History

Elon Musk, Ian Wright, Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning, and JB Straubel founded Tesla in 2003, at San Carlos, California (Jenčová, Vašaničová, & Litavcová, 2019). The company has since grown and had revenues of 31.54 billion as of December 2020. Some of the subsidiary businesses that operate under the Tesla, Inc. umbrella include Tesla Energy, Maxwell Technologies, and SolarCity (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). Despite being one of the company’s founders, Elon Musk has been at the helm of the management, holding the position of the C.E.O. of the company from October 2008 (Jing, 2020). Like other multinational companies worldwide, Tesla, Inc. struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since witnessed its stock prices rise steadily, with a showing of US$786.50 trading in the NASDAQ on 28th September 2021. The company deals in various products and services, including the production of electric vehicles, supporting clean energy ventures through battery inventions and solar panel production, and corporate social responsibility efforts in fostering the conservation of the environment. 

The industry that the company operates in is the automotive industry. Globally, there has been a desire to limit the production of vehicles that depend on combustion engines to propel their movement (Helmond, 2020). Given this, several automotive companies have revised their production policies and strategies and invested in research and development processes to identify car products that would have minimal pollution to the environment. For Tesla, Inc., the future in the automotive industry is to manufacture electric vehicles (Chen, Chowdhury, & Donada, 2019). The company has pioneered this venture in the automotive industry and is currently one of the successful electric car manufacturers in the world. The company has since produced several car products that vary depending on the needs of consumers, and they include Model S, Model Y, Model X, and Model 3. 

Mission and values

The mission of Tesla, Inc. is to accelerate the transition of the world towards sustainable energy. According to the group of engineers who founded Tesla, Inc., their objective was to prove to the world that there was no need to make a compromise when an individual sought to drive an electric car (Ingram, 2018). The engineers believed that electric vehicles could be quicker, more fun, and better than gasoline cars. Consequently, the company’s objective has been to ensure that the type of electric cars that are manufactured meet these expectations (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). The core values that the company espouses include taking risks, constant learning ding the best, environmental consciousness, and respect. These values have been incorporated in the company’s activities and are evident in the innovative measures that the company has taken to continuously improve the efficiency of its products (Thomas & Maine, 2019). Additionally, the investment towards corporate social responsibility efforts that promote environmental conservancy highlights the management’s commitment to the company’s values. 

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis enumerates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company.

Strengths

• Strong brand – Tesla, Inc. dominates the electric cars market and sells more electric cars globally than any other electric car manufacturer. However, the percentage of the vehicles it sells is significantly lower than the combustion-engine cars produced by other car manufacturers such as Toyota and Volkswagen (Li et al., 2019). Despite this, the Tesla brand is known globally for its involvement in innovative technology within the automotive industry. Additionally, this limits the costs in marketing and attracts demand for the company’s products. Currently, as Helmond (2020) reveals, the company’s global electric vehicle market share is 13.9 percent.
• Highly innovative processes – The creative services and products that the company introduces to the market elevates its dominance in the car manufacturing industry (Kauerhof, 2017). It also allows the company to establish constant demand and expectation from the market on its products, which is critical as it determines the market share that the company controls.
• Firm control on production processes – Unlike other companies within the automotive industry who outsource most of their car products, Tesla, Inc. produces its car batteries and technology (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). The effect of this approach to production is that it allows the company to manage its costs while remaining committed to its values in the process. It is also critical in maintaining the company’s image as an environmental-observant player in the industry. Most consumers of car products, who also desire to support environmental conservation efforts, are likely to be drawn towards Tesla, Inc. because of this strength.

Weaknesses

• High costs of the electric cars – The electric vehicles that Tesla, Inc. produces have higher prices than engine-combustion cars. Consequently, it limits the segment of the market that the company can target with its products. 
• Limited supply chain – Despite the popularity of the company’s brand, the supply of its car products is limited because of the infrastructure needed in various parts of the global market for efficient use of electric cars (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). Charging areas of electric vehicles are limited, and the company has established its supply chain processes depending on consumers’ usability of its cars. It affects the expansion efforts of the company to emerging markets.
• Limited market presence – Tesla is mainly visible in the U.S. and Canadian markets but is not as present in the Chinese and the European markets, whose market share is similarly large (Thomas & Maine, 2019). Subsequently, it negatively impacts its sales and affects its competitiveness against other established car manufacturing companies such as Toyota, Mercedes, and Volkswagen.

Opportunities

• Business diversification – As a technology-driven company that does not limit its inventions to the car manufacturing sector, there is the opportunity to expand the battery production processes and solar panel manufacturing to spread risks (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). The renewable energy market has seen demands from production companies, and Tesla, Inc. can exploit this and expand its product portfolio (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). Consequently, it can cushion the company from any market disturbances in its car manufacturing ventures. 
• Global sales expansion – There is a need for the company to exploit the infrastructure and economic growth, both in Asia and Europe, which supports the consumption of electric cars (Mehta & Bhavani, 2018). Most countries in Europe and Asia have charging stations that can help use electric vehicles, which is an opportunity that Tesla, Inc. can exploit to increase its global market sales.
• Global supply chain expansion – As the company desires to expand its sales, there is a need to maintain a presence in the emerging markets to sustain the market share in the global market (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). Subsequently, it will require expansion of the worldwide supply chain to facilitate the availability and visibility of its products in the global market. 

Threats

• Aggressive competition – The automotive industry has witnessed an increase in the production of electric cars by companies that were only producing engine-combustion cars (Thomas & Maine, 2019). Consequently, it threatens the dominance that Tesla, Inc. has enjoyed in the electric car market. 
• Fluctuation in prices of materials – The production of electric cars depends on the existence of batteries, and currently, the costs of lithium have had a steady cost trend (Akakpo, Gyasi, Oduro, & Akpabot, 2019). Also, it makes the energy storage products that the company produces experience increased production costs, which ultimately means an increase in the prices of such products. The net effect is an increase in the prices of the company’s products, which can negatively affect product sales. 
• Dealership regulations – States such as Texas and Virginia prohibit the direct sales of company products to the market. It affects the company because Tesla, Inc. sells its products directly to consumers and has no dealers. The regulations on dealerships will limit market access for the company, which could also affect its market presence. There is an immediate need for the company to change its management policy on dealerships or invent alternative ways of accessing the market in areas where there is a dealership regulation in place, as is the case in Virginia and Texas.

Human Resource Management Best Practices

Tesla, Inc. instills its core values to its employees through orientation and training programs. The company’s management expects its employees to adhere to its core values and uses a mantra, ‘Think Like Owners,’ as a principle that employees should adopt when working for the company (Thomas & Maine, 2019). Additionally, Tesla, Inc. ensures the maintenance of a business development mindset among its employees through its organizational culture. Elon Musk explains that the bureaucracies limiting invention are not part of Tesla, Inc.’s culture. Every employee who has an idea is free to share it with the management without following a communication chain (Johnson & Reed, 2019). The company also has a reward mechanism and a platform that enables employees to rank depending on their qualifications, skills, and talents. It is a motivational strategy aimed at allowing employee satisfaction. The recruitment of employees is also done without favoritism, and the company has a system that enables it to attract the best talent within the labor market. So far, the company has not had any litigation issues that would warrant suspicion on its application of the best human resource management practices.

Marketing and Promotional Strategies

Since its inception, Tesla, Inc. has relied on referrals and word-of-mouth as its primary marketing strategies. The company has adopted a process of identifying electric car innovation enthusiasts and uses them to market its products (Loureiro, Sarmento, & Le Bellego, 2017). Most of these enthusiasts run successful online media platforms and have a significant following as well. When the company provides them with a car product to review, their reviews elicit discussion and debate regarding the car, increasing the visibility of the car product in the market (Alghalith, 2018). In some cases, the company informs the enthusiasts of the technology they are working on and which car model it would fit. The benefit is that it drives the expectation of consumers in the market towards the company’s future car products. The argument by the company’s management in using this approach is that it costs less for the company. Additionally, where people are likely to trust referrals made by their friends, family members, or associates, this introduces more people to the Tesla, Inc. market. 

Social and Environmental interests and action.

The interest of Tesla, Inc. in the environment is to ensure its conservation. Subsequently, the company’s innovative agenda is to introduce products and services that will minimize environmental pollution (Kim, 2020). A testament to this is the innovation in the battery production process that enhances the efficiency of the batteries in energy storage. The manufacturing of solar panels, whose capacity to support high energy usage, makes them an option in high-energy consuming sectors. Additionally, the pursuit of improving the visibility of electric vehicles in the market and sharing its technology with other companies reveals the commitment of Tesla, Inc. to conserving the environment (Musonera & Cagle, 2019). Most companies have limited the extent to which other inventors and innovators can access their innovative processes. Still, Tesla, Inc. has eliminated the intellectual property rights to its innovations, enabling further innovation of other services and products using the same technology.

Future plans and projects for growth and expansions.

Currently, Tesla, Inc is involved in some aspects of the space explorations that its C.E.O. pursues. Still, the extent of the involvement is limited to the exportation of technology and the use of certain raw materials that SpaceX would need. Other plans that the company has included expanding its influence in the global electric car market. New electric car products are entering the market from traditional car manufacturing companies (Liu & meng, 2017). Also, this has increased the competition within the industry, forcing the management to consider ways to expand its visibility into other emerging markets. Additionally, the company’s management is examining ways to expand its SolarCity subsidiary and introduce different product portfolios that target individual market segments instead of the manufacturing companies. A similar approach has been used in the electric car market, where the company seeks to introduce new car products that target the middle and lower consumer segments. 

Conclusion and recommendation

Tesla, Inc. dominates the electric car market in the United States, but its presence in other markets is low. There is an urgent need for the company to increase its visibility to other markets such as China, the E.U., and other Asian countries. Subsequently, this will assist it in increasing its market share from the present 13.9 percent. When conducting this research, the limitation witnessed is the company’s accessibility to certain critical financial records that would boost insight into its accounts. However, other verifiable internet websites with such information assisted in compiling the above corporate profile. The recommendation to the company is that it should consider producing its electric car products for the middle and lower consumer segments, as this will increase its sales. Similarly, the management should consider employing traditional marketing strategies to boost the visibility of different service options that the company has on other car products, batteries, and solar panels. This information is limited in access and can affect the sales of the company products as well.

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