Please answer following question. Very simple answer needed and no word limit. The case study is attached down below.Assess the basis of Groupon’s resources and capabilities using the VRIO criteria Andrew Mason admits that Groupen has thousands of copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon is difficult. Why do you think that investors disagreed?If you were the new Groupon CEO what resources and capabilities would you build on to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage? Illustration 4.2 Groupon and the sincerest form of flatteryWhen a firm identifies a new market niche it must also make sure its resources andcapabilities are valuable, rare, inimitable and supported by the organisation.Chicago-based Groupon was launched in 2008 by AndrewMason with the idea to email subscribers daily deals of platform that allowed the company to 'provide betterheavily discounted coupons for local restaurants, theatres, targeting to customers and give them deals that are morespas, etc. Via the emails or by visiting the Groupon website relevant to them'. Part of this platform, however, was builtcustomers purchase these substantially discounted deals via acquisitions - a route competitors possibly also couldin the form of electronic coupons which can be redeemed take.at the local merchant. Groupon brings exposure and morecustomers to the merchants and charges them commissions been highly complimented, but investors have not been flat-for the same. The venture rapidly grew into a daily deal tered. Consequently, Andrew Mason was forced out in 2013,giant and became the fastest-growing internet business succeeded by the chairman Eric Lefkofsky. Even thoughever to reach a $1bn valuation milestone and, thus, becamea 'unicorn' (name for start-ups with valuations over $1bn). struggled to explain how Groupon would fight off imita-In 2010 Groupon rejected a $6bn (€4.5bn) takeover bid by tors. The company was forced to exit over 30 internationalGoogle and instead went public at $10bn in 2011.While Groupon's daily deals were valued by customers - the was followed by Rich Williams in 2015. He managed to turncompany quickly spread to over 40 countries - they also Groupon profitable for the first time ever in 2017, but stillattracted thousands of copycats worldwide. Investors did not regain investors' confidence with the share price stillquestioned Groupon's business and to what extent it had below $4, far from the $20 IPO price. Williams, however, wasrare and inimitable resources and capabilities. CEO Andrew optimistic:Mason denied in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that themodel was too easy to replicate:Mason also emphasised Groupon's advanced technologyIf imitation is the highest form of flattery Groupon hasAmazon and other copycats left the daily-deals business hemarkets. Lefkofsky later returned to his chairman role and"(Groupon) is one of the first unicorns. It got a lot of praiseand attention it didn't deserve at the beginning. We'venot recovered from that. Over time, the numbers willspeak for themselves.'"There's proof. There are over 2000 direct clones of theGroupon business model. However, there's an equal amountof proof that the barriers to success are enormous. In spiteof all those competitors, only a handful is remotely relevant.' Sources: Crains Chicago Business, 9 March 2018 (John Pletz: "What'sthis? Groupon is now profitable"); "Groupon Shares Crumble AfterCompany Names New CEO', 3 November 2015, Forbes; 'GrouponNames Rich Williams CEO', 3 November 2015, Wall Street Journal; 'AllThings Digital", 2 November 2012, Wall Street Journal; Financial Times,2 March 2013; Wall Street Journal, 31 January 2012.This, however, did not calm investors and Groupon sharesfell by 80 per cent at its all-time low in 2012. One rare assetGroupon had was its customer base of more than 50 millioncustomers, which could possibly be difficult to imitate. Themore customers, the better deals and this would makecustomers come to Groupon rather than the competitorsnd the cost for competitors to acquire customers wouldup. Further defending Groupon's competitiveness, the 1 Assess the bases of Groupon's resources and capabilitiesCEO emphasised in WSJ that it is not as simple as providingdally deals, but that a whole series of things have to work 2 Andrew Mason admits that Groupon has thousands ofogether, and competitors would have to replicate every-ing in its 'operational complexity':Questionsusing the VRIO criteria (Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2).copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon isdifficult. Why do you think that investors disagreed?People overlook the operational complexity. We have 3 If you were the new Groupon CEO what resources and10,000 employees across 46 countries. We have thou-sands of salespeople talking to tens of thousands ofmerchants every single day. It's not an easy thing to build.'capabilities would you build on to give the company asustainable competitive advantage?

Question

Please answer following question. Very simple answer needed and no word limit. The case study is attached down below.Assess the basis of Groupon’s resources and capabilities using the VRIO criteria Andrew Mason admits that Groupen has thousands of copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon is difficult. Why do you think that investors disagreed?If you were the new Groupon CEO what  resources and capabilities would you build on to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage? Illustration 4.2 Groupon and the sincerest form of flatteryWhen a firm identifies a new market niche it must also make sure its resources andcapabilities are valuable, rare, inimitable and supported by the organisation.Chicago-based Groupon was launched in 2008 by AndrewMason with the idea to email subscribers daily deals of platform that allowed the company to 'provide betterheavily discounted coupons for local restaurants, theatres, targeting to customers and give them deals that are morespas, etc. Via the emails or by visiting the Groupon website relevant to them'. Part of this platform, however, was builtcustomers purchase these substantially discounted deals via acquisitions - a route competitors possibly also couldin the form of electronic coupons which can be redeemed take.at the local merchant. Groupon brings exposure and morecustomers to the merchants and charges them commissions been highly complimented, but investors have not been flat-for the same. The venture rapidly grew into a daily deal tered. Consequently, Andrew Mason was forced out in 2013,giant and became the fastest-growing internet business succeeded by the chairman Eric Lefkofsky. Even thoughever to reach a $1bn valuation milestone and, thus, becamea 'unicorn' (name for start-ups with valuations over $1bn). struggled to explain how Groupon would fight off imita-In 2010 Groupon rejected a $6bn (€4.5bn) takeover bid by tors. The company was forced to exit over 30 internationalGoogle and instead went public at $10bn in 2011.While Groupon's daily deals were valued by customers - the was followed by Rich Williams in 2015. He managed to turncompany quickly spread to over 40 countries - they also Groupon profitable for the first time ever in 2017, but stillattracted thousands of copycats worldwide. Investors did not regain investors' confidence with the share price stillquestioned Groupon's business and to what extent it had below $4, far from the $20 IPO price. Williams, however, wasrare and inimitable resources and capabilities. CEO Andrew optimistic:Mason denied in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that themodel was too easy to replicate:Mason also emphasised Groupon's advanced technologyIf imitation is the highest form of flattery Groupon hasAmazon and other copycats left the daily-deals business hemarkets. Lefkofsky later returned to his chairman role and&#34;(Groupon) is one of the first unicorns. It got a lot of praiseand attention it didn't deserve at the beginning. We'venot recovered from that. Over time, the numbers willspeak for themselves.'&#34;There's proof. There are over 2000 direct clones of theGroupon business model. However, there's an equal amountof proof that the barriers to success are enormous. In spiteof all those competitors, only a handful is remotely relevant.' Sources: Crains Chicago Business, 9 March 2018 (John Pletz: &#34;What'sthis? Groupon is now profitable&#34;); &#34;Groupon Shares Crumble AfterCompany Names New CEO', 3 November 2015, Forbes; 'GrouponNames Rich Williams CEO', 3 November 2015, Wall Street Journal; 'AllThings Digital&#34;, 2 November 2012, Wall Street Journal; Financial Times,2 March 2013; Wall Street Journal, 31 January 2012.This, however, did not calm investors and Groupon sharesfell by 80 per cent at its all-time low in 2012. One rare assetGroupon had was its customer base of more than 50 millioncustomers, which could possibly be difficult to imitate. Themore customers, the better deals and this would makecustomers come to Groupon rather than the competitorsnd the cost for competitors to acquire customers wouldup. Further defending Groupon's competitiveness, the 1 Assess the bases of Groupon's resources and capabilitiesCEO emphasised in WSJ that it is not as simple as providingdally deals, but that a whole series of things have to work 2 Andrew Mason admits that Groupon has thousands ofogether, and competitors would have to replicate every-ing in its 'operational complexity':Questionsusing the VRIO criteria (Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2).copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon isdifficult. Why do you think that investors disagreed?People overlook the operational complexity. We have 3 If you were the new Groupon CEO what resources and10,000 employees across 46 countries. We have thou-sands of salespeople talking to tens of thousands ofmerchants every single day. It's not an easy thing to build.'capabilities would you build on to give the company asustainable competitive advantage?

Accepted Answer

1).Using the VRIO criteria: 
Value 
It is a grounded client arranged association and its customers…