Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

Model S Battery

While Tesla does not market its own products on a business level, they do, like most industrial companies, receive some parts and materials needed to produce said products from other companies who do just that. One part, in particular, that has been the focus of much debate over the last few months is the battery. Since the beginning, production and development of the 7,000 lithium-ion cell EV battery has been achieved through a collaboration with Panasonic. Panasonic was also contracted to manufacture all of Tesla's batteries thus far- which is where the problem begins. Panasonic seems to be having a hard time keeping up with rising consumer demand for Tesla vehicles. This in turn means that Tesla themselves are limited in growth to what Panasonic can produce. The problem is that even though it seems Tesla's battery design will one day become a market standard, for the time being there is a shortage in supply for them. CEO Elon Musk is openly considering cutting ties with Panasonic and opening a battery manufacturing facility of the largest scale in the world. While B2B is a necessary part of any industrial business to some level, there is a lesson to be learned here- if at all possible, certain essentials, supply of which is key to your entire line and production of which is not easy to come by, should most likely be under your own control.