1 Million Electric Cars in the U.S. by 2015

At the beginning of 2011, Pres. Barack Obama stated that he wanted automotive manufacturers to develop and manufacture electric cars so that by 2015 there would be at least 1 million on the road. I started to think about what it would take to develop such an infrastructure to support the number of electric vehicles on the road in the U.S. within the next couple of years. I thought this would be a great venture for entrepreneurs and began researching companies that you could consider a first mover in this new market.

After stumbling upon Better Place, a company based out of CA, I took the approach of looking at their website to see what kind of business plan and future outlook they had in developing the infrastructure for electric cars. I was surprised to see how far they have come since they first started out in 2007. Since 2007, they have raised over $750 million dollars towards developing infrastructures in countries such as Australia, Denmark and Israel. Just recently last month, people were able to start using their network in both Israel and Denmark. Based on what we've learned in class regarding Business Model Canvas, I feel that Better Place has done a very thorough job at planning their future by developing key partnerships with Renault-Nissan, GE, and and Morgan Stanley to name a few. I am looking forward to following the company as they start to expand into China, Japan, and the United States.

Strategy & the Internet

The Internet has influenced the power each force has in Michael Porter’s Industry Structure Model and has impacted companies by giving more power to the consumer.

The Internet has made it easier for competitors to access new channels because consumers can now view companies from all across the country to search and find the best price and value. As a result, the barriers to entry have been reduced.  This in turn has put the power into the consumer’s hand. Because the power now resides with the consumer, the consumer can put more pressure on companies to stay competitive and offer lower prices on their goods and services.

Now that the end user has more options made available to them via the Internet, this has made it easier for companies to offer additional substitute products and services to the consumer. The benefit in this is that it has made the overall industry more efficient but at the same time it has made it more difficult for companies competing within the same market. This rivalry amongst competitors has forced companies to cut their profits in order to offer attractive prices to consumers.  Not only does the Internet put the power into the consumer’s hands but also in the suppliers’ hands . Having the ability to network amongst multiple companies from all geographic regions as well as having the ability to reach the end users, suppliers now can control companies by further reducing the barriers of entry.

Creative Abrasion

Creative Abrasion from both an entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship perspective can be a useful tool to help develop new products and services. By gathering people that have different interests and ideas to create new innovations is a smart move for almost any company, however, there can be some limitations.

For example, a company like United Technologies is very set in their ways when developing new products, where one has to go through a bunch of hoops before an idea can get funding or even be considered for funding. Unlike newer start-up companies, corporate politics can play a part in this. If senior leadership thinks creative abrasion is a beneficial way for an organization to grow and develop new products, they will support it. Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. is an example of a large corporation and leader that supported creative abrasion because without it, they would not have developed the Macintosh computer.

In a start-up environment, creative abrasion is more common and easier to implement because of the lack of structure with a new company. As long as there are some boundaries put in place, one can allow creative abrasion to occur but at the same time steer it so that the group stays on track for budgetary and time constraints.

It all boils down to whether a company is based on creativity or structure. Both methods can lead to success as well as failure but it is all in how the company utilizes its resources to effectively develop new products and services.