Tesla: Innovation, Commercialisation, and Business Strategy Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Tesla's innovation and commercialization strategies. It begins with an introduction to the concepts of innovation and invention, differentiating between the two and highlighting their importance. The report then delves into Tesla's vision, culture, leadership, and teamwork, examining how these factors contribute to the company's innovative environment. It explores various sources of innovation, including unexpected events, incongruities, and market changes. The 4Ps of innovation are discussed, including frugal engineering and the innovation funnel. Furthermore, the report examines the commercial funnel and the development of new products, along with measures to check efficiency and the creation of a business case. Finally, it evaluates various tools for protecting intellectual property. The report uses the Harvard referencing system and includes a case study of Tesla, analyzing its strategies and performance in the electric vehicle market.

Innovation and
Commercialisation

Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
PART 1............................................................................................................................................4
Importance of innovation and invention .....................................................................................4
Difference between innovation and invention.............................................................................6
Vision, culture , leadership and teamwork of organisation ........................................................6
Different sources of innovation ..................................................................................................8
4Ps of innovation which includes the principle of frugal engineering, and the innovation
funnel ..........................................................................................................................................8
Part B.............................................................................................................................................12
Commercial funnel and development of a new production.......................................................12
Measures to check Efficiency....................................................................................................14
Business case.............................................................................................................................14
Evaluation of various tools for protecting intellectual property................................................18
References .....................................................................................................................................20
Books and journals.....................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Commercialisation is a process of coveting an idea or knowledge into new product and
inventing it in the market (Mohamed, and et.al., 2020). Innovation is a wider concept and means
application and development of new ideas that help to achieve desired goals. It is a process that
helps to satisfy the needs and wants of customers in a way that they want. Innovation directly
impacts the productivity of the organisation. It is vital to know about the trends in the market and
commercialise the idea to attract more customers. For completion of report Tesla is being
selected. It is important for an organisation to conduct research and makes changes in the product
that will help to gain competitive advantage. The company uses innovative ideas to attract
customers and satisfy their needs and wants effectively. The company was founded in July 1,
2003. The company deals in Electric vehicles, Tesla batteries and Solar panels and roofs. It is an
American company that has understood the requirement and introduced electronic vehicles (Al-
Mubarak, and Basler, 2017). In the report there is discussion related to invention and innovation
and difference among them. The vision, leadership, teamwork and culture of the organisation
also impact the innovation. 4P's of innovation are described in the report and benefit of using
them. There is discussion related to commercial funnel. Process to commercialise innovation is
part of this report. Various methods that protect the ideas are mentioned at the end of this report.
MAIN BODY
PART 1
Importance of innovation and invention
Invention: It is a process of developing a new product. In invention the product or
service launched is new and seen for the first time. Inventions leads is a unique process and
requires a lot of study and research. It is an act through which new idea is used to launch a new
product that does not exists before. It can be better understood with the help of example that is
Tesla has invented its Tesla coil that is used till now.
Innovation: Innovation is a process in which new combinations are formulated that helps
to enhance the position of the brands. The needs and wants of customers are dynamic so
nowadays it is important for an organisation to know and understand the demands of customers
and then make development in the product. The changes may be in the product, service or may
be in process or in all of them (Angrand, 2017). It helps to attract more customers as well as to

decrease the cost. Technology is getting updated at a fast pace so now the companies have to
cope up them and innovate the products and services that are offered by them. It is vital in
today's time to understand the importance of technology and the benefits associated with them.
In relation to Tesla the company has innovated its products in an unquestionable manner. To
enhance the experience of customers the company has innovated and came with a new product
the is electronic cars. Also Tesla claims that the cars produced by them are safest and quickest
car on the road. The company has understood the rapid changing technology and accepted the
same. Tesla has innovated the cars and provide fast-charging sustainable batteries that are setting
record in the market. As it has produced a line of sustainable batteries that are also fast changing.
Importance of innovation is mentioned below:
Effectively responding to unforeseen events: Everyone knows that today's time is
uncertain. It is important to conduct proper research. When a company is planning to innovate its
product and service then they conduct proper research about the market and the trends. They also
make forecasts about the future (Bae, 2018). That helps them to get prepared for the unforeseen
event. Tesla is famous for innovation and using updated technology that has made the company
prepared for the unforeseen events. The company was prepared and knowing about the need of
electrical vehicles.
Competitive lead: Competition is present at every level and it is responsibility of a
business to face competition and gain competitive edge. Every company build strategy that help
them to stand out in the market and establish a brand image. Innovation is important factor that
supports in gaining competition advantage. In respect to Tesla the company has established
brand image in the market due to innovative products launched by the company. It has benefited
the company to grab customers and gain advantage over the customers.
Continuous improvement: Innovation supports regular improvement. As regular
research is being conducted many new and innovative ideas come in path. Regular innovation
helps in attract new customers and retaining the old once (Bakhtaran, Alani, and Hosseini, 2020).
In relation to Tesla the company regularly improves its products and services that helps the
company to retain the customers.
Creative Development: A person or an organisation that has creative nature helps to
develop a product or service that supports innovation. It is good to be creative as it gives new
ideas of doing the same thing. In relation to Tesla the company has creative people working that

give new ideas and help the company to innovate its products and services. It is important to
develop the creativity and use it in the best way that is possible.
Above mentioned are the importance of innovation that help an organisation to become
successful and establish brand image in the market. Tesla regularly innovates the products
offered and attract more and more customers.
Difference between innovation and invention
Basis Innovation Invention
Purpose Innovation is a process that
makes development in the
already existing product as per
the needs and wants of
customers.
Invention is a process under
which a new product is
launched. It does not change
or develops the existing
product.
Requirement It is important to innovate the
product and service of a
company as that helps to gain
competitive advantage over
the other rivalry in the same
industry (Bernier, 2019)
(Berm, Bigram, and Marchuk,
2019).
As the product is new it
helps the organisation to
boost the sales and it
enhances the profitability
position of the company.
Focus Organisations focus to retain
the customers by satisfying
their needs and wants.
The main aim is to enhance
the share in market by
launching a new product
that is not seen before
wards.
Two of these terms are different as in invention new product is launched and in
innovation the already existing product is altered and developed. In relation to Tesla the
company is innovating its products and that is reason for success of the company. For example,
Tesla has been coming in various solar batteries, innovative cars with system of less fuel
consumption.

Vision, culture, leadership and teamwork of organisation
Vision: The vision of Tesla is to build most powerful cars that are safe for customers. They are
also changing world to use electric vehicles.
The vision of the company is innovative and deals about electronic cars that clearly shows the
company is planning to use innovative techniques to achieve the vision. Tesla promises the
customers to provide them compelling cars that takes care of their safety. For this also they have
to regularly update the cars and that provide them safety. The vision of company is directly
linked with the innovation. Tesla supports innovation and that is directly mention in the vision of
the company.
Culture: This means the shared beliefs and values in the organisation. In relation to Tesla the
company has innovative culture. Innovation is in heart of Tesla. The company focuses on
innovation and conducts a regular research that helps the company to know about the trends and
requirements in the market. Tesla promotes innovation and their target is to develop the products
and offer them to customers (Frederickson, and Knudsen, 2017). The culture of the organisation
directly impacts the workforce. It is important that the culture is in support of vision so that the
company focusses on achieving that. The employees are motivated and told about the importance
and benefit of innovation.
Leadership: Leadership means leading a time. It is an art of motivating and directing the team
member and making them work towards the goals and objectives of the company. The leaders of
Tesla focus on promoting innovation. It is their vision that they want to accomplish. They are the
one that spend money for research and development that supports innovation. They take care that
the company is making right use of technology that is helpful for the company. The leaders
motivate the employees to work and achieve the mission. There ideas and thoughts of all the
employees are valued as they give rise to new ideas.
Teamwork: working in team is important for both organisation and employees. It is duty of
leaders to facilitate the employees and make them work in a team. For success of an organisation
it is important to work in a team. In relation to Tesla, they value the employees working in teams
(Gbadegeshin, 2017). Projects are assigned to them and they complete them in teams. It is
important to understand the individuals that are working together. They formulate strategies that
promote innovation and provide ideas that they derive while working in team. It can be seen that
the employees get new and innovative ideas when they work together.

In relation to Tesla, the company is innovative in nature. It provides support to the all its
employees and spend money in research and development so as to provide innovative products to
all its customers. The vision of company is to build electronic cars that is innovative in itself and
it is importance of innovation. Innovation is important and used by Tesla at every stage.
Different sources of innovation
The Unexpected: There are various sources of innovation. It is important to find the
opportunities that will help to gain success. By conducting research innovative ideas are
developed which are unexpected to the organisation.
Incongruities: The feedback, reviews and complaints are also one of the great source of
innovation. It is always important to treat customers as priority and try to satisfy them. By
satisfying the needs and wants of customer’s company gets new ideas and that help them to
innovate (Gupta, Mejia, and Kajikawa, 2019).
Process Need: A company should focus on the process used by company. It is important
to analyse the weak points of the process and redesign the. As that will help the company to gain
an innovative idea. It will redesign the process and will help the company to gain success.
Industry and market structure changes: When there are changes in the structure of
market it impacts the organisation as well. It is important have knowledge about the changes and
take measure for that. At that time, it is important to innovate and make a strategy that is helpful
for business.
Demographics: The demographic factors also impact innovation and give rise to it. It is
important for an organisation to know about these changes. Like change in population is also
example top demographic (Han, 2017). It helps the company to innovate the product according
the change. This shows that demographic factors also a source of innovation.
Changes in perception, mood and meaning: As the needs and wants of customers are
ever changing. It is important to analyse the changes and perception of customers. Then satisfy
them. It is important to identify the changes and satisfy them. These changes help the
organisation to get innovative ideas.
New Knowledge: In today's time there are various changes in technology and it is
important to identify those and grab knowledge about them. The knowledge helps to innovate the
product. It is important to use updated technology as helps in bringing innovation.

These are the sources of innovation that helps an organisation. It is important for the
organisation to grab knowledge and understand the needs and wants of customers to provide
them innovative products (Haran, and Havran,2018).
4Ps of innovation which includes the principle of frugal engineering, and the innovation funnel
4P’s of innovation in context to Tesla are explained below:
Product: The first P under 4P’s of innovation is product. The main aim of the organisation
to provide quality product to all its customers and satisfy their needs and want. It is not easy to
satisfy the customers by offering the same product over time. So it is important for organisation
to regularly innovate the product. Tesla accomplish is vision by regularly updating the product of
offered by the company. They have switch to electronic cars to meet the trends of the market and
to satisfy the needs and wants of customers. Model S of Tesla is the first one plug-in electric
vehicle that has reached 1 billion electric miles’ milestone (Sharma and Kumar, 2019).
Process: The process through which company accomplishes its operations is important. The
profitability of an organisation depends on the production process followed by the company. It is
important to know about the technology improvement and use that in the process used by the
company. Tesla innovate its operations that helps them to achieve economies of scale.
Positioning: Every company positions its product in a way that it attracts more and more
customers. The image of Tesla is innovative that shows the company has rightly positioned its
product. This helps the company to establish a powerful brand image in the minds of customers
that support innovation (Kholiavko, and Shestakovska, 2018).

Paradigm: Tesla has started a new concept that shows that improvement in quality of
products offered by company does not harm the environment the company balance the quality of
product and environmental protection.
These are the 4 P’s of innovation in relation to Tesla.
Frugal engineering is a process that helps in reducing the cost of products that are offered by
the company. The company focuses on eliminating the complexities in the operations of the
organisation. Non-essential features are removed from the durable goods. It helps to deliver the
value to customers at low cost. The company focuses to provide quality experience to its
customers. Frugal innovation helps the company to attract more customers by providing them
quality products at affordable prices. Tesla uses frugal innovation produces innovative product at
price that is affordable by the customers, The Company launches electronic cars as innovative
product to its customers. It is important nowadays for organisations to use the concept of Frugal
innovation as it helps to minimise the complexity. It is done by Tesla and they are able to cater
the needs and wants of customers effectively by using the concept of frugal innovation. At the
same time a lot of money is spend on this process and it enhances the cost of products launched
by the company.
Innovation funnel is a process to innovate the product and service offered by the
company. The aim is to understand the needs and wants of customers and innovate the product
accordingly. It helps to innovate the product products as per the desire of customers.
 Focus on wide mouth of funnel: This is the first step in the innovation management
funnel process. Here the company focuses on grabbing knowledge about the product so

as to innovate the product. This helps company to take right actions that help in attracting
more and more customers (Libbers, 2018).
 The narrow segment of funnel: The knowledge gained in previous steps gave rise to an
idea. The next task is to match the idea with goals and objectives of the organisation.
 The narrow segment of funnel: It is time to check the idea. It is called narrow segment
as the final decision is taken in this stage. The main task is to innovate the product that
satisfies the needs and requirements of customers.
Tesla has used this process and identified the trends in market and the requirements of
customers. That has helped them to build powerful vehicles that provide safety to customers.
Tesla has also launched electronic vehicles that supported innovation. This shows that the
company is planning to regularly innovate the product and satisfy the vision set by the company.

Part B
Commercial funnel and development of a new production
New product development
An organisation run into long leading market where it interacts with competitions, risks
and failure. Every organisation looks forward to their expansion to gain large market share for
longer period of time and maintain its value into existing market. In order to these requirements,
organisations wanted to search in better and innovative aspect that how can it will attract large
market towards company’s product. Companies try to analyse what is more demanding into
market and find possible ways to make it possible at first place. This could only become possible
by making changes and renovation into product and providing public new and reliable
experience of goods. Every new product requires it to be innovative that differs it from existing
products into market, so that Tesla make proper strategic formulation and plans about launching
and producing new vehicles and come up with something innovative by using uplifting
technologies in marketplace (Niagara, 2017). They move with appropriate paths for creating new
product segment which are described below:
Idea development: it is the initial stage for new product development where company make
think of product features, size, quality and its design. Idea creates the concept and concept will
result into final outcome. The company will make idea by concerning about cost factor and
availability of resources and de4vbelope standards for its production. Tesla first created an idea
of making emission free cars and other vehicles by acknowledging several research regarding
technologies where R&D departments makes the best possible advices in relation to searching
and acquiring market updates. They developing every related strategy which make their product
more unique than the rest (Nepelski, and Parole, 2018).
Analysing the concept: Under this segment, the planned idea takes the execution through
market research, analysing and observation provide relevant factor which influence into the
market so that organisation could come up marketing trends, product innovation, market forces
technological updates and cost saviour techniques. Tesla has analysed all concepts of its idea that
how it will affect market that has shown various benefits for environment and country.
Analysing market: the most crucial part of innovation is to go through with market as what
goods and services are already in demand and what changes customer prefer. Their preferences