Value creation happens through resources that are Valuable (the extend how much they contribute to fulfil customer’s needs) and Supported by Organization (organization make use of these resources in value creation).
The ability of other companies to match the offering is determined by the level of Rarity and Difficulty to Imitate of the above resources.
Resources may be Rare and Difficult to Imitate by their nature because of:
- Casual ambiguity
- It is hard to tell what exact resources are the key to success
- The resources may not be readily visible in the first place (e.g. culture)
- The resources themselves may require that they are connected through complex social network to work, for example two resources may require specific and different organizational cultures in order to integrate them successfully
- Time-compression diseconomies - The resource is time consuming to build and alternative way to either buy it or shorten the build time results in explosion of cost
But the company may also try to influence the Rarity and Difficulty to Imitate by impending knowledge flows (enacting Isolating Mechanisms) through patents, NDAs, or keeping trade secrets.