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

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

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

What are Rare Resources for Steelcase? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Steelcase? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Steelcase 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 Steelcase 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
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Steelcase	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Track Record of Leadership Team at Steelcase	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Steelcase 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 Steelcase	To a large extent yes	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 Steelcase operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, Steelcase is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Steelcase to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Steelcase 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
Global and Local Presence of Steelcase	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Steelcase but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Steelcase 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
Pricing Strategies of Steelcase	Yes, Steelcase has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Steelcase with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Sales Force and Channel Management of Steelcase	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide Steelcase sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Steelcase	Yes, it is valuable in the industry given the various segmentations & consumer preferences.	Most of the competitors are trying to enter the lucrative segments	Can be imitated by the competitors	The firm has used it to good effect, details can be found in case exhibit	Provide short term competitive advantage but requires constant innovation to sustain
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Steelcase 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
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Steelcase dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for Steelcase - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and Steelcase 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
Marketing Expertise within Steelcase	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 Steelcase are often matched by competitors	Yes, Steelcase is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage

Steelcase 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