Cadbury is a multinational British based confectionary company, which is owned by the Mondelez International since 2010. Cadbury is known to be second biggest confectionary brand, first is Mars. The company is headquartered in Uxbridge, west London. It operates in more than 50 countries across the globe. Dairy milk is the famous product, along with Roses and crème egg selection box. The company is involved in inventing, investing and inspiring the chocolate lovers for 200 years (Cadbury, 2020).
VRIO framework is a business analysis model with four components. It helps in determining the competitive potential of the company. The components are Value, rarity, imitability, and organization. These components look for the answers to questions related to resources and capabilities, that are they unique, are they easy to duplicate, does company have right policies and system and can the company capture true value of these resources. Here is the detailed VRIO analysis of Cadbury.
Value
If the company has valuable resources and capabilities, it become beneficial to great extent. However, valuable resources along with other component can bring competitive advantage for the company. Company can only achieve competitive parity only with valuable resources. Cadbury is a big name in the industry, the company has identified new and best cocoa powder for its chocolates and products.
By being dissatisfied with the quality of the cocoa powder, it started to manufacture its own by undergoing in so many research. The packing of its chocolate has been altered and Cadbury has increased its capital investment in buying modern technology which uses pathogen systems (Ibrahim, 2017).
Rarity
The resources and capabilities which are not so common and easily accessible by other companies are rare. If the company is able to achieve rare and valuable resources, it is likely to achieve competitive advantage. However, this could not be for long run. Competitors in the industry can easily identify it and imitate it.
Dairy Milk is one of the most famous products of Cadbury. Its unique taste and quality have made it rare in the industry. The packaging of Dairy milk, purple and white has become a symbol and developed strong brand image among consumers. Moreover, the company’s cocoa products are rare and unique (Cadbury, 2020).
Imitability
Resources and capabilities which are difficult to imitate for the competitors, when they are too costly. Competitors will not be able to imitate, if the resources are protected by any legal means, like copyrights, trademarks, or patents etc. If the resources are rare, imitable, and valuable, it can be competitive advantage for the company. There are many competitors who tried hard to replicate the ingredients of the Cadbury chocolates, but because of its main ingredient i.e., cocoa powder, no competitor can copy it or beat it in the market share.
The global presence of the company is not hard to imitate, but too costly, as consumers across the globe want to buy Cadbury, but to competitors, intense marketing is required to create the awareness and publicity (UK essay, 2018).
Organization
The company’s resources are needed to be organized for capturing the value. It is needed to support the resources and capabilities with structure, culture, and processes of the company. The resources which are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate and organized become the sustained competitive advantage of the company.
Cadbury is well aware of this component; therefore, its operations and processes are well organized. The human resource of the company is highly skilled and trained. Cadbury work hard to motivate them. The company’s supply chain is efficient and well updated inventory management system (Ibrahim, 2017).
Conclusion
Cadbury is a big global name in the confectionary industry. The company has achieved sustained competitive advantage and maintaining its position in the industry. The company has achieved all VRIO components in most of the resources which helps it in growing and expanding more.
| V | R | I | O | ||
| Supply Chain | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Competitive advantage | |
| Inventory management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
| Brand Equity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable competitive advantage |
| Marketing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
| Product quality | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
| Product range | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Sustainable advantage |
| Talented HR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Competitive parity |
References
- Cadbury, 2020. About the company. [Online], Available at: https://www.cadbury.co.uk/our-story, [Accessed on: 2nd April, 2020].
- Ibrahim, N. 2017. Business strategy and policies (Cadbury company). [Online], Available at: https://www.academia.edu/35555448/Business_Strategy_and_Policies_Cadbury_company_.pdf, [Accessed on: 2nd April, 2020].
- UK Essays. 2018. Cadbury Business Analysis. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/market-and-business-overview-of-cadbury-marketing-essay.php?vref=1, [Accessed on: 2nd April, 2020].