23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage


1.     Human Capital: Experience with product design
a.     Valuable as I can refer back to other projects in Innovation to see how I completed those, what same problems I had, and what I learned from it. It is rare, since not everyone has had experience with having to create a product. It is non-imitable as experience cannot be mimicked. It is substitutable by employing another person who does have design to lead, but the experience itself is non-substitutable.
2.     Human Capital: Experience with supply chain study
a.     Valuable as I can go back to lessons and see how the supply chain would come into play after my product. Not rare, as businesses would have to look into this to make a profit and sell their product. It is non-imitable, as having no experience will show. It is non-substitutable, since experience and knowledge cannot be substituted.
3.     Human capital: Research
a.     Valuable to know how to research, as it can help understand customers well and better the product. It is not rare, as all businesses need to research. It is not hard to copy by others, as they can do it themselves or employ someone for it. It is non-imitable, as you cannot imitate having data or the effect of having factual results. It is non-substitutable, and no other resource can provide the same benefit of knowing how to research.
4.     Human capital: Experience the same situation as my customers
a.     Valuable as I can see what issues exist and how I would want them addressed. Rare, since not all product developers always have the same experience with their customers. It is hard to copy by others, since they would have to change their experiences. It is non-imitable, as the customers will know if the person who created the product never experienced the problem and did not think of how it would affect them. It is substitutable with intense research and customer data, yet this requires much more finances and time.
5.      Human capital: Going to university
a.     Valuable, since a college education allows for more professional connections and opportunities. Rare, since not everyone has the opportunity to go to university or continue their education. It is non-imitable, but substitutable by years of experience in the business that would show people you already have the information needed.
6.     Social capital: Know customers who just began to shop for themselves
a.     Valuable as I can see how would-be customers act in response to their issue, and the differences in their solutions. It is rare to personally know various of people in your customer demographic. It is non-imitable, as you cannot act as if you do know the ways many people respond to their problem. It is substitutable by research on the demographic.
7.     Organizational culture of working together and helping the customer directly.
a.     Valuable as it would encourage employees to continue working for the company rather than feel discouraged or unattended. Rare, as some companies treat employees as replaceable.  It is non-imitable, as employees cannot be tricked into believing they are being treated a better way. It is non-substitutable, as its effects on productivity and employee satisfaction are not achieved by other means.
8.     Social capital: knowing others with experience in start-up or product development
a.     Valuable, as they can teach and talk about their experiences. Rare, as not everyone has others to provide information. It is non-imitable, since having advice or experience cannot be faked. It is substitutable by having own’s own experience, or having others find information on the topic.
9.     Social capital: knowledge on how to use social media
a.     Valuable, as it can contact many in my customer demographic or be used to show them ads on the product. Not rare, as many in my age group have this same information. It is non-imitable, since it requires knowledge and experience. It is substitutable by using bigger, and more expensive, forms of media such as television ads- or more ineffective forms such as newspapers.
10.  Social capital: the customers which I know act as a bridge to older relatives, who have endured the same problem for longer
a.     Valuable, as it can reach more people and a larger array of the demographic. Rare, as a target demographic is not usually falling under a wide age span, economic status, and separate from gender. It is imitable and substitutable with research on the specific age group.

My top resource is knowing customers personally. I am able to ask them about what they view to be important, how they try to solve it, and what they would not like in a product. It lowers my need for assumptions or intense research to get an understanding of the basics. This resource is directly tied to how the product is designed, sold, and perceived.

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