Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.     Human capital: Education. Receiving a degree in marketing from on the top schools in America will give me credibility

Ø  Valuable: Education is always valuable. A marketing degree gives me a ‘starting kit’ with educational knowledge needed to do business

Ø  Rare: Not very rare, many students are choosing to further their education by going to college. Marketing is always a popular career path.

Ø  Inimitable: Anyone who has a degree in marketing can imitate it. However, it depends on the individual and if they choose to put effort into their degree. Many people can get a degree, but not all people can use this degree as a powerful resource.

Ø  Non-substitutable: This resource is substitutable in the sense that many people have marketing degrees.

2.     Social capital: Reach. My position as a student at a very large university and from a very populated area (South Florida) gives me the opportunity to reach many people.

Ø  Valuable: Marketing starts by word of mouth. Therefore, reach is extremely valuable. Creating a buzz about a product is much easier when more people know about the product.

Ø  Rare: Having a lot of reach is not rare. However, the manner in which I use this reach could make this resource rare.

Ø  Inimitable: Anyone can expand their reach. However, the reach I have is because I was able to make many connections with people since a young age. I enjoy connecting with people, not just for selfish business reasons, but because I value meaningful connections.

Ø  Non-substitutable: Marketing can provide the same resource. However, reach is more natural and less expensive (typically no costs at all)

3.     Competition or lack of: There are no commercialized products such as Breath-A-Lock. Systems do exist that have the same functions but these systems are administered by programs and the government.

Ø  Valuable: This is extremely valuable. In a world of many young entrepreneurs there is a lot of competition among products. The lack of competition will allow my product to dominate the market.

Ø  Rare: This is rare. Many business face competition as a major threat to their business.

Ø  Inimitable: This product could be imitated by other companies. However, with the right patents and protection competition can be limited.

Ø  Non-substitutable: No other resources can provide the benefit of limited competition.

4.     Social capital: College student. As a college student I have the ability to make this product look desirable to people of all ages. An older person marketing to young people would not be able to communicate the message as well as I can.

Ø  Valuable: This is valuable because it gives me credibility to sell the product.

Ø  Rare: I think that this aspect is somewhat rare considering the product I am selling. Few college students care enough to sell a product that prevents drinking and driving.

Ø  Inimitable: It is very inimitable, because all it takes is to be a college student to imitate this resource.

Ø  Non-substitutable: This can be substitutable if the seller can find another way to relate to young people.

5.     Research: Attending a top research University gives me access to people, facilities, and information that could help make my product marketable. There also has been a lot of research already conducted on the subject of drinking and driving.

Ø  Valuable: Having solid research to support the need for my product is extremely valuable. It adds to the credibility to the product and appeals to the market.

Ø  Rare: Not extremely rare, but for the amount of research that already exists compared to other products it is significant.

Ø  Inimitable: Research is inimitable. However, valuable research is not easily inimitable.

Ø  Non-substitutable: Nothing can really replace good research. Research is facts. Many companies sell via opinion, but facts sell easier.

6.     Emotion/Pathos: My product appeals to customers emotions. The devasting statistics about drunk driving make people feel empathy. Pathos is one of the most effective ways to appeal to an audience of consumers.

Ø  Valuable: Many people act on emotions, this makes this resource very valuable.

Ø  Rare: Not very rare, many companies have the ability to appeal to customer emotions in some way or another

Ø  Inimitable: Very inimitable. Many companies can use this tactic to appeal to potential customers

Ø  Non-substitutable: advertising can also appeal to logo and ethos (which my product does) but these ways of appealing are not as effective as pathos.

7.     Marketing capabilities: My interest in marketing and market research has allowed me to develop marketing capabilities and knowledge of what kind of content is the most effective.

Ø  Valuable: Marketing capabilities are valuable in any market. These capabilities are especially valuable in my market because my product will require well executed.

Ø  Rare: Many people can learn marketing skills. However, those who are more passionate about it will be more successful in creating meaningful content.

Ø  Inimitable: Very inimitable. Many companies are emphasizing strong marketing tactics now more than ever.

Ø  Non-substitutable: In the case of my product, good marketing cannot be substituted. However, some products have the ability to sell without effective marketing because they essentially market themselves.

8.     Networking/communication: As mentioned in previous assignments I have developed strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Ø  Valuable: Being able to connect to others, inside and outside of your company, is extremely important. By having strong communication skills I could potentially make powerful connections that would further my business model.

Ø  Rare: It depends how you view this concept. In a world that is so interconnected, many people would say that communication has become an innate skill for many. However, others say in a society where everyone is so attached to their electronics, many people are lacking personal communication skills.

Ø  Inimitable: Yes, anyone can cultivate good communication skills.

Ø  Non-substitutable: It would be very hard to run a business without good communication.

9.     Publicity & government support: Every day the news reports accidents involving drunk drivers. The government is constantly trying to limit the amount of incidents involving  drunk drivers with harsh laws and regulations.

Ø  Valuable: Getting the governments support for my product could potentially be the reason for my products successful. Also, if news articles were written about my product, I would be receiving free publicity, and could cut marketing costs.

Ø  Rare: Somewhat rare. The government and press rarely report on products that didn’t have to do with the well-being of society.

Ø  Inimitable: The only way this could be imitated if other products effected the health and well-being of society such as mine does.

Ø  Non-substitutable: Strong marketing tactics could replace this publicity. However, it would be much more expensive.

10.  Human/Social capital: After my interviews I realized that there are many people who are also passionate about this need.

Ø  Valuable: This is very valuable. The more people on board with my idea, the merrier.

Ø  Rare: Not very rare.

Ø  Inimitable: Anyone can gain support for their product.

Ø  Non-substitutable: Support is hard to replace

Conducting this VRIN helped me come to some important realizations. Before conducting this VRIN I would have said the lack of competition would be my greatest resource. While this is still an extremely important resource, I think that the most important resource is the publicity and government support. As I have mentioned before, marketing my product is the key to making my business successful. By having the support of the press and the government, my product will be marketed for me. People often act quicker when the press makes them aware of a product.