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

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What is a Valuable Resource for Ross Stores? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Ross Stores? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Ross Stores? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Ross Stores 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 Ross Stores 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
Ross Stores 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 Ross Stores	Ross Stores is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Ross Stores medium term competitive advantage
Alignment of Activities with Ross Stores 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
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that Ross Stores 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 Cheap Capital for Ross Stores	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Ross Stores has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Ross Stores	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Brand awareness of Ross Stores products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Ross Stores products are high	Yes, Ross Stores has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Ross Stores has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps Ross Stores in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of Ross Stores but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Ross Stores	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Ross Stores has reasonably sound financial position	Ross Stores has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Ross Stores retail strategy	Yes, Ross Stores has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Ross Stores has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Ross Stores dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at Ross Stores	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
Marketing Expertise within Ross Stores	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 Ross Stores are often matched by competitors	Yes, Ross Stores is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Ross Stores to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Ross Stores 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
Pricing Strategies of Ross Stores	Yes, Ross Stores has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Ross Stores with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Customer Community of Ross Stores	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Ross Stores has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Ross Stores competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Ross Stores customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage

Ross Stores 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