Please help with these 3 questions ASAP. Very simple answer needed and no word limit. 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?

Note: As given, there is a requirement to answer 3rd question of the case study. So, I am doing the…

Illustration 4.2 Groupon and the sincerest form of flattery When a firm identifies a new market niche it must also make sure its resources and capabilities are valuable, rare, inimitable and supported by the organisation. Chicago-based Groupon was launched in 2008 by Andrew Mason with the idea to email subscribers daily deals of platform that allowed the company to 'provide better heavily discounted coupons for local restaurants, theatres, targeting to customers and give them deals that are more spas, etc. Via the emails or by visiting the Groupon website relevant to them'. Part of this platform, however, was built customers purchase these substantially discounted deals via acquisitions - a route competitors possibly also could in the form of electronic coupons which can be redeemed at the local merchant. Groupon brings exposure and more customers 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 ever to reach a $1bn valuation milestone and, thus, became Amazon and other copycats left the daily-deals business he a '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 international Google 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 turn company quickly spread to over 40 countries - they also Groupon profitable for the first time ever in 2017, but still attracted thousands of copycats worldwide. Investors did not regain investors' confidence with the share price still questioned Groupon's business and to what extent it had below $4, far from the $20 IPO price. Williams, however, was rare and inimitable resources and capabilities. CEO Andrew optimistic: Mason denied in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that the model was too casy to replicate: Mason also emphasised Groupon's advanced technology take. If imitation is the highest form of flattery Groupon has succeeded by the chairman Eric Lefkofsky. Even though markets. Lefkofsky later returned to his chairman role and "(Groupon) is one of the first unicorns. It got a lot of praise and attention it didn't deserve at the beginning. We've not recovered from that. Over time, the numbers will speak for themselves.' "There's proof. There are over 2000 direct clones of the Groupon business model. However, there's an equal amount of proof that the barriers to success are enormous. In spite of all those competitors, only a handful is remotely relevant.' Sources: Crains Chicago Business, 9 March 2018 (John Pletz: "What's This, however, did not calm investors and Groupon shares Company Names New CEO', 3 November 2015, Forbes; 'Groupon fell by 80 per cent at its all-time low in 2012. One rare asset Names Rich Williams CEO', 3 November 2015, Wall Street Journal; 'All Groupon had was its customer base of more than 50 million customers, which could possibly be difficult to imitate. The more customers, the better deals and this would make customers come to Groupon rather than the competitors Questions and the cost for competitors to acquire customers would go up. Further defending Groupon's competitiveness, the 1 Assess the bases of Groupon's resources and capabilities CEO emphasised in WSJ that it is not as simple as providing dally deals, but that a whole series of things have to work 2 Andrew Mason admits that Groupon has thousands of ogether, and competitors would have to replicate every- ing in its 'operational complexity': this? Groupon is now profitable'); "Groupon Shares Crumble After Things Digital', 2 November 2012, Wall Street Journal; Financial Times, 2 March 2013; Wall Street Journal, 31 January 2012. using the VRIO criteria (Figure 3.2 and Table 3.2). copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon is difficult. Why do you think that investors disagreed? People overlook the operational complexity. We have 3 If you were the new Groupon CEO what resources and 10,000 employees across 46 countries. We have thou- sands of salespeople talking to tens of thousands of merchants every single day. It's not an easy thing to build.' capabilities would you build on to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage?