Company Tesla Inc.

The Vision Statement is the dream road map of what a company desires to become and how it wishes to be known. Tesla Inc's Vision Statement was crafted by Elon Musk the current CEO and the main "driving force" behind this corporation. The 2018 Vision Statement reads, "Create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world's transition to electric vehicles." (Musk, 2018) This Vision Statement may be found at https://www.tesla.com/about. While this statement only acknowledges the automotive section of Tesla Inc. there is another subsidiary called Solar City (energy production and energy storage). The Solar City website https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/TSLA.O brings you back to the original Tesla Inc. Vision Statement. Space X, Open AI, and The Boring Company do not show a connection to the Tesla Inc. other than its founder and CEO Elon Musk. All 3 is a privately-owned company and not publicly traded as is its parent company Tesla Inc.

The Mission Statement is why a company exists and may change over time. Tesla Inc.'s 2018 mission statement "is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy." (Musk, 2018)

This Mission Statement may also be found at https://www.tesla.com/about.

The Solar City website https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/TSLA.O brings you back to the original Tesla Inc. Mission Statement.

Space X, Open AI, and The Boring Company do not have a Mission Statement linked to Tesla Inc. and thus will not be a further part of this report.

Integration Strategies

• Forward Integration
• Seeking State and Federal Regulatory Permissions to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states and globally.
• Expanding the number of dealerships owned by Tesla Inc.
• Backward Integration
• Building more of the batteries and parts that go into the Tesla autos rather than purchasing from outside sources.

Intensive Strategies

• Market Penetration Strategy
• Pursuing new avenues for auto sales through new State and Federal Laws, opening global dealerships, an increased on-line sales campaign, and through Social Media campaigns.
• Market Development
• Continued R&D to create and improve software efficiency and lower failure rates.
• Product Development
• To continue to create and build new products for all facets of the corporation.

Defensive Strategies

• Retrenchment
• Further cost-reducing measures through greater buying power over suppliers and advancing technology to increase sales viability to more of the general consumer population.

Descriptive Summary of Business by Functional Area

Management

The Management Areas includes the following sub-areas:

• Planning – this functional area involves identifying and then mapping out a course of action(s) that serve to lead the company to achievement(s) and successes).
• Organizing – this functional area serves to organize all necessary resources to achieve those successes and achievements. This includes human resources, financial resources, and material resources.
• Motivating – this functional area involves the direction of personnel and resources so that actions and events take place where and when they should to lead to successes and achievements.
• Staffing – this functional area involves the identification of employment positions and needs to prevent understaffing/overstaffing and to ensure that the correct talent is hired for these positions. This area not only deals with staffing needs but also, training, pay scales, performance management, and talent/professional training.
• Controlling – this functional area concerns the standards/metrics put into place to monitor, enhance and maintain acceptable levels of these metrics for all areas of the company.

Organizational Culture

An organizational culture is the definition of the organization's beliefs, values and customs. This is the embodiment of all that comprises the organization. Tesla began as a start-up automotive manufacturer after the failed General Motors electric vehicle venture (Dudovskiy, 2018). The organizational culture is described as:

• Ambitiously innovative – meaning constant innovation and flexibility are used as a strategy.
• Having an adherence to the "first principle" – which means that one should dig as deep as possible to understand when dealing with problems.
• As lacking bureaucratic tape - meaning that the Chain of Command may be broken at any time if doing so would speed up (Dudovskiy, 2018)

The culture is very competitive in nature where every employee is challenged to find new and innovative solutions to problems such as environmental issues and alternative energy sources. To this end these following characteristics are essential in this culture:

• Move fast – to increase Tesla's competitive advantage
• Do the Impossible – to think outside the box for innovative solutions
• Constantly Innovate – brings rewards to those who constantly innovate
• Reason from "First Principles" – there is always a solution if you dig deep enough
• Think Like Owners – think as an owner of the business would think
• We are ALL IN – team work minimizes conflicts and aids in their competitive edge (Meyer, 2018)

This type of culture is not for everyone. The fast pace work and the need for constant innovation can be too stressful for some to work under those conditions.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Tesla Inc.'s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy focuses on the ecological ramifications of an ever-increasing carbon footprint and its effects on all stakeholders (the world). This strategy strives to minimize the carbon footprint and yet maintain as high a stakeholder benefit as possible. Sustainable environmentally sound energy production and use are top concerns for the company and Tesla Inc. focuses on the stakeholders in this order: ??? Environment – this is the focus of the company and its Mission/Vision Statement. Without protecting the environment first there would be no need for all other stakeholders. To this end Tesla Inc. continues their R&D at a quick pace to continue to find ways to minimize future damage due to an increasing global carbon footprint while providing global benefits stemming from their ecologically friendly and sustainable energy production, storage, and use.

Communities in the local, regional, national and global sense - Communities are the backbone for any business and Tesla Inc. recognizes that supporting them is central to all current and future successes. To this end Tesla Inc. has installed Charging Stations in numerous communities to provide the clean energy needed to fulfill communities needs and desires.

Consumers – Consumers globally benefit from the R&D done at Tesla Inc. Not only does the company provide its products at a continuously improving pace and price but also in the fact that Tesla himself has allowed his patents to be used by other businesses in order to bolster the sustainable alternative energy sector of businesses.

Employees – Employees are affected by all corporate strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility as a strategy is no less important. Without the assistance of present and future talent within this company there would be no further benefits or improvements for any stakeholders. To this end, Tesla Inc. believes that its employees should benefit from further training programs, skills development, and leadership development training.

Shareholders – Shareholders are usually first when it comes to the focus on benefits and profitability. However, Tesla Inc. shareholders for the most part believe in what the company is striving to achieve and have waited (if not always patiently) for the company to turn a profit. The Quarter ending August 2018 is the first such quarter where a profit has been achieved. This has occurred on the schedule set by Tesla to achieve profitability. The fact that a 20% profit on all vehicles sold is considerable since no other automotive manufacturer has achieved this level of profitability.

Governments in the local, state, national and global sense – Government benefit stems more from regulatory compliance and lobbying, as well as tax incentives/payments. Tesla Inc. continues to push for further climate change actions and laws that will benefit the environment and continue through the various levels. It is a circle of focus and actions that is constantly in motion for the benefit of all global stakeholders

HR

Talent is sought out – the requirements of many positions to consistently "think outside the box" has the effect of "burn-out" and "failure to produce futuristic and viable ideas" that cause a high turn-over in employees both in lower and upper positions.

Talent is trained to adapt to the fast pace of Tesla to minimize stress levels – the training appears to be inadequate for the stress caused by the continuous Federal/SEC scrutiny causing significant turn-over of senior level employees (Matousek, Tesla's head of HR has resigned, 2018).

Executive Level HR losses (Matousek, Key executives leave, 2018)

b. Marketing (with a focus on customer analysis and the 4P's)

Customer Analysis is the center of each of the Marketing Mix pieces for Tesla Inc.

Price – The value-added pieces to the price puzzle are lower cost (to free) charging of the vehicles, excellent customer service in company owned service stations, consumer blogs/Q&A, and the ever-evolving designs that lower the cost of production in the area of batteries to the final cost of the car. As in the case of the Chinese tariff situation Tesla initially raised the cost of the Model S and Model X (to make up for the higher import costs) and then later reduced the price to increase sales in a nation known for its love of electric vehicles (China has some of the worst air pollution statistics in the world) (Kearns, Dormido, & McDonald, 2018).

Product – Tesla Inc.'s products include: automobiles, electric vehicle powertrain components, solar energy, and energy storage/batteries. Consumers today look for alternative clean energy sources for daily use to help their desire to lower their carbon footprints. The Model S Sedan is currently the most popular electric vehicle on the market. Consumers choose this model for its safety record (crash test results), long battery life/long mileage use between charging, comfort and appearance. Tesla Inc. also produces semi-trucks that are also electric vehicles for commercial use. Solar City's energy production (solar panels and energy storage units/facilities continue the clean energy focus that consumers want. The batteries serve both residential and commercial business consumers looking for affordable clean energy as well. The electric vehicle powertrain components are purchased by other automotive manufacturers for use in their electric vehicle models. Consumers choose to be a part of the clean energy movement that Tesla Inc. embodies.

Promotion – Elon Musk is the promoter and marketing advertisement in person. He is known and represents the brand that draws consumers into the dealerships. He embodies the clean energy movement that draws consumers who desire to clean up the environment and save the world from global warming, waste and ignorance. He is popular with consumers around the globe despite seemingly "strange" tweets and interviews.

Place – Tesla Inc. sells their vehicles in Tesla owned dealerships and through the Tesla Website. Tesla services their vehicles through Tesla owned service centers providing continued customer care services after purchase. In addition, Tesla has built charging stations specifically to promote the ease of recharging your vehicle. The cost is lower to charge your Tesla than to put gasoline into a conventional vehicle (Inc., 2018). Consumers desire the lower cost of a "fill-up" when they do have to pay. This link will show you the locations of Tesla Supercharger stations nationally and globally- https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&search=North%20America&bounds=74.44363104187154%2C27.565473358652866%2C-9.816721929895552%2C111.76469210865287&filters=supercharger&zoom=3

c. Operations & Production (refer to Table 4-8 for basic O/P functions)

Production issues have plagued Tesla since production of Tesla vehicles started. There is continually a vehicle deficit, largely attributed to the vehicle production time. Specifically, Tesla has been unable to hit their target of 5,000 vehicles per week due to production bottlenecks, blamed largely on the manufacturing of the battery cells. One unique attribute of Tesla is that they have transitioned the company to begin manufacturing more of their own vehicle parts, rather than sourcing parts from manufacturers. (Thompson, 2018)

d. Finance/Accounting (client's orientation/access to capital, financial statements provided by the client and description of accounting systems)

Tesla is a public company, which means that it has obtained most of its financing and access to capital by the sale of share, and issuance of bonds. According to DeBord (2017), Tesla has

Cite this page