Tesla’s New Strategy Is Over 100 Years Old - HBR

Excerpt from an interesting and perhaps inadvertently ironic (see, e.g., the comments on the post and Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who Was the Better Inventor?) long term view

"The second has to do with scope. The Tesla Energy web site declares that “Tesla is not just an automotive company; it’s an energy innovation company,” a statement that calls to mind Ted Levitt’s iconic observation that the railroads could have seen trucks as an opportunity and not a threat if they had thought of themselves as being not merely in the railroad business but, more broadly, in the transportation business. Embracing a larger, more encompassing self-definition powers systems-level ambitions. By defining itself as more than just a car company, Tesla is avoiding a common trap companies fall into as they mature: it is not letting the markets it’s in today bound tomorrow’s opportunities. Tesla’s flashy electric cars are positioned as but one component in the energy system of the future.  To stretch an analogy, the cars are the iPod — and iOS, iCloud, and additional devices are still in the works."

Tesla’s New Strategy Is Over 100 Years Old - HBR