Northern Tier Energy 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 Northern Tier Energy to do better resource allocation and build a defensible value and supply chain.

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What is a Valuable Resource for Northern Tier Energy? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Northern Tier Energy? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for Northern Tier Energy? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

A valuable and rare resource can provide a competitive advantage to Northern Tier Energy 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. Northern Tier Energy 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 Northern Tier Energy

What is a Organization for Northern Tier Energy? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Northern Tier Energy 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 Northern Tier Energy 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
Customer Community of Northern Tier Energy	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Northern Tier Energy has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Northern Tier Energy competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Northern Tier Energy customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Northern Tier Energy to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Northern Tier Energy 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
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Northern Tier Energy 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
Track Record of Leadership Team at Northern Tier Energy	Yes	Yes	Can't be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that Northern Tier Energy 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
Brand awareness of Northern Tier Energy products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Northern Tier Energy products are high	Yes, Northern Tier Energy has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Northern Tier Energy has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Northern Tier Energy	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Northern Tier Energy has reasonably sound financial position	Northern Tier Energy has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Successful Implementation of Digital Strategy at Northern Tier Energy	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
Alignment of Activities with Northern Tier Energy 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
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Northern Tier Energy 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 Northern Tier Energy	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Sales Force and Channel Management of Northern Tier Energy	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide Northern Tier Energy sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Northern Tier Energy	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Northern Tier Energy organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Northern Tier Energy 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 Northern Tier Energy	Northern Tier Energy is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide Northern Tier Energy medium term competitive advantage

Northern Tier Energy 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