My Unfair Advantage

Networks 

Valuable- Networking is very valuable to my business as I will learn more and more about how to grow my business, I will get better resources, and have connections. 

Rare- A network, in general, is not exactly rare. Many people have a network. However, a specific person might be someone who no one else has in their network and you could call them rare. 

Inimitable- You could copy others networks in a way, but it doesn't make much sense and would probably not be that easy.

Non-substitutable- A network is not substitutable for something else. You need a network to get in and get with the right people. There is no other way around that. 

 

People to make and run the website 

Valuable- Yes. The basis of my business is about the website these textbooks are on. 

Rare- No, there are people that create websites everywhere. 

Inimitable- Others could try and use the same people but that wouldn't mean they were copying us. 

Non-substitutable- There is no substitute for someone that is good with creating websites. 

Website

Valuable-Our website could be very valuable depending on how well it is made.

Rare-Websites are not rare, however, the graphics or design could be something people haven't seen before. 

Inimitable- People could copy our website but I don't feel like it would be very beneficial to them. They could copy our graphics or design though. 

Non-substitutable- We could not substitute our website because this is the basis for my service/product. 

Connections with the school

Valuable- This is very valuable in order to pair up with them to sell this to students. 

Rare- This is not rare, as people need connections with schools for many things they would like to sell. 

Inimitable- People could try to use the same connections for their product. 

Non-substitutable- No, we need the connections with the school. 

List of students (potential customers) 

Valuable- Yes, this is very valuable. We might be able to get records on about how many students purchase books for the class from the school. 

Rare- No, because other products are out there for these students. 

Inimitable- Other people could copy this resource. 

Non-substitutable- No, we need this resource and we can't switch it out for other things. 

Formats for the textbooks

Valuable- Yes, because this is a huge part of my product/service. 

Rare- Yes, this is the plan. I want it to be a format that no other textbook company has. 

Inimitable- Others could copy it but I could always get the format patented. 

Non-substitutable- It is because there are other formats for textbooks. 

Textbook publishers

Valuable- Yes, I need their textbooks for my service. 

Rare- No, there are a lot of different publishers. 

Inimitable- Yes, people could copy the textbook publishers I would be using. 

Non-substitutable- Yes, there are plenty more for these books. 

Textbooks- 

Valuable- Yes, this is the basis of my service. 

Rare- No, there are hundreds of textbooks out there. 

Inimitable- You can't copy someone else's textbook. 

Non-substitutable- Only for other textbooks. 

Professors

Valuable- We need their cooperation to sell our service. Some professors use their own textbooks so I would want theirs as well. 

Rare- There are so many professors. But I need all of them to cooperate. 

Inimitable- They could also use the same professors for their service. 

Non-substitutable- You can't substitute for other professors. 

Money

Valuable- Yes, I need it to start my money. 

Rare- Money is out there, but having a lot of it could be rare. 

Inimitable- No, you can't copy money. 

Non-substitutable- I could only substitute money for donations of certain products I need. 

I think the most important resource would be the overall website and how it is set up, you want this to be easy to navigate through, catchy, and have great features. It is supposed to be easily accessible and very organized.