Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Assignment 23A

Resources:

·       Access to UF Online Class Lectures

1)       Valuable: Without access to the UF online lectures I would not be able to give out notes specified to that content.

2)       Rare: In the grand scheme of things, it is rare because only students who attend UF and maybe professors have that access.

3)       Inimitable: It is in no way inimitable with the UF-specific material; you either have it or you don’t.

4)       Non-sustainable: Competing products to my own try to replicate this access, but no this access is the most authentic and pure part of my business model.

·       Personal Capabilities (Writing)

1)       Valuable: Without my writing capabilities and strong work ethic I would not be able to pass off a popular product that is based on writing.

2)       Rare: This ability is not rare and is in fact found in almost every human being on the planet.

3)       Inimitable: While my style is in certain ways different than others, it most likely could be imitated.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are thousands and potentially millions of substitutes, and therefore its not the best resource.

·       Advertising/Social Media

1)       Valuable: Without advertising and social media platforms I would have to rely on word of mouth sales to make up 100% of my business.

2)       Rare: There are plenty of businesses who advertise via social media, so unless I found a way to differentiate myself, it is not rare.

3)       Inimitable: Advertising and social media are both easily inimitable due to the fact they do not any factors that can hold someone from making a similar product.

4)       Non-sustainable: Besides the fact that my business concept is different than the potential substitutes, there are plenty of alternatives that could take my place.

·       Human Capital

1)       Valuable: The skills and knowledge of my previous life experiences are paramount to the success of my business, as without those aspects I am mostly rendered useless.

2)       Rare: Every human being has a certain amount of human capital they have built up over time with there depths of experiences and outside communication.

3)       Inimitable: Gaining knowledge and skills is not possible purely overnight, and therefore being able to imitate human capital is virtually not possible unless its over a long period of time.

4)       Non-sustainable: Like social capital, there is effectively no substitute for human capital and that gained from previous experience cannot be bottled and sold in an easy manner.

·       PayPal

1)       Valuable: Without PayPal, I wouldn’t be able to accept business transactions online and would need a brick and mortar storefront and point of sales system to accept finances for my product.

2)       Rare: PayPal is the most popular financial transaction platform on the planet, and there is only one PayPal.

3)       Inimitable: PayPal would be a very difficult thing to imitate from ground zero, as you would need technicians with vast experience dealing with algorithms and coding that could create a similar platform.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are financial transaction platforms that emulate PayPal and they are becoming more mainstream and potentially are gaining more market share.

·       Social Capital

1)       Valuable: Without a standard of my previous social interactions and relationships, I wouldn’t be able to have a foundation of customers and access to financial capital and outside advice.

2)       Rare: Every human being is enabled with a certain amount of social capital just from their everyday interactions and built up lifetime of experiences.

3)       Inimitable: There is no way to imitate social capital and unless you have been through the exact same situations as a given person, there is no way you have the same social capital.

4)       Non-sustainable: Because of the depth of potential regarding the term social capital and the interactions that come with it, there is no pure substitute for social capital and it all depends on a given individual.

·       Subscription-based Service

1)       Valuable: To my business concept, this is one of the pinnacle ideas and resources that I cherish and believe will lead to a differentiated product and sustained success.

2)       Rare: Compared to traditional business transactions of real-time payments when the need exceeds one’s patience, subscription-based services are rare, but numerically they still make up a large number of businesses.

3)       Inimitable: This system has opponents due to the methodology that company believes will drive the most opportunity for financial success, but it would be almost impossible and worthless to imitate a non-proprietary system of business.

4)       Non-sustainable: Like previously stated, there are other substitutes to  a subscription-based business practices, and whether it be trading a good for a service or a point of sales business, there are many that could replace my business model.

·       Prior Business Experience

1)       Valuable: Without my previous business experience, I would be lost understanding certain aspects of running a successful business, whether it be understanding the books or customer service.

2)       Rare: I don’t believe previous experience in business is rare at all, in fact, I believe that most entrepreneurs use previous experience to guide their transition into starting their own business.

3)       Inimitable: Anyone with free time and an opportunity to gain meaningful experience can imitate in certain ways my business experience.

4)       Non-sustainable: While individuals may have had business experience with different businesses, there is no substitute for hard work and physical experiences that have taken place during prior work engagements.

·       Financial Capital

1)       Valuable: Financial Capital is one of the most valuable assets a company can have, as further resource accumulation and customer acquisition become exponentially easier with financial capital.

2)       Rare: While the majority may be clustered in few individuals/corporations, the rarity of financial capital is limited when you understand that everyone has some level of financial capital.

3)       Inimitable: Financial capital is not, in essence, inimitable at all, and only it can be exchanged in the manner than financial capital is.

4)       Non-sustainable: While there are different methods of financial capital, bartering goods and services has mostly gone by the wayside, so I would conject that it has few substitutes.

·       Production Resources (Technology)

1)       Valuable: This is one of the most valuable resources I have in my arsenal, due to the fact that the crux of my financial avenue related to this business is tied to the ability to house and deliver an online product.

2)       Rare: With an increasing distribution of technology across the globe, it is becoming less and less rare with each increasing year.

3)       Inimitable: With only a small amount of financial capital and the ability to purchase the technology, it could and would be quickly inimitable.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are multiple different brands of laptops and other aspects of technology I use for production, therefore, there are a multitude of substitutes that competitors could use.

My Top Resource (after evaluating them all):

After evaluating all the resources that I consider to be of utmost importance to the success and sustainability of my business, I’ve realized that my top resource is the access to the UF online courses. Not only is this the heart and soul of my project, but I imagined if I lost all of the resources I listed, and only that resource would completely and utterly wreck my entire idea. The access to the lectures feeds into the notetaking of each lecture and the distribution and backhand parts of the business rely on the information itself to drive the product. Each and every resource I listed has a special connection for what I plan on pursuing, but nothing becomes the way that I envision without the necessity of the online access to UF lectures.