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

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What is a Valuable Resource for CST Brands? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for CST Brands? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for CST Brands? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the CST Brands 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 CST Brands 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
Access to Cheap Capital for CST Brands	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, CST Brands has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of CST Brands	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of CST Brands	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Marketing Expertise within CST Brands	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 CST Brands are often matched by competitors	Yes, CST Brands is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that CST Brands 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 CST Brands	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
CST Brands 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 CST Brands	CST Brands is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide CST Brands medium term competitive advantage
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for CST Brands - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and CST Brands 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
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps CST Brands in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of CST Brands but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for CST Brands to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of CST Brands 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 Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with CST Brands dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing 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 CST Brands operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, CST Brands is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Brand Positioning of CST Brands 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
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of CST Brands	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by CST Brands organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Alignment of Activities with CST Brands 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

CST Brands 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