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

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

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

What are Rare Resources for Plexus? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for Plexus? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Plexus 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 Plexus 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
Pricing Strategies of Plexus	Yes, Plexus has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Plexus with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Plexus	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Plexus has reasonably sound financial position	Plexus has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for Plexus 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 Cheap Capital for Plexus	Yes, as a leading player in the industry and current macro economic conditions, Plexus has access to cheap capital	No	Can be imitated by the competitors of Plexus	Not been totally exploited	Not significant in creating competitive advantage
Brand Positioning of Plexus 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
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Plexus 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 Plexus	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of Plexus products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Plexus products are high	Yes, Plexus has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Plexus has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Plexus dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for Plexus to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of Plexus 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 in the Adjacent Industries that Plexus 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
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Plexus retail strategy	Yes, Plexus has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Plexus has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Plexus	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Global and Local Presence of Plexus	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of Plexus 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 Plexus 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

Plexus 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