Stakeholders are people or groups who can affect o Essays

Stakeholders are people or groups who can affect o Essays Stakeholders are people or groups who can affect or are affected by the achievement of an organisations objectives ; groups vital to the success and survival of the organisation (Fontaine, Haarman and Schmid, 2006) . This essay voices the concerns of Uber drivers regarding the biased company policies towards them . I will further use the Utilitarian theory and a cost benefit analysis to support my argument. One of Uber ' s key stakeholders are its shareholders. Shareholders are peopl e or groups that own shares in the company. Uber ' s key shareholders include Gold man Sachs, Microsoft and Travis Kalanick. Shareholders aim to cut costs and maximise short and lo ng run profits to get the highest possible return on their investment. They may also attend annual general meetings where they can appoint directors and managers to run the business in the upcoming year. Another key group of stakeh olders are competitors. Ubers main competitors a re Taxify, Lyft and limsy cabs. Uber heavily invest money and their workforce to introduce new services and improve existing ones , trying to increase their share of the market. Similarly, its competitors' decisions are also influenced by Ubers actions as they try to provide similar services such as ride sharing and by pricing their services in line with or below those of Uber. Drivers are arguably on e of the most important group of Ubers stakeho lders; revenue generators of the company. Uber send fares to th eir drivers through their app and d rivers get to keep seventy five percent of every fare they complete. Good performance of their drivers is vitally important for Uber as a good Uber ride will make passengers feel safe r and more comfortable in us ing Uber on a regular basis, ultimately creating brand loyalty . However , the massive influx of new drivers gives Uber drivers very little say against the managements decisions and the company 's policies . Uber drivers are concerned about the consistent decrease in their earnings. Uber have continuously slashed fares and hired more drivers to get an edge over their competitors. In addition, they have increased their cut from 20 to 25% per fare, transferring all the burden on to drivers (Huet, 2015) . Edward Freeman believed that the success of a firm is dependent on the synergy between all of its stakeholders. Drivers being Uber's revenue generators' contribute a significant amount in the achievement of Uber's goals therefore their needs should be given equal importance by the management as those of shareholders when setting out company policies. In an attempt to increase competitiveness, Uber have employed a disproportionately high number of drivers causing the supply of drivers to outnumber the demand for Uber taxis (Knowles, 2015) . Consequently, drivers who used to work for fifty hours a week now have to work up to one hundred and twenty hours a week especially d uring surge pricing times in hope to get better fares. This can further be extended to the network stakeholder model because not only do drivers' actions affect Uber, they also affect the performance of other stakeholders (Fontaine et al, 2006) . One passenger, Emma Davey, suffered a life-threatening injury as a result of her Uber driver falling asleep behind the wheel because of working for long hours (Randhawa, 2015) . This mishap would not have happened in the first place if Uber considered their drivers' concerns whilst deciding their policies. Unfortunately, an incompatible stakeholder relationship with their managers won't affect Uber because a few drivers refusing to work will not disrupt Ubers taxi services however it will affect drivers as they will end up losing their job. D espite the court case of Aslam, Farrer and others v Uber where the judge deemed all drivers as employees, Uber treat their drivers as independent contractors (Ferris , 2017: 2) . Drivers must have their own car, pay for fuel, insurance and maintenance. By doing so, Uber disregard the principle of corporate legitimacy . T he company is managed solely to benefit its shareholders and d rivers are no longer protected against the company through a legally binding contract , resulting in them being deprived of essential rights