Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage - Assignment 23

1)   Resource: Social media presence

Valuable: Outlet to reach potential customers

Rare: Not rare, easily replicable by others for free

Inimitable: Somewhat. If my content is unique it is not inimitable

Substitutable: Yes, there are multiple social media outlets

2 )      Resource: Self (human capital)

Valuable: Yes, allows me to take advantage of creativity

Rare: Yes, no one like me

Inimitable: cannot imitate

Substitutable: Yes, if someone else has a more creative mindset

3)      Resource: Coworkers (human capital)

Valuable: Yes, they allow me to expand my business

Rare: Depending on their skill set

Inimitable: No. Others can find employees with similar skill set

Substitutable: No, my business relies on advice from people with experience

4)      Resource: Low cost of entry

Valuable: Yes, this allows me limited barriers to entry

Rare: Yes. Most businesses are capital intensive

Inimitable: Yes, can set up a similar business model

Substitutable: Yes if a new business has excess cash

5)      Resource: Inherent desire of customers for benefit of service

Valuable: Yes, this is the underlying reason I would have demand for my product

Rare: Yes, most products do not entice a natural human need (desire to be healthy)

Inimitable: Yes but only in certain business areas that cater to human need

Substitutable: No, unless people search out alternative methods to feel healthy

6)      Resource: Culture of helping others

Valuable: While we are for profit, we judge a job well done based on how our clients feel

Rare: Yes, most businesses set monetary benchmarks

Inimitable: Yes if other businesses also have the mindset of helping others

Substitutable: No, culture can be a unique trait that builds customer loyalty

7)      Resource: Centralized and conveniently accessible target market

Valuable: Do not have to spend much in marketing

Rare: Yes, only collegiate businesses have several thousands customers centralized on a campus

Inimitable: Yes by other businesses catered to college students and centered on campuses

Substitutable: Yes by ecommerce, but ecommerce still loses personal touch

8)      Resource: Adequate seed money

Valuable: Yes since new companies burn money very quickly

Rare: Sometimes. Most businesses ensure they have an adequate capital position to start

Inimitable: Not hard if they know where to find potential investors or generous family members

Substitutable: Yes since they can get a loan from multiple financial institutions

9)      Resource: Customizable business model

Valuable: Yes since potential customers can have a tailored product

Rare: High customization is a pretty dominant model

Inimitable: Easy to copy if they have the scale to do so

Substitutable: Yes, but they do not have a personalized touch by being a UF student

10)   Resource: Service based model generates recurring, predictable revenue

Valuable: Yes since we will be better able to predict future revenues and associated costs

Rare: No. Services are being more predominant than products

Inimitable: Not hard if the product being offered can be turned into a service

Substitutable: From a recurring revenue standpoint. Some products have lifecycles

My top resource is probably the culture I am aiming to create with my service. While we are a for-profit business, we judge our results based on client goals. We know that if we are doing our job correctly and improving the lives of others, the income will follow. Other similar businesses might not have this personalized touch as they usually sell in bundles. Moreover, most of the services have standardized packages (goals), so they usually do not listen to their customer enough. Us on the other hand, consult with clients about their goals and build a product around that.