Central New Mexico Community College

A Report on Tesla’s MGMT

Written By:
Anthony Guara
Kaitlyn Sanders
Kyrsti Deane
Nikola Przeniczny

BA 2133-51: Principles of Management

Professor Theresa Torres

December 4th, 2018

 Tesla’s MGMT 2

Technology and new innovations have gone far beyond what any individual may have thought

during the times when the light bulb first made its debut. Companies are constantly finding and

developing new ideas that consumers find appealing. Tesla INC., a company founded in 2003,

has been innovating these new technologies in many ways to create a more modern and eco-

friendly community. Tesla is one of the most talked about companies in the modern day. It seems

like Tesla and its figurehead, Elon Musk, are featured in the media quite consistently. Whether it

is stories like developing new innovative forms of energy, high level executives leaving the

company, or Elon Musk branching out to a new market, such as flamethrowers, there is rarely a

dull news day for Tesla. In this paper, Tesla’s management will be analyzed using the Principles

of Management to offer suggestions to the company’s executive team.

Executive Summary:

Currently Tesla is the number one leading EV company in the market. Despite this success,

Tesla has managed to obtain a rather costly debt. This debt has continued to increase over the

course of Tesla's production. The cost of production and the means of research for Tesla vehicles

have put Tesla in a disadvantage amongst competition. Tesla has eliminated the need of third-

party involvement when it comes to production and developing their products. The elimination

of outside parties has led to Tesla's $3.3 billion debt. However, this is not beneficial to the

corporation when it comes to maintaining efficient production costs and profits.

Unless Tesla can reduce the cost for production and focus their resources towards efficient

strategies, they will no longer be able to compete with other car brands such as Toyota, Ford, and

other luxury brands. If Tesla can reduce the cost of production by narrowing the development
 Tesla’s MGMT 3

teams or using outside parties to help development, they will see a possible increase in profit and

a smaller financial debt.

Tesla needs to change the way they sell cars. Presently, Tesla sells cars directly to the

consumer. They do not use car dealerships to sell their products. Tesla has reasons why they sell

their own products. Some of the reasons include: they feel “they should go to the customer”,

meaning having stores in heavy foot action places such as malls and city centers. They want to

interact directly with the customer to educate the customer because this is a new technology car.

Tesla also does not want inventory. This allows the customer to customize their car and pick any

options they desire. The fall back of this is that customers wait months for their vehicles to be

delivered. They need to get on board on how other car companies' such as Ford etc. do business.

Tesla is losing money because they want to change the way cars are sold. Tesla doesn't want

traditional franchise dealers to up-mark their product, instead customers can go online or to a

neighboring state to buy a Tesla car without the markups.

Tesla is defined by its organizational innovation and technological successes, but they too

have their problems. To continue to be the dominating force in the EV industry, Tesla needs to

quit missing production targets. The company needs to generate more revenue, reduce debt, and

quit burning through so much cash before the competition “catches up” (estimated 2022). Lastly,

Tesla needs to change the headlines about the company from negative back to positive and try to

avoid any frivolous, unnecessary lawsuits over poorly planned tweets.

To keep its competitive advantage, Tesla needs to keep investing in battery production. This will

allow the company the ability to keep their prices lower than the competitors. Another important

part of Tesla’s success is their Super-Charger Stations. Other companies have basically left this

concept out of the equation while trying to enter the EV industry. Finally, Tesla needs to make
 Tesla’s MGMT 4

continuous improvements to its autonomous driving software and strive to provide the highest-

quality driving-assist program on the market to remain competitive.

Company History

Tesla Motors was founded in July of 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

Tesla was later joined in 2004 by Elon Musk, J.B. Straubel and Ian Wright, all considered to be

co-founders, with Elon Musk slowly becoming the face of Tesla. The vision at the beginning was

to "solve a real problem", the problem being the average consumer's dependence on oil and

gasoline. Eberhard and Tarpenning aspired to make an "expensive but aspirational" vehicle to

improve the image of green-cars. Tesla’s figurehead, Elon Musk, has been referred to as a

controlling investor and this eventually strained his relationship with founder Eberhard. The

relationship diminished, and a legal battle was settled outside of court (Baer, 2014). The Tesla

team was largely inspired to start their own electric vehicles company by the Tzero from AC

propulsions. It was an electric sports car that was highly influential in the EV industry. Martin

Eberhard had driven the vehicle and was impressed by its high quality. The problem that AC

propulsion experienced was that they made parts and systems for electrical cars, but they had not

intended on making any more electric cars. “So, Martin Eberhard rightfully thought, why not

make his own EV and use AC Propulsion components” (Zart, 2017). Sure enough, Tesla’s first

car was a high-end electric sports car just like the Tzero. Tesla’s history is essentially intertwined

with their phases of vehicle production. The Tesla plan was to start developing luxury high end

electric vehicles, then lower prices, and to advance production into a mass market. The series of

vehicles they have released demonstrate this. The first car to be released was the Tesla Roadster

in 2008 which was priced around $100,000 for a base model. During that same year, Musk
 Tesla’s MGMT 5

became the CEO and in 2010 they began to be publicly traded on the stock market. They were

the first car company to do so since Ford Motors. The next car to be released was the Model S in

2012. It was a luxury sedan priced at $75,000 for a base model. The Model S was considered the

first mass marketed consumer electronic vehicle. A main characteristic that stood out to

consumers was the customizability of the car, where you could choose different options to add to

the car. The Model X, the next vehicle to be produced by Tesla, was a sport utility vehicle which

was released in 2015 at around $85,000. The Tesla Model 3 was the next and most recent

iteration of Tesla cars. The Model 3 was priced at $35,000 and was the first Tesla vehicle poised

at being appealing to the average consumer but has been plagued with missing production

deadlines. In 2015, a system of solar charged home batteries was revealed. In 2016, Tesla Motors

merged with Solar City changing their name from Tesla Motors, to Tesla Inc.

The company has had to face many issues including over conglomeration and having too

many other businesses under one hood, which was a concern that arose after the company merger

between Tesla and Solar City (which people have criticized as not turning profits). In 2018, Elon

Musk made a statement on Twitter about securing funding for making the company public for

which he was charged with securities fraud for false or misleading statements. He was forced to

step down as the chairman of the company but could stay as the CEO. Pursuing innovative new

ideas is Tesla’s greatest asset but having too many unrelated business ventures could be a hard

task to manage. Elon Musk must watch over companies and ideas like Solar City, Space X,

automated vehicles, and home batteries.

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Tesla and Planning

Tesla’s mission statement was “to accelerate the world’s transition to

sustainable transport.” However, in mid-2016, under Elon Musk’s leadership,
the company changed the corporate mission to:
“ to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Tesla’s vision statement is “to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by

driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.” Tesla believes the faster the world stops

relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.

(Rowland, 2018)

SWOT:

SWOT Analysis is a tool that managers use to examine internal and external factors that directly

affect the success of their company. It analyzes an organization’s strengths so that they can

remain focused on keeping their competitive advantages, and the company’s weaknesses so they

can proactively minimize risk. It also outlines the organization’s opportunities and threats.

TESLA’S SWOT:

• Strengths:
o Tesla has a unique position within the industry because they dominate the market
of long-range electric automobiles.
o Tesla has control over production and utilizes vertical integration, sourcing and
producing components and materials and minimalizing third-party involvement.
o Tesla has strong brand recognition and is globally recognized as being an
innovative and sustainability driven company with a well-known CEO, Musk.
 Tesla’s MGMT 7

o Strong sales growth by consistently increasing sales year after year (1800% from
2011-2016), with estimates for electric car sales predicted to sky-rocket.
o Tesla dealership is unique shopping experience, customers customize vehicles.

• Weaknesses:
o Debt - Tesla has an extremely large long-term debt due to significant investments
made in research and development. This debt however has contributed to many
innovations for the company.
o Manufacturing – Tesla operates only one manufacturing plant (Fremont, CA),
with a capacity to make 500,000, making targeting higher volumes of production
impossible.
o Cost to consumers – Tesla cars are not as affordable to middle class consumers.
o Limited charging stations - minimum of 1 hour to fully charge models,
significantly more gas stations than charging stations.
o Longer delivery time - much longer time for customers to receive their vehicles
than by car dealerships.

• Opportunities:
o There are less competitors in the electric car industry.
o Profits are being made solely for the company and not third parties.
o Brand loyalty and brand recognition allow for consumers to be proud about
purchasing Tesla over other brands.
o Environmentally friendly products are increasing in popularity.
o Consumers enjoy personalization.

• Threats:
o Competition has significantly increased, expansion of electric cars in steady and
technology continues to grow.
o Global sales expansion – growth rates from consumers living abroad is higher
than domestically due to a higher focus on sustainable energy. Foreign
competitors may take a new route in different countries in order to compete.
 Tesla’s MGMT 8

o Lack of new innovations may limit the company on new models or may spark
new creativity for future products.
o Autonomous driving capabilities - vehicles come equipped with self-driving
software but may have technical difficulties or cause unforeseen lawsuits.
o Government incentives - government incentives for consumers buying electric
cars will likely increase in the coming years but may have limiting parameters.

The Competition:

The major competitors of Tesla could easily be referred to as staple companies in the

market. These companies are Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Honda Motor

Company to name a few (Investopedia). These companies have a large impact on Tesla and the

company’s ability to compete in the vehicle industry. Ford Motor Company has been in the

market since 1903 and has the experience to develop, manufacture, and produce thousands of

vehicles without the loss of profits. Whereas Tesla has experienced major losses in revenue

reaching heights as much as $674.91 billion (Butler, 2017). This major difference between these

two companies resembles the differences in General Motors and Honda.

Tesla has been referred to as a start-up company that has more investors rather than

actual consumers (Butler, 2017). Their products are luxury vehicles that may be debated in their

commonality in the market. Although Ford, GM, and Honda have products that may appeal to

the Upper Middle Class, their vehicles on average are more obtainable to lower- and middle-

class consumers. Tesla does not market to the middle and lower class. This is a major

disadvantage for Tesla despite their mission of making affordable electric vehicles readily

available for all consumers. (Musk, 2013).

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Making SWOT Analysis Actionable:

Once managers have performed a SWOT analysis and analyzed their competition, the next step

is to make actionable plans from the SWOT analysis that will benefit the company and help it to

achieve its goals and objectives. As the following chart shows, the purpose is to use strengths to

take advantage of opportunities and to minimize weaknesses by avoiding threats.

(Olsen, 2011)

Strength-Opportunity Strategies for Tesla may include:

1. Control over production + Model 3 = cut manufacturing cost of Model 3 by 1/3

2. Strong sales growth + global expansion = cut debt in half by 2020
3. Strong brand recognition + demand for sustainable products = enter a new
industry/market
4. Unique position + global expansion = dominate the international electric car market
5. Unique position + government incentives = get incentives extended until 2020
6. Strong sales growth + government incentives = attract more investors
7. Tesla dealership + global expansion = advertise and market in countries abroad

Weakness-Threat Strategies for Tesla may include:

1. Manufacturing + strong competition = open two additional manufacturing plants by 2020

2. High debt + trade war = open manufacturing plant(s) in China by 2022
 Tesla’s MGMT 10

3. High debt + strong competition = sell extra resources to competition

4. Limited charging stations + strong competition = increase distance capacity per charge
5. Longer delivery time + government regulations = lobby for eligibility to sell in every
state

Company Goals:

Identifying which actions to take strongly depends on what goals and objectives the company is

pursuing. Having SMART long-term and short-term goals can drive the direction and success of

a company drastically. Tesla’s goals include:

Two Short Term Objectives:

1. Gigafactory Reaches Full Production (Bloomberg)

Announced: February 26, 2014
Target: 2020 Revised target: end of 2018
2. Generate demand and drive sales up for Tesla Motors electric car (Weebly).

One Intermediate Objective:

1. Tesla Valued at $700 Billion (Bloomsberg)

Announced: February 11, 2015
Target: 2025

One Long Term Objective:

1. All U.S. Cars Autonomous (Bloomsberg)

Announced: July 15, 2017
Target: 2027
 Tesla’s MGMT 11

Benchmarking:

Benchmarking is used to value and compare companies by discovering the best performance

being achieved. It determines how well other companies, including those in other industries, are

at performing business functions and objectives. Some of the reasons why companies choose to

benchmark include: (Cole, 2014)

1. To self-assess its performance and set standards

2. To better understand the processes, strategies, implementations in competitive
environments
3. Measure and compare with other companies, and assess the reasons for any differences
4. Encourage discovery of new ideas through a strategic look (inside or outside the
institution)
5. Obtain data to support decision-making and set effective targets for improvement
6. Strengthen institutional identity, strategy formulation and implementation
7. Enhance reputation or respond to national (or international) performance indicators and
benchmarks
8. Set new standards for the industry and sector

Tesla is a unique company because it can easily benchmark itself against many companies in

a variety of industries. Tesla is an automobile manufacture, but also owns a solar company, and

creates batteries that are used for buildings (including residential) and on the power grid. They

are listed and perceived as a tech-company that makes cars rather than just an automobile

company. (Williams, 2018) (Atom Content Marketing, 2008)

Benchmark #1: Automobile Industry

Jaguar -- I-PACE BMW -- i8 Roadster Volkswagen -- I.D. Crozz

What Tesla might benchmark against these companies: (Holley, 2017)

• Number of new vehicles manufactured / number of new vehicles sold a year

 Tesla’s MGMT 12

• Annual revenues, capital expenditures -- market capitalization/revenue ratio

• Maximum drive miles per charge, time to fully charge battery
• Safety, durability, reliability, and performance ratings

Benchmark #2: Solar Industry

Sunrun Vivant Solar SunPower

What Tesla might benchmark against these companies: (More, 2018)

• Solar power rating and performance

• Cooling system used in the inverter and its efficiency
• Weather resistance and durability – life expectancy per unit
• Profitability and market growth

Organizational Structure:

Organizational structure is the vertical and horizontal layout of a company. It helps define

departments, authority, and jobs within a firm and in most cases organization structure is based

on some type of departmentalization. (Williams, 2018, p. 186) Functional departmentalization

is the most common form of departmentalization and groups together workers, jobs and priorities

into units responsible for similar activities or business functions. Here, “function” is used to

describe organizational functions such as manufacturing or production, rather than managerial

functions such as planning or controlling. Tesla utilizes functional departmentalization, as

shown in the following organizational chart:

 Tesla’s MGMT 13

(Brilhante, 2018)

Some of the advantages of using functional departmentalization include: (Williams, 2018, p. 187)

• It allows work to be completed by highly skilled and qualified specialists

• It lowers costs by reducing duplication of tasks or resources
• Similar training and experience of workers in the department
• Communication and coordination are less problematic within the departments

Some of the disadvantages of using functional departmentalization include: (Williams, 2018, p. 187)

• Decision making is slower and more bureaucratic

• It can produce managers with narrower experience and expertise
• Coordination and communication among different departments can be difficult
• De-emphasis of company objectives with higher emphasis on function objectives
 Tesla’s MGMT 14

Tesla and Leading

In today’s modern era, the average U.S. citizen works around 34.5 hours a week,

according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics. This statistic shows how much the average person

may work, however, it does not show how many of these individuals are motivated at their

workplace. Tesla Inc. can be considered a monumental corporation that creates many new and

exciting technologies that can benefit the world in the long run. In June of 2018, Tesla employed

approximately 46,000 workers (Ferris, 2018). But how are Tesla’s employees motivated in the

workplace? Currently, Tesla’s figurehead, Elon Musk, has been referred to as “refreshingly

candid” by former Google and Apple executive Kim Scott. She has also described him as

someone who is “not afraid to be himself, and he’s not afraid to lead (Mejia, 2018)”.

In the article, “Ex-Google exec: 3 traits that make Elon Musk an exceptional leader-- and

one major flaw”, Elon Musk’s capabilities go far beyond just being the CEO of Tesla. Elon is

described as much more than just a top tier manager, but someone who is inspired by the goals of

Tesla. This article defines him as a strong leader with the ability to lead by example, which

allows for Tesla’s employees to feel the same inspiration and motivation to complete tasks and

go to work every day. The key leadership characteristics that this article highlights are :

1. “He’s transparent about the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’”. This section of the article talks about

Musk’s ability to think about the long-term goals of Tesla and not get to distracted with

temporary obstacles.

2. “He uses humor to get his point across”. Musk’s light-hearted character allows him to be

relatable to Tesla’s other employees and to the consumer. He uses humor to encourage a

positive mood to whoever he may be interacting with at the time. This allows for

individuals to feel comfortable while Musk is trying to explain something.

 Tesla’s MGMT 15

3. “He takes a hand-on approach”. Elon Musk eliminates the presence of a CEO and joins

other employees “on the front lines” (Mejia, 2018). “It shows his workers on the floor that

he's one of them and teaches other managers to roll up their sleeves as well.” (Mejia, 2018).

Asides from the motivation from top managers such as Elon Musk, employees are offered

many different incentives for working with Tesla. According to previous and past employees,

employee benefits include vacation and paid time-off, health insurance, 401k plans, employee

perks, family resources, and other miscellaneous offers (Glassdoor). These benefits alone can

motivate employees to continue working for Tesla. This benefits the company in the long run to

avoid high turnover rates. However, these benefits are costly for a company who has not been

very profitable since the startup of the company. Despite the costly benefits, Tesla has managed

to create a desirable workplace for its employees with excellent benefits and a strong leadership.

Tesla and Controlling

Tesla Motors, Inc. has been a disruptive force in the automobile industry with its long-

range electric cars. Tesla gears its sales towards wealthier individuals, however, Tesla is looking

at ways to reduce cost of production to broaden its appeal among the middle-income individuals.

Tesla has remained unprofitable since it went public in 2010. Analysts tend to watch the

company’s gross margin for improvement in its production efficiencies and pricing power.

According to Navigant, a research team, Tesla’s global sales had reached close to 500,000 units

by November 2018, representing about 20% of all-electric cars on the world’s roads. Tesla’s

revenues were US $6.35 billion. Also, in 2016 Tesla sold US $1 billion worth of cars in China,

the world’s largest market for electric cars. The following year in October, Tesla and the Chinese
 Tesla’s MGMT 16

government reached an agreement and Tesla built a factory in Shanghai. Tesla operates 260

galleries or retail locations in the United States. In 2017, Tesla opened retail locations in Dubai

and South Korea.

Tesla Stocks

Investors bet big in 2017, helping Tesla’s market cap reach $51 billion and briefly beat

out its competitors to claim the title of the most valuable car manufacturer. According to this

chart Tesla’s vehicle delivery numbers show that Tesla’s actual car production is far below its

competitors. Many investors are betting on the future of electric cars and Elon Musk’s vision,

rather than Tesla’s actual car making capabilities. Tesla reported that in its first quarter of 2018 it

has had its biggest quarterly net loss of all time: $709.55 million.
 Tesla’s MGMT 17

Tesla Employees

A. The total number of people employed by Tesla came to 37,543 in 2017. This figure is

considerably lower than Tesla’s competitors. However, Tesla has also had troubles with

employees taking their concerns to the United Automobile Workers, claiming they work long

hours for low pay, along with unsafe work conditions while Tesla sets aggressive production

deadlines. California lawmakers have also questioned Tesla for making its employees sign broad

confidentiality agreements. An investigation by Mercury News revealed that at least 140 Eastern

European men on questionable work visas worked for a subcontractor doing construction for

Tesla. Workers made as little as $5.00 an hour. The case drew scrutiny from federal

investigators.

B. Tesla has a clear vision and has promised to increase car production, launch several

completely new cars, and conquer self-driving vehicles by 2020. Also, Tesla will be building a

battery plant in Nevada which will cut costs by 30%.

C. Tesla must produce more cars to try and keep up with its competitors such as General

Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler. It must also build cars to suit a wider consumer base.

Conclusion/ Suggestions to Executive Team

We have done our best to sort fact from fiction and learned a lot about the company in the

process; Tesla is an oddity. It is one of the most innovative, tech-centric, and popular companies

today, but that comes with its own problems. As often as it's in the news for its scientific

innovation, you read about its problems. Our team has researched and analyzed some of these

issues and we have come up with our own suggestions to fix these problems. Here are some of

our ideas and suggestions for the executive team at Tesla:

 Tesla’s MGMT 18

1. Currently Tesla is the number one leading EV company in the market. Despite this success,

Tesla has managed to obtain a rather costly debt. This debt has increased over the course of

Tesla's production. The cost of production and the means of research for Tesla vehicles have put

Tesla in a disadvantage amongst competition. Tesla has eliminated the need of third-party

involvement when it comes to production and developing their products. The elimination of

outside parties has led to Tesla's $3.3 billion debt. However, this is not beneficial to Tesla when

it comes to maintaining efficient production costs and profits.

Unless Tesla can reduce the cost for production and focus their costs towards efficient strategies,

they will no longer be able to compete with other car brands such as Toyota, Ford, and other

luxury brands. If Tesla can reduce the cost of production by narrowing the developing teams or

using outside parties to help development, they will see a possible increase in profit and a

smaller financial debt (Sanders).

2. Tesla is defined by its organizational innovation and technological successes, but they too

have their problems. To continue to be the dominating force in the EV industry, Tesla needs to

quit missing production targets. The company needs to generate more revenue, reduce debt, and

quit burning through so much cash before the competition “catches up” (estimated 2022). Lastly,

Tesla needs to change the headlines about the company from negative back to positive and try to

avoid any frivolous, unnecessary lawsuits over poorly planned tweets.

To keep its competitive advantage, Tesla needs to keep investing in battery production. This will

allow the company the ability to keep their prices lower than the competitors. Another important

part of Tesla’s success is their Super-Charger Stations. Other companies have basically left this

concept out of the equation while trying to enter the EV industry. Finally, Tesla needs to make
 Tesla’s MGMT 19

continuous improvements to its autonomous driving software and strive to provide the highest-

quality driving-assist program on the market to remain competitive (Deane).

3. Tesla needs to change the way they sell cars. Presently, Tesla sells cars directly to the

consumer. They do not use car dealerships to sell their products. Tesla has reasons why they sell

their own products. Some of the reasons: They feel they should go to the customer meaning

having stores in heavy foot action places such as malls and city centers. They want to interact

directly with the customer to educate the customer since this is a new technology car. Tesla also

don't want inventory. This allows the customer to customize their car and pick any options they

desire. The fall back of this is that customers wait months for their cars.

After completing our research, we think Tesla needs to open some sort of car dealerships across

the country. They need to get on board on how other car companies' such as Ford etc. do

business. Tesla is losing money because they want to change the way cars are sold. Tesla does

not want traditional franchise dealers to up-mark their product, instead customers can go online

or to a neighboring state to buy a Tesla car without the markups (Guara).

4. Over conglomeration is another issue. Having too many businesses under one roof which was

a question brought up after the company merger with Solar City. Pursuing innovative ideas is

Tesla's greatest asset but having too many unrelated business ventures could be a hard task to

manage. Elon Musk must watch over companies and ideas like Solar city, Space X, Automated

vehicles, home batteries, and more which could be too different to work together effectively. We

would recommend the company to not get to far ahead and be mindful of the different businesses

it puts under its roof. Synergy is the essential when managing several different companies; which

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is currently lacking.

 Tesla’s MGMT 20

In conclusion the company must look at ways to more effectively manage its debt, reduce

the cost of production for its vehicles, sell their cars at dealerships, avoid over conglomeration,

and change the headlines. Tesla Inc. has the potential of being an important company in the

world, but some systemic problems are holding them back. Some slight adjustments to their

strategy could really change this. It was a good company to research and we learned about the

inner workings of one of the most newsworthy businesses today.

 Tesla’s MGMT 21

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Other Sources Include:

• Posts from Anthony Guara, Kaitlyn Sanders, Kyrsti Deane, and Nikola Przeniczny
• Investopedia.com By Andriy Blokhin March 4, 2016
• Wikipedia.org
• Oxygenemag.com
• Statista.com
• Mercurynew.com
• Businessinsider.com