Business Decision Making Report: First Solar's Market Success Plan

This report examines First Solar's challenges and strategies for success in the competitive photovoltaic market. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction detailing First Solar's initial success and subsequent decline due to market changes and competition from Chinese manufacturers. The discussion section recommends the implementation of an ethical model based on critical path analysis to restructure manufacturing and system integration, and the use of Porter's five forces to analyze market dynamics and develop effective strategies. The report highlights the benefits of off-grid technology and the importance of understanding market opportunities through expansion models. Recommendations include adopting the ethical model and Porter's five forces to improve efficiency, analyze market threats, and foster innovation. The conclusion reiterates the importance of ethical decision-making and strategic planning for long-term success, supported by references and appendices.

Running head: FIRST SOLAR
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The primary aim of the paper is to discuss how First Solar can plan to succeed in the
competitive market to retain themselves in the competition. To prepare a good and efficient
planning for their sustenance in the market the paper has highlighted some of the issues faced
by the organisation. The paper at the same time also recommends the company to use two
essential models namely the ethical model that will be using the critical path analysis as well
as Porter’s five stage generic strategy. These models will help the company to succeed in the
competitive market and will also help the company in long-term planning.

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Table of Contents
List of Figures............................................................................................................................3
Figure 1. Five Force Model (page 6).........................................................................................3
Figure 2. Expansion Model (page 7)..........................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
Ethical Model.........................................................................................................................4
Five force Model of Porter.....................................................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
Appendix..................................................................................................................................11

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List of Figures
Figure 1. Five Force Model (page 6)
Figure 2. Expansion Model (page 7)

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Introduction
First Solar is a photovoltaic company who became the first organisation to create a
panel that generated a megawatt of power at a manufacturing cost that was less than $1.00
per watt. It was the first to use thin-film cadmium telluride technology in its solar panels that
made it the most popular among many PV industries that operated across the world
(Thompson and Ballen 2017). However, soon there was a downfall in its sales and it
witnessed a downfall as Chinese manufacturers who were subsidized by their government
flooded the market with solar panels that were made of low price crystalline silicon. Key
issues were that First Solar was not backed by the government and they were not prepared to
cope with the financial crisis that occurred in the year of 2008-2009 (Thompson and Ballen
2017). They were also not prepared for any other alternate as a result of which this financial
crisis and the company’s lack of ability to cope with the problem gave a chance to its
competitors to rise in the market by producing silicon based panels (Thompson and Ballen
2017). Therefore, the primary aim of the report is to focus on how First Solar can plan to
succeed in the competitive market to retain themselves in the competition.
Discussion
Ethical Model
From the case study it was noted that First Solar controlled all stages of production
that was in house that helped in eliminating the various operators of supply chains as well as
time consuming steps that was used to produce solar panel made of crystalline silicon. They
even produced all their modules in their solar plant. Therefore, it is recommended that First
Solar use an ethical model based on critical path analysis that would help the company to re-
structure their manufacturing as well as process of system integration so that they can
effectively plan and prepare themselves to sell their products to markets that are nom-

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subsidized by using an off grid technology (Schwartz 2016). Off grid system refers to the
design of the solar panel that helps people to function without the support of network. It helps
in delivering modern energy services in a timely as well as sustainable manner (Mandelli et al
2016). Off grid technology should be planned keeping the mind the critical analysis path that
will help First Solar to understand as well as identify the series of crucial as well as
interdependent steps that will help in comprising a work plan from start to end. The plan also
includes the non-critical tasks that the company can take into consideration (Siddaiah and
Saini 2016). The main purpose of adopting this model under ethical decisions is to recognize
that the completion of some tasks in a project is always dependent on the completion of other
tasks. It is essential for every organisation to understand that some tasks cannot be started
without the completion of the first (Liberatore 2016). Critical analysis path is used when
there is a lot of competition in the market. It also assists the project managers to handle
complex as well as operations that are time-sensitive. It will also give the company a clear of
the actual schedule of the project of the task (Liberatore 2016).
Five force Model of Porter
Secondly, First Solar should also apply Porter’s five generic strategy as a
recommendation that will further help the organisation to compete in the market as well as be
successful. From the case study it was clear that First Solar has always been innovative in
their way of thinking and had always found a way to expand in the market (Varelas and
Georgopoulos 2017). Hence, it can be said that to further expand in the market and be
successful First Solar can apply Porter’s Five Forces as a recommended strategy. The five
forces are supplier and buyer power, competitive rivalry, threat of substitution and threat of
new entry (Kharub and Sharma 2017). Through supplier power the company can understand
the uniqueness of their products. The buyer power will help in determining the buyers in the
market, importance of buyer in the market. Competitive rivalry will help in determining the

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competitors in the market. Substitution will help the company to understand if there is any
substitution in the market and new entry will determine the new entrants into the market that
will erode the profitability of the existing market (Kharub and Sharma 2017).
Figure1. Five Force Model
Source: Varelas and Georgopoulos 2017
The five forces will help First Solar to recognize the factors that affect its profitability
in the industry and allow the organisation to develop efficient strategies. Porter’s five forces
mode can be best explained by using expansion method matrix that helps the organisations to
understand the market opportunities that is associated with strategy (Zhao et al 2016). To do
this it is essential to examine the internal as well as external expansion of the organisation.
The model too will help the organisation to differentiate between what is happening inside as
well as outside the company (Xie et al 2016). The matrix will further help the company to
identify what strategies should be used by the business and also informs what tactics should
be used for marketing activity.

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Figure 1. Expansion Model
Source: Xie et al 2016
Recommendation
The above ethical model will help will help the company to save a lot of time that will
help in focusing on other strategies that will be beneficial for the organisation. It also helps in
comparing planned as well as cultural progress and helps in making dependencies visible as
well as clear. It is recommended that the company follows the ethical model that will be
beneficial for the smooth functioning of the organisation. Furthermore, using porter’s five
force model as another recommendation that should be used by the company as culture as
well as previous experience would help in having significant utility while the expands into
unfamiliar market (Refer to Appendix 2). It will also give the organisation an opportunity to
understand their previous mistake as well as analyse the threat of new entrants into the
market that will help the organisation to come up with new ideas as well as innovations so
that it caters to the needs of larger public. The model along with expansion matrix will assist
the company to understand and identify the tactics that will be essential for the company in
the long run (Refer to Appendix 1). Thus, intelligent acquisition as well as appropriate
systemic understanding can prove to be vital for the success of the organisation.

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Conclusion
Therefore, to conclude it should be recommended that applying the critical analysis
path along with off grid technology would be an ethically sound decision as it would help in
benefitting a wider section of people in the consumer market who were earlier excluded from
benefitting from the renewable energy option. Therefore, it can be concluded from the above
recommendation that it would be ethically sound as well as a guided decision that would
react in the best way towards the market conditions as well as emerging issues of culture.
Thus, intelligent acquisition as well as appropriate systemic understanding can prove to be
vital for the success of the organisation.

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References
Kharub, M. and Sharma, R., 2017. Comparative analyses of competitive advantage using
Porter diamond model (the case of MSMEs in Himachal Pradesh). Competitiveness Review:
An International Business Journal.
Liberatore, M.J., 2016. A counterexample to the forward recursion in fuzzy critical path
analysis under discrete fuzzy sets. arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.04583.
Mandelli, S., Barbieri, J., Mereu, R. and Colombo, E., 2016. Off-grid systems for rural
electrification in developing countries: Definitions, classification and a comprehensive
literature review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, pp.1621-1646.
Schwartz, M.S., 2016. Ethical decision-making theory: An integrated approach. Journal of
Business Ethics, 139(4), pp.755-776.
Siddaiah, R. and Saini, R.P., 2016. A review on planning, configurations, modeling and
optimization techniques of hybrid renewable energy systems for off grid
applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, pp.376-396.
Thompson, N. and Ballen, J., 2017. First Solar. <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/3.0/>
Varelas, S. and Georgopoulos, N., 2017. Porter’s competitive forces in the modern globalized
hospitality sector–the case of a Greek tourism destination. J Tour Res, 18, pp.121-131.
Xie, H., Gao, F., Zhang, S. and Jin, S., 2016. A unified transmission strategy for TDD/FDD
massive MIMO systems with spatial basis expansion model. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular
Technology, 66(4), pp.3170-3184.

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Zhao, Z.Y., Zuo, J., Wu, P.H., Yan, H. and Zillante, G., 2016. Competitiveness assessment of
the biomass power generation industry in China: A five forces model study. Renewable
energy, 89, pp.144-153.

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Appendix
Appendix 1.
Source: Zhou et al 2016
Appendix 2.
Source: Kharub and Sharma 2017