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

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What is a Valuable Resource for Greenbrier Cos.? Defining Valuable in VRIO

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

What are Rare Resources for Greenbrier Cos.? Defining Rare in VRIO

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

What is a Inimitable (Difficult to Immitate) Resource for Greenbrier Cos.? Defining Inimitable in VRIO

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

What is a Organization for Greenbrier Cos.? Defining Organization in VRIO

Even if the Greenbrier Cos. 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 Greenbrier Cos. 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
Brand Positioning of Greenbrier Cos. 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
Sales Force and Channel Management of Greenbrier Cos.	Yes	No	Can be imitated by competitors	Still there is lot of potential to utilize the excellent sales force	Can provide Greenbrier Cos. sustainable competitive advantage. Potential is certainly there.
Position among Retailers and Wholesalers – Greenbrier Cos. retail strategy	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. has strong relationship with retailers and wholesalers	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. has dedicated channel partners	Difficult to imitate though not impossible	Yes, over the years company has used it successfully	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Ability to Attract Talent in Various Local & Global Markets	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. 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 Greenbrier Cos.	To a large extent yes	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Vision of the Leadership for Next Set of Challenges	Yes	No	Can't be imitated by competitors of Greenbrier Cos.	Not based on information provided in the case	Can Lead to Strong Competitive Advantage
Product Portfolio and Synergy among Various Product Lines of Greenbrier Cos.	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
Pricing Strategies of Greenbrier Cos.	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. has sound pricing strategies	No	Pricing strategies are regularly imitated in the industry	Yes, firm has a pricing analytics engine	It can only provide Greenbrier Cos. with a Temporary Competitive Advantage
Brand awareness of Greenbrier Cos. products and services	Yes, the brand awareness of Greenbrier Cos. products are high	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. has one of the leading brand in the industry	No	Greenbrier Cos. has utilized its leading brand position in various segments	Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Supply Chain Network Flexibility of Greenbrier Cos.	Yes	Yes	Near competitors also have flexible supply chain and share some of the suppliers	Fully utilized by Greenbrier Cos. organizational structure and capabilities	Keeps the business running
Access to Critical Raw Material for Successful Execution	Yes	Yes, as other competitors have to come to terms with Greenbrier Cos. dominant market position	Can be imitated by competitors	Yes	Providing Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Financial Resources of Greenbrier Cos.	Yes	No	Financial instruments and market liquidity are available to all the nearest competitors	Greenbrier Cos. has reasonably sound financial position	Greenbrier Cos. has relatively sustainable Competitive Advantage
Alignment of Activities with Greenbrier Cos. 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
Customer Community of Greenbrier Cos.	Yes, as customers are co-creating products	Yes, the Greenbrier Cos. has able to build a special relationship with its customers	It is very difficult for Greenbrier Cos. competitors to imitate the culture and community dedication	Going by the data, there is still a lot of upside in building on Greenbrier Cos. customers community ecosystem	Providing Strong Competitive Advantage
Marketing Expertise within Greenbrier Cos.	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 Greenbrier Cos. are often matched by competitors	Yes, Greenbrier Cos. is leveraging both its inhouse marketing department and external expertise	Temporary Competitive Advantage

Greenbrier Cos. 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