Assignment 23A: Your Venture's unfair Advantage

For this post, students have been asked to expound on what will separate their businesses from the pack. More specifically, we will be coming up with a list of 10 “resources,” that we already have, and then conducting a VRIN (valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable) analysis for each resource. Let’s get started!

My resources:

1)      Top 10 University educated leadership

V: A well-educated leader will command respect from business partners and the public

R: There are approximately 10 Top 10 universities

I: This quality of education is hard to imitate by a non-top 10 university

N: A quality education simply cannot be self-taught or taught by a lesser university

2)      Location

V: Our location is valuable because of the direct access to thousands of potential customers daily

R: There are no coffee shops in the area

I: Real estate cannot be duplicated

N: Real estate cannot be substituted, no two locations are alike

3)      Natural Customer inflow

V: having easy access to customers is valuable for any business ever

R: Few businesses have the luxury of being located on the same property as most of their customers

I: This is not an opportunity that could be easily duplicated

N: There is no substitute for customers

4)      Commitment to quality

V: A commitment to providing high quality coffee will pay off with repeat business

R: Most people are used to Starbucks or Dunkin donuts, which is good but not as good as most local boutique type shops

I: This is a process that can be imitated, but it will come at a cost

N: There is no real substitute for high quality coffee at a coffee shop

5)      Lack of direct competition

V: Good fences make good neighbors; lack thereof makes good competition

R: Most of the restaurant market in the area is heavily saturated

I: It would be difficult to create a situation with the combination of steady population and little competition

N: The best substitute for lack of competition would be competition that isn’t very competitive

6)      Start up capital approx. $5K

V: Having a bit of start up money will help me put some materials together to get off the ground

R: It is somewhat rare for an American college student to be cash positive

I: There are some imitations for cash, (like a loan)
N: Credit could be a substitute for cash on hand in a business setting

7)      Human Capital

V: Having the few skills that I have gained will prove to be very valuable for my business

R: I have a relatively rare but not unheard-of amount of work experience

I: There truly is nothing that can shape you like on the job experience

N: Education can take you a certain distance, but at some point, you will have to rely mainly on work training

8)      Social Media/ Marketing Capabilities

V: Reading The Art of Social Media proved to me just how valuable having an online presence is

R: There is still a learning curve to be had before social media marketing skills are main stream in society
I: There really is nothing in the realm of marketing to make up for not having an online presence
N: Blogging or just having a website is no longer an effective substitute

9)      Property management relationship

V: Having known the managers of our potential property will help ease all negotiations
R: I’m not sure that this is very rare for experienced entrepreneurs
I: There are probably other ways to make negotiations go smoothly, but everything helps when you are a strapped for cash startup
N: I can’t think of a great way to substitute for that personal relationship

10)   Social Capital

V: The value of true social capital in many ways is immeasurably great
R: I do think that it is rare, and becoming rarer to have a substantial amount of social capital
I: In a way, true social capital can be imitated with purchased social capital
N: There is no solid substitutes for having connections in your community

My top resource:

Upon reflection, I think that the steady inflow of customers is my top resource.