Elon Musk's Entrepreneurial Performance: Tesla, SpaceX, and More

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Elon Musk's entrepreneurial ventures, focusing on his personal qualities, the challenges faced by SpaceX, and his performance with Tesla. It begins by identifying key entrepreneurial traits such as spirit, work ethic, and ambition. The report then delves into the challenges SpaceX faces, including market stagnation, safety concerns, and securing military support. Finally, it investigates Elon Musk's performance on Tesla, using the Timmons Model to analyze the opportunities, team dynamics, and resources that contributed to Tesla's success in the electric vehicle market. The report highlights Musk's strategic decisions, innovative approaches, and his impact on the automotive and space industries, supported by references to academic research and industry sources.

INNOVATION AND
ENTERPRENEURSHIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
Personal qualities of Elon Musk..................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Entrepreneurial Challenges faced by Space X.............................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial performance on Tesla....................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
1

INTRODUCTION
Innovation and Entrepreneurship can be defined as the ability of individuals to identify the
new opportunities that have not yet been explored and presented before the world (Tran and
et.al., 2020). In the present report, entrepreneurial characteristics of Elon Musk will be discussed
in detail where the approach that he has adopted and the challenges or obstacles that rose before
him in his different ventures will be discussed in detail. Further, the entire performance and
decisions taken by Elon Musk in one of his three major ventures the Tesla, Pay- pal and
Hyperloop will be discussed and evaluated.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Personal qualities of Elon Musk
Elon Musk can easily be identified as one of the most influential person in the technological
industry where the ongoing innovations, regular new and upgraded technological advancements
etc. can easily be categorised and identified as the entrepreneurial spirt and the strive for
innovation that Elon Musk has (Saint-Martin, 2019). Some of the key entrepreneurial traits that
can be discussed here are:
 Spirit of entrepreneurship: Elon Musk has clearly established that it is necessary for
every entrepreneur to develop a habit of regularly working and advancing rather than
stopping at a single venture. Elon musk’s leadership shows that there always can be
challenges and obstacles but an entrepreneur has to overcome this. Further, the risk
taking abilities of Musk are commendable where the entrepreneur has always taken
uncertainty and the probability of success or failure sportingly (Prasetyoaji, 2020). The
act of swiftly moving on to the next possible successful venture if one fails easily
indicates the spirit of always moving and excelling. Additionally, it is important for an
entrepreneur to always rely on some trusted individuals along with being an independent
thinker which ultimately motivates people to work with such an influential leader. Elon
has definitely created a very loyal and dedicated workforce and in return he has been able
to provide them assurance and credibility which is very much needed. Therefore, it can
be identified that the entrepreneurial spirit is an important aspect of the succeeding at any
venture and a new idea. Elon Musk has regularly ventured from one thing to another and
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hence been able to gain a lot of success but the important aspect is that there have been
multiple failures as well.
 Work Ethics: For every entrepreneur, it is important that they work dedicatedly towards
the achievement of the goals that have been set. The insane work hours and work
practices that Elon Musk has adopted towards the achievement of his goal and practices.
Elon Musk has developed a practice of working continuously in the day where only 30
minutes of lunch break are what he has allowed for himself (Abatecola and Cristofaro,
2019). This can also be justified from the fact that upon entering the space industry, it
was assumed that he will not be able to achieve anything of great potential and would
soon move out of the industry. However, this was proved wrong as the manner in which
SpaceX has been able to redefine the standards in the space industry and the clear targets
and aims with which he is working indicates that an entrepreneur needs to be dedicated
towards achievement of the goals. An entrepreneur needs to work 100 hours a week when
other are putting only 40 and this is what Musk has done to create the entrepreneurial
identity that he has been able to develop today.
 Aim High: For any entrepreneur it is necessary that they set those targets for themselves
that can help them in the achievement of the multiple goals that create another standard
or bar regarding innovation and uniqueness. In his entire course of operation, Elon Musk
has developed a number of objectives or goals that are targeted mainly toward the
removal of major obstacles or challenges that the normal mankind faces i.e. towards
removal of their misery (Azoulay and et.al., 2020). The aims that Musk developed were
often questioned by other and it was assumed that he would ultimately drown the money
of all the investors. However, the dedication with which he was operating and the
ultimate aims towards which he was working indicated that he was ready to take bigger
risks and challenges i.e. he did not set short term gain in his vision towards excellence
and rather had a broader or wider area of target. Further, the new ways that Musk adopted
to complete the work goals that he had set redefined the way in which things are done has
presented a series of unconventional methods that an entrepreneur can adopted in several
different objectives that they have targeted to achieve.
Apart from these three major entrepreneurial qualities, there are several other that Elon
Musk has adopted in his course of operation where the emphasis is on developing principles
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which will lead to the development of the entire society. The business practice of hiring and
recruiting fresh talent, trusting the employed individuals and developing a strong work ethic, and
lastly getting involved in the work themselves i.e. getting entrepreneur’s hands dirty in the
process of achievement of the goals set are some of the key attributes apart from the ones
discussed (Bilbeisi and Kesse, 2017).
TASK 2
Entrepreneurial Challenges faced by Space X
Since SpaceX was launched, there have been a variety of challenges that the company is
facing not just because of the unique idea that it presents and the unique theories that it operates
but also on the basis of the unconventional working ideas and criteria. In order to address the
challenges thus identified, there needs to be an extremely detailed and calculative approach that
the entrepreneur has to adopt (Abdrakhmanov, 2017). Similarly, in the launching of SpaceX,
there are some key challenges that were faced from multiple sectors operating in the society such
as private as well as public. Especially, regarding the sustainability of the project idea and its
viability, there are a lot of questions that SpaceX regularly face. These challenges can be further
illustrated as follows:
 Stagnation in the commercial market: On a global level of space market or industry,
there is not much wider scope related to commercial launches. SpaceX initially brought a
revolution by offering cut- rate prices in order to position communication satellites.
Although initially, these satellites and the rate at which they were being offered was
revolutionary, however, soon demand for them declined significantly by year 2016.
Arianespace which is a major competitor of SpaceX was able to achieve the target of 10
satellite launches in a year while SpaceX has not been able to gain more than 8 launches
significantly. This indicates that the viability that a space company needs i.e. launch of at
least 10 satellites is constantly remaining unachieved by SpaceX (Pettifor and et.al.,
2020). This ultimately indicates that the company, with its older technology of geo-
satcom satellite launches has become redundant in the market and ultimately the net
value has declined significantly which has also created stagnation in the market of
SpaceX. It can clearly be indicated that despite the understanding of the market that
lower launches can be a normal thing for any space company, SpaceX, needs a validated
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number of launches in order to gain the momentum and revenue both accordingly.
Therefore, this is one of the major challenges for the company.
 Civil Space Safety: The space industry is hugely concerned with the safety and wellbeing
of the public as well as of the employees that are working in the space organisation due to
the hazardous nature of the various elements that are being used by the company. The
fact that Elon Musk was found to be smoking marijuana in the podcast automatically led
to safety questions regarding the working culture and procedures that are adopted to
implement and ensure the safety of the workers in the organisation (Muegge and Reid,
2019). The tenure of the space agency and the astronauts that are working in the company
are judged on a variety of aspects which mainly relate to the internal operations of the
company and also any such factor that could implicate on the safety aspects. Further, the
fact that the SpaceX is the only company that can actually promise to fuel the rockets
even when astronauts are on- board.
 Access of Military Support: There are a variety of aspects associated with the approval
related to space launch products. There were four major space companies that were
competing for the military support and protection but the SpaceX lost significantly. Elon
Musk for struggling for a number of years in order to get military support so that better
launch practices can be adopted by the company (McCurdy, 2019). The fact that Musk
was not able to attract the air force with the planning related to Falcon 9 was a significant
drawback on the various aspects that were associated for the company. The fact that
Falcon 9 was pivotal in the successful launching of the biggest rocket for SpaceX which
would ultimately support the Mars mission of Space X.
These are only some of the challenges that can be presented in the context of the SpaceX
mission. There are a variety of other challenges such as the profitability of SpaceX which is
comparatively much weaker, and the capital requirements of the company are comparatively
much higher (Kier and McMullen, 2018). But SpaceX can comparatively develop an intelligent
approach towards the meeting of the challenges identified.
TASK 3
Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial performance on Tesla
Elon Musk has mainly ventured into three major industries i.e. space, cleaner energy in
automobile industry and online i.e. technological based industry. In all the three industries Elon
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Musk has already excelled immensely mainly because of the early entry and excellent strategic
performance of the owner. In order to better understand the performance and strategic decisions
of Elon Musk, one out of his three major projects i.e. Tesla, Pay- pal or Hyperloop, can be
researched and investigated in detail to get better knowledge about his methods of operation and
decision making (Teece, 2018). Tesla has today created itself the most prominent brand that
focuses on transition of the current automobile industry practices towards a more sustainable
energy i.e. using electric cars, solar and renewable energy.
The Timmons’s Model of Entrepreneurial Process can be used here specifically for the
better understanding of how Tesla which was founded in the year 2003 but it rose to prominence
in year 2009 with the eco- friendly energy based models that it was able to create for the
company.
Figure 1: Timmon's Model of Entrepreneurial Process
Source: Timmons Model of the Entrepreneurial Process, 2016
The model states that the entrepreneur should identify the new opportunity that is presented
and then measure the current resources that are available to meet such demands of the
opportunity presented (Muegge and Reid, 2019). Then based on the gaps, team i.e. entrepreneur
and his team tries to bridge or develop an appropriate solution that can help in meeting the
demands of the opportunity.
 Opportunity: Tesla was quick to identify that the continuously declining non- renewable
resources would ultimately become a problem for the automobile industry one day and
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hence began working on the development of the electric cars (Muwara and Uddin, 2017).
He was able to launch these cars as early as in 2009 through Tesla Roadster, Model S and
since then there have been multiple modifications in the manner in which the company is
operating and manufacturing its cars.
 Team: Elon Musk has never believed in the fact that he alone should take all the major
decisions concerning the business and has focused on creating a loyal team of individuals
who can present insightful and creative ideas. A team when positively integrated helps in
the achievement of goals at a much quicker pace as compared to the time when there is
an individual mind at work (Trujillo, 2017). Musk realised very early that in order to
excel in his work place and achieve the aims that have been set by him, he has to work
very hard and he will require a dedicated personnel which is creative. This is the reason
that he has always focused on talent and innovation or creativity of an individual rather
than referring the degrees or qualifications that a person seems to possess. The sole
reason behind the excellent team that Elon Musk has been able to build, retain, motivate
and monitor is this mind-set and approach that he has always implemented towards its
employees.
 Resources: As per the Timmons’s model, an entrepreneur does not require a huge
number of resources in order to begin a new venture. Rather than this, a company should
be more competitive and edgy where they should know the unique selling points of the
company. This is exactly in accordance with the approach that Elon Musk adopted for
Tesla by creating a better and more reasonable approach towards expenditure (Gilson and
Abbott, 2017). all the companies that Musk has initiated are based on the approach of
minimal resource utilisation approach and this has ultimately helped Elon in creating a
multi- billion- dollar organisation that is recognised on a world level. Tesla moved
forward at a fixed pace where they began by focusing on the tapping of the opportunities
and presenting a unique product idea that focused on a more sustainable approach
towards life and this helped him in creating a unique brand image and also gaining the
support of the society spread over the entire globe or world.
Overall, it can be easily stated that although luck was a major attribute behind Elon Musk’s
entrepreneurial ideas and concepts, there are certain other attributes such as identification of
correct and justified business opportunities (Rimmer, 2018). It is the combination of all the three
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factors i.e. team, resources and opportunity identification which when implemented at the correct
time can lead to the development of better chances at success. The risk taking ability of Musk by
venturing into the electric cars and launching models consecutively without being certain about
the future results that it can actually have is the major contributing factor in the growth of the
company (Vannella, 2020). The continuous strive towards innovation, excellence and better
standards of the society in which Elon Musk co- exists were the key contributing factors in
designing and structuring the entire performance and outlook of the company i.e. Tesla and
decision making factors.
Therefore, through this model and its implementation, it can be easily identified that how
Elon Musk has been able to capture the automobile sector over entre world through the
unconventional idea and approach being implemented in Tesla and its products (McCurdy,
2019).
CONCLUSION
The entire research done in the report above on the characteristics and personality traits of
Elon Musk help in understanding the approach that he has towards the success of the different
ventures. It was identified that the continuous strive towards innovation and excellence is one of
the major qualities of Musk and the major challenge that he faced in the launching of the SpaceX
venture was the lack of Military support. Lastly, the entire journey and performance of Elon in
the success of Tesla was evaluated using the Timmons’s entrepreneurial model. This helped in
understanding the approach and mind- set that Musk has towards the ventures that he has
adopted.
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REFERENCES
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as a marketing communication tool.
Azoulay, P., and et.al., 2020. Age and high-growth entrepreneurship. American Economic
Review: Insights, 2(1), pp.65-82.
Bilbeisi, K.M. and Kesse, M., 2017. Tesla: A successful entrepreneurship strategy. Morrow, GA:
Clayton State University.
Gilson, S.C. and Abbott, S., 2017. Tesla Motors (A): Financing Growth. Harvard Business
School case study (218-033).
Kier, A.S. and McMullen, J.S., 2018. Entrepreneurial imaginativeness in new venture
ideation. Academy of Management Journal, 61(6), pp.2265-2295.
McCurdy, H.E., 2019. SpaceX: Leveraging Government Support to Raise Private Capital.
In Financing the New Space Industry (pp. 45-55). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.
Muegge, S. and Reid, E., 2019. Elon Musk and SpaceX: A study of entrepreneuring as
emancipation. In ISPIM Conference Proceedings (pp. 1-13). The International Society for
Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).
Muwara, D. and Uddin, K., 2017. A Critical review on Leadership: A Case Study on Elon
Musk’s Leadership Style.
Pettifor, H., and et.al., 2020. Are low-carbon innovations appealing? A typology of functional,
symbolic, private and public attributes. Energy Research & Social Science, 64, p.101422.
Prasetyoaji, A., 2020. Transivity on elon musk’s online biography: a social actors discourse
analysis. JURNAL BASIS. 7(1). pp.13-24.
Rimmer, M., 2018. Elon Musk’s open innovation: Tesla, intellectual property, and climate
change. In Intellectual Property and Clean Energy (pp. 515-551). Springer, Singapore.
Saint-Martin, A., 2019. Elon Musk: the High-Stakes Gambler of Technological Capitalism.
Teece, D.J., 2018. Tesla and the reshaping of the auto industry. Management and Organization
Review, 14(3), pp.501-512.
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Tran, B., and et.al., 2020. Elon Musk Transportation Projects. In Innovation Management in the
Intelligent World (pp. 213-232). Springer, Cham.
Trujillo, J., 2017. The Thinking of SpaceX/Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Existentia, 17, pp.231-61.
Vannella, F., 2020. The Traits of the Innovator: Five-Factor Model Analysis and
Exemplification.
Online
Timmons Model of the Entrepreneurial Process. 2016. [ONLINE]. Available through:
https://kimberlymoises.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/timmons-model-of-the-
entrepreneurial-process/
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