Harley-Davidson 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 Harley-Davidson to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

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What is a Valuable Resource for Harley-Davidson? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Harley-Davidson? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for Harley-Davidson? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to Harley-Davidson 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. Harley-Davidson 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 Harley-Davidson

What is a Organization for Harley-Davidson? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Harley-Davidson 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 Harley-Davidson 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
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Harley-Davidson retail strategy	Yes, Harley-Davidson has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Harley-Davidson has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at Harley-Davidson	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Marketing Expertise within Harley-Davidson	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 Harley-Davidson are often matched by competitors	Yes, Harley-Davidson is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Global and Local Presence of Harley-Davidson	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Harley-Davidson 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 Harley-Davidson	Yes, Harley-Davidson has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Harley-Davidson with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for Harley-Davidson - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and Harley-Davidson 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
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that Harley-Davidson operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, Harley-Davidson is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Sales Force and Channel Management of Harley-Davidson	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide Harley-Davidson sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Harley-Davidson 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
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at Harley-Davidson	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 Positioning of Harley-Davidson 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 in the Adjacent Industries that Harley-Davidson 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 Harley-Davidson	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Harley-Davidson has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Harley-Davidson	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Harley-Davidson strategy is built on successful innovation and localization of products	Yes, as talent is critical to firm's growth	Difficult to imitate for the current competitors of Harley-Davidson	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage

Harley-Davidson 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