Abstract

The case talks about the crisis at ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc (Uber). While Uber had tasted great success, its journey had been a bumpy one. On June 21, 2017, co-founder Travis Kalanick (Kalanick) stepped down as CEO of Uber in the face of a shareholder revolt that made it untenable for him to stay on in that position. His resignation came after a review of practices at Uber including allegations of sexual harassment, a corporate theft lawsuit, defiance of government regulations, reports of misbehavior, and a toxic corporate culture leading to the departure of some key executives. Uber followed a “founder-friendly” governance structure wherein Kalanick, because of the special class of shares he owned, enjoyed sweeping authority on the Uber board. The case highlights Uber’s boardroom battle which escalated in August 2017 when a small group of shareholders aligned with Kalanick dissented against Uber’s biggest investor Benchmark Capital, after it filed a lawsuit to oust Kalanick from the board. According to some industry observers, Uber ignored corporate governance in its pursuit of growth and valuation, and flouted ethical norms while hiding behind notions of disruption and innovation. Some key challenges before Dara Khosrowshahi (Khosrowshahi), the newly appointed CEO of Uber, were: fixing Uber’s culture and helping it evolve some of its own core cultural practices to foster growth and improve stakeholder relationships; working with a splintered board and ushering in corporate governance reforms; and regaining the confidence of its investors, employees, and customers.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the corporate governance practices at Uber
• Study the key aspects of Uber’s Corporate Culture
• Analyze the problems faced by Uber
• Explore the ways in which the company can address the issues.
• Suggest some future strategies that Khosrowshahi should follow to revive the fortunes of Uber.

Keywords

Corporate Crisis; Corporate Governance; Investor Relationship; Board Structure; Corporate Culture; Stakeholder Crisis