Posted: May 25th, 2022

The Hertz Car Rental company essay paper

Business CASE STUDY — HERTZ vs. ZIPCAR

The Hertz Car Rental company has been a dominant force in the market for decades. Recently, it has added a new service to its menu of services, arguably, one that was modeled very directly on the services introduced and provided by the Zipcar company. More specifically, Zipcar pioneered the practice in the rental car business of allowing customers to simply unlock and drive its vehicles remotely through the click of a few keys of their smart phones. The Zipcar business model is based on an annual membership fee (currently $60) that entitles customers to select and use the vehicle of their choice without the normal inconvenience of having to pick it up at the company’s office. Its vehicle use fees range between approximately $9.00 per hour to approximately $16.00 per hour. In 2008, Hertz introduced a very similar concept intended to compete directly against Zipcar, initially called “Connect” and since renamed “Hertz on Demand” last year.

Background

Zipcar currently dominates the market of on-demand rental cars, with approximately half a million paying members of its program. Meanwhile, Hertz is the unquestioned leader in the overall rental car market but currently has fewer than 100,000 paying program members sharing fewer than 700 vehicles deployed in its version of the on-demand system first introduced by Zipcar. Nevertheless, the sheer size and potential market power of Hertz presents a significant threat to Zipcar. In that regard, Hertz has nearly 400,000 vehicles in its rental fleet and has revealed its plan to convert all of them for compatibility with its Hertz on Demand program shortly.

In fact, the magnitude of the potential threat that Hertz represents to Zipcar is demonstrated by the recent increase in the volume of Zipcar stock shares held by short sellers, investors who hope to profit not from the growth and strength of the company but precisely on the expectation that the entire venture will ultimately fail. One important advantage that Zipcar enjoys over Hertz is that Hertz still relies on its established rental office locations where its customers must pick up and drop off their vehicles. The Hertz on Demand program does allow customers to avoid waiting in lines and dealing with customer service desks, but it does not do away with the problem of limited access based on their proximity to Hertz locations. By contrast, customer access to Zipcar vehicles does not depend on their proximity to company offices; that is because Zipcars are parked right on the street for customers to pick up much closer to where they live or work.

Responses to the Problem

Zipcar spent more than a decade developing a creative solution to circumvent the problem of reliance on established office locations in order to allow its customers to pick up their cars much more conveniently. Specifically, Zipcar has invested in securing more than 2,500 parking spots to enable its customers to pick up their cars right from their neighborhoods. Moreover, Zipcar has carefully employed demographic information and what it refers to as “street-level data” that incorporate population density, rate of advanced education, and percentage of car ownership within its target areas. This approach has allowed Zipcar to place its vehicles strategically to maximize their availability to the very consumers who are most likely to utilize its services in every city in which it operates.

Initially, Hertz actually considered making an offer to purchase the entire Zipcar enterprise. Instead, it opted to develop its own version of the same service since there are no proprietary rights associated with merely adapting existing consumer transactions to the smart phone medium. To increase consumer awareness of its Hertz on Demand program, the company is currently preparing an aggressive advertising campaign in major cities such as New York that incorporate online and print newspapers ads, billboards, and even New York City subway platforms. In principle, the Hertz approach is to emphasize the affordability of per-hour rentals instead of traditional rentals by the day and the convenience of making reservations and changes via their cell phones and without customer service representatives involved in the process.

Personal Opinion on the Issues

I have mixed feelings about the competition. On one hand, it is obvious that Hertz has simply copied a business model invented by Zipcar. On the other hand, I understand that just transitioning existing business transactions to the smart phone medium is not subject to any ownership rights and that this is obviously the eventual direction of virtually all conceivable consumer transactions that used to require face-to-face interaction with salesmen or customer service associates.

Therefore, while I recognize Hertz’s legal right to compete in this new market invented by Zipcar, I am simultaneously rooting for Zipcar to prevail in that competition.

The main lesson that I have learned from this case study is that even extremely novel and profitable business ideas may not necessarily provide a long-term benefit. That is simply a function of the fact that, to the extent the ideas on which profits depend are unable to be protected from being copied by competitors, they may have only limited (i.e. short-term) potential value.

Conclusion

The current competition between Hertz and Zipcar is somewhat representative of the inevitable trends in contemporary business, particularly those that emphasize customer service interactions to negotiate services, especially in connection with business models whose provided services do not actually require any direct involvement of company personnel. That trend is already widely evident in transactions such as gasoline purchases employing smart card technology and will likely become standard retail procedures even in ordinary stores quite soon. From a wider perspective, the competition between Hertz and Zipcar also illustrates that new and prosperous business concepts that rely substantially or exclusively on new ideas that cannot be subjected to proprietary ownership may not necessarily continue to reap their initial profitability if those concepts are readily emulated by other companies, especially by competitors with the benefit of tremendous market share dominance within the same industry.

Reference

Clothier, M. “In the Race for the Carless, Can Hertz Outrun Zipcar?” Bloomberg

Businessweek, (April 2-8, 2012).

---

Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply

Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?

Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.

Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?

• Plagiarism free papers
• Timely delivery
• Any deadline
• Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
• Subject-relevant academic writer
• Adherence to paper instructions
• Ability to tackle bulk assignments
• Reasonable prices
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Get superb grades consistently

 

Online Academic Help With Different Subjects

Literature

Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.

Finance

Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.

Computer science

Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!

Psychology

While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.

Engineering

Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Nursing

In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.

Sociology

Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.

Business

We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!

Statistics

We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.

Law

Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.

What discipline/subjects do you deal in?

We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.

Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?

Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.

What if I don’t like the paper?

There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.

Reasons being:

• When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
• We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.

In the event that you don’t like your paper:

• The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
• We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
• Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.

Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?

Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.

What if the paper is plagiarized?

We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.

When will I get my paper?

You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.

Will anyone find out that I used your services?

We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.

How our Assignment  Help Service Works

1.      Place an order

You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.

2.      Pay for the order

Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.

3.      Track the progress

You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.

4.      Download the paper

The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!

---