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

Order a Murphy Oil VRIO / VRIN Analysis now

What is a Valuable Resource for Murphy Oil? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Murphy Oil? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Murphy Oil? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Murphy Oil 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 Murphy Oil 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
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for Murphy Oil - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and Murphy Oil 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
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Murphy Oil	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that Murphy Oil 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 Murphy Oil dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Murphy Oil 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
Talent to Manage Regulatory and Legal Obligations	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Not critical factor
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Murphy Oil	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Murphy Oil organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Pricing Strategies of Murphy Oil	Yes, Murphy Oil has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Murphy Oil with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of Murphy Oil products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Murphy Oil products are high	Yes, Murphy Oil has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Murphy Oil has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Murphy Oil retail strategy	Yes, Murphy Oil has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Murphy Oil has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Murphy Oil to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Murphy Oil 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
Murphy Oil 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 Murphy Oil	Murphy Oil is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Murphy Oil medium term competitive advantage
Financial Resources of Murphy Oil	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Murphy Oil has reasonably sound financial position	Murphy Oil has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Access to Cheap Capital for Murphy Oil	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Murphy Oil has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Murphy Oil	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage

Murphy Oil 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