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

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

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

What are Rare Resources for DSW? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

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

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

What is a Organization for DSW? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the DSW 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 DSW 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
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, DSW 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 DSW	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Pricing Strategies of DSW	Yes, DSW has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide DSW with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Sales Force and Channel Management of DSW	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide DSW sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Opportunities for Brand Extensions for DSW 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
Intellectual Property Rights, Copyrights, and Trademarks	Yes, they are extremely valuable for DSW to thwart competition	Yes, IPR and other rights are rare and competition of DSW 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 DSW operates in	No, none of the competitors so far has able to imitate this expertise	Yes, DSW is successful at it	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of DSW	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by DSW organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Opportunities in the E-Commerce Space for DSW - using Present IT Capabilities	Yes, the e-commerce space is rapidly growing and DSW 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
Opportunities in the Adjacent Industries that DSW 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
Alignment of Activities with DSW 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
Brand Positioning of DSW 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
Brand awareness of DSW products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of DSW products are high	Yes, DSW has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	DSW has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
DSW 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 DSW	DSW is leveraging the customer loyalty to good effect	Provide DSW medium term competitive advantage
Global and Local Presence of DSW	Yes, as it diversify the revenue streams and isolate company's balance sheet from economic cycles	Yes	Can be imitated by competitors of DSW but at a relatively high cost	Yes, it is one of the most diversified companies in its industry	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage

DSW 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