United States Steel 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 United States Steel to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

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What is a Valuable Resource for United States Steel? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for United States Steel? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for United States Steel? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to United States Steel 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. United States Steel 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 United States Steel

What is a Organization for United States Steel? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the United States Steel 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 United States Steel 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
Customer Community of United States Steel	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the United States Steel has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for United States Steel competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on United States Steel customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at United States Steel	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – United States Steel retail strategy	Yes, United States Steel has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, United States Steel has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Global and Local Presence of United States Steel	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of United States Steel but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with United States Steel dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for United States Steel to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of United States Steel 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
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that United States Steel 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
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at United States Steel	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
Access to Cheap Capital for United States Steel	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, United States Steel has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of United States Steel	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Alignment of Activities with United States Steel 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
Marketing Expertise within United States Steel	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 United States Steel are often matched by competitors	Yes, United States Steel is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for United States Steel - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and United States Steel 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 United States Steel products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of United States Steel products are high	Yes, United States Steel has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	United States Steel has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that United States Steel operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, United States Steel is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage

United States Steel 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