As we’ve briefly touched upon in class, Tesla has chosen Nevada as the place to build its “gigafactory,” or its $5 million battery plant. Such action has tremendous implications, which includes bringing 6,500 job opportunities and potential economic growth that Tesla may bring to Reno, Nevada.

In my opinion, Tesla’s decision to build its factory in Nevada may be seen as an act of corporate social responsibility — with a long term interest. Tesla, through the establishment of its gigafactory, plans on providing plenty of job opportunity to curb the 7.7% unemployment rate in Nevada, assisting in the economic development of the city (as well as the state), and ensuring aspects of the factory is sustainable, such as producing its own energy, to minimize damage on the environment.

However, like Friedman mentioned, such acts of responsibility may just be a “cloak” for an ulterior motive. Building this gigafactory can allow Tesla to decrease its cost in the short run. Also, I believe we must also consider the consequences of this decision to establish such a huge factory the town. When Tesla is financially unstable or leaves Nevada in search of a better location, it would be detrimental to the “Tesla Town” and leaves the city terribly unemployed.

Sources

Regan, Helen. “Tesla Awards ‘Gigafactory’ Deal to Nevada.” Time. Time, 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://time.com/3272004/tesla-awards-nevada-huge-gigafactory-deal-reno-elon-musk/>.

“Unemployment Rates for States.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm>.

Zimmerli, Walther Ch., Klaus Richter, and Markus Holzinger. Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Print.