Assignment 23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1- Philanthropy experience: I have had the chance to work with various philanthropies through my participation in Greek Life philanthropies and other organizations throughout my life.

• Valuable: This is valuable because I will need to know how to incorporate various organizations for the success of my service.
• Rare: This is not rare as many people have had experience with philanthropies throughout their lives.
• Inimitable: This capability can only be imitable if you have had experience with philanthropies.
• Non-substitutable: No, the contact and participation to have experience with philanthropies would need to come from me.

2- Unique leadership style: I possess a unique leadership style where I base a high value on the cooperation and cohesiveness of everyone working around me rather than just simply doing the job asked to complete.

• Valuable: I believe this to be valuable because there are a lot of companies that exist today that the sole focus is on the tasks of the job.
• Rare: I do believe that this is rare going along with what I stated previously.
• Inimitable: This is imitable BUT only if you possess a higher emphasis on the relationship leadership style.
• Non-substitutable: This can not very easily be substituted. 

3- Strong presence on social media: I believe that I would be able to have a strong presence on social media when it came to advertising for my service

• Valuable: This is valuable now but it becoming more and more of a norm.
• Rare: This is semi rare, some companies advertise their products on social media but not in an effective way.
• Inimitable: This is inimitable because many companies work already to promote themselves on social media.
• Non-substitutable: This can be substituted by hiring someone to do the job of promoting the company on social media.

4- Lack of competitors: My service of parking garages in college towns is a stand alone in the market since there are not many other companies like this that exist.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it means I will have a strong control over the customers in this market since there are not many others to choose from.
• Rare: This is rare because there is not a large pool of competitors in this particular market.
• Inimitable: This could be imitable if other competitors started to enter the market.
• Non-substitutable: At the moment, the lack of competitors is non-substitutable but if more competitors started to enter the market, my service would become more substitutable than it is currently. 

5- Relationship with providers: I already have current relationships with some of my providers that I would need to have relationships with for my service.

• Valuable: This is valuable because some entrepreneur's have to start from ground zero when it comes to establishing relationships with providers.
• Rare: This is rare because as I said it can be difficult to establish relationships with providers.
• Inimitable: This can only be imitable if another owner already had relationships with suppliers. 
• Non-substitutable: This is could be substitutable but not in a bad way, such as, if an employee had a relationship with a supplier and gained his access to work for my company. 

6- Fundraising experience: I have participated in the fundraising of numerous events, organizations, philanthropies, and charities so I know how to effectively fundraise.

• Valuable: This is valuable because as a company we might need to do fundraising ourselves or we might participate in fundraising events in the community. 
• Rare: This is rare because it is hard to know an effective way to fundraise unless you have had experience.
• Inimitable: This can be imitable if the owner or employees of another company have experience in successful fundraising.
• Non-substitutable: This is not necessarily substitutable since it would be you, the owner, and other people in your company that would have these skills and prior knowledge. 

7- Social Capital: College aged people: Since I am a college student myself I would have a wide variety of customers that I know of to market towards. 

• Valuable: This is valuable because other companies that come in and try to produce the same service as me might not have the experience of being a current college student and knowing the need.  
• Rare: This is rare because most companies do not have a personal impact on the mission of their service or product.
• Inimitable: This imitable if the competitors have the same personal experience.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because you can not pay someone to have a personal or first hand experience. 

8- Social Capital: I know of and have friends that are college students at different universities all over the country.

• Valuable: This is valuable because this allows me to have a wide range of contacts and potential customers to market towards.
• Rare: This is rare because it allows me to expand my company to more than just one school or even one state.
• Inimitable: This is not imitable because other companies and owners can not have the SAME relationships that I personally have.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because you can not duplicate or pay someone to have the same personal relationships. 

9- Financial support for start up: I have family and close family friends that would be willing to support and donate for the start up funds needed for my company.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it can be the difference between my company getting started and not.
• Rare: This is not rare as many entrepreneurs have a source of financial support to be able to start up their businesses. 
• Inimitable: This is imitable because other companies can possess this advantage.
• Non-substitutable: This is not substitutable because nobody else can have the same connection to my personal family and personal friends to be loaned the money for starting up the company. 

10- Management skills: My dad is a store manager and has been for many years so I have been able to see first hand the kind of skills needed for an effective and well respected manager.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it will help me to be able to have good communication between myself and my employees.
• Rare: This is quite rare because some managers do not know how to be an effective manager and do not have any prior experience or learned traits.
• Inimitable: This is imitable if another manager would have this same experience as me.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because these are my own personal learned skills. 

After completing the VRIN analysis, it is hard to determine which of my advantages is my top competitive advantage since all of these will work together to determine the kind of strategic unfair advantage that my company will possess.

But, I would have to say that I think my top advantage is the social capital that I possess when it comes to knowing college students and having relationships with them located all over the country that will help me gain my social capacity and reach many more consumers who have this unmet need.