business-model, growth, international, global, expansionUber was established in the year 2009 and today by the end of 2014 they are already in 52 countries. Within 5 years of founding the business in US, how did Uber expand so rapidly in international markets ? Uber is known to be aggressive in their business tactics but still given that their target market is transportation, it seems remarkable how they were able to grow in multiple countries rapidly. Specially, when compared to their competitors like Lyft and SideCar, Uber seems to be good at expanding into other countries.
Earlier this year, I first used Uber in Seattle, and within a few months I was able to use it in Singapore and India. Are there some tactics or strategies they use in terms setting up offices, organizational structure and business model that enable them to expand rapidly.
Uber began growing into foriegn markets not a long while after being founded as a company. They had a good team of translators and adapted their application to meet the needs of native people elsewhere (miles vs. kilometers). They also based their operations in each country in that country, and hired people from that area. Big cities like Shanghai, etc. They also acquired the former CEO of foreign growth at Facebook, Ed Baker. You ideally should have a product/service that everybody needs, regardless of your ethnicity. Transportation is a huge sector that for a long time was not disrupted. Now it is. Uber’s growing pains now involve dealing with lawsuits all over the world, as taxi unions get angry and governments sue them. When you get this big, you have to step away a little and let each regional office take over most of the operations in their area. Uber needs to take that agressive passion into things other than harassing journalists. However, their rapid growth may have just been a lucky ride, and they are not going anywhere.
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