An Analysis of Elon Musk's Entrepreneurial Performance in Tesla Motors

This report provides a critical evaluation of Elon Musk's entrepreneurial performance, focusing on his investments in Tesla. It begins by outlining Musk's initial investment and the business plan for Tesla, including the three-step approach to developing electric vehicles. The report details the successes, such as the company's current market valuation and share price growth, and the shortcomings, including the technical faults in the Roadster model and exceeding production costs. The analysis also covers Musk's decision to purchase a portion of Nummi and its impact on the company's manufacturing capabilities and success. The report concludes by highlighting Musk's strengths as an entrepreneur, such as his ability to identify growth opportunities and make quick decisions, and emphasizes the importance of dedication and a detail-oriented strategy in achieving business goals. References include online sources discussing Tesla's history and Musk's entrepreneurial decisions.

Innovation and
entrepreneurial

Table of Contents
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
Critical evaluation of entrepreneurial performance and any shortcoming of Elon Musk during
his investment in ........................................................................................................................3
REFRENCES ..................................................................................................................................6

TASK 3
Critical evaluation of entrepreneurial performance and any shortcoming of Elon Musk during his
investment in
Elon musk has made investments in various organisations since the start of his
entrepreneurial career. Tesla is an American clean energy and electric vehicle company which is
headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Elon Musk invested in Tesla during it's initial years. He
contributed US$6.5 million in January 2004 as a venture capitalist and made several other
investment round in order to build Roadster first car of the company. The business plan as a
start-up organisation involves three steps with the first step was to develop high end high
performance sports car in order to provide electric vehicles which were trendy and sustainable.
The seconded step of this business plan focused on creation of luxury sedan which would
compete with premium vehicles on a global scale. Third step of this business plan was top
produce low cost electric vehicles for the masses. A legal settlement in 2009 allowed Elon to be
considered co-founder of the company. Tesla is a leading member of the electric vehicles
industry and the market valuation of the company in the year 2020 is reaching 442 billion US
dollars. The share price of the company from September 2019 to the the same month in the year
2020 rose by 950 percent. The company produces wide range of electrical vehicles and offers
Solar panels and roofs to their consumer. In addition to this the company also offers Tesla
batteries which are used for small scale grid energy storage batteries. The goal of Tesla
according to Elon Musk is to create affordable mass market electric vehicles that could be as
cheap as $20,000 in third generation cars.
Entrepreneurial performance of Elon Musk
Tesla motors failed initially due to a technical fault in the first electrical vehicle model
Roadster. Roadster was the first electrical vehicle offered by Tesla and Elon Musk participated in
the product design of this model. Tesla had to recall 345 of their roadsters from the market due to

because of the safety concerns in manufacturing of the product. The safety concern associated
with this model of electric car was that the rear hub was under torqued which could use the
driver to loose control and crash. This tarnished the brand image of the company and resulted in
the suffering huge lose in it's initial loss. Another reason for huge loss was exceeding production
costs of the car which increased by $39,000 US dollars. Musk was not involved in day to day
business operations of car production and did not anticipate such high costs of the car. Lack of
dedication is the main shortcoming of Elon musk in this scenario, which production of low
quality cars. It is the duty of a dedicated and responsible entrepreneur to ensure that every
business function is completed effectively and the final product offered by the company is of
superior quality. The shortcoming of Elon Musk to remain absent from day to day business
activities of the firm along with lack of detail oriented working strategy.
Elon Musk has made the decision to buy a portion of Nummi in the year 2018. Nummi is
a car manufacturing plant located in Fremont California and is equipped with latest technology to
produce large number of cars swiftly and effectively (How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car
Company of the Future, 2018). Musk learned lesson from the intimal failure of the company and
prepared a list of barriers which stopped the company from being built. Elon Musk made a
decision to replace the combustion engine and focus on manufacturing smart electric cars. This
was a game changing decision as it allowed the firm to offer unique product to the consumers in
the vehicle industry. Elon was able to construct designs for an effective electric car. The only
problem with increasing profitability of the firm was related to mass production of the cars. The
company outsourced most of the manufacturing activities during the production of Roadster
model and assembled cars one by one in a garage behind it's showroom in Menlo Park
California. Toyota partnered with Tesla in order to produce electric vehicles, this helped the
company manufacture electric vehicles at a cost which allowed the company to make significant
profits. This decision made by Elon Musk is one of the reasons that Tesla is a leading member of
the electrical vehicle industry (Vance, 2017). The decision of Elon Musk to purchase Nummi
production site helped the company manufacture high quality cars and gain success in their
industry. This entrepreneurial decision made by Elon Musk depicts his main strengths as an
entrepreneur to identify growth opportunities and make quick decisions for the improvement of
the company.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that great entrepreneurs share certain skills which
help them identify growth opportunities and gain success in various business undertakings. Elon
Musk is a successful entrepreneur which has built various successful international organisations.
The main characteristics of Elon Musk which make him a successful entrepreneur is that he is
optimistic and dedicated in accomplishing his business goals. Elon Musk formulated a vision for
his company Space X and faced various challenges in attaining various business objectives. In
addition to this Starship business venture of SpaceX aims to establish a self sustaining city on
the planet Mars. This business venture of the company faces various barriers in it's successful
completion. Entrepreneurial performance and shortcomings of Elon Musk are depicted by
various decisions taken by the entrepreneur during his investment in the electrical car
manufacturing company Tesla. The decision taken by the entrepreneur helped the company
recover from initial failure and attain stable growth.

REFRENCES
ONLINE
How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car Company of the Future, 2018. [Online] Available
through <https://www.wired.com/2010/09/ff-tesla/>
Vance, A., 2017. Elon Musk. Otwarte.