My unfair advantage

10 resources in my venture: Valuable, rare, inimitable, non-substitutable

Home brewing: Value: gives me knowledge of beer

Rare: not many people brew their own beer

Inimitable: Few people care enough to brew their own beer

Non-substitutable: not many other things give you the personal skills in brewing beer

Connections to Samuel Adams: Value: allows me ask questions of knowledgeable people

Rare: not many people have access to people in the brewing community

Inimitable: There are only a few people in the beer industry

Non-substitutable: other breweries can off the similar benefits

Organization: Value: allows me to keep everything flowing smoothly

Rare: many people are organized so it isn’t very rare

Inimitable: it can be easy to imitate organization for certain people

Non-substitutable: this benefits everything branching from organization

Optimistic personality: Value: it allows me to get personal with customers and suppliers

Rare: it is hard to find someone so optimistic, especially about beer

Inimitable: there are people who fake and who are not sincere about their passion for beer

Non-substitutable: optimism can lead to its own success and that is very important

Experience as bartender: Value: I got first-hand experience with kegs and how to properly dispense beer

Rare: there are only a few people with actual bartending experience

Inimitable: it is easy to copy, but many people are not formally trained

Non-substitutable: you can only get experience by buying your own keg and supplies

Connections to Sweetwater Brewery: Value: it gives me access to people with a lot of knowledge of beer

Rare: few people have connections to people like that

Inimitable: it can be hard to copy these invaluable connections

Non-substitutable: connections to other breweries can offer the same benefits

Cool-headed: Value: it allows me to make rational decisions even under stressful situations

Rare: It is hard to find someone who is calm under pressure and doesn’t make rash decisions

Inimitable: it can be copied, but pressure hit people at different times

Non-substitutable: there are no other resources that can copy this

Passionate: Value: It allows me to focus on my idea and gives me drive to make it the best product

Rare: it is few and far between to find someone truly passionate

Inimitable: it can be hard to copy passion especially when it is not your own product

Non-substitutable: there are no other products to measure up to what passion can do

Caring nature: Value: it allows me to sympathize with my customers and they will be more likely to stay customers

Rare: It can be find someone who is so caring and willing to help at the drop of a hat

Inimitable: it can be difficult to be truly caring all the time

Non-substitutable: there are no other resources that can copy the effect of being truly caring to someone

Considerate: Value: The value of being considerate is being aware of how your customer is reacting to a situation and responding accordingly

Rare: It is rare to find someone extremely considerate of people and their emotions

Inimitable: people can be considerate, but it can be difficult to be constantly aware and responding to customers’ needs

Non-substitutable: this is similar to being caring, but being considerate is more focused on appropriate actions to take to people’s emotions

My important resource:

My important resource is my home brewing skills. I chose this as my important skill because it stems into a lot of the knowledge that I have developed over the years. My years of brewing beer have built my knowledge of beer and beer culture. Though my experience, I have learned who my target audience is for my kegerator product. My experience of kegging my own beer has given me first-hand experience in how kegs work and the best way to dispense them. I believe that this skill will lead to my success.