Grab, previously known as GrabTaxi, is one of the biggest startup company in

Southeast Asia. Grab was founded in 2012 by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling in Malaysia.

Recognized as MyTeksi in Malaysia, Grab already available in 30 cities across Southeast Asia.

Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, Harvard Business School graduates, coming

up with the idea to the panel of the 2011 Harvard Business Plan Competition, which placed

Figure 1.2 Grab Logo

Source: https://vulcanpost.com/519631/grabtaxi-is-now-known-as-grab/

them in second. Anthony Tan admitted that Grab started because the taxi system in Malaysia

was a mess and needed to do something about it (techinasia.com, 2015).

Initially, Grab works to help users find taxi in the area. As the name GrabTaxi,

Grab provided taxi hailing app to the market. It ensures safety and price issues that associated

with traditional taxis in the region. This application also supports to get fare estimation ahead

of time. In the beginning, to introduce Grab application to taxi drivers was a challenged. Many

drivers were not tech savvy and unwilling to try this new concept. Tan had to go from driver

to driver at the place where they hang out – at airports, shopping malls and gas stations.

However, as the application received more attention, the drivers come to Grab and sign up with

the service (techinasia.com, 2015).

For the funding, previously, Grab was funded by Tan family. In April 2014,

Grab announced a funding round led by Vertex Ventures which raised more than $10M. A

month later, Grab raised their fun by $15M led by GGV Capital. Still in the same year, in

October, Grab raised $65 series C funding round from Tiger Global, Vertex Ventures, GGV,

and Chinese travel giant Qunar. Then, in December 2014, it raised $250M series D funding

round from SoftBank. Among all the investment of startup company, Grab investment is one

of the largest on record in Southeast Asian startup history. In August 2015, Grab raised $350M
funding round from China Investment Corporation, Didi Kuaidi (techcrunch.com, 2016).

Since Malaysia, Grab started to expand in August 2013 to Philippines. In

October 2013, they expanded to Singapore and Thailand. Four months later, they launched in

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Grab entered Indonesia in June 2014 started in Jakarta. Meanwhile, in

July 2014, they launched in Cebu, Philippines (techcruch.com, 2016).

Grab offers a wide range of services. Started out with GrabTaxi, there is also

Grab Car, GrabBike, GrabHitch, GrabExpress and GrabFood. GrabCar is the budget and

premium options. It is firstly introduced in July 2014. GrabBike is the service by using

motorcycle, which is popular in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand to avoid traffic jam. It is

introduced in November 2014. Meanwhile, GrabHitch is the service where passengers who

going to the same direction with the drivers can hitch a ride which introduced in November

2015. GrabExpress is on-demand pick-up and delivery services and introduced in July 2015.

Grab newest service is GrabFood where Grab drivers can deliver food to Grab users (Grab.com,

2017).

In Indonesia, all of the services are available in Jakarta. However, it is not all

cities can experience it. For GrabCar, it is available in Jabodetabek, Denpasar and Bandung.

For GrabTaxi, it is available in Jabodetabek, Surabaya, Padang and Bandung. Temporarily,

GrabBike only available in Jabodetabek and Bandung.

Grab also tries to improve their service by built a Singapore R&D center in

April 2015. They also open an engineering center in Seattle in January 2016 (inquirer.net,

2016). So far, Grab has over 320,000 drivers across their network. The application itself has

over 17 million mobile downloads.

Nowadays, people are indulged with the convenience to reach something.

Things such as goods and services can be received in front of the doorstep. Even more in

obtaining information. The advance of technology has changed the way people live and
socialize with each other. Rajani and Chandio (2004) think that different aspects of society are

influenced by the internet.

According to Harsono and Suryana (2014), “the internet was introduced in

Indonesia in 1994 and the emergence of the Internet has changed conventional

communications media into digital communications media.” Internet users in Indonesia also

increase continuously. Based on survey result conducted by APJII (2016), internet penetration

in Indonesia is 51.8% (132.7 million) of the total Indonesian population (256.2 million). The

differences between 2014 to 2016 is quite high. APJII recorded that in 2014 Indonesia internet

penetration is 34.9% (88.1 million). A rise of nearly 50 million internet users. Increasing in the

internet shows that its connected the world than ever before. The internet has become the global

network that connecting billions of people and countless companies around the world (Manyika

et al., 2016).

Internet is not only changing the society, but also customer behavior. Belleghem

(2016) stated that mobile device perhaps the main driver on the changing of customer behavior.

It is because many people relying on smartphones and other smart devices. In recent years,

mobile device consumption has become wide spread and continues to grow significantly (Sadi

and Noordin, 2011). The market of mobile cellular is also the fastest growing

telecommunication market based on its subscriber numbers and popularity (Sadi and Noordin,

2011). In Indonesia, smartphone penetration shows rising to 35% in the first half of 2016 as

cheap 4G smartphones ruled (thejakartapost.com, 2016). Even though it is implied that

smartphone penetration rate still low among Southeast Asia countries. However, as the largest

economy growth in Southeast Asia, the number of smartphone users in Indonesia is expected

to grow (Indonesia-investments.com, 2016).

Furthermore, to complete the use of mobile devices, users download mobile

application. “Mobile apps are software applications developed for use on mobile devices such

as smartphones and tablets.” (Lim et al. 2014). In Indonesia, users spend a significant amount

of time in messaging, social and then gaming (blog.gfk.com, 2015). Three of five most popular

mobile apps in Indonesia are messaging apps (emarketer.com, 2016) which are BBM,

WhatsApp and Line.

Besides social media, online transportation application is also booming. The

ease of use of this apps help in our daily life. There are three main online transportation

companies in Indonesia, which is Go-Jek, Grab and Uber. These three become the biggest in

Indonesia as its gain substantial amount of investment to enlarge the service. Go-Jek as

Indonesia’s own online transportation company, raised $500 million investment in August

2016 (techinasia.com, 2017). Where Grab investing $700 million in Indonesia as Indonesia

become their biggest market (ft.com, 2017). Meanwhile, Uber already raised $3.5 billion. Uber

branch itself is reaching 69 countries in all over the world which makes them become one of

the biggest and most popular online transportation in the world. Besides, another reason is that

the three of them already spread out in many cities in Indonesia, not only in main city like

JABODETABEK, Bandung and Surabaya. Their reaching out their service to serve many

customers in Indonesia. Therefore, with the size of the companies, author undertaken as object

of this study. Author also chose three online transportation companies to avoid subjectivity and

thus, this research can be applied in the industry of online transportation.

Moreover, the emergence of online transportation started in Jakarta as it

constantly suffers traffic jam, online transportation draws attention. The fee where its relatively

cheaper than conventional taxi become one of the reason. To compare the fee between 7

conventional taxi and online transportation services, conventional taxi is a little bit pricier. For

conventional taxi, the base rate is Rp 7,500 with Rp 4,000 as the rate per km. Conventional

taxis also charge Rp 700 for rate per minute. Minimum rate for each conventional taxi is
different (even though it is almostsimilar) but from a source it is Rp 40,000 and the cancellation

fee is Rp 15,000. Then, for Uber the base rate is Rp 3,000 with Rp 2,000 as the rate per km.

Uber charges Rp 300 for rate per minute, minimum rate is Rp 3,000 and cancellation fee is Rp

30,000. Meanwhile, for Grab the base rate is Rp 2,500 with Rp 3,500 as the rate per km.

Minimum rate is Rp 10,000 and there is no rate per minute and cancellation fee for Grab. As

for Go-Car, there is no base rate, rate per minute and cancellation fee. However, Go-Car

charges Rp 10,000 for minimum rate and Rp 3,500 for rate per km. Shown below on table 1.1

the price comparison between conventional taxi and online transportation services. GrabCar are
classified as new modes of transportation under the Transport Network Company (TNC) here
developed by other countries and been introduced recently in the Philippines which primarily
competes on taxi services. Throughout the past years, taxi monopolizes the use of private cars as
public transport. The government never fails to regulate their service, but taxi operators often have
poor initiative in improving the quality of their service. Having a direct competitor for taxis will give
alternative and options for commuters. B. Uber Uber is a German word which means: ultimate, above
all, the best, top, something that nothing is better than. Uber Technologies Inc. was founded on
March 2009 as “UberCab” UP National Center for Transportation Studies Foundation, Inc.

by Travis Kalanick, and Garrett Camp as an American company headquartered in San Francisco,
California. After the beta launched in the summer of 2010, it was officially launched in San
Francisco in 2011. They also changed its named from UberCab to Uber that year. Each month
after, it expanded into different cities.

Chapter III

Methods of Study and sources of Data

In this study, the researcher will find some informations namely: (1) Total Number Units of Grab
Transportations Operating in Metro Manila; (2) Fare Computation for Tricycle Grab; (3) Tricycle Grab
Meter Calibration; (4) Vehicle Requirements by LTFRB; (5)Possible Limitations of Tricycle Grab (Area);
(6) Franchise Fee (Tricycle Grab); and (7) Other relevant data regarding Taxi Grab. Also, the researcher
requested some data to Grab to support the study. Some of the data requested were: (8) Total
Number of Driver who agree with the Tricycle grab (9) Number of Commuters who did and didn’t
agree with the Tricycle Grab .The researcher will not only rely on them. An online survey and
questionnaire for the riders of Tricycle and an online survey for the future operators of Tricycle Grab
will be conducted. This data from online survey will be important as the actual insight of the
respondent (riders and operators) will be captured and won’t be bias. The methodology used in
gathering data on As the data from Some Todas In Tarlac, Tricycle Grab is useful to the study, the
researcher will not only rely on them. An online survey for the riders of Tricycle Grab and an online
survey for the operators of Tricycle Grab will be conducted. This data from online survey will be
important as the actual insight of the respondent (riders and operators) will be captured and won’t
be bias. The methodology used in gathering data on

Car-sharing; Where and How It Succeeds, 2005 by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TRCP)
was found to be useful and related to this survey. As much as possible, the researcher wants to have
as many respondents for the Online Survey for the riders of Grab but due to some constrains the
number of users is unknown, relative percent of Tricycle grabusers is sufficient in the performance of
the survey. The researcher will use sampling for the right number of respondents.

A. Procedure in Gathering Data (Online Survey/Questionnaire)

1) Commuters & Tricycle Grab Users Survey (Web-Based Survey/Questionnaire). This
will determine the ratio of possible users between the modes of transportation: Conventional
Tricycle Grab. Demographics of respondents, ride experience, problems encountered, trip
purpose, quality of service, perception on Tricycle Grab and etc. There will be an option
for the riders to participate in my Travel Diary Performance Indicator Survey
2) Sampling Size for Commuters & Tricycle Grab Users Survey (Riders
As the number of users of Tricycle Grab is unknown and hard to determine for now, the
researcher tries to have as many as possible respondents online through the help of the
Messenger Group Chat

RESEARCH DESIGN
In this research study the descriptive method was utilized. According to Marshall & Rossman
(2010) a researcher can adopt three different kinds of research methods namely exploratory,
descriptive and causal research. The researcher in this case should adopt the descriptive
research method. Ritchie et al. (2013) opined that by using the descriptive method the
researcher will be able to observe a large mass of target population and make required
conclusions about the variables. The researcher by using descriptive research can effectively
design a pre-structured questionnaire with both open ended and closed ended questions. The
information collected from the responses of can be statistically presented in this type of
research method for the easy interpretation of the report users. Since the researcher is trying to
analyze the customer opinion, attitude, behavior and satisfaction level in relation to services and
products hence the researcher should effectively use the descriptive method in order to
statically analyze the data.

Selection of respondents

This study was conducted at Tarlac City specifically on Todas in every barangay and random
commuters . All of these participants were selected through random sampling. This sampling
method is conducted where each member of a population has an equal opportunity to become
partof the sample. As all members of the population have an equal chance of becoming a
research participant, this is said to be the most efficient sampling procedure. In order to conduct
this sampling strategy, the researcher defined the population first, listed down all the members
of the population, and then selected members to make the sample. For this purpose, a self-
administered survey questionnaire in Likert format was given to the respondents to answer.. No
inclusion criteria were applied for the individual applicants;hence, all were made part of the
population. However, due to time and budget constraints, the researcher opted for a smaller
sample size.

Research Instrument

The researcher designs a self-administered questionnaire for the data gathering process to get
and quantitative data. The primary aim of the questionnaire is to determine the strategy used
by PWU students to determine the level of acceptability of tricycle grab in Tarlac city. This
research will use a mixture of closed questions and more open comments in the questionnaire.
A closed question is one that has pre-coded answers. The simplest is the dichotomous question
to which the respondent must answer yes or no. Through closed questions, the researcher will
be able to limit responses that are within the scope of this study and this study, the survey-
questionnaire instruments were used achieve the main objective of the study.

Research Procedure

The researcher self-administered the questionnaire was distributed to the selected unknown
drivers and commuters. In general, the answers of the respondents was evaluated for this study
in order to determine whether the tricycle grab is accepted or not. The questionnaire was
structured in such a way that respondents will be able to answer it easily. Thus, the set of
questionnaire was structured using the Likert format with a five-point response scale. A Likert
Scale is arating scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or
disagreement to a statement. In this type of questionnaire, the respondents were given five
response choices. These options served as the quantification of the participants' agreement or
disagreement on each question item.

Statistical Treatment
The study utilized first hand data which comes from the chosen respondents who answered the
survey-questionnaires given to them. Firsthand data are those that come from the respondents
who have been surveyed prior to the research. The study also utilized secondary data.
Secondary data include raw data and published summaries, as well as both quantitative and
qualitative data. Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill (2003) deduced that secondary data fall into three
main subgroups—documentary data, survey-based data, and those compiled from different
sources. With this particular study, the researcher utilized documentary secondary data (in the
form of articles from books, journals, magazines, and newspapers) that are generally about the
marketing strategies and customer satisfactions as well as relevant literatures and survey-based
data in order to meet the objectives of this study. In order to analyze the data gathered from
the survey, the weighted mean for each question item was computed. Weighted mean is the
average wherein every quantity to be averaged has a corresponding weight. These weights
represent the significance of each quantity to the average. To compute for the weighted mean,
each value must be multiplied by its weight. Products should then be added to obtain the total
value. The total weight should also be computed by adding all the weights. The total value is
then divided by the total weight.