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

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What is a Valuable Resource for MetLife? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for MetLife? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for MetLife? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the MetLife 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 MetLife 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
Global and Local Presence of MetLife	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of MetLife but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Brand Positioning of MetLife 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 for Brand Extensions for MetLife 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
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of MetLife	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by MetLife organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Track Record of Leadership Team at MetLife	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps MetLife in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of MetLife but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of MetLife products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of MetLife products are high	Yes, MetLife has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	MetLife has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at MetLife	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
Pricing Strategies of MetLife	Yes, MetLife has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide MetLife with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that MetLife operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, MetLife is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Customer Community of MetLife	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the MetLife has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for MetLife competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on MetLife customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
MetLife 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 MetLife	MetLife is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide MetLife medium term competitive advantage
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that MetLife 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 Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with MetLife dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage

MetLife 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