Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     Knowledge of my product: I am knowledgeable in guns as I have worked with them before and know them well

·      Valuable: Knowing your product is always valuable as it lets you make more informed decisions

·      Rare: I do not believe this is rare as most people know the product they are working with

·      Inimitable: This can be imitable as long as one puts in the time to learn.

·      Non-substitutable: this skill is impossible to substitute

2.     Popular support from public: with all of the recent gun violence in America, any product that will make guns safer will be welcomed

·      Valuable: this is very valuable because it means people will be more likely to buy my product

·      Rare: This quality can be rare especially when dealing with such a sensitive topic like guns

·      Inimitable: it is impossible to imitate the support of the public

·      Non-substitutable: there is no substitute for having your product supported by most of the public

3.     Interviewing victims of gun violence (social capital): I could always interview the victims of gun violence who would probably support my product

·      Valuable: This is very valuable because it hits deep with the pathos of my audience

·      Rare: This is rare because not many products can have people who have been affected deeply by something your product stops

·      Inimitable: the stories of these victims are definitely inimitable

·      Non-substitutable: I do not believe that you could substitute this with anything nearly as touching

4.     Contacts who are experts in my product (social capital): As I had said in one of my previous assignments, I have contacts who are experts in this field and can help me better my product

·      Valuable: This is extremely valuable as I have people who have been working with products similar to mine advising me.

·      Rare: Having friends who are experts in your field can be considered very rare

·      Inimitable: this can be imitable as long as someone else also has friends who are experts in their product as well

·      Non-substitutable: you can always hire some experts to advise you on your product it will only cost more money

5.     UF support groups (social capital): there are many groups here on campus that are very against guns and would definitely support a product that makes them safer

·      Valuable: This is valuable because I have countless, young, fired up students that would be supporting my product.

·      Rare: Not rare because any UF student could have this

·      Inimitable: you cannot imitate the support of countless students

·      Non-substitutable: This is easily substitutable, any university student could have the same opportunity

6.     Other substitutes are failing: Many other gun locks are failing to do their job properly

·      Valuable: this is extremely valuable because now consumers will look to my product to offer as a substitute

·      Rare: It is very rare for someone to have a product in which many of the other substitutes are failing

·      Inimitable: I do not see how a situation like this could be easily imitated

·      Non-substitutable: I guess that a possible substitute to this would be that your product is so much superior that it wouldn’t matter if the others were failing

7.     Good communication skills: I am naturally a good communicator which can always be useful in business

·      Valuable: good communication skills can always be valuable when one is trying to market a new product

·      Rare: communication skills are not that rare especially in business

·      Inimitable: Communication skills are not easily imitated

·      Non-substitutable: There is no substitute for good communication skills but one can always hire someone who has those skills

8.     Passion in my project: I am very passionate in my product as I love working with guns and products related to them

·      Valuable: This is extremely valuable because having a passion for your product will allow you to work much harder without even noticing

·      Rare: this can be rare but again, in business there are many people who are passionate in their own product

·      Inimitable: it is impossible to imitate a passion for anything and this is no different

·      Non-substitutable: passion for one’s work is not substitutable—you either have it or you don’t

9.     Support from politicians (social capitals): with gun violence being such a hot topic in today’s society it would be possible that to gain support from politicians

·      Valuable: this would be very valuable since this would definitely make my product very popular

·      Rare: it is very rare for politicians to support any product

·      Inimitable: Support from politicians would obviously be inimitable

·      Non-substitutable: This would not be completely non-substitutable, support from celebrities could have the same effect

10.  Relationships with other businessmen: my father and some of his friends are businessmen and having them as connections would be great

·      Valuable: this of course would be valuable since I would have many connections with people who do business for a living

·      Rare: I believe that this situation is rather rare

·      Inimitable: this is not inimitable since there are always other ways of getting this kind of experience

·      Non-substitutable: This is substitutable since one can always hire advisors with business experience

After conducting all of my VIRN analyses, I believe that passion for your product is the most important resource. Without passion for your product everything becomes much harder to do because you do not have the same drive. I was tempted to choose one of the social capitals I had but I realized that I had so many that they were not as valuable.