{"id":11049,"date":"2020-03-15T18:24:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T22:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/gojek-a-motortaxi-for-every-need\/"},"modified":"2020-03-15T18:24:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T22:24:48","slug":"gojek-a-motortaxi-for-every-need","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/gojek-a-motortaxi-for-every-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Gojek \u2013 A Motortaxi for Every Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Indonesian unicorn Gojek has successfully managed to become much more than the \u201cUber of Indonesia\u201d by making sacrifices early towards its goal of becoming a \u201cSuper App\u201d, a platform for a multitude of services modeled after the Chinese WeChat platform.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While widely successful and becoming a crucial element of daily life, culture and national pride in its home market, Gojek failed in expanding to other markets where it didn\u2019t have the opportunity and timing to succeed in multiple services at once.<\/span><\/p>\n

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History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gojek was started in 2010 by HBS alumnus\u00a0Nadiem Makarim as a platform for two-wheeled motorbike taxis (Indonesian \u201cOjek\u201d), which were common for many years. While the service operated as a phone line for the first years, it launched its app in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the app launch, the service exploded in popularity within the country. Gojek became the first Indonesian Unicorn, and Makarim a national celebrity. More than one million Indonesian riders service the various services, which include GoFood, the largest food delivery outside China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Grab followed Gojek\u2019s SuperApp model, the two companies started an intense competition, which saw Grab a<\/span>cquisition of the regional Uber operations, massive price wars, and Gojek\u2019s geographical expansion into Grab territory in Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The companies also launched competing online wallets, and Gojek\u2019s GoPay and Grab-invested Ovo soon offered highly visible discounts and cashbacks for offline purchases all across the country. As payments are seen as the must-win market, Gojek tried to reinvent itself as a Fintech company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, Founder Makarim left the company to join the cabinet of recently reelected President Jokowi.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Product\"\"<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Other than what were oftentimes named as global and regional peers – Uber and Grab – Gojek was designed as a multi-service platform from day one. When opening the app, it would not open to a map-view to select pick-up location, but rather to a screen prompting the user to select one of up to 18 services, which include:<\/span><\/p>\n