Introduction
Uber offers taxi transportation services to the community in an improvised progression. The company consists of thousands of employees and faces market challenges contributing to its competitive abilities through proper planning. Netflix, on the other hand, focuses on the connection of consumers through video rentals. Additionally, Netflix launched its business strategy in 1998 to ensure lower prices to the customers concerning the video subscription aspects. Uber and Netflix encompass technological advancements in the business industry and customer services. This paper focuses on the similarities and differences in forces affecting Uber and Netflix, the reasons for the forces’ impact, and the business strategy that the two companies should pursue to maintain their competitive advantage in the global market post-COVID-19 era.
Similarities and Differences in Forces Affecting Uber and Netflix’s Industry Competition
Netflix and Uber entail similarities, particularly the challenging aspects of the competitive industry. Both organizations are new in the market, offering online platform services convenient to societal needs (Davis & Xiao, 2021). Uber and Netflix are threats in the market industry due to the technological enhancement, which attracts competitive abilities to ensure balance in the business world. Uber experiences competition from other companies that offer similar services. Netflix also faces competition from various emerging technologies that ensure video connection, such as YouTube (Hazlett, 2020). The organizations are digital market dealers that contribute to customer value in different perspectives creating an economic value. While Uber meets the customer value in the transport sector, Netflix offers video connectivity in an advanced manner.
Another Uber and Netflix similarity is their influence from other competitors in the respective fields. Both companies operate through the network and virtual abilities encompassing limited employees and managers and the agility nature to maintain the impact from other competitive rivalries. The innovative disruption theory indicates how digital provisions such as Netflix and Uber emerge and transforms existing markets, establishing simplicity and convenience (Dias & Navarro, 2018). Netflix disrupts the rental video space while Uber transforms the transportation sector. For example, the Uber industry incorporates better progression for future services, such as introducing automated vehicles to provide taxi services (Berger et al., 2018). Additionally, the company focuses on profit generation through the utilization of driver-less automated cars. Netflix is also a threat to the competitive industry based on its internet connectivity and numerous subscribers worldwide (Samson et al., 2021). Research shows that since Netflix went global, the subscribers skyrocketed, and by 2019, the organization had 158 million streaming consumers globally.
Uber and Netflix encompass differences in forces affecting their competitiveness in the industry, such as the consumer and supplier aspects. Uber, for instance, entails the consumer forces that dictate the pricing ability to keep the market operational. On the other hand, Netflix entails content supplier forces that control what the company avails to its viewers (Samson et al., 2021). This situation that the content creators can directly offer their services to the public if they wish. Additionally, the companies’ operations rely on different unique incentives for digital marketing. For instance, Uber relies on the taxi company for its functioning, while Netflix depends on the movie industry for online market operation.
Discussion on How and Why Different or Similar Forces Impact the Organizations
The forces impact the organizations by enhancing the development of other strategies that could promote the market advantage. In Uber’s industry, the consumer power affects the pricing aspect impacting the organizational operations where less profitable outcomes indicate the company’s failure. Uber customers are likely to gather information concerning other taxi and transport systems’ services and demand lower payments for services acquired (Samson et al., 2021). The progression affects the market model because Uber relies on the employees’ motivation towards goal achievement. Inadequate returns and innovative aspirations depict prospective future losses that discourage the employees from better performance (Urbinati et al., 2018). Netflix experiences the impact of the content supplier in the platform operation. The content suppliers are also competitive agents based on the ability to offer services directly to the consumers. History depiction indicates that Netflix offered lower prices to maintain its competitive advantage during the initial years, but the situation resulted in tremendous losses.
The two organizations’ depiction of a threat in the competitive industry impacts their ability to invest more to maintain productivity. Uber prospects indicate the original investors in the business anticipate losses in the near future which bears long-term benefits (Samson et al., 2021). This progression accounts for the company planning towards vehicle automation and less expenditure on driver payment. Uber invests in better planning to avoid employee and company failure. YouTube and other social platforms offer free content, which is likely to jeopardize Netflix’s gained subscribers (Budzinski et al., 2020). The organization chooses to invest more in the content development and marketing aspects to maintain and improve its competitive ability.
Netflix and Uber Business Strategies for Post-COVID-19 Era
The managers play an essential role in ensuring proper functioning in the company through profit generation and employee satisfaction. Netflix strategy should accommodate the cost leadership and differentiation provisions (Samson et al., 2021). Through cost leadership, the company maintains the existing operation standards and minimizes expenditure to ensure profitability. In the progression, Netflix can initiate investment in its content creation rather than relying on huge sum’s expenses on exclusive shows. The advancement contributes to the company’s maintenance of the subscribers during the pandemic and even the post-covid-19 period.
Netflix can also embrace differentiation by adopting innovative aspects based on its technological inclination. The progression enhances strong coordination and research capabilities to understand consumer needs and investment in productive ventures. Employee motivation is also vital in the production levels (Samson et al., 2021). Netflix requires to exclusively invest in licensing rights to maintain and scale-up in the business market. The investment plan should incorporate advertisement provision in the marketing capabilities for more outstanding results.
As an emerging and disruptive transformation in the business world, the Uber industry should pursue differentiation and focused business strategies for the operation to the post-COVID-19 era. The focus strategy allows the manager to account for the consumer needs and goal attainment in the planning process. It also accounts for employee empowerment for better results. The focus strategy enhances better relationships and social ethics between Uber and passengers, enhancing competitive advantage (Rekhviashvili, & Sgibnev, 2018). Uber industry encompasses the employees who interact with customers during service delivery.
Uber industry can utilize the differentiation strategy to implement innovative plans regarding automated vehicles. This improvement requires heavy investment and technological leadership for productivity. Also, it entails driver empowerment in the creative qualities and towards customer contact (Möhlmann, & Zalmanson, 2017). The exhibit indicates that the automation strategy in Uber creates much expenditure during the implementation phase but encompasses tremendous returns in the long run. The current plan concerning the future flying taxis focuses on more revenue shares and profits due to less expenditure on employee payment (Samson et al., 2021). The automated vehicles would not require drivers implying the reduced expense requirements. Also, Uber generates data at different levels including, users and their preferences and the traffic flows. The industry has to account for all the databases in the service delivery and reputational maintenance.
In conclusion, Uber and Netflix are technologically emerging platforms in the online marketing business. Additionally, the organizations have similarities and differences in the effect forces. Some of the similar forces include threat entrant and competence in the industry. Uber experiences competence from the traditional taxi progression while Netflix experiences the YouTube and TV effect. The impact threat levels of Netflix and Uber require their planning and investment for sustainability at the competitive levels. Difference forces incline Netflix to supplier power where the content creators contribute to the market advantage. On the other hand, the Uber industry relies on consumer power to possess knowledge concerning transportation fees affecting the pricing provisions. The similarity and difference forces impacts on the organization by altering the operation abilities and enhancing improvements. The managers in digital companies should adopt business strategies that enable sustainable performance to the post-COVID -19 era. Netflix ought to embrace the cost leadership and differentiation strategies that enhance innovation and proper expenditure to achieve a reputational advantage. The Uber industry requires the focus and differentiation strategies that allow for employee and consumer contact and profitabilities that maintain competitiveness.
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