Westpac 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 Westpac to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

Order a Westpac VRIO / VRIN Analysis now

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

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

What are Rare Resources for Westpac? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to Westpac 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. Westpac 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 Westpac

What is a Organization for Westpac? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Westpac 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 Westpac 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
Global and Local Presence of Westpac	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Westpac but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Westpac strategy is built on successful innovation and localization of products	Yes, as talent is critical to firm's growth	Difficult to imitate for the current competitors of Westpac	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that Westpac operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, Westpac is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Westpac	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Westpac has reasonably sound financial position	Westpac has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Westpac retail strategy	Yes, Westpac has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Westpac has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Customer Community of Westpac	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Westpac has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Westpac competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Westpac customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Brand Positioning of Westpac 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
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Westpac to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Westpac will find it extremely difficult to copy	Risk of imitation is low but given the margins in the industry disruption chances are high	So far the firm has not utilized the full extent of its IPR & other properties	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Westpac	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Westpac organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Talent to Manage Regulatory and Legal Obligations	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Not critical factor
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps Westpac in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of Westpac but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Westpac 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
Brand awareness of Westpac products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Westpac products are high	Yes, Westpac has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Westpac has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Westpac	Yes, it is valuable in the industry given the various segmentations & consumer preferences.	Most of the competitors are trying to enter the lucrative segments	Can be imitated by the competitors	The firm has used it to good effect, details can be found in case exhibit	Provide short term competitive advantage but requires constant innovation to sustain

Westpac 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