Discussions in this course are post-first activities, which means  that you are required to upload your completed initial post first before  others posts are viewable.

Before posting the discussion messages, please read the term project instructions.

This activity will provide you with an opportunity to engage in a  discussion with this class on a project topic that you have selected to  implement as the term project. The class interaction will foster a  learning environment in which you will learn from each others  experiences and opinions.

In addition, you will practice using project management jargon and  expressing your opinions in a professional manner. The options available  in this discussion have ethical considerations that are important to  consider as a project manager. 

My  project proposal would be the Tesla Cybertruck. I choose this because  it seems to be a hot topic online lately as far as the newest innovation  of technology out so far.

The industry Tesla is mainly about  electric cars and other renewable energy resources, but mainly, electric  cars. The company is mainly known for their electric cars, and only  within the last couple of years gotten into the solar business. Current  industry trends show that they are gaining popularity quickly because  their cars are becoming affordable to the masses, instead of only for  the rich.

A SWOT analysis is that their strengths are they have  perfected the manufacturing process and acquisition of electric cars and  their components/battery packs. They are able to negotiate well with  vendors to keep the pricing of said components down. Their weaknesses  are the unreliability and impulsiveness of Elon Musk which can sometimes  make a good or bad presentation for them, as well as their struggle to  get their production facilities at full output on the schedule they  expected. Their opportunity is when they get into the solar department,  they are able to sell complete kits including the vehicle, the solar  panels, and the battery packs needed to charge them and on off the grid.  Their threat would be the other companies such as Ford coming into the  electric car market where they are already well known as a manufacturer  and can put up good competition at the same affordable price.

I  will focus on the marketing side of things where they can change their  marketing to make the cybertruck appeal more to the people who would get  the most benefit from a vehicle such as that. People who are already in  the market for a truck but do not want to spend the $40,000-50,000 on a  new Ford or Toyota because they want to be able to use it for just  short commutes and the occasional “truck task” here and there.

I  calculated the ROI spreadsheet based on average market variables such as  vendor discounts typically given to long term customers as well as cost  of manufacturing going down further and further based on the timeline  they expect to expand and finish developing their newest production  factories around the world.

The most challenge part of this was to  determine what the topic should be, there are so many interesting, new  technologies out there right now, it is hard to settle on just one to  look in to, but this one is so controversial right now, it sounded fun.

ROI & Payback Period Template.xls