With Edge to Success

Learn what you are and be such.
Pindar

Sometimes we are not able to see the forest for trees. The path in front of us seems to be blurry and we don’t know where to go next or whether we are even in the right place altogether. We lack a plan, a strategy for life. But instead of wandering around without a map, we want – even crave a clear vision on how and where to move forward.

We are best when we work with our strengths and not against them. In the world of business strategy builds upon strengths – the competitive advantage. And so does your personal strategy.
Your competitive advantage is your edge. It drives your success as well as it drives the success of Google, Tesla or any other successful company.

Business consultants around the world help companies to find their edge with the VRIO framework of business analysis.
And what helps them…can also help you.

What is the VRIO framework?

The VRIO framework is usually applied in the context of business analysis in order to develop a strategic vision by uncovering and protecting the resources that build a sustained overall competitive advantage.

According to the VRIO tool an intangible resource as the source of a competitive advantage is:

• Valuable
• Rare
• Costly to Imitate
• Organized to capture the value of the resource

A resource offering a competitive advantage is therefore able to add value for a certain target group (customers) by exploiting an opportunity or neutralizing a risk (valuable).
Furthermore, the resource has to be scarce and hence hard to find elsewhere (rare).
Still to qualify as an intangible resource it should be expensive to copy or duplicate for (possible)competitors (costly to imitate).
In addition, the company or organization should be able to capitalize the resource and capabilities (organized to capture the value).

All in all the resource which can be characterized by the above described characteristics is the core competency of a company and helps organizations to build their strategic outline and vision upon that to achieve success.
The identified resource is what makes the business or organization unique and hence marketable.

How to use the VRIO framework to find out your edge?

What is valuable for companies, can also be very valuable for you. Sometimes we find ourselves in a state of rumination, pondering and doubt – where we ask ourselves what the right path and the right environment for us might be.

The VRIO tool applied to a rather personal spectrum can offer individuals insights on how to move strategically forward in education and career.
It undercovers your core competency, the one thing that makes you truly special- but also truly valuable for others.

Based on a three step process (see the explanation below) or you can identify your marketable skill(set) and develop an action plan to explore and exploit your edge to achieve success.

1. Step: Strengths Audit

Before you are able to find out which of your resources is your strategic core competency, the one you should build a career and your success upon to, you need to explore your overall resources and hence your strengths.
While companies use different other frameworks from SWOT to PESTEL to audit their strengths and competencies, these tools can offer you personally valuable insights too.
In addition, you can explore your strengths and core competencies also via psychological testing methods like the Gallup strengths finder or StandOut 2.0 test.

2. Step: Analysis

In the second step you have to ask yourself if these strengths:

• are able to exploit opportunities or neutralizing risks for a target group?
• are rare enough so not a lot of people possess these strengths?
• are not easy to imitate?
• are possible to be capitalized by you?

If you can’t get a clear result of your core competency after the analysis you should ask yourself whether you can reassess and change your profile.

3. Step: Action Plan

Regarding your assed strengths profile and the uncovering of your core competency as your competitive advantage or edge you can develop an action plan on how to strategically use your edge as your driving factor for success and change.

Happiness is not a reward – it is a consequence.
Robert Green Ingersoll

Reference and further reading material:

• Rothaermel, F. (2018), Strategic Management, New York City, Mc Graw-Hill