314-132-1 TESLA MOTORS BUSINESS MODEL CONFIGURATION Case Study Authors Dipl. Kfm. Erwin Hettich Institute of Management University of St. Gallen & Prof. Dr. Günter Müller-Stewens Institute of Management University of St. Gallen © 2014 by Research Associate Erwin Hettich & Professor Dr. Günter Müller-Stewens University of St. Gallen. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of the copyright owner. The case is intended as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of management situations. The case was compiled from published sources. Distributed by The Case Centre North America Rest of the world www.thecasecentre.org t +1 781 239 5884 t +44 (0)1234 750903 case centre All rights reserved f +1 781 239 5885 f +44 (0)1234 751125 e
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[email protected] 314-132-1 “You’ll be able to travel for free, forever, on pure sunlight.” Elon Musk, CEO and chief product architect of Tesla Motors “The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.” Nikola Tesla When Elon Musk drove to work with his Model S electric car on February 24, 2014, he knew that he was also steering a revolution in the automobile industry. It took Tesla Motors, Inc. only 10 years and 30,000 vehicles to pass the market valuation of car-making giant Fiat and reach half of the value of General Motors – a company that had manufactured 450 million cars over its more than 100 years of existence.