IDG Contributor Network: Ford vs. Tesla: Thinking about the problem of innovation
Let’s take a step away from IT and the technology market in general to talk about innovation in general by focusing on two automotive companies, Ford and Tesla.
On paper, there’s really no competition: Ford is a global company whose brand pretty much defines the car, and Tesla is a wannabe car company with three models and, until recently, on death watch because they were losing millions of dollars every quarter (and the money was running out). But Tesla has a market cap of $54B while Ford has a market cap of around $33B. Ford wants to be Tesla because Tesla, thanks to their success with electric cars, is valued more for their innovation.