Strategy as What a Business Should Do Over Time to Succeed: A Case Study of Tesla, Inc

Abstract

Why businesses succeed or fail is a central question in strategy. Extant literature is well developed in explaining the relative success of firms at a point in time. There is not as much known, however, about what a business should do over time to succeed. We begin to address this gap with a study of Tesla, Inc. Following recommendations to ensure reliability and validity (Gibbert et al., 2008), we study how Tesla succeeded as a startup in the capital and scale intensive industry, when the relevant technology and supporting infrastructure were nonexistent. We contrast Tesla with its competitors to draw conclusions. We then articulate strategy insights from the study including for a preliminary theory of strategy as what a business should do over time to succeed