Barclays VRIO / VRIN Analysis | Assignment Help

What is VRIO / VRIN Analysis ?

VRIO stands for – Value of the resource, Rareness of the resource, Imitation Risk, and Organizational Competence.

VRIO is a resource focused strategic analysis tool. To build a sustainable competitive advantage the resources that –casename— needs to be valuable, rare, and difficult to imitate. Secondly the –casename— needs to possess capabilities, organizational structure, and culture to optimize the available resources usage. VRIO analysis can help organizations such as Barclays to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

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What is a Valuable Resource for Barclays? Defining Valuable in VRIO

A resource or capability is considered valuable for Barclays , if it allows the Barclays to exploit opportunities or negate threats emerging out of both the micro business environment and the macro environment. If a resource does not allow Barclays to minimize threats or exploit opportunities, than it doesn't contribute signficantly to building a sustainable competitive advantage for Barclays.

What are Rare Resources for Barclays? Defining Rare in VRIO

In an industry that Barclays operates in, valuable resources are held by number of competitors. So valuable resources themselves don’t provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Barclays require rare resources to compete in the industry. If Barclays don’t have rare resources that are required to succeed in the industry then Barclays won’t be able to compete successfully in the marketplace. Secondly holding rare resources can provide Barclays competitive advantage against players that don’t have those rare resources. HBR Case Study Solution

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for Barclays? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to Barclays for certain period of time as all the competitors are going to try to imitate or replicate that resource. A sustained competitive advantage emerges, if the resource is difficult to imitate by the competitors. Barclays can create inmitability by innovating on the product side, reducing pain points on service delivery, and having an effective post sales servicing strategy. Check out the SWOT analysis of Barclays

What is a Organization for Barclays? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Barclays has all the valuable resources that are both rare and difficult to imitate, it won’t automatically result into a sustainable competitive advantage. The key to build the sustainable competitive advantage is to have organizational capabilities, expertise, and structure to exploit the resources. If Barclays is not organized based on its strengths then it won’t able to exploit all the resources that it possesses.

Resources	Value	Rare	Imitation	Organization	Competitive Advantage
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Barclays products	Yes, new niches are emerging in the market	No, as most of the competitors are also targeting those niches	Yes can be imitated by the competitors	Brand extensions will require higher marketing budget	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Global and Local Presence of Barclays	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Barclays but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Sales Force and Channel Management of Barclays	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide Barclays sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Brand Positioning of Barclays in Comparison to the Competitors	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors but it will require big marketing budget	Yes, the firm has positioned its brands based on consumer behavior	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Barclays Corporate Strategy	Yes	No	Each of the firm has its own strategy	Yes, company has organizational skills to extract the maximum out of it.	Still lots of potential to build on it
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Barclays	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps Barclays in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of Barclays but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Barclays dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of Barclays products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Barclays products are high	Yes, Barclays has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Barclays has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Customer Community of Barclays	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Barclays has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Barclays competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Barclays customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Barclays Customer Network and Loyalty	Yes, 23% of the customers contribute to more than 84% of the sales revenue	Yes, firm has invested to build a strong customer loyalty	Has been tried by competitors but none of them are as successful as Barclays	Barclays is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Barclays medium term competitive advantage
Talent to Manage Regulatory and Legal Obligations	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Not critical factor
Pricing Strategies of Barclays	Yes, Barclays has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Barclays with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Barclays	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Barclays organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running

Barclays SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, Weighted SWOT Case Study Solution & Analysis

Books and References

Ahir Gopaldas and Anton Siebert (2022 July August) "What You’re Getting Wrong About Customer Journeys", Harvard Business Review , 92
Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards, and Taran Swan (2021) "Drive Innovation with Better Decision-Making", Harvard Business Review 86
Dyer, J. H., & Hatch, N. (2004). Using Supplier Networks to Learn Faster. Sloan Management Review, 45(3), 57–63
Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99–120
Dyer, J. H., Kale, P., & Singh, H. (2004, July–August). When to ally and when to acquire. Harvard Business Review, 109–115