Urban Company: Partners Versus Employees

Urban Company (UC) was a digital labour platform that connected consumers with service providers (referred to as “partners” by UC) for home services such as plumbing, painting, and beauty and salon services. UC was ranked as the top digital platform company in India in the Fairwork India Ratings in 2020, but on October 10, 2021, the company met with a protest by its women partners from the beauty and salon segment. Two months later, on December 20, it faced another protest from its partners for unfair work practices. UC had shown a stellar performance in 2020, registering a 146 per cent increase in its revenue. However, the company was unprofitable, and its losses inflated further in 2021. Accommodating the partners’ demands might deteriorate the company’s bottom line further and might adversely impact the success of its initial public offering, planned for 2023. Additionally, continued unrest by the women partners might tarnish the company’s image, adversely affecting its rating in Fairwork’s annual survey. There was also a possibility that the government might impose stricter norms for the functioning of digital platforms. What should the company do to appease the protesters while also protecting its bottom line?

Instructors can use this case in an undergraduate- or graduate-level management program. It is relevant for business environment and strategy courses comprising topics that cover the non-market environment and non-market strategies. The case exhibits the importance of analyzing the non-market environment for business decisions. Discussion of this case will enable students to formulate market and non-market strategies to combat the challenges emerging in the non-market environment of a business organization. At the same time, it will empower students to understand the process of selecting the best possible strategy for a company to address the challenges coming from the non-market environment.<br><br>After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Explain the (IA)3 framework proposed by David Bach to analyze the non-market environment of a business.</li><li>Ascertain the strategies adopted by certain actors to challenge the unfair practices of a business organization.</li><li>Formulate market and non-market strategies to combat the challenges emerging in the non-market environment of a business organization.</li><li>Select the strategy that addresses the business challenges and gives the best result from the perspective of a business organization’s stakeholders.</li><li>Outline the partners-versus-employees debate, and ascertain the implications of a company’s functioning on the status of its workers.</li></ul>

• digital platform
• platform economy
• gig economy
• peer-to-peer
• platform workers
• non-market environment
• non-market strategy
• (IA)3 framework
• protest
• unfair work practices
• strategy
• economics
• public policy