Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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 Bank of America Merrill Lynch to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

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What is a Valuable Resource for Bank of America Merrill Lynch? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Bank of America Merrill Lynch? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for Bank of America Merrill Lynch? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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. Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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 Bank of America Merrill Lynch

What is a Organization for Bank of America Merrill Lynch? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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 Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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
Marketing Expertise within Bank of America Merrill Lynch	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 Bank of America Merrill Lynch are often matched by competitors	Yes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Bank of America Merrill Lynch to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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
Access to Cheap Capital for Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Brand Positioning of Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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
Global and Local Presence of Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Bank of America Merrill Lynch but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Pricing Strategies of Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Yes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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 Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Bank of America Merrill Lynch is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Bank of America Merrill Lynch medium term competitive advantage
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Bank of America Merrill Lynch retail strategy	Yes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Bank of America Merrill Lynch	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
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Yes, without a comprehensive digital strategy it is extremely difficult to compete	No, as most of the firms are investing into digitalizing operations	Can be imitated by competitors	One of the leading player in the industry	Digital strategy has become critical in the industry but it can't provide sustainable competitive advantage to
Brand awareness of Bank of America Merrill Lynch products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Bank of America Merrill Lynch products are high	Yes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Bank of America Merrill Lynch has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch 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

Bank of America Merrill Lynch SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, Weighted SWOT Case Study Solution & Analysis

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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

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