Recommendations:

Tesla’s issues regarding Elon Musk and his management style are causing a serious lack of
production of Tesla vehicles, the result of this issue is creating a negative image of tesla from an
employee’s perspective that differs from our internal narrative. The biggest way for us as interns
is to help communicate solutions to our stakeholders is to make our recommendations towards
our CEO, Elon Musk, regarding the challenges Tesla’s image is facing.
The first of our key stakeholders is our employees, specifically within our factories. These vital
members of our company have been extremely concerned with the working conditions currently
in place within Tesla’s factories. Employees from their factories in California, claimed that “they
started changing rules without any remorse” resulting in stricter working conditions that caused
significant distress among all factory employees. Due to the fact that Elon Musk can’t keep up
with their desired production standards, employees are forced to work long hours with increased
stress. If the employees can’t reach their production goals at a consistent level, then the post
purchase satisfaction from customers will continue to decline leading to an increasing of our
negative image. Our recommendation to Musk, for Tesla’s employees, is to reestablish the
employee perception of Tesla as a company by allowing their employees to unionize. Creating
better working conditions will result in an increase in productivity of the factory employees,
which will allow the image of Tesla to become more positive within the community of Tesla
owners.
The second key stakeholder of our company is the upper management, specifically Elon Musk.
As an electric car production company, the ways we share information with our stakeholders is
mainly through our CEO, Elon Musk. With his involvement in both Tesla and SpaceX, he has
been spread thin with his ability to effectively lead both organizations. Musk has been reportedly
criticized for both pushing his staff to the limit, as well as, pushing himself to the brink of a
breakdown to show his employees that they aren’t the only ones going the extra mile. Situations
were Musk is “sleeping on the factory floor” just so he can be “on hand to address problems
quickly,” just goes to show that Musk doesn’t have the time to effectively run the company on
his own. We need our CEO to be fully involved in finding a solution for our production issue and
the negative images portrayed in the media. His lack of involvement is hurting his ability to
effectively help tesla and change the image they are sharing with the electric vehicle world.
With our current model of having Musk being the face of Tesla’s narrative, what we recommend
is that he shares some of the burden with how Tesla shows its narrative and dealing with the
problem of their negative image. Splitting up the responsibility of Musk to another group of
company executives is a way where Musk isn’t forced to manage two companies that both
require a full time CEO. Allowing another full time qualified group of employees to devise a
plan of operation to better manage the issue can avoid situations where the face of our company
is illustrating an unfavorable one. Fixing the external narrative of Tesla is the main issue we need
to solve, in an attempt to correct that having more people focused on the solution the better Tesla
will be regarding the public’s perception.
The final key stakeholder of Tesla is the consumer; the significance of the consumer is the first
priority of Tesla as a car manufacturer. Maintaining their positive image of our company is what
drives us to continually innovate the electric vehicle market. Even with the constant effort of
Elon Musk to show how much Tesla is committed to the consumer, we are still facing issues
with our negative company image. Our recommendation to combat this problem is to stray away
from the strictly twitter reports from Musk and invest in an actual marketing advertisement
campaign designed to address these issue.
Attempting to turning the public’s perception into a positive one, opening a channel for
connection between Tesla and the consumer can allow for a change in that perception. As of now
Tesla has never produced any type of television, radio, or online advertisement, but by starting a
campaign to change that image can be an effective tool in solving the problem of having a
negative external narrative. Information provided from the Mintel market research website, in the
car purchasing process report (Figure 1), fuel efficiency tops the chart for vehicle features people
are looking for when buying a new car. Tesla is currently the industry leader for fuel efficiency,
in addition with the next two top features, competitive pricing and safety features, Tesla vehicles
have an advantage. Specifically regarding the Model S, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration awarding the vehicle with a “5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every
subcategory without exception.” Sharing information like this to the public through televised
advertisements can be an effective method of creating a more positive image and also showing
that Tesla is committed to the wants and safety of their customers.