. ILLUSTRATION .. . CAPSULE 9.1 Ethical Violations at Uber and their Consequences . . .... . . . ... The peer-to-peer ridesharing company Uber has been credited with transforming the transportation indus- UBER try, upending the taxi market, and changing the way consumers travel from place to place. But its lack of attention to ethics has resulted in numerous scandals, a tarnished reputation, a loss of market share to rival com- panies, and the ouster of its co-founder Travis Kalanick Arriving from his position as the company's CEO. The ethical Here lapses for which Uber has been criticized include the following: . Sexual harassment and a toxic workplace culture. In June 2017, Uber fired over 20 employees as a result of an investigation that uncovered widespread sexual harass- ment that had been going on for years at the company. TY Lim/Shutterstock Female employees who had reported incidents of sexual harassment were subjected to retaliation by their man- when a pedestrian was tragically struck and killed by one agers, and reports of the incidents to senior executives of its self-driving vehicles in 2018. esulted in inaction. Unfair competitive practices. When nascent competi- . Price gouging during crises. During emergency situ- tor Gett launched in New York City, Uber employees ations such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2017 London ordered and cancelled hundreds of rides to waste driv- Bridge attack, Uber added high surcharges to the cost er's time and then offered the drivers cash to drop Gett of their services. This drew much censure, particularly and join Uber. Uber has been accused of employing simi- since its competitors offered free or reduced cost rides lar practices against Lyft. during those same times. . Data breaches and violations of user privacy. Since The ethical violations at Uber have not been without 2014, the names, email addresses, and license informa- economic consequence. They contributed to a significant tion of over 700,000 drivers and the personal informa- market share loss to Lyft, Uber's closest competitor in the tion of over 65 million users have been disclosed as a United States. In January 2017, when Uber was thought result of data breaches. Moreover, in 2016 the company to have gouged its prices during protests against legisla- paid a hacker $100,000 in ransom to prevent the dissem- tion banning immigrants from specific countries, its mar- nation of personal driver and user data that had been ket share dropped 5 percentage points in a week. While breached, but it failed to publicly disclose the situation Uber's ethical dilemmas are not the sole contributor to for over six months. yft's increase in market share and expansion rate, the . Inadequate attention to consumer safety. Substandard negative perceptions of Uber's brand from its unethical vetting practices at Uber came to light after one of its actions has afforded its competitors significant opportu drivers was arrested as the primary suspect in a mass ities for brand and market share growth. And without a shooting in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and after a series of real change in Uber's culture and corporate governance reports alleging sexual assault and misconduct by its practices, there is a strong likelihood that ethical scan- drivers. Uber's concern for safety was further questioned dals involving Uber will continue to surface. Note: Developed with Alen A. Amini. Sources: https://www.recode.net/2017/8/31/16227670/uber-lyft-market-share-deleteuber-decline-users; https://www.inc.com/ associated-press/lyft-thrives-while-rival-uber-tries-to-stabilize-regain-control-2017.html; https://www.entrepreneur.com/ article/300789. to acc $2 Far beca the ish b meet 274