Ethical Audit for Electric Cars

Introduction

This study is going to organize an audit for a company called Uber. The ethical audit for electric cars for this company is going to be described. The world is suffering from carbon emissions. Hence, it becomes important to switch to an emission-free model of cars. The study contents of the social marketing problem of a chosen organization called Uber. It is quite a popular organization, which holds a variety of staff and runs on a software algorithm of providing transport services to millions of people in the UK, India, and the United States, Brazil as well. Managing such a network across 900 metropolitan areas across the world is not a matter of joke and it requires extensive planning (uber.com, 2021). Uber is marking its presence worldwide and shifting towards making electric vehicles. Ethical issues in this organization are found out as mishandling of customers is done sometimes. Sometimes there is driver security, which becomes an issue. This assignment makes use of relevant frameworks for analyzing the target market, services and pricing offered. The suggested action to solve the social marketing problem is also going to be discussed in this context. Extensive consumption of sustainable practices has forced the organization to adopt relatable change.

a) Background of the organization and the social marketing problem

It has become one of the important names for ride-sharing services to clients. Business operations are made changeable according to the client demands in Uber. Currently, the carbon emission from vehicles is the largest threat for this organization. These social marketing problems are highlighted in this context (Yablon, 2019). The readers are expected to find out effective background information and analysis of the marketing components. Hence, moving forward to sustainable transport options is important for the company. It is an American company that provides ride-sharing services to customers that were founded in 2009. This organization is widely acknowledged in terms of developing sustainable changes and like EV. The social marketing problem is that existing cars are huge in numbers and modifying them to EVs is not cost-effective. On the other hand, the cost of implementing a new EV is also higher. "The government plug-in grants and the free of charge entry in the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) or the Congestion Charging Zone (CCZ) have been some of the major motivators for the organization in shifting their vehicle preferences to EVs (uber.com, 2021)”. The main issue is complemented with the problem of not finding charging points easily everywhere. “Therefore, the organization has focused towards developing fully electronic vehicle services for the clients by the year 2040 through making the trips on zero-emission vehicles". A major aspect that is driving the organizational change is associated with the business empowerment of the government plug-in grants and free-of-charge entry in low emission zones (Tamunomiebi, and Ehior, 2019). The vehicle preferences are shifted due to "Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) or the Congestion Charging Zone (CCZ)". It has become some of the major motivators for the organization. Attracting the attention of customers as it allows the consumption of no harmful gas while the company shifts towards the uses of less harmful options vehicles. Safety, and security while traveling by such cars is the most important one. Keeping the customer data privately stored is essential in terms of recognizing the marketing perspectives of this company.

b) Analysis

Target Marketing

Targeted consumers are identified as the ones with usability and access to the mobile phone and internet connection. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are associated with the identification of the potential vulnerability of consumers. The organization is service-based and it targets the market of electric vehicles. The target market can be analyzed using STP, which is an essential part of the management of the target market. STP incorporates segmentation, target market build-up, and positioning (Shokoohyar, Sobhani, and Ramezanpour Nargesi, 2020). The organization is utilizing the components of less price point per kilometer. Extensive consumption of sustainable practices has forced the organization to adopt relatable change to EV’s. Suppliers need to send the raw materials while designing an electronic vehicle. There exists a consideration of retailing and objectifying global marketing services. Creating an audience that is not having a fear of losing their privacy is also important. Distribution activities of the organization encourage more consumers to take rides from Uber. "When it comes to the car hire market, Uber attracts its customers with cost awareness perks that they cannot find easily anywhere else.”

Services

Services of Uber are associated with adequate transportation in International fields. The global marketing concepts involve the inclusion of risk factors within the industry. Kolter's product classification matrix can be involved with relevant issues of the organization and ensure that the selling is appropriate in terms of organization promotion and compliance. Ethical concerns can be identified in terms of drivers' safety as well passengers' safety. None of these can be compromised. The organizational tactics include five levels of product that are potential, augmented, generic, and expected one and there is core product benefit. Like in this case advertising, direct marketing of their sustainable process that saves on the environment is observed (Saadah, Yasmine, and Mubah, 2017). There is the optimization of components done through the marketing of each ethical segmentation such as the vulnerability of consumer details and keeping the safety of essentials. The vehicle preferences have been changed to EV while there is an ultra-low emission zone found out with a congestion charging zone. The shifting of business comes with an essential threat to environmental sustainability and the suitability of business. The objection can come from different people that are associated with the organization and they might find it difficult to adjust to the changes. The drivers might resist the changes as there will be questions of equal pay and duty schedules.

Price

Uber is essential in terms of small costs and running within a range of kilometers. A 45-minute ride costs around 18.90 dollars. A booking fee is also collected for a charge of 0.55 dollars. The price is relatively lower than the other ride services available and pickup and dropoff locations are required to be specified to get maximum outcomes (McNamara, Smith, and Murphy-Hill, 2018). Surging prices are important as well for the development of trip routes. The company essentials engage in metro cities and giving them service 24*7 is also important. The facts that are associated with pickup and dropoff location change and updates are required to be associated with the combination of time and distance. Price jumps are not seen often.

Promotion

Uber is identified as one of the renowned organizations when it comes to riding sharing. The ethical issues generated in the case of Uber, are associated with taxi drivers. Local drivers are falling prey to unemployment while there is an extensive increase in sales observed for Uber with discounted prices. Misuse of free ride promotion by users has created a controversy of no more free rides. Uber's system is flagged with multiple accounts that are created to get some free rides. The issue is generated on the customer side (Martinho et al. 2021). The system is getting banned for the fallout of accounts with flagged users that cannot log in to their accounts. Uber spends approximately 200 million on marketing along with a revenue run rate of 172 million in India. "Uber Settles False Advertising Case for $28.5 Million. Uber agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a $1 safe ride”.

Uber has employed Facebook, Instagram, Twitter as the main marketing and promotional channel. Uber's revolutionary company incorporated the actions of being monitored online through online promotional channels and launching ride share marketing. Uber's largest SEO content and email marketing has helped in the promotions of customers and integrates online components. Marketing channels communicate the unified brand message where people can trust their safety and privacy (Chee, 2018). Direct traffic is allowed to the company's website. Traffic leverages the next direction of service. Full suite online services, as well as the integrated online strategy, need to be identified for the sales funnel management of target CTA's. End-to-end services and marketing on-demand are also identified as essential elements of scalable services. Uber also does background checking before recruiting the people.

c) Suggested actions

The suggested action for management of ethical issues turns out to be the most impractical one as the process is ongoing. Ethical issues raised in the analysis can be summed up as:

Marketing misuse

Unethical price charging for smaller distance (Bradford, 2019)

Passengers and driver security

In most cases, the drivers are beaten up and face outrage in case the car is met with an accident. The incidents are engaged in terms of driver's security. Stricter rules to be made to stop such practices. There is unethical poaching of drivers observed for the competitor company. Uber should come up with different strategies to combat the issues. There should be an indulgence in customer safety. Customers are many times complaining of language issues with the drivers along with the security components establishments. There are significant rules and regulations to preserve customer priority (Brown, Behrman, and Zimmerman, 2017). It is important to improve the use of trackers to maintain the customer's security. The threat of being tormented by the drivers in women should be diminished while they are traveling alone.

This requires a complete background checking for the drivers while they are engaging in ethical issues. Uber has recently fired 20 employees as the result of an investigation of discrimination. "The company says it received 215 complaints during its inquiry into inappropriate behavior at its workplace, with the highest number of complaints related to discrimination, sexual harassment, and unprofessional behavior”. The car accident can be regulated with an arrangement of training and appropriate management of driver behavior. There are multitasking drivers needed to be hired as they will be capable of managing any of the situations. There should be adequate learning competency observed within a person which allows taking account of the code of ethics. The ethical and sustainable composition needs to be managed as a part of processing safety for both passengers and drivers. Bottom line data and sustainability should be monitored at first (Bourhis et al. 2019). Uber has announced multiple promotions regarding and ethical considerations that the company might pose. The application handling and data monitoring are also engaged within the management of customers. Practical implications hold Uber's honest approach towards effective management. There is an indulgence of company policies, which create sustainability and represent challenges that resurface. The policies are customer-effective and budget-worthy. A group of competency management is associated with the core team to allow Uber to perform sustainable changes.

Marketing components that are held into account are effectively dealing with any incompetency process. Imperial ambitions are processed further for the management of the company's internal process. The company is having challenges of maintaining employees and giving them adequate salaries. Timely salaries should be given to them to manage employee retention. They are supposed to install employee management software, therefore, they can look after the employee's needs. There are several business models, which are followed by the people that engage in relative competency development in companies like Uber (Allhoff, and Henschke, 2018). The passenger safety and the divers life insurance are given at the company end. They are committed to the management of life security for different people. Uber indulges in a group of operations, which is infrastructurally different and engages in the development criteria of better customer management. Social media use with uploading videos of customs that find Uber trustworthy is an essential strategy for developing trust.

Conclusion

The segmentation is associated with the demographic process of distribution. The components are associated with risk factor management within the industry. The industry people are aligned with the ethical analysis of components in an organization like Uber is presented in terms of ethical checklists and widespread accommodation of advertisement. This assignment has successfully accompanied the ethical issues of a chosen organization and the suggestions to stop them.

Reference

Journals

Allhoff, F. and Henschke, A., 2018. The internet of things: Foundational ethical issues. Internet of Things, 1, pp.55-66.

Bourhis, P., Demartini, G., Elbassuoni, S., Hoareau, E. and Rao, H.R., 2019. Ethical Challenges in the Future of Work. IEEE Data Eng. Bull., 42(4), pp.55-64.

Bradford, D.L., 2019. Ethical issues in experiential learning. Journal of Management Education, 43(1), pp.89-98.

Brown, W.R., Behrman, L. and Zimmerman, J., 2017. Duel or dual: An interdisciplinary approach to parenting coordination for uber‐conflicted parenting relationships. Family Court Review, 55(3), pp.345-361.

Chee, F.M., 2018. An Uber ethical dilemma: examining the social issues at stake. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society.

Martinho, A., Herber, N., Kroesen, M. and Chorus, C., 2021. Ethical issues in focus by the autonomous vehicles industry. Transport Reviews, pp.1-22.

McNamara, A., Smith, J. and Murphy-Hill, E., 2018, October. Does ACM’s code of ethics change ethical decision making in software development?. In Proceedings of the 2018 26th ACM joint meeting on european software engineering conference and symposium on the foundations of software engineering (pp. 729-733).

Saadah, K., Yasmine, S.E. and Mubah, A.S., 2017. Digital collaborative consumption and social issues: The clash of taxi and Uber driver in Surabaya and Taipei. Masyarakat, Kebudayaan dan Politik, 30(4), pp.333-343.

Shokoohyar, S., Sobhani, A. and Ramezanpour Nargesi, S.R., 2020. On the determinants of Uber accessibility and its spatial distribution: Evidence from Uber in Philadelphia. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews: Data mining and knowledge discovery, 10(4), p.e1362.

Tamunomiebi, M.D. and Ehior, I.E., 2019. Diversity and ethical issues in the organizations. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(2), pp.839-864.

Yablon, C.M., 2019. The Lawyer as Accomplice: Cannabis, Uber, Airbnb, and the Ethics of Advising'Disruptive'Businesses. Minn. L. Rev., 104, p.309.

Website

https://www.uber.com/

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