23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     No competitors in market

A.    Valuable- Allows me to penetrate the market and build a credible brand.

B.    Rare- There is usually always something in the market similar to a product/service.

C.     Inimitable- Depending on my patents, it can be imitable to an extent.

D.    Non-substitutable- There is nothing in the market of high technology relating to my service that can be substitutable.

2.     Media exposure on human trafficking

A.    Valuable- This can increase awareness for a need of my product

B.    Rare- Not really, it is increasing in exposure.

C.     Inimitable- Media can’t be imitated

D.    Non-substitutable- There can be other ways to expose human trafficking other than media based.

3.     Emotional Resource

A.    Valuable- gives me a passion for my business venture, and an emotional bond to it’s success gives me determination.

B.    Rare- It is rare to find a business venture that you’re extremely passionate about

C.     Inimitable- My emotional connection in relation to my concept cannot be imitated

D.    Non-substitutable- My other passions can be substituted for this one if they were deemed more viable

4.     Academic Resource

A.    Valuable- I am in the process of obtaining a degree in General Business with a minor in statistics. I have the proper education needed to pursue my venture.

B.    Rare- No, there are many Business majors.

C.     Inimitable- No, there are others that can imitate my academic resources.

D.    Non-substitutable- Academic education can’t be substituted, other than gaining a degree from other universities.

5.     Awareness/ Knowledge on the cause

A.    Valuable- This is extremely valuable when it comes to marketing and creating a business plan.

B.    Rare- Yes

C.     Inimitable- There are others who may have similar knowledge on the subject of human trafficking as I do.

D.    Non-substitutable- I think to be successful in my business venture, awareness and knowledge on the cause is essential so no it isn’t substitutable.

6.     Social Capital

A.    Valuable- Extremely, having the right connections to my venture is necessary.

B.    Rare- Partially, depending on who those connections are with.

C.     Inimitable- Social capital can be copied.

D.    Non-substitutable- No, social capital is essential.

7.     Human Capital

A.    Valuable- Extremely, I have the education, intelligence, health, and skills to create this venture.

B.    Rare- I think a lot of people have similar skills, but there is no one in the world that is exactly like me.

C.     Inimitable- Everyone is different, but overall in a general form it can be imitated.

D.    Non-substitutable- No. The appropriate human capital is essential to the growth of my business.

8.     Support Network

A.    Valuable- I have a ton of friends and family to be there for support when pursuing this venture.

B.    Rare- Not entirely, many people may have a great support network as well

C.     Inimitable- Anyone can have a support network, the only thing that is inimitable is if they’re not a student at UF and don’t have UF’s business schools resources.

D.    Non-substitutable- I think a support network is 100% needed to have a successful business so yes it can be substituted with other resources.

9.     Access to UF’s College of Warrington Academic Advisors/ Clubs

A.    Valuable- Definitely, the resources provided by the university could give me essential advice when creating my business plan and pursuing my business.

B.    Rare- If you don’t go to UF it is very rare

C.     Inimitable- You can use other advisory resources, but none can be exactly like UF’s.

D.    Non-substitutable- It can be substituted with other advising resources.

10.  Club Member of Woman in Business

A.    Valuable- Extremely, I have learned so much from this club and the overall organization could join me in my pursuit towards this venture.

B.    Rare- Yes, there’s only so many clubs of only Woman passionate about Business

C.     Inimitable- I don’t know how this could imitated other than creating a different club and a different name with the same focus.

D.    Non-substitutable- Yes there are other resources that can provide similar benefits.

Analysis:

After conducting my VRIN analysis, my top resource would be my first one; that there are no competitors in the market. It checked all the boxes for being valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. This resource creates the most benefits to my company once my product goes out to market. It would give me the opportunity to penetrate the market with a product/service that has never been seen before. This would immediately produce word-of-mouth by being a new innovation to the market. This directly will affect consumers buying behavior process, they only have one option and nothing to compare it to leading consumers to skip the alternative search step and lead to a purchase decision. This high penetration will allow my company to receive recognition and creditability so that once competitors do come to market, my company will have already penetrated most of it and received credibility as a proof of concept by current customers.