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The perceptions of the various stakeholders are as follows:

(a) Customers: They feel that they are getting convenient services from the taxi aggregators using technology and at their finger tips but it is often seen that in many areas the taxis are not available in abundance. At this time, they impose ‘surge pricing’. This has generated a sense of mild animosity amongst the customers of Ola and Uber. The incidents of rape have also created a negative image. Women often hesitate to avail the services of Uber at night due to this reason.

(b)Employees: This particular category of stakeholders of the companies are those who are responsible for the smooth sailing of the day to day operations, co-ordination, software development and marketing plans. They believe that they are a part of a rising star and have full faith in the ability of themselves and the proposition of the company.

(c) Investors: They are an important class of stakeholders in the sense that the financial part is taken care by them and if profits are not evident, the support can be easily withdrawn. They seem to be sure regarding the future of this sector as huge returns have materialized. More and more investors are willing to put forth their funds in this business.

(d)Taxi drivers: For taxi drivers, this is a good opportunity to earn a regular sum of money facilitated by technology. Of course, a certain sum has to be given to the aggregators but overall, there has been a shift towards these aggregators. Of course, due to heavy competition the margins have been reduced and occasional strikes have been observed such as by Uber drivers in Hyderabad.

The taxi- aggregators have ethical responsibilities to all of their stakeholders. It is essential to evaluate it to analyze the scenario:

- Customers:

For any company that chooses to operate, customers are one of the essential stakeholders which approves their core values and purpose of existence. Ethical responsibility involves treating al the customers equally. One of the major ones, which always should have been considered granted, is safety. It is an essential factor in maintaining ethical standards of the company.

Customers have a responsibility to make sure that they evaluate the companies in a fair manner and not spread false rumours to harm the reputation of the companies.

- Investors: The taxi aggregators have contracts and clauses with their investors which often states that the company should not fund or be a part of another company which aims to or already competes with the company in question. In this case, we clearly see that Didi has violated the clause and now they have seemingly conflict of interests. Uber and Ola are clearly competitors.

- Employees:

The taxi aggregators have a clear responsibility to keeping their employees in the loop of what is happening in the market and the scenarios possible in the future. The plans should be transparent, the employee salaries, HR practices should be transparent and job descriptions should be clearly stated. No unfair means should be resorted to. Employees need to know that their management/CEO is supportive even in tough times.

On the other hand, employees have a duty to serve the company to their utmost and be faithful to it such as not divulging confidential information to outsiders.

- Taxi drivers:

Ola and Uber should ideally give a fair proportion of their earnings to the taxi drivers. The technological advanced applications may not be comforting for all drivers and so they should be educated.

The taxi drivers play an extremely important role. They uphold the integrity of the entire service sphere of the taxi aggregators. They should treat customers with respect, bill properly and abide by social norms. Any wrong doing on their part which affect all three bottom lines.

EVALUATION OF THE CURRENT SCENARIO IN UPHOLDING THE ETHICAL DUTIES:

- Taxi Drivers: They do not have much say in matters as they are usually juggled between the aggregators and the state authorities. The only way that they can express themselves is by strikes and so that is what is happening these days. Due to the licensing rules by the state government there have been strikes and blockages.

Often drivers cancel the trips because they don’t want to go to a specific place or want a favour to book another trip to somewhere just because they need to go there. Such deeds erode the image created by the company.

- Investors: The case in point is regarding the merger of Didi and Uber in China clearly says that Uber now has 20% share in Didi. Didi is an investor of Ola.This is clearly a conflict of interest and the ethical clause has been violated by Didi and now it is clearly confusing for all the other investors, employees, and the other stakeholders.

- Customers and employees have not yet broken any ethical clauses. The employees have joined the companies on their own wish. Customers give positive or negative reviews based on their experience and this is their right.

BENEFITS FOR TAXI AGGREGATORS AND HIGHER SOCIAL BENEFITS BY ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES:

- Clean Image: If Ola and Uber have ethical methods of handling business, customer loyalty will be higher because of the good reputation that it would develop over time.

- Recruitment: Well-qualified graduates would be more than happy to join Ola and Uber if they build their employee HR practices in a sound manner.

- Investment: The venture capitalists will be eager to pour their money into the taxi aggregators knowing well that ethics holds one in good stead for long term returns.

- Social cause: Lastly, and most importantly, we must realize that the aim of a company is not to make profits but to have core values and a core purpose of existence, with an envisioned future.

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