivers,” Herring explained. “We recommended that Uber limit surge pricing for the benefit of the consumer and ensure that drivers are credible individuals through stringent background checks and a corporate code of conduct.”
Massey added, “As an innovative and disruptive technology, Uber is facing many ‘growing pains’ as it expands and enters into new markets. Senior management has not been able to adequately address or resolve many of these problems, and impending government regulation threatens their business model. However, we argued that Uber should proactively try to regulate itself so as to deter external regulation and to restore and bolster rider confidence in choosing to ride with Uber. This is not a new concept, as many professions (attorneys, CPAs, etc.) have created self-regulating oversight boards. We recommended several ways in which Uber could regulate itself and avoid government regulation that would undoubtedly be stricter and more dangerous to Uber’s current business model.”
All teams prepared a 20-minute presentation and afterward answered eight tough questions related to the case.
“The Eller Ethics Case Competition, especially the preparation involved beforehand, was a challenging and rewarding experience for everyone involved,” Massey said. “The case gave us the opportunity to approach a multi-faceted, real-world business problem from the perspective of two consultants. We analyzed Uber’s business model, identified the issues currently facing the company, determined the risks associated with these issues, and provided solutions to remedy the problems. Finally, we articulated why our solutions would help mitigate Uber’s risk and ultimately help the company be prosperous in the long term. The competition was a great learning experience that conferred critical thinking skills that will be invaluable to my education and career moving forward.”
“Competing in the Eller Ethics Case Competition was a great learning experience,” Herring added. “Preparation of our presentation better developed my ability to fully understand and deeply analyze a business from multiple perspectives. While at Arizona University, my teammate and I were able to network with students from many different schools across the nation and from countries such as Canada and Mexico. The skills developed through this case competition will be used for the rest of my career as a business professional.”
Among the 33 schools participating in the competition this year were Boston College, Brigham Young University, Concordia University (Canada), Emory University, Florida State University, Indiana University, MacEwan University (Canada), Stetson University, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico), the University of Calgary (Canada), the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Tennessee.
Teams were divided into five regions: North, South, East, West and Central. The winners of each division were the University of Texas at Austin (North), Concordia University (South), the University of Calgary (East), MacEwan University (West) and the University of Pittsburgh (Central). The overall competition winner this year was the University of Texas at Austin. The Elon team took first place in the competition in 2009 and 2010.
Written by Dr. Scott Buechler