Think about what Uber is trying to do and how its entry would affect people in the city of Portland.

1. This article clearly illustrates one of the frameworks that can be used to describe the relationship between business and society. Which framework is that? What evidence from the article supports your answer?

2. The article cites several instances indicating that Uber did not have a reputation for trustworthiness in Portland. What were these instances and or each: what about it leads to the conclusion that Uber is not trustworthy?

3. A fundamental issue of contention between the city of Portland and Uber is one of framing.

What is the disagreement about? How does the city of Portland frame the situation? How does Uber frame the situation?

4. What is the economic environment of business in Portland at the time of the article and how does that affect Uber’s planning and decision-making?

5. What is the technological environment of business in Portland at the time of the article and how does that affect Uber’s planning and decision-making?

6. What is the legal/political environment of business in Portland at the time of the article and how does that affect Uber’s planning and decision-making?

7. What is the environmental/sustainability environment of business in Portland at the time of the article and how does that affect Uber’s planning and decision-making?

Memo

8. The article provides several examples of Uber attempting to use grassroots lobbying? What are

those examples? How effective to you think they were in persuading city legislators? Why do

you say that?

9. Was the ice-cream stunt ethical? Why do you say this?

10. Was it ethical for Uber to use the database from the ice-cream delivery stunt to text individuals

to petition politicians to allow Uber’s luxury car service? Why do you say this?

11. Was it ethical for Uber to launch its business in Portland despite the city explicitly telling them to

hold off? Why do you say this?

12. Was it ethical for Uber to continually pressure the city government to put its interests ahead of

all other responsibilities the city government had? Why do you say this?

13. Was it ethical for Uber to overload the city council with so much data (page 6 in pdf) that the

city did not have time to uncover holes in their report like the studies excluded poor

neighborhoods; the drivers’ earnings estimate did not include the cost of gas and insurance,

etc.? Why do you say this?

14. Was it ethical for aides of city hall legislators to attend the second launch party? Why do you say

this?

15. Were there any other instances of unethical or questionable behavior by either Uber or

members of the city government? If so, describe each of them.

16. Was Uber’s lobbying effort in Portland overkill or not? Why do you say this?

17. Was it fair to the taxi cab drivers and black-car drivers to allow Uber the 120-day trial period or

not? Why do you say this?

18. Would it be a bribe or not if Uber were to grant the city $5 million to address its pothole issues?

Why do you say this?

19. There are many stakeholders for this particular issue. Identify four (4) stakeholders who are NOT

a. shareholders/investors/venture capitalists

b. Uber employees

c. Potential users/customers for Uber services

d. Potential drivers for Uber

e. ‘The community’

f. ‘City government’

These stakeholders may not have been identified in the article but can be inferred logically by

carefully thinking about how Uber and its entry would affect people in the city of Portland.

For each stakeholder named, identify its key concern about Uber entering the Portland market.

Memo 4 Instructions Page 3 of 3

20. Ethical Decision Making

a. If Uber enters the Portland market, who will be hurt – and by how much and how long?

b. Can the person(s)/group(s) harmed recover from this or not? If yes, how long would it

take? At what cost?

c. If Uber enters the Portland market, who will benefit and by how much and how long?

d. Katz & Green (page 67): “The overall size of the benefit needs to be weighed against the

number who would benefit and balanced against the costs of harm done to others by

the solution.”

e. Regarding entering the Portland market, what does Uber owe to others?

f. Regarding entering the Portland market, what do others owe Uber?

g. If Uber had decided to use the theory of justice, specifically the distributive dimension

which requires that the benefits and burdens Portland will experience be fairly shared,

what would Uber have done to enter the Portland market in a fair way?

21. If Uber had decided to behave in a way that reflecting Conscious Capitalism, what would it have

done to crate value for all stakeholders? Why do you say this?