1. Andrew Mason admits that Groupon has thousands of copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon is difficult. Do you agree?
2. Assess the bases of Groupon€™s resources and capabilities using the VRIO criteria (Figure 4.2 and Table 4.2).
3. If you were the new Groupon CEO, what resources and capabilities would you build on to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage?

Table 4.2

Figure 4.2

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Is the resource or capability ... supported by the organisation? Competitive implications inimitable? valuable? rare? Competitive disadvantage No No Yes No Competitive parity Yes No Temporary competitive advantage Yes Sustained competitive advantage Yes Yes Yes Yes Value: Do resources and capabilities exist that are valued by customers and enable the organisation to respond to environmental opportunities or threats? R Rarity: Do resources and capabilities exist that no (or few) competitors possess? Inimitability: Are resources and capabilities difficult and costly for competitors to obtain and imitate? Organisational support: Is the organisation appropriately organised to exploit the resources and capabilities?