Introduction
The concept of competitive profile matrix provides a framework for comparative analysis between a business and its primary competitors to disclose their strengths and weaknesses. In the case of Tesla Motors in Abu Dhabi, the competitive profile matrix is summarized in the table below.
Tesla’s Competitive Profile Matrix
From the above competitive profile matrix, there are several critical success factors that have spurred the performance of Tesla Motors in the Abu Dhabi market. From the above table, it is apparent that the most significant critical success factors for the Tesla Motors are brand reputation (0.13), strong online business presence (0.15), and strategic market share (0.14).
The success of Tesla Motors in Abu Dhabi depended on the ability of the organization to establish effective marketing communication strategies. Fortunately, Tesla had a budget of $7m for its marketing, and it attained revenue growth of above 75 percent by 2014-2015 fiscal year. Incorporating brand communication strategies has helped in pushing Model S into the market. With a specific marketing communication budget, Tesla Motors’ attempt to brand itself as ‘Apple automaker’ akin its use of technology in production was fruitful since it managed to build a strong brand identity (Bowden 20).
Through budgetary allocations to initiate brand communication over new and traditional media, Tesla Motors has increased its brand identity across the city of Abu Dhabi. Perhaps, this step is the biggest strategic marketing opportunity available to the organization. In terms of strategic market share, Tesla experiences high bargaining power from its competitors, as it does not purchase the commodity type of goods. It depends on suppliers who are derived from different places and in different areas of specialization to ensure sustained manufacturing processes.
Apparently, Toyota has the strongest performance of 2.94 followed by BMW at 2.71, with Tesla taking the third position at 2.44. The last position is taken by Honda at 2.31. However, the difference in scores between the companies is less than 0.3. This means that the higher score attributed to Toyota and BMW over Tesla can be attributed to their existence in the market for a longer time and production of more units than Tesla.
These incumbent automobile makers pose a significant threat to Tesla Motors in the Abu Dhabi market. They have a well-established and protected brand, which may enable them to secure higher sales even if they may resort to the production of inferior, fully electric vehicles. Besides, Toyota and BMW are in their advanced stages of developing fully electric cars (Kotler and Keller 35). Tesla Motors also suffers from the twin problem of introducing a new company and a new product on the market.
Strategies to deal with the threat
Tesla Motors can create a unique brand to remain competitive in the highly stratified Abu Dhabi market. The creation of a unique brand will give Tesla a competitive over competitors such as Toyota, BMW, and Honda. Competitive technology can also be adopted by Tesla to make the company improve its products and services. Strengths that will place the firm at the top of its main competitors include provision of affordable high-tech products to the target population (Cheverton 54). Contrarily, most electric car manufacturing firms prefer selling at extraordinarily high prices in order to meet the cost of production.
By 2017, Tesla Motor will provide cars with high value and low costs in Abu Dhabi. It will be easy to acquire a brand new Series X vehicle at less than $40,000 in the next two years. The company should invest largely in quality marketing that constantly makes it visible to the public. The company needs to embrace more traditional media marketing in order to keep growing, especially when targeting the clients. In order to effectively reach such audience, the marketing communication plan must suggest the best advertisement strategies to cover its wide market area to accommodate divergent views and perceptions on different brands.
Strategic Competitive Intelligence Matrix
One of the most difficult things is to launch an electric car company in an environment in which people mostly trust the gasoline operated vehicles. Tesla has a competitive corporate strategy that majors on the deployment of talented, passionate, and innovative employees who share a common vision with the firm. Technology runs most functions in the firm from communication, product design, and overall product development.
Unlike companies that target the rich and sophisticated customers, such as BMW, Tesla decided to target the middle class in the new corporate strategy of 2009. In addition, the entire organization settles on a product design and price before making the information public (Mariotti 34). For instance, Musk sought the popular views of the employees and managers before settling for US$57,400 as the price of the Model S (Tesla Motors par. 7). With subsequent model productions, the company aimed at reducing the prices of products in order to attract the middle class.
While offering a range of sporty electric cars, Tesla operates in a rivaled market in Abu Dhabi. This explains the significance of quality leadership in the overall management of human resources. Common vehicles designed by the company include the luxury sedan, Model S, and Model X. Tesla is in the process of creating future car models with a mileage of about 650km, high battery power made from lithium-ion. Tesla has limited time to prove to the rest of the world that it is worth the attention received by gasoline-driven cars by improving on the vehicle technology (Rhim and Lee 159).
Both Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program and the previous loan earned Tesla US$8.465 billion in one year, enabling the management to continue with the eighth and ninth capital investment plan of the company. The company began earning interest and acquiring contracts by 2005. In 2009, it was evident that collective opinions from different workers and supervisors earned the company the goodwill of suppliers (Cheverton 28). Reduced loan acquisition has enabled the company to have its own malls that can couple up as showrooms and galleries for contact center in Abu Dhabi.
Works Cited
Bowden, John. “The Process of Customer Engagement: A Conceptual Framework.” Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 17.1 (2010): 63-74. Print.
Cheverton, Philip. Key Marketing Skills: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques for Marketing Success, London, UK: Kogan Page, 2013. Print.
Kotler, Philip, and Kevin Keller. Marketing Management, New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Mariotti, Steve. Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business, New York: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Rhim, Hosus, and Chan Lee. “Assessing Potential Threats to Incumbent Brands: New Product Positioning Under Price Competition in a Multi Segmented Markets.” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 22.1 (2010): 159-182. Print.
Tesla Motors. Abu Dhabi Market. 2015. Web.