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Business

Abstract (300 words maximum)

Mobike’s Bike-Share Battle in India: An International Marketing Case Study

Amber Cranston, Savannah Rubio, Sam Kroll, Austin Tudor, Eric Jacobs, Evan Coulter, and Miguel Pereira

Abstract

Mobike, the world’s first cashless and station-free bicycle service, launched in Shanghai in 2016 and now operates in over 19 countries including India (Khanna, 2017). Growing urbanization has led to increasing traffic congestion and pollution in most large cities around the world. Recently, there have been increasing calls for more sustainable transportation methods and one solution that is becoming popular is bike-sharing. The global bike ride-sharing market is projected to be worth around $8.6 billion in the next year with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6.5% over the next 5 years (Wagner, 2018). Mobike aims to reduce congestion, create a greener environment, solve short-distance connectivity problems, and improve the quality of life for everyone with efficient and inexpensive alternative transportation methods. Mobike entered India in 2018, a seemingly attractive market given the low ownership of vehicles and the many transportation and traffic problems. With 30% of India’s 1.2 billion population living in dense urban areas, mass amounts of traffic congestion is costing cities roughly $22 billion a year (Tandon, 2018). Despite the need for short and mid-distance mobility within urban areas in India, Mobike is facing major challenges such as heavy competition, sustainability issues due to the littering of broken bike parts, government regulations, etc. Moreover, Indian consumers perceive biking to be for the poor (Chen, 2018). This case study examines the economic and cultural context of the bike share market in India to propose changes in Mobike’s marketing strategy to help it succeed.

Keywords: Bike ridesharing, India, Marketing Strategy, Sustainability, Connectivity, Transportation, Quality, Cashless, Station-free, Emerging Markets, International Marketing, Case Study.

Note: References available on request

Academic department under which the project should be listed

CCOB - Marketing & Professional Sales

Primary Investigator (PI) Name

Mona Sinha

Included in

Business Commons

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Mobike’s Bike-Share Battle in India

Mobike’s Bike-Share Battle in India: An International Marketing Case Study

Amber Cranston, Savannah Rubio, Sam Kroll, Austin Tudor, Eric Jacobs, Evan Coulter, and Miguel Pereira

Abstract

Mobike, the world’s first cashless and station-free bicycle service, launched in Shanghai in 2016 and now operates in over 19 countries including India (Khanna, 2017). Growing urbanization has led to increasing traffic congestion and pollution in most large cities around the world. Recently, there have been increasing calls for more sustainable transportation methods and one solution that is becoming popular is bike-sharing. The global bike ride-sharing market is projected to be worth around $8.6 billion in the next year with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 6.5% over the next 5 years (Wagner, 2018). Mobike aims to reduce congestion, create a greener environment, solve short-distance connectivity problems, and improve the quality of life for everyone with efficient and inexpensive alternative transportation methods. Mobike entered India in 2018, a seemingly attractive market given the low ownership of vehicles and the many transportation and traffic problems. With 30% of India’s 1.2 billion population living in dense urban areas, mass amounts of traffic congestion is costing cities roughly $22 billion a year (Tandon, 2018). Despite the need for short and mid-distance mobility within urban areas in India, Mobike is facing major challenges such as heavy competition, sustainability issues due to the littering of broken bike parts, government regulations, etc. Moreover, Indian consumers perceive biking to be for the poor (Chen, 2018). This case study examines the economic and cultural context of the bike share market in India to propose changes in Mobike’s marketing strategy to help it succeed.

Keywords: Bike ridesharing, India, Marketing Strategy, Sustainability, Connectivity, Transportation, Quality, Cashless, Station-free, Emerging Markets, International Marketing, Case Study.

Note: References available on request