Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

List of resources for my venture:

1: Suppliers

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it is necessary for the construction of parking garages

b.) Rare: quite rare in Gainesville as there are not many construction companies

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable as there are high entry costs to being a supplier

d.) Non-substitutable: no, suppliers for building materials are essential and irreplacable

2: Employees

a.) Valuable: very valuable, work could not be done without them

b.) Rare: not very rare, there are a lot of potential employees everywhere

c.) Inimitable: moderately inimitable since you can't always find qualified and efficient employees

d.) Non-substitutable: no, employees are necessary to run a business

3: Market Expert

a.) Valuable: very valuable as he would have a lot of influence on the operations

b.) Rare: not rare at all, there are many market experts all over the place

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable since it takes a lot of time to get valuable experience

d.) Non-substitutable: no, market experts have undergone a very specific field

4: Phone Application

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it differentiates my idea from other similar parking ideas

b.) Rare: yes, it is gonna be custom-made and tailored specifically to my city

c.) Inimitable: very difficult to copy, there is a lot of labor and technology that goes into making an app as such

d.) Non-substitutable: no, an app is the only way to provide a level up in convenience in regards to parking

5: Insurance

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it would keep me from racking up some potentially financially-ruining liabilities

b.) Rare: not at all, there are plenty of insurances

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable, it's difficult to copy the concept of insurance

d.) Non-substitutable: no, insurance is the only way to protect yourself against certain things

6: Property managers

a.) Valuable: very valuable as they would provide me a basis where I conduct my operations

b.) Rare: decently rare as there aren't too many big property managers for parking garages in Gainesville

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable, it is very difficult to copy property managers and acquire expensive property.

d.) Non-substitutable: no, property managers are a very specific group of people that cannot be substituted for anything else.

7: Parking sensing technology

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it serves as a backbone to my phone application

b.) Rare: not very rare, there are a lot of different ones on the market

c.) Inimitable: very inimitable, it is a very easily copied piece of equipment

d.) Non-substitutable: no, a parking sensor would be the only way to make my app work

8: Partnerships

a.) Valuable: very valuable as I would need these partnerships to build my garages in the city and school

b.) Rare: they are neither rare nor common since it really depends how many partnerships are created

c.) Inimitable: it is not inimitable at all since it's very hard to copy the terms of a contract and acquire the same deal

d.) Non-substitutable: no, partnerships are necessary for my garage to go up

9: Property rights

a.) Valuable: very valuable as they are necessary in order to own my garage

b.) Rare: yes they are not very easy to come across these days

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable since it's very hard to copy property rights

d.) Non-substitutable: no property rights are a thing of it's kind

10: Investors

a.) Valuable: very valuable as parking construction operations would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

b.) Rare: not rare at all, investors are everywhere

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable since it's hard to copy investors without being one

d.) Non-substitutable: no, there are no other ways to fund this project without investors

Out of all of my resources, I would have to say that my phone application would probably be my top resource for a couple of different reasons. First off, it's the main thing that set's me a part from all other competitors. I feel like a business would not be very successful if it isn't differentiated by at least one big factor, and this is mine. Further, this would add an unbeatable level of convenience for anyone who has struggled with parking in the past. I feel like the idea of building parking garages wouldn't be complete without an app to go along with it.