My Unfair Advantage

Ethical:

V-  In my opinion, Ethics are the most valuable aspect of a business because people want to do business with ethical people. 

R- It makes me sad at how rare ethical businesses are these days. Our society has become so corrupt and so many businesses are only worried about the money aspect of it. My venture would always put ethics first. 

I-  Our venture will be unique in that we will post our code of ethics on the wall so that our customers can hold us accountable to our promise to be ethical always. We will not just be financially ethical but socially and environmentally as well. 

N- There are no other resources that can substitute for ethics.

Health centered: 

V: My whole venture is centered around the opportunity of healthy food options near campus. I genuinely care about the health of the students at UF and their health is of great value to themselves. 

R: It is very rare around midtown area for their to be a healthy option for food and smoothies, especially that is open late night. 

I: Although other ventures may claim this resource, we will actually follow up with our advertising. Our smoothies will have no added sugars, our salad dressings will be fresh and low calorie, and all our ingredients will be organic. 

N:  There is a potential for other substitute resources but I think health centered is pretty distinguishable. 

Loyal Investors: 

V:  Loyal investors is of great value because they will keep our business around and will be the key part in starting up our juice bar and cafe.

R: It is rare to have loyal investors because most investors will pull out the second they think the business is going to go under, but we will be backed by people who believe in our mission and support us until the very end. 

I: This is something other companies will strive to copy but it will be very hard for them to succeed in. 

N: There is no other substitute resource. We need loyal investors because they are the main thing pushing us towards success. 

Word of Mouth: 

V:  Word of Mouth is the most valuable form of marketing there is, so if we can get loyal customers to talk about how amazing our juice bar and cafe is that could be one of the most beneficial resources we have. 

R: It is rare for word of mouth to be the strongest resource behind your company, but word of mouth will be a factor in every business. The key is to ensure people are talking positively and not poorly of your company.

I:  People will be able to copy this only if they are good enough for people to rave about. It is all about how great our customer service, food, and smoothies are. 

N: Social media could do the same type of marketing for our company, but word of mouth is actually often more trusted than social media so it would be a little less effective. 

Loyalty rewards: 

V: A great loyalty rewards program is valuable because it will bring people back because they want to get the free smoothie or food item. 

R: It is not rare to find companies with great loyalty rewards programs in fact I would model it after the Hyppo, Starbucks, and Pascals reward programs. 

I: People can copy our rewards program formatting but people have to like their product enough to return back to get it.

N: I think loyalty reward programs do something very specific that is hard to do with any other resource because they create loyalty in customers using reward power.

Great Hours of Operation: 

V: For me, this is what makes our company the most valuable. In a college town you need a late night food option that offers healthy food and that is exactly what we do. 

R: There is no healthy food options open late into the night in midtown so our company would be rare. 

I: People probably would not copy this because it would cost them money to stay open later and because there isn't a lot of healthy stores that could stay open to copy us. 

N:  This is the only resource that can produce the same outcome. 

Affordable: 

V: This is valuable because we will be selling to college students who don't have a lot of money to spend. 

R: It is very rare to find well priced organic and healthy food and smoothies especially near campus. 

I: People cannot follow in our footsteps in making their healthy food affordable because their aren't many competing places and because we will grow a lot of our stuff making it easy to price things low. 

N: Pricing the food low is the only way to make it affordable for students. 

Accessible: 

V:  Geographic location of our store is valuable because it is easy for students to access and for them to get a snack when they are at the library. It also is accessible for anyone on University street so not just for students. 

R: It is not rare to find food in midtown but it is rare to find healthy food in midtown. 

I: People can copy this resource by buying a shop in midtown. 

N: There are not other resources to accomplish good geographical location for our target market. 

Target market: 

V:It is valuable to know who your target market is so that you can effectively market to them.

R: It is rare to market healthy food to college students so we will definitely be different than other people. 

I:  People can copy who we target our marketing to. 

N: There may be other ways to market our product but it will be done most effectively by targeting to the college students who we are expecting to be our loyal customers. 

Passion: 

V:  There are few things more valuable then having the passion to make your product and to succeed in it. 

R: It is rare to find someone who is passionately doing what they love these days.

I: Passion cannot be created or copied.

N:   There are other ways to succeed in our venture but not if you want to enjoy it everyday.

 I think loyal investors is our most valuable resource because they have the ability to keep us in business forever. There is nothing more valuable then someone who financially backs your company and believes in what you are doing.