Introduction
Probably one of the best methods to determine a company’s potential and current positioning and evaluate its plans and business prospects is to perform a SWOT analysis. This strategic technique allows one to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a firm and then think of the best ways to make it more successful. This is a rather effective framework that provides business owners with valuable insights, and this section of the paper is devoted to Tesla’s SWOT analysis.
Strengths
Since the company is so competitive and successful, it is possible to suggest that it has an extended number of impressive strengths that consolidate Tesla’s position in the market. To begin with, the leaders and employees of Tesla are influential businessmen who contribute to the effectiveness of the company and its dominance over competitors (Huang, 2019). Its management team members have significant background in startups, while Elon Musk himself is the founder of two multi-billion-dollar enterprises, namely PayPal (former X.com) and SpaceX. As for the staff members of Tesla, they are loyal to the company’s values and mission and put in great effort to allow the firm to overcome many obstacles.
Further, another strength of Tesla is that it was actually first in the market. The firm was able to completely redevelop the driving experience and demonstrate a unique and rather robust sales growth (Tesla, Inc., 2021). Next, it is also vital to mention the company’s strong alliance (Huang, 2019). Tesla works with major and influential giants like Yes Energy and APDA, and they help the firm on the world market and in its renewable energy efforts. Last but not least, the quality of Tesla’s design differs from that of competitors because Tesla offers reliability combined with comfort, which is a significant strength.
Weaknesses
Despite the fact that Tesla is incredibly successful and respected by customers and other companies, it has some improvement areas. Overall, these weaknesses include the lack of infrastructure, ill-conceived global expansion, and Tesla’s brand face (Matthews et al., 2020). First of all, currently, there is no infrastructure that can support Tesla’s electric vehicles and encourage customers to choose this company when purchasing cars. Even though the firm tries to solve the problem by introducing Superchargers stations that allow Tesla Motors vehicles’ owners to charge them for free, it takes time and effort (Matthews et al., 2020). Therefore, now it is a significant weakness that impacts the company’s sales.
Furthermore, the second area to improve is Tesla’s attempts to expand globally. Since its vehicles are first-world products, countries with less developed economies are unlikely to welcome them (Matthews et al., 2020).
Not all customers around the world trust Tesla and can afford their cars, which probably makes the firm’s expansion efforts useless. In addition to this, Tesla’s focus is diversified, and instead of trying to expand globally, it should pay increased attention to establishing itself in the automotive market, which is more beneficial (Fisher & McCabe, 2019). Finally, Elon Musk has become Tesla’s brand face, which may undermine the firm’s authority and make it seem like a one-man-show company (Matthews et al., 2020). These weaknesses should be addressed in the nearest future so that Tesla is able to keep its won place in the market.
Opportunities
Thankfully, there are numerous opportunities for Tesla that may be achieved if the firm puts in enough effort. First of all, it is possible for the firm to strengthen its position as electric cars ‘pioneer’ and win the market. By collaborating with other powerful companies, Tesla can both become more influential and successful and also reduce the number of potential competitors by becoming partners with them (Huang, 2019). What is more, Tesla should address the issue of production and technological costs that do not allow the electric car concept to become more commercial and reach its full potential. Finally, a major opportunity for the firm is to cut its costs and achieve higher profitability.
Threats
It is possible to suggest that the main threat to the company is the growing strength of its competitors. Some of them, including Ford Motors and Chevrolet Bolt, are gradually conquering the market and can become more influential at any time. Since their products are generally more affordable for the average consumer but may not be inferior in quality, it is recommended that Tesla considers this fact and addressed it (Fisher & McCabe, 2019). Additionally, this pressure may also result in lower margins for for-profit and high operating costs.
Recommendations
Considering the SWOT analysis elements mentioned above, it is possible to provide some recommendations that may allow Tesla to become even more productive, competitive, and successful. First, it is reasonable to focus on winning the automotive market and becoming the most reputable firm in first-world countries, forgetting for a while about attempts at global expansion. Then, it would also be beneficial for Tesla to pay more attention to its competitors and consider them a threat. This will not mean that Tesla recognizes its weakness and instability but will only help the company keep competitors under control and act decisively and in a timely manner.
References
Fisher, M., & McCabe, M. B. (2019). Tesla: Accelerating to market. Journal of Strategic Management Education, 15, 1-14.
Huang, Y. (2019). A potential company or not: The analysis of Tesla. Proceedings of the 4th annual international conference on financial innovation and economic development. Atlantis Press.
Matthews, T., Hirve, M., Pan, Y., Dang, D., Rawar, E., & Daim, T. U. (2020). Tesla energy. In Innovation management in the intelligent world (pp. 233-249). Springer.
Tesla, Inc. (2021). Annual report. Web.