Uberpreneurship: to brand or not brand, that is the question

Abstract

Uber owner-operators have faced significant challenges in South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom and a multitude of other marketplaces. This can be attributed to the lack of licensing, fee structure, employment practices and disruption of the existing public transport sector. Consequences have included violence against owner-operators, legal challenges, parliamentary enquiries and proposed regulatory mechanisms. As a result, owner-operator drivers have faced a loss of income, danger to life and property, and therefore their livelihood. These consequences however present an opportunity for owner-operators to diversify to similar mobile applications and service providers such as Taxify. Branding traditionally holds significant value for any organisation, this can be witnessed in the significant marketing spend of established companies. However in this case, the lack of vehicle branding presents brand equity and opportunity to cross-subsidise owner-operator income. The lack of branding on Uber vehicles results in lack of formal attachment of owneroperators to the Uber brand from a marketing point of view, which triggers the question, can value be derived from not branding, rather than branding. This study aims to propose the creation of entrepreneurial opportunity for Uber owneroperators, by not branding. The study is qualitative in nature and makes use of a narrative review methodology. The study proposed a conceptual framework, derived from literature, illustrating how personal brand equity can be built by lack of branding. The value of the research lies in the identification of entrepreneurial opportunity by not branding. Owneroperators and application developers can utilise the conceptual model to pursue new business ventures and diversify income streams, while still remaining independent and relevant in the transport industry.