Tesla : direct marketing vs franchising / Joyce Young, Adiba Fattah, and Paul W. Clark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Young, Joyce, active 2020, author.

Fattah, Adiba, author.

Clark, Paul W., active 2020, author.

Series:

SAGE business cases.

SAGE business cases

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business planning--Case studies.

Business planning.

Automobile dealers--Law and legislation--United States--Case studies.

Automobile dealers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

London : Society for Case Research, 2020.

Summary:

This case describes a marketing decision faced by Elon Musk of Tesla. In his latest setback, the state of Michigan had just denied him the opportunity to open Tesla-owned and -operated automobile dealerships. Given Michigan's importance in terms of potential sales and prominence in the automobile industry, Tesla faced the prospect of filing for its first federal court injunction (Voelcker, 2016). If the federal court overruled the state's decision, Tesla would be allowed to go forward with its own dealerships. With the growing demand for Tesla electric-powered automobiles, Musk preferred and continued to rely on the company's direct marketing channel. Musk had previously acknowledged publicly that the future might eventually include "a combination of our own stores and some dealer franchises" (Taylor, 2014). Tesla remained the only automotive brand in the United States that did not use independent franchised dealers. Many states prohibited car producers from owning dealerships. Tesla had successfully challenged the law in several state courts and legislatures, but organized resistance had mounted in others. A win at the federal level would potentially open all 50 states to its direct marketing channel and could impact distribution channels for the entire automobile industry. With the recent rollout of Tesla's Model 3, an electric car for the mass market, expanded distribution was critical (Gardner, 2016). For 2018, the Model 3, available only in the U.S., had a production goal of 400,000 vehicles compared to the 2017 output of 2900, yet the company had dealerships in just 23 out of the 50 states (Ryan, 2017). Students are asked to decide whether Musk should file suit in federal court or should he investigate the opportunities that franchising has to offer.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

979-83-488-5307-5

OCLC:

1569209154

Publisher Number:

T301141