Phoenix BUS 475: Contingency Plan and Executive Presentation

Shawn Cyr

BUS 475

11 March 2020

Mr. Simpson

Tesla: Degree of Alignment

Description of Organization: Tesla

Analysis

Mission

Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” (Tesla, 2020). Currently, the organization is keeping up with the global demand for business practices to adopt green energy by emphasizing on sustainability activities. The company is accelerating the global transition towards the use of clean energy sources. It has several car models that use electricity instead of fossil fuel. Tesla has inspired other traditional car manufacturers to follow suit and start manufacturing electric cars. Consequently, Tesla contributes greatly to the community by limiting the environmental pollution that is caused by fossil fuel-powered vehicles.

Vision

Tesla’s vision is “to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles” (Rowland, 2018). Tesla has managed to be a revolutionary force in the car market due to its diverse range of electric-powered cars. In 2018, the Model 3 by Tesla was ranked the best-selling electric vehicle across the globe (O’Kane, 2019). Thus, Tesla is living up to the expectations of its vision by manufacturing vehicles that are leaving the rest of the manufacturers towards the use of green energy. More so, Tesla is considered as the electric car pioneer. It has influenced the motor world so much that even the Formula One vehicles have a branch for electric car racing dubbed Formula E. Hence, Tesla is so far managing to lead other car manufacturers into the future.

Values

Tesla’s values are not explicitly outlined on the company’s website. However, the way the organization is run suggest that the company values “sustainability through innovation” (Brooks, 2018). Field (2019) notes that innovations and non-stop engineering are Tesla’s lifeblood. These innovations are all structured towards fighting climate change through the use of green energy. This is why the company was founded on the development of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.

Structure

Tesla has a U-form/functional organizational structure. Currently, the organization uses this organizational structure in its operations. For instance, it has a structural group of workers for sales and service, and another one for engineering. More so, Tesla makes use of centralization in its corporate structure (Meyer, 2018). This corporate structure emphasizes on divisions based on diverse things such as geographical factors. However, this form of structure is less significant compared to the U-form structure. The U-form structure is based on a hierarchy of functional teams, which oversee both international and domestic operations. The functional teams in Tesla’s organizational structure include technology, engineering, sales and service, finance, legal, and the chairman and CEO.

Culture

Tesla has adopted an innovative problem-solving culture. There are six major aspects of this culture: “move fast, do the impossible, constantly innovate, reason from first principles, think like owners, and we are all in” (Meyer, 2019). With regards to speed, this aspect impacts the company’s competitive advantage (Meyer, 2019). Tesla's corporate culture promotes speedy responses to diverse issues in the automotive industry, which in turn facilitates business resilience. With regards to the aspect of constantly innovating, the organization has implemented this culture to continuously come up with various cutting edge technologies. This is why the company is a leader in the electric car market.

References

Brooks, R. (2018). Workplace spotlight: The challenge of maintaining Tesla's mission-driven culture. Retrieved from https://peakon.com/blog/workplace-culture/tesla-company-culture/

Field, K. (2019). Non-stop engineering & innovation are the lifeblood of Tesla. Retrieved from https://cleantechnica.com/2019/04/28/non-stop-engineering-innovation-are-the-lifeblood-of-tesla/