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

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

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

What are Rare Resources for Coles? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Coles? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Coles 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 Coles 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 in the Adjacent Industries that Coles can exploit & New Resources Required to Enter those Industries	Can be valuable as they will create new revenue streams	No	Can be imitated by competitors	All the capabilities of the organization are not fully utilized yet	Has potential
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Coles dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at Coles	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Coles 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
Pricing Strategies of Coles	Yes, Coles has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Coles with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Coles	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
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for Coles - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and Coles can exploit the emerging opportunities	No, most of the competitors are investing in IT to enter the space	The AI and inhouse analytics can be difficult to imitate	It is just the start for the organization	In the long run it can provide sustainable competitive advantage
Brand awareness of Coles products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Coles products are high	Yes, Coles has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Coles has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Coles 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 Coles	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Coles 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 Coles	Coles is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Coles medium term competitive advantage
Marketing Expertise within Coles	Yes, firms are competing based on differentiation in the industry	No, as most of the competitors also have good marketing departments and expertise	Pricing strategies of Coles are often matched by competitors	Yes, Coles is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Customer Community of Coles	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Coles has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Coles competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Coles customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Global and Local Presence of Coles	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Coles but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Access to Cheap Capital for Coles	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Coles has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Coles	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage

Coles 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