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

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What is a Valuable Resource for Union Pacific? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Union Pacific? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Union Pacific? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Union Pacific 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 Union Pacific 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
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Union Pacific	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Talent to Manage Regulatory and Legal Obligations	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Not critical factor
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Union Pacific 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 Union Pacific	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at Union Pacific	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps Union Pacific in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of Union Pacific but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Brand Positioning of Union Pacific 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
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that Union Pacific 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
Global and Local Presence of Union Pacific	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Union Pacific but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Union Pacific	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Union Pacific organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that Union Pacific operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, Union Pacific is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Marketing Expertise within Union Pacific	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 Union Pacific are often matched by competitors	Yes, Union Pacific is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Union Pacific 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 Union Pacific	Yes, Union Pacific has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Union Pacific with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Union Pacific	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

Union Pacific 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