9781422270370

MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES

Each company, regardless of size, authors a mission statement that communicates why it exists and how it intends to serve its stakeholders, typically thought of as shareholders, customers, and employees. The business follows the mission statement with its vision statement, which offers a description of where the company sees its future in regard to its aspirations and purpose. Both of these statements flow out of the company’s core values—the shared beliefs of the organization. Typically, these statements appear as part of the company’s business plan.

Elon Musk wants to design dream cars accessible to everyone. People who missed his first blog post about Tesla initially treated the company as another sports car company. Musk later explained that although the founders would have liked to bring to market the low-cost, imminently affordable Tesla sedans as its first vehicles, Tesla could not do so as a startup company with no car-manufacturing experience. The company lacked the needed economies of scale. The company set a simple goal for its first vehicle. Its mission in creating the Roadster became the creation of an electric sports car that could compete with gas-powered vehicles in the same class.

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Tesla: The Feeling is Electric