Essay: Tesla – innovations in sustainable energy

Tesla Inc. is one of the pioneering companies in the field of sustainable energy when it comes to automobiles. The company primarily deals in the production of items such as solar cars and electric cars. At the moment, it is plausible to assert that Tesla is a market leader in its segment. Arguably, this issue is of utmost importance because of the rapid changes in climate, which can be traced back to the excessive use of fossil fuels by conventional vehicle models. In fact, the company’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” (“About Tesla,” 2018). Therefore, if the world wants to cut back on the use of fossil fuels without giving up locomotive transport systems, adopting electric cars is mandatory. Furthermore, this issue is important because Tesla’s electric and solar motor vehicles create value by saving energy. For instance, electric cars use only a small amount of charge to travel long distances whereas self-driven electric vehicles reduce labor costs. Therefore, Tesla Inc. is a multinational that is not only contributing to technological developments in the modern world but also pushing initiatives on environmental conservation.
Just like any other company, Tesla has both challenges and opportunities of excelling in the automobile industry. Therefore, this paper will outline a comprehensive SWOT analysis to determine Tesla’s current and future position in the marketplace. One of Tesla’s main strengths is that it has an innovative culture that drives its numerous inventions. According to Petrakis et al. (2015), a company that adopts a culture of innovation stands places it in the mind of every employee the urge to develop a new product or build on an existing one. Apart from that, Tesla has the support of many governments because it deals in a field of sustainable energy sources. The company’s major weakness is that its products are quite pricey for the average consumer thus making them unaffordable. In addition, Tesla relies on super charger networks, which are not very popular in many countries. Hence, its growth is limited. As mentioned earlier, Tesla is backed by many governments due to its initiatives to increase the use of sustainable energy. Similarly, this doubles up as an opportunity for the company to increase its global reach to many countries by making use of tax cuts and other subsidies given to them. On the other hand, the main threat that Tesla faces is competition from established brands such as Toyota, Ford, and BMW.
Background
Arguably, Tesla Inc. has assumed a leadership role in the automobile industry. Due to its sophisticated technological inventions, Tesla Inc. is considered as a market leader that influences the direction of the industry. For this positioning to work, however, a company should refrain from being complacent; it needs to make new phenomenal inventions on a regular basis (Park et al., 2014). In accordance to this, Tesla has dominated the market for less expensive electric automobiles and other luxurious gas vehicles too. Notably, Tesla motors are the sole player in this industry, which allows it to map out the required infrastructure to support the operations of their vehicles. Therefore, Tesla Inc. is strategically positioned as a market leader in the automobile industry.
Currently, Tesla Inc. has a Board of Directors, which comprises of nine directors (“About Tesla,” 2018). As such, this board carries out various governing functions in the company. To start with, the Tesla Board of Directors is responsible for choosing a CEO to lead the top management of the company. Moreover, major company policies are made and sanctioned by this board before being implemented by the management. In addition to that, the Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the performance of the company and representing the company as advocates in external business functions. It is worthwhile noting that due to the contemporary litigious society, boards are being held responsible for the performance of companies. In accordance to this, the Board of Directors has faced various lawsuits inclusive of that in which they received a lawsuit for allegedly trying to acquire SolarCity Corp to bail it out of debt. Therefore, Tesla’s Board of Directors is the leader of the company.
The top management of Tesla Inc. is comprised of three executives. Elon Musk (CEO), JB Straubel (Chief Technical Officer), and Deepak Ahuja (Chief Financial Officer) (“ About Tesla,” 2018). Through this managing group, the company can conduct management functions such as operational decision-making. Moreover, the management is responsible for making operational policies for the company. Although the board is the sole decision maker of non-provisional decisions, the management is obligated to present well-documented ideas that might enhance the performance of the company.
Currently, there are a lot of job positions students from Towson University who graduated from the COSC department could apply. One of them is the Software Engineer position which consist of building and maintaining features and tools to support the website of the company (Tesla). This position is significant because it also has related projects that help the sales and manufacturing of the upcoming automobiles.
Essence of Advanced Technology in the Automobile Industry
As aforementioned, Tesla is among the most innovative companies in the automobile industry. Arguably, this innovation is of great importance for various reasons. To begin with, technology is changing the way people are living within the world. As a matter of fact, technology has changed human life in almost every aspect overt the last few decades. Shi and Tseng admit that any company that ignores technology and maintains a conservative perspective will find it hard to do business in the contemporary world (2014). Similar to the automobiles industry, technology will optimize many functions. Thanks to advanced research and technology, electric cars are now being driven in a few parts of the world. Furthermore, cars have been improved significantly when it comes to strength, stability, security, and comfort. Hence, one of the major reasons why the aspect of technology in the automobile industry is important is because it revolutionizes the concept of driving in the modern world. Additionally, this issue warrants attention because the introduction of electric cars has been a major boost in combating runaway climate. The past few decades have seen a rapid shift in climatic patterns from stable to erratic. Global warming itself is at an all-time high due to carbon emission.
In the main, this has been a huge for the world in general because the abandonment of fossil fuels has always been one of the main solutions to curb climate change. Nevertheless, moving away from fossil fuels has proven to be a heavy blow for the economy of every country. Hence, the introduction of electric cars by Tesla Motors offers a plausible alternative to abandoning fossil fuel energy without adversely affecting the economy. As if not enough, Tesla is among the pioneering car companies to introduce self-driven vehicles. Time and again this concept has been proven to work. Russell and Norvig argue that, perhaps, humans doubt AI because unlike humans, it lacks feelings and emotions that guide actions in a thoughtful manner (2016). However, the human race is reluctant to trust Artificial Intelligence (AI) with human life. Still the same, this issue requires attention because it has the possibility of cutting on labor considerably, Thus, Tesla’s technological inventions and innovations are worth considering because they are at par with other technological trends that are making the world even more modern.