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

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What is a Valuable Resource for Under Armour? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Under Armour? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Under Armour? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Under Armour 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 Under Armour 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
Brand Positioning of Under Armour 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 Under Armour	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Under Armour organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Under Armour retail strategy	Yes, Under Armour has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Under Armour has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Distribution and Logistics Costs Competitiveness	Yes, as it helps Under Armour in delivering lower costs	No	Can be imitated by competitors of Under Armour but it is difficult	Yes	Medium to Long Term Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Under Armour	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Under Armour has reasonably sound financial position	Under Armour has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Marketing Expertise within Under Armour	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 Under Armour are often matched by competitors	Yes, Under Armour is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage
Access to Cheap Capital for Under Armour	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Under Armour has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Under Armour	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at Under Armour	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
Global and Local Presence of Under Armour	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Under Armour but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of Under Armour products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Under Armour products are high	Yes, Under Armour has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Under Armour has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Pricing Strategies of Under Armour	Yes, Under Armour has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Under Armour with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Under Armour 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 Under Armour	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Under Armour to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Under Armour 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
Track Record of Project Execution	Yes, especially in an industry where there are frequent cost overun	Yes, especially in the segment that Under Armour operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, Under Armour is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage

Under Armour 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