Navigating Cultural Differences at Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory: A Case Study

Abstract
Tesla is not alone in companies that have expanded their reach of consumers and workforce across different countries. Organizations that do so are looking to attract a new group of buyers to increase the profit of the company. However, one issue that the majority of companies run into
with new groups of consumers and workforce is that this brings about new cultures, values, and differences. In order to see the desired results companies like Tesla must work through these differences and navigate the project teams and the organization to a successful outcome. Cultural lenses are not only applicable to workforces, but to social interactions individuals have with people from different cultures. Once these cultural lenses are understood, a new perspective on cultural differences will be had and will, hopefully, lead to increased collaboration and harmony for society at large.

Case Study
An American transplant has been relocated from California to China in order to ensure that production standards and throughput does not decline from those seen at the factory in the United States to the new factory in Shanghai. Brian is the procurement manager of Tesla’s overseas Gigafactory located in Shanghai. Brian has been in the procurement industry for many years and through hard work and expertise, he has gained on the job he was promoted to look after the Chinese factory and recently located from California to Shanghai in January 2018. In addition to other responsibilities, his main role within the organization is that of purchasing machinery for the new factory.

Industry Research around Case Study
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Silicon Valley engineers who wanted to prove that electric vehicles could be “awesome” to drive when compared to gasoline cars. The company’s head office is located in Palo Alto, California. Tesla’s vehicles are produced at its factory in Fremont, California, where the vast majority of the vehicle’s components are also made (Tesla, 2019).

As Tesla continues to expand its product line, Tesla reports that every part of their Model  production process in Fremont has demonstrated the ability to reach a rate of 7,000 cars per week over a 24-hour basis. They target a sustained rate of 7,000 cars per week by the end of the year, which annualizes to a rate of 350,000 cars per year, but that’s just out of the Fremont factory. 

Leadership
Elon Musk’s leadership at Tesla is grounded upon a holistic strategy that looks to address the issue of green energy with projects like Tesla Energy and Solar City that are expected to fuel Tesla’s superchargers in the future. The above strategy sets Tesla far ahead of any other automobile giants.

Elon Musk, is a transformational leader. His leadership style makes managing changes pretty much very eminent if he wants to successfully lead. When Musk came onboard with Tesla Motors, the company was struggling with getting funded due to lack of confidence in electric cars in the market and a doubt about Tesla being able to withstand an enormous backlash from the industry giants. It was segregation of market, which segregated into fuel-driven car companies on one side and Tesla on another. 

Culture Research around Case Study
Tesla is an international company that most definitely contains a wide variety of cultural variations. Likewise, global virtual teams share the same characteristics, which also leads to a wide variety of perceptions as well. Members from different cultures will describe a team’s objectives, membership criteria, and activities in very different terms (Gibson & Zellmer Bruhn, 2001). As Walumbwa et al. (2007) research implies, individual natures and group norms may be contingently related to one another. Teams that pay attention to social processes tend to be more successful and more satisfied with their work together (Shachaf, 2008). Thus, information and communication technology should allow teammates to learn something about each other’s personal and professional backgrounds, their expectations and their goals, and should also support a variety of culturally different work-styles.