Assignment 23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Assignment 23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. (Human Capital) Empathy
   Valuable: A lot of students find it difficult to communicate their concerns to adults and may find it intimidating. My empathy allows me to understand their needs and see where they are coming from in their worries
   Rare: To an extent, since there are empathetic people but not many are found within this market
   Imitable: While people could mimic my idea to manage an apartment complex, the logistics of my business idea would be difficult to replicate many times in the same area. However, they can be imitated by student
   Non-suitable: Other potential resources would be other apartment complexes, but they couldn't help my target group the way I would be able to
2. Affordability of my product
   Valuable: This is one of the first things most people look for when they're making a purchase decision
   Rare: Not many housing units close to campus are within the middle class income budget,
   Imitable: This could be easily copied
   Non-suitable: This preference for a housing unit could be replaced with other preferences
3. Productivity within residents
   Valuable: This is valuable for the experience and resume builder they can use on applications
   Rare: No other apartment complex compensates their residents in rent through labor
   Imitable: With the proper budgeting adjustments, this wouldn't be too difficult to copy
   Non-suitable: There are other ways to lower rent costs
4. Innovation
   Valuable: It's very difficult to come up with a "new" idea nowadays so it is valuable
   Rare: Innovation is equivalent to rarity
   Imitable: It can be but it would take time because it has never been done before
   Non-suitable: there are no other resources that can provide the same benefits
5. Partnership with other complexes
   Valuable: This will allow residents to not need to pay so much to cover for maintenance costs since they will be sharing staff from other complexes
   Rare: not rare, many complexes form partnerships often
   Imitable: Very easily imitable
   Non-suitable: Proper government funding would allow the complex to not need to partner with other ones
6. Accessibility for all
   Valuable: This is valuable because some resident halls, for example, are limited to the type of students that can house themselves there
   Rare: Not very rare, this is a common characteristic of most apartment complexes and dorms
   Imitable: Because it is already common, it is imitable
   Non-suitable: This can be replaced with restrictions on the types of students that are accepted to live in the apartment complex
7. (Human Capital) Having taken LEI3301
   Valuable: This has given me so must insight into the hospitality industry that I'm confident I would be able to have this business plan run successfully
   Rare: This course is limited in the people that can take it so it's somewhat rare
   Imitable: This course is easily imitable
   Non-suitable: There are more advanced courses that can teach me more about the industry
8. (Human Capital) Open-minded
   Valuable: By being open minded, I am very open to accepting criticism and the ideas of others to incorporate them into designs
   Rare: It is not rare
   Imitable: Being open-minded is a mindset and if you don't possess the ability to be this way, it is difficult to train yourself to be
   Non-suitable: Being very liberal in ideas is somewhat similar to being open-minded and produces similar results in leadership
9. Diversity
   Valuable: This would look great on resumes for residents that contribute to the chore work and would be eligible to receive more funding
   Rare: To my knowledge, the diversity of the student-housed residents depends on the amount of diversity within the college
   Imitable: It can be imitated by changing the demographic of your target audience
   Non-suitable: No other resources that can provide the same benefits
10. (Human Capital) Connections
    Valuable: This will give me an advantage in the field and will give me a lift in my position in this market
    Rare: Many people have connections, however it's a matter of the right connections that are rare
    Imitable: It is easy to reach out and network to make connections so yes, it is easily imitable
    Non-suitable: If someone can network for your company, you dont have to be the one to possess this human capital to benefit your company

After completing this exercise, I can see that my top resource is probably my connections. Because I actually have contact with people who are experts in the field I would be entering, I could get firsthand insight on what management methods would need to be changed and if any ideas I would have for my business design are proven to be faulty. As much as I can say these resources of mine give me an advantage, they dont really have any use unless a business expert (such as the one I have connections to) tells me they can be used